How does this ammo shortage work?

[vintage40s]

So I bought my first gun, a 642-2 Airweight .38, a couple of months ago. Had to mail order it for pickup at Cabelas. Then found the store had no ammo. Nor did the range. So then began a saga of ordering a few boxes at a time online from online vendors. Today there was nothing at all available that I could find online, except for a 500-round case. So I jumped at it.
Why can't I find a box now and then, when a whole case is available?

 

[WH1]

Where did you find the box of 500?

 

[Peak53]

This is a recurring episode. There is some violent or political event, everyone who didn't already have a gun and the ammo to go with it gets in line to buy, the shelves disintegrate, and anywhere from a few months to a few years later the stock returns and the prices are back to almost normal, just not quite. Repeat. This will be one of the longer events. When things return to paranormal, keep buying by the case or learn to reload.

 

[glenwolde]

It's easier to make one sale of 500 rather than ten sales of 50.

 

[RGNewell]

This is a recurring episode. There is some violent or political event, everyone who didn't already have a gun and the ammo to go with it gets in line to buy, the shelves disintegrate, and anywhere from a few months to a few years later the stock returns and the prices are back to almost normal, just not quite. Repeat. This will be one of the longer events. When things return to paranormal, keep buying by the case or learn to reload.

Good luck finding components

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Borderboss]

So I bought my first gun, a 642-2 Airweight .38, a couple of months ago. Had to mail order it for pickup at Cabelas. Then found the store had no ammo. Nor did the range. So then began a saga of ordering a few boxes at a time online from online vendors. Today there was nothing at all available that I could find online, except for a 500-round case. So I jumped at it.
Why can't I find a box now and then, when a whole case is available?

Since you've just bought your first gun, it's good that you have the 500 rounds so you can become proficient.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Most of us stock up during the good times and have ammunition lockers or safes as well as gun safes. A lot of the 9mm that I am shooting now cost $4.00 for 50 when purchased. Everyone's needs are different I have heard rules of thumb like 1,000 rounds for each gun. 10,000 rounds for each caliber or gauge. Truth is that you cannot have too much, and ammo will not be in the store when you need it most. Limit to the stockpile is usually the space allowed by the spouse.

 

[Chukar60]

One simple word explains it all, every time.
Panic

 

[chief38]

Basically all you can do for now is scrounge around for what ever you can find and get reamed on the price (while smiling of course).

In the future, either get into Reloading OR stock up when the prices normalize. Never let yourself be in this situation again.

 

[gwpercle]

Save all your fired brass cases ...if they are the reloadable kind .

At some point in time you may want to look into reloading .

I started reloading and casting bullets in 1967 ... I've never had an ammo shortage . A Lee Hand Press and a set of reloading dies let's me assemble ammo sitting at this computer desk I'm sitting at ... Think about it .

My advice , get a free Lee Catalog and see what they have to offer and buy only ammo that can provide reloadable cases ...
Brass with Boxer priming .

It seems the new normal is a big ammo shortage every few years ...don't know why but it's happening now on a regular basis ... I'm ready for them , are you !
Gary

 

[stansdds]

A couple of things are happening right now. First, people are panicking, so they are buying firearms, ammunition, and reloaders are buying components at record levels.

Second, due to the pandemic, manufacturers have cut hours or the number of people working each shift, so production of most things has fallen.

Combine the two and you get a prime example of the basic fundamentals of economics, those of supply and demand. Demand has risen, supply has fallen, thus, prices have increased.

 

[Duckfood]

Why can't I find a box now and then, when a whole case is available?

To put it simply, you timed it correctly... Someone at the online store had entered new supply just a minute before you opened that website... Voila, inventory on hand...

If you had waited a few hours, they likely would have been sold out again... Until the ammo factories make more...

 

[jnichols2]

Ammo went the same place as toilet paper.

 

[Eddietruett]

Plenty of ammo and components are available but be prepared to pay dearly.

 

[Chief Wiggums]

having the opportunity to purchase 500 rounds w 1 click of the mouse , is a win......a huge win.......

Ill 2nd , 3rd & 4th the reload comments....
or perhaps strike an arrangement w somebody who already has one.........

save that spent brass....even if you dont currently reload.....
get yourself a 5 gallon bucket(s) sort it by caliber , and save it..

some ranges "used" to allow you to take what was on the floor , that wasnt yours...

I also collect the discarded ammo boxes and trays from the trash can and give them to my reload guy.

 

[kaaskop49]

having the opportunity to purchase 500 rounds w 1 click of the mouse , is a win......a huge win.......
I also collect the discarded ammo boxes and trays from the trash can and give them to my reload guy.

Can't understand how someone with a firearm cannot have at least one box of ammo. But then there are many things I don't understand... Easy enough to buy one 5-pack of 12 ga buck or slugs when shopping for something else. Builds up in no time, as other members have posted.

Just turned down (for the moment!) a 10mm Sig Sauer P220 Legion: no 10mm, or much else, in stock. Did buy a minty 627 PC snub, there on consignment. I do have .38/.357 and it was almost half the $ of the P220.

Re ammo trays: I remember the flimsy styrofoam trays in ammo boxes of the 70s. Only Norma had plastic trays and we loved to find one. Now they mostly go in the garbage. I save mine with my once-fired brass: someone will be happy to have them.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

 

[mikerjf]

This is why it's good to have a .22 - you can practice with that a lot cheaper. I've seen a little .22 ammo here and there, even in stores sold out of anything else. And it's easier on the wallet to sock away a few thou .22's.

If you have a .22 that matches your carry gun, the practice time will apply to both.

 

[ImDrRich]

The REAL gun control is not finding any ammo to shoot. I just simply cannot believe that the manufacturers aren't laughing all the way to the bank because their ammo is in short supply. Now is the time to make more; create more jobs, run those machines 24/7, etc.

 

[Green Frog]

Plus 1 to saving good ammo boxes with the plastic dividers... I use them to keep my precision cast bullets sorted and unbruised. Oh yeah, they do a pretty good job of holding reloads too, but I prefer MTM and Plano for that.

As to how much ammo one should "stock" for each of his firearms, back in the '70s when I was a young adult, if I had more than two or three boxes for any gun, I was feeling flush... now if I have a gun I shoot on anything like a regular basis, if I don't have at least twice that (or components on hand to quickly load them) I feel unprepared. Of course 22 rimfire supplies should be stored in the thousands of rounds... your mileage, like your needs, may vary!

Froggie

 

[shocker]

I posted this in another thread, in 2019, a non panic year, 8 billion rounds of ammo were made in the US, or 20 something million rounds a day. Add on top of that the imported stuff.
Is that a lot of ammo? Take into account there are over 400 million guns in the US and do the math.