New Title: Ammo run of 2020 (Old Title: Has anyone noticed an uptick in ammo?)

bushmaster1313

bushmaster1313

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Over the past month I stocked up on my favorite range ammo. Prices were good and in the near future I expect online sales to become disallowed in New Jersey.

Looked at ammo prices and selection tonight (March 14) and it seems to me that in brass cased American made 55 gr. FMJ 5.56 the price is up about one $1.00/box of 20. Moreover, although there is plenty available, a fair number of selections are listed as out of stock.

What are the Forum's observations?

Update: As of Sunday March 15 the ammo run of 2020 has officially started.
 
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I've noticed this also. For example, Federal 5.56, 55 grain FMC, 1000 rounds bulk has increased $50.00 on one of the major on-line order companies.

I recently purchased a case of Federal 9BPLE. It is up $50.00 from what I paid less than a month ago.

A harbinger of things to come. I'm willing to bet this increase will also occur in reloading components.

I have also noticed posts about 9 mm ammo sales increasing dramatically as well as sales of handguns.

It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.
 
I buy 50 round boxes of Blazer 9mm 115gr from Target Sports USA on a regular basis...for the last year or so I was paying $8.27 and in the last couple of weeks they have it priced at $9.99 and they are out of stock.
 
Something is going on. SG Ammo used to sell my favorite .45 acp range ammo, Winchester Service Grade, for $12.95 a box, if you bought ten. Now it's $14.95 for ten, and they sold out quickly. They also used to ship within 24 hours of ordering. Now they say that because of the volume of orders, they need 5-10 days to ship. I hope we're not headed to another ammo crisis like 5-6 years ago, or worse yet, like today's toilet paper crisis. :confused:
 
I think SVT28 is correct. I know people who are buying guns who really don't like guns. Prices for the Lake City 5.56 bulk ammo has gone way up where I live. If you haven't bought the ammo and reloading components needed you may be out of luck. One election cycle could change everything.
 
Yeah, That's why I still save my 9mm brass even though it's not been cost effective to reload 9mm for years. There are times when loaded ammo, like toilet paper, is simply not available.
 
I can’t help but think there is some serious gouging going on in the hope that the panic buying will affect the availability. Don’t think the public has got to ammo yet and most people have a good stockpile from recent shortages and scares.
 
IIRC, February is the month the Arms industry adjusts prices for the year to accommodate inflation.
Shotshell prices tend to be more stable and I noticed the store price of game loads has gone up about 5%. Target loads on sale are still 20 cents each by the case.
 
Our crapellas in Maine is out of handgun ammo.Looks like the fed is at
It again....***
 
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Yep, low level panic buying of ammo is going on. Went to Cabelas to buy some fishing lures and folks were stocking up. All the cheap 9mm was gone. I didn’t want to be left out so I bought a box of Herters .303 British. Plenty of that left.

Prices are going up because people will pay more right now.
 
Guys...it's already started!GS Sat.& Sunday....at 9 AM when it opened....500 rounds was $109.00...1,000 rounds was $199.00!I said guys mI'm getting 500 rounds...buddy said ,wait & get ammo from Bass Pro...500 rounds will be about $85.00! I said....I have a bad feeling ...he said I'll contact Bass Pro...he did ....they had sold out !! I pulled $$$ & went & bought 1,000 rounds! When I left 2 hrs.later the prices had increased!!No telling what they were SUNDAY!Stock up guys!
 
How long?

So this is my first panic ( I started shooting in July '19). My reloading press is down waiting on Lyman to send me a part and then I'll be back up and running. Until then, how long should I expect handgun ammo to be in short supply or over-priced. I'm looking at range ammo only, I've got a lifetime supply of SD ammo (unless the zombies arrive, but that's a different thread).

Are panics measured in weeks or months? Do we come back to 'normal' pricing, or will this be an excuse for a permanent 5-10% price increase?

Thanks for sharing your experiences!
 
Dahak said:
So this is my first panic ( I started shooting in July '19). My reloading press is down waiting on Lyman to send me a part and then I'll be back up and running. Until then, how long should I expect handgun ammo to be in short supply or over-priced. I'm looking at range ammo only, I've got a lifetime supply of SD ammo (unless the zombies arrive, but that's a different thread).

Are panics measured in weeks or months? Do we come back to 'normal' pricing, or will this be an excuse for a permanent 5-10% price increase?

Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Click to expand...

There's no way to tell. If it develops into a full scale panic, it could be years and include reloading components.

Stock up and hunker down.
 
^^^^^^^^^^^ This exactly!

Good thing I reload most all of my ammo. I guess it's time to get a good stock of bullets, primers and powder in. I'm pretty good on powder and primers but only OK on bullets.
 
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Dahak said:
Are panics measured in weeks or months? Do we come back to 'normal' pricing, or will this be an excuse for a permanent 5-10% price increase?
Click to expand...

Months is more common. Once the supply pipeline has been run dry it takes a while to fill it up again. In the case of 22 LR it took years before supply caught up with demand.

After the Sandy Hook atrocity it took months before centerfire ammo became easy to find online and longer before prices settled back down. In December 2014 I paid about $270 for a case of Speer Lawman 9mm FMJ, about $100 more than it sold for a few weeks ago.

During the great primer shortage of 94, sparked by Clinton's AWB I remember not being able to find any for months. It seemed odd that primers were the one item that took longest to become available but I felt that way about 22s too.

I am hoping this shortage will not be as bad. The past severe and long lasting shortages were caused by proposed legislation. So far nobody has blamed AR-15s, online ammo sales or full capacity magazines for CV-19. It wouldn't totally surprise me if someone tried to slip an antigun measure into a CV-19 bill but so far congress has tried to keep the partisan bickering to a minimum on that issue.

Once people realize that CV19 is a crisis but not an existential threat or the beginning of the zombie apocalypse demand should fall back to normal quickly. When it looks like congress might ban something it goes on for months and demand stays high even longer.

Another reason it might not be so bad this time is a lot of us have been stocking up for years and feel no need to go out and buy more when it is hard to come by and expensive. Those of us that buy by the case have a lot more to do with shortages that those that consider buying a few boxes at BassPro stocking up.
 
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Store here in Tucson, they are limiting all 9mm ammo to 2 boxes per day. Yet, can't find a single roll of TP anywhere. Prices on 9 and 380 went up a buck or two also.
 
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