I just saw on the news that police departments are now complaining of the ammo shortage. Reports are that some departments are now having trouble conducting firearms training.

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Keep your powder dry.

A responsible department orders ammo off of state contracts at budget time and gets ammo dropped shipped from the factory. When I was running the show at my department, we always had ammo at a preset price. Maybe smaller departments do otherwise and get caught in the availability and price wars.

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S&W factory revolver armorer

The LE boys can't get ammo.............

now that is a real funny joke.

How many rounds/man/year would one plan on?

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To cannon, all men are equal

We qualified on a 50 round course twice a year, 300 officers. Members of SWAT qualified w/their sidearms monthly & snipers also monthly.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Not all departments have access to state bid contracts for supplies or equipment. Smaller agencies cannot hope to achieve preferential treatment for orders, and certainly cannot get the same prices for supplies and equipment that larger quantity orders provide. In the majority of smaller departments the individual officers are expected to provide their own uniforms, firearms, and ammunition (sometimes with an allowance, more frequently just as a condition of employment). Individual officers may purchase firearms and ammunition approved for duty use with the federal excise tax (11%) deducted from the prices. Some states waive background checks for credentialed LEO's, others do not.

Short version: there is no general rule that applies. Some dated information that might be of interest:

About half of all incorporated municipalities in the US (cities, towns, etc) have no police departments, relying solely on county sheriffs or state agencies.

Nearly 60% of all US law enforcement agencies (police, sheriff, etc) have fewer than 10 full-time employees, and most of those do not maintain services 24 hours per day (relying on on-call officers for emergencies, or response by next available unit for non-emergencies).

In the major metro areas the average response times for high-priority calls is over 30 minutes. In many rural areas response times are measured in hours, not minutes.

Many of the duties of a police or sheriff department are spelled out by statute; in other words, some things must be done without fail. Among those tasks there is no general requirement to conduct patrol operations or respond to the scene of a reported incident. Short version: priorities are forced on departments, usually with little or no latitude in execution.

In the US we have become accustomed to seeing LE operations performed in certain ways and certain services have become common. But that has not always been the case. Local police services have existed for only about 150 years, beginning with the major eastern cities (Boston and New York City were among the very first) and gradually adopted by others. Prior to that the sheriffs (elected officials) were usually expected to operate the jail and serve the writs and process of the courts, while local citizens (the proper term is "popular militia") were expected to apprehend violators and deliver them to the sheriff. Any investigation of a crime was typically up to the victim, frequently achieved by retaining private detectives or private police forces. Even publicly-provided prosecutors are a relatively recent development; prior to about WW1 it was not unusual for crime victims or business associations to retain lawyers to act as prosecutors in cases affecting themselves.

One thing that has not changed, and probably never will change, is that priorities are established at each step of the process. Those priorities may include financial and budgetary considerations, and may also include political decisions. We are still seeing examples daily, defund the police movements, political entities adopting policies of non-intervention or non-prosecution in certain matters, etc.

I doubt that finding sufficient ammunition for training is at the top of the priorities list in many cities, counties, or states at this point in time.

Not the first time. When FEMA was buying up all the ammo some years back police were training with paintball guns. This was their testimony at the Congressional hearings.

LE training in shoot houses and the like with air soft guns is common practice. Those little devils string providing negative feedback when zapped with one. Buying on the state contract doesn't get priority shipping of ordered ammo. It gets shipped when the manufacturer is good and ready.

For individual LE's that belong to departments/SO's/highway patrol who want to practice are having a tough time. I've taught a few how to reload ammo, even loaning one my spare progressive press.

Get bb or pellet guns to learn on.

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Plant garlic in the fall

One bullet was enough for Barney.

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Only a cold warrior

I having been submitting the order for my departments ammo since 2012. We order through a distributor and the ammo is dropped shipped from the manufacturer...Federal for 5.56 and 12 gauge, Speer for 9mm, Winchester for 38 Special and Hornady for .308 duty ammo. Federal for outdoor range and indoor range (no lead frangible) training ammo.

I can verify that there is a delay in receiving ammo. So far we have received all of our .308 duty and frangible 9mm and 38 special ammo. None of the 5.56/9mm/12 GA duty or 9mm/38 special range has arrived. We are talking about 100,000 rounds that has yet to arrive.

Usually we received our total order by February. Right now we have cancelled all open range days (one day a month that any officer that wishes can come to the range and shoot on their own any and all duty weapons...pistol/rifle/shotgun) to conserve training ammo for the remainder of the years new hire training and annual qualifications.

We have been through this before, during the Obama pre re-election ammo surge 5 or 6 years ago. Then we had the bulk of our ammo order trickle in 2 to three cases at a time over a 10 month period and didn't get the last of our annual ammo order until October. The next year it was still slow arriving, but not as bad as the previous year.

The excessive ammo demand caused by fear of the current political winds is real. The limited supply that results is real too. The dwindling supply in LE ammo safes all across the country has nothing to do with timely ordering. The only way to avoid the current shortage would have been to have a crystal ball so you could have ordered twice your departments annual allotment 2 years ago.

I hate to say it, but all this "if you ordered it on time", "Used the state contract" and "You can get now if you are wiling to pay more" is nonsense when it comes to the most common calibers used across the nation in LE. It's a simple supply and demand issue....and demand has been outrunning supply by a mile since last summers riots.

While that may be true to some point, contracts do expire and then have to be re-bid or negotiated which can involve higher prices and longer delivery terms.

Well written overview. Thank you for that!

You are 100% spot on. My department has had exactly the same thing happen to us.

We purchase about 2.4 million rounds a year for a cost of about $720K and even with that type of contract the receipt of shipments is very, very slow. Also, when we negotiate our next annual contract I am sure prices will reflect the market.

Unless we had that crystal ball there was little to nothing we could have done.

Edited to add: Our old armorer and I had worked out a system where we kept about 20% of our annual allotment "on deck" in case of emergencies or other issues. When he retired this was cancelled and we went back to only ordering what we needed with no reserve on deck.

I have a friend in the business.. he was encouraging them to put in their 2021 orders in 6 months ago.. when he had ammo to deliver.. many waited for 2021 budgets or failed to heed the warning.

Stockpiles are now exhausted and Depts. are "inline" to get theirs from the next shipment or the one after......or.........................................................

From a daily email I get...

Mich. PDs scramble to find rounds amid nationwide shortage

Yes, I agree! I think I saw him shoot a few rounds in one episode for practice.... Those were certainly more innocent times for our world. I want them back.

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NRA Endowment Member

I wonder if that's a reverse-rifling-compatible bullet for that left-handed revolver...

Perhaps, just perhaps, this may start a trend that will build a fire under some in places of power and influence that will in the end start a trend that will help end this drought of ammo! Let us all hope and pray it does!!!

Not the time for departments to switch from .40 cal Glocks to 9 mm Glocks. My old small department (I am retired) switched back around the first of the year. I transitioned the department from Model 19s to Glock .40 caliber back in the early 1990's. Couldn't get 9 mm ammo from local supplier. Borrowed enough from another large nearby department to get the 10 personnel qualified. Were told back then their order could come late spring or early summer.

We do the “on deck” thing with duty ammo. I just call it our “basic load”, a reference to my military days. We have enough duty ammo in every caliber to last about 3 years. It’s the training ammo that is getting critical. We basically have about 18 months on hand at the beginning of each year and by years end we have a 6 month supply when the next annual allotment arrives. Well we just rolled into the 3rd month of the 6 month cushion. We can make it another 6 months with the scaled down op tempo we are currently running. After that things are going to have to get real creative on the training side and of the house.

Plenty of ammo is available. On gunbroker.com. Pages and pages of ammo, but at a secondary market premium. We have gone this route to stock up. More expensive, but available. All supply and demand.

With us it is a budget issue. Don't buy it unless you need it and no stockpiling. So in the past (up until 2007-08) we had a 3-4 month on deck supply we now have virtually nothing, maybe a month.

Gonna suck for anyone without ammo. Especially when you need it most.

I`m all set

I wondered how long it would take for someone to notice. I thought about reversing the photo, but.....nah

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Only a cold warrior

For LE most are locked into budgets with limited freedom in purchasing when faced by unexpected events. Without a rainy day stockpile you are screwed. Police departments having their budget cut wont get much support for emergency funds to purchase ammo. Even with expanded production this year I don't see prices falling much. Increased cost of fuel and higher taxes will be passed on by ammo mfgs to both LE and civilian buyers.

I'd really like to put in my opinion but can't. Don't need any more trouble.

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No baby we aint

I look after ammunition for my little agency. Back in December I got management to let me buy our 2021 ammo early, so we are in good shape. Since there was no ball ammo available I just bought more hollow point to use for training. Cost a little more, but I didn’t catch any flack. It’s nice when management tells you “just do what you need to”. The price per case was the same we paid in March 2020 before everything went nuts, so that helped.

Several other agencies I’m familiar with have had problems getting ammo. One had to reduce the number of times they qualify, another is putting off a switch from .45 to 9mm. Others have stopped handing out practice ammo on demand to officers.

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Wheel guns are real guns.

CA requires qualification 4 times per year, plus whatever a department would burn up on specialized training, new recruits if they run their own academy, etc. Small departments are probably getting squeezed pretty good right now if they didn't plan ahead.

Well here’s a thought. Borrowing the terms “pre & post Covid” prices, perhaps some could pay their pre-Covid property/school taxes with post-Covid valued ammo.

With Remington back in production, things should ease.

So true. Firearms training and training in general are the first victims when budgets get slashed and times get tough. Like now, for example. There were times when I went a couple of years without seeing a qualification range. Lack of training is at the root of a lot of the Police issues we are seeing now.

LE can’t get ammo but a LGS just got in 2 pallets of 9mm and 2 pallets of
5.56 . There’s a problem somewhere in the supply pipeline.

I always operated with a cushion factor of having 1,000 rounds of duty handgun and .223 ammo, and about half that in 12 gauge available for each of our direct unit's 12 officers. Our agency required a minimum of two full qualifications per year with handgun, shotgun, and AR-15. In addition, I would set up and administer training courses during annual Refreshers, as well as provide officers with practice ammo for use on our range.

Up until around 2005, I had no problem acquiring ammo, since we were allowed to collect spent brass from a local military base that we then traded in for factory loads with a local manufacturer. That ended, however, when an agency unit in another region went rogue, using free military spent brass to trade for equipment other than fresh ammo. In a classic beauracratic move, rather than simply penalizing them for their misdeeds, the upper echelon decided to end that program agency wide. Following that, we had to cut down on the number of live fire practice and training sessions, and other units in our region underwent similar cutbacks. Ordering from major contractors became a PITB because of spotty, partial deliveries. We compensated on the ammo issues by purchasing a computer run simulator system, and using Simunitions scenario training for our officers.

Yeah but he used a colt............

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

The departments should invest in a Dillon for practice ammo. And stock up on primers, powder and bullets. I'd use coated or plated bullets for training.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

*Looks around and smiles*

Not my problem anymore!

Only qual I worry about is LEOSA and I'm good until September. I have enough ammo for it.

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GOA FL Dir. & Nat. Spokesman

If they can find primers..........

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dd884
JMHO-YMMV

Are match competitions in your area being cancelled or scaled back because of ammo shortages and prices?

My former agency normally runs retirees through LEOSA certification/qualification every June. I’ll see the police chief @ tomorrow’s wreath laying ceremony and ask him. Most of us would willingly supply our own ammo.

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Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

How do you figure? Maybe the LGS had their order in a few month prior.

I think many departments won't even go with handloaded ammo even if for practice.Too much of a liability issue. Years back I had an opportunity to secure a position in a local police dept. My job was to loaf ammunition for the training end you had to be post certified as well. They had a few Dillion,locked up in a huge cabinet were the primers' powder and wadcutters were stored. Only the range officer tells me that all brass was retained as scrap to be sold whenever. OK well go out and buy brass only no money for the brass. Then I told them we can buy military brass from the Govt no money provide me with an operating budget spells out what I'n supposed to do and where the money to financing is coming from and how do I get this show up and running. Never happened..Sp after a week or so reconditioning all the equipment..Closed and locked the doors and handed in a inventory list. Far as I know nothing was done. Pay was minimal. I would have done it for free, but once politics gets involved,that's it for me. Frank

Unfortunately my Department was switching to Speer G2 for 9mm and 40 and Black Hills for rifle in 2019. About half the Department had switched by the start of COVID and then add in the riots and its a mess.

An order just came down for everyone to switch over by July 1, so the lines at the range, you shoot the old stuff to be issued the new stuff, are longer then normal. Also this is our first qualification since February of 2020, so we'll so how many people have to go around again, and again, and again

I would plan on one month's supply, times 12 to figure out how much to buy for the year.

I'm guessing the LGS and the PD have different ammo configurations on their purchase lists . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .

Police ammo configuration is usually slanted toward duty grade for carry and qualification for liability reasons. Civilians often buy, use, and stockpile hardball with few self defense loads. LGS order accordingly. Budget control over police is often political and then controlled by civilian bean counters not under the police chief and not reluctant to substitute their judgment for his with no concept of what effect that had when the fecal matter hit the metal rotating device.

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SWCA 3417 HF 642 NRA-TC