Decided to Stop Chasing Ammo

[Univibe]

What do those people do, who have no gun, but decided they needed one for self-protection? So they buy the gun, but there's no ammo for it. What to do?


Around here, the shelves are bare. Some stores are holding back a bit of ammo, and when a customer buys a new gun, they sell him maybe two fifty round boxes to go with the gun.

So let's say they scored 100 rounds along with the gun. What I would do, is pull out the 18 rounds the gun holds, and shoot the rest to verify that the gun works. That's hardly enough to wring it out, but it's better than nothing. (I think most newbies will probably just load and not shoot).

Some go online and register for notification. The moment they get the text, they have to go into a online purchasing frenzy, knowing that the advertised stock will sell out in minutes.


Others go to gun shows and pay insane markup prices. You see 'em, coming out, clutching their two or three boxes of ammo that they paid a dollar a round for.

Outside sporting goods stores, the lines form early. Men shuffle forward when the doors open, hoping that "the truck" came, and that it dropped off ammo they can use.

I have not had any acquaintances yet beg for a part of my stash, but doubtless some of that is going on.


Sad times, for those who didn't stock up, or for those just getting into the game.

 

[rosewood]

Looks like the supply may be gradually catching up. Academy got the biggest shipment in of ammo in months. Was probably 50+ folks waiting at opening and they still had ammo after everyone bought their 3 box limit. Had a lot of Monarch steel case .223 and 9mm. Was 30-40 cent per round, still high for pre-pandemic, but cheap for what things are going for elsewhere. Also saw some winchester and browning brand ammo for sale.

And you know, those lines of folks are quite cordial, discussing ammo, the market and politics. No fighting or the like you see on Black Friday. Everyone waits their turn.

Rosewood

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Interesting..... And here, I always looked at a Golf course as the waste of a perfectly good rifle range.

Me too.......

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I was already in pretty good shape on factory ammo, plus components to load more. A lot more. One rifle caliber I had hardly any factory stuff was 7mm Rem. Mag, so I started looking for some of that. I found and bought one box at my LGS, paid $40 bucks for it but it was premium-grade ammo so not too crazy. Then I started putting in bids on some on GunBroker. I just put in a max-I-will-pay number and left it alone. Haven't won a bid yet. Ammo, ANY ammo, is going for insane prices. Only thing crazier is primer prices. Oh well. I have brass and bullets to load the 7 mag with, and it's not like I'm going out plinking with my elk rifle.

 

[bbbb]

During the Obama ammo shortage, I chased ammo at local Walmarts as it came off the truck.


This time around I'm using some of the online sources.
I have bought 10,000 rds of .22 online the last 2 weeks for .08 a round with free shipping. Also bought 700 rounds of 9mm that works out to .45 a round.

Yesterday i finally found 22mag and bought 1275 rounds and this morning another 500 rds of .22mag. All from the comfort of my home or office. No waiting in a line and no real limits except for the 9mm.

Now most of these purchases occur between 5am-6am and items are in stock for about 5 minutes, but if your quick with your fingers you can get a couple orders completed.

 

[Richard Simmons]

Good for you! I think if more people do what you did (assuming no burning, urgent need for ammo) the shortage would get a lot better.

And 'when' ammo becomes cheaper and more plentiful, stock up, slowly and steadily.

Once again common sense prevails, thank you. I could never understand folks complaining about an ammo shortage then in the same post comment on how even though they had plenty of ammo they ran across some and bought as much as they could because it was available.

 

[Oracle]

On Sunday I was moving a box off a shelf in my "gun" room and behind it was 1,000 rounds of 5.56 and 500 rounds of .44 magnum. I probably bought them on sale back when ammo wasn't scarce, and put them on the shelf without a second thought.

My wife thought I had finally lost it when I was yelling Woo Hoo, Woo Hoo in the gun room.

 

[AdamNC]

Looks like the supply may be gradually catching up. Academy got the biggest shipment in of ammo in months. Was probably 50+ folks waiting at opening and they still had ammo after everyone bought their 3 box limit. Had a lot of Monarch steel case .223 and 9mm. Was 30-40 cent per round, still high for pre-pandemic, but cheap for what things are going for elsewhere. Also saw some winchester and browning brand ammo for sale.

And you know, those lines of folks are quite cordial, discussing ammo, the market and politics. No fighting or the like you see on Black Friday. Everyone waits their turn.

Rosewood

I saw that today. I went to Academy for some cleaning gear and happen to get there a few mins after opening. There must have been at least 30-40 people in line for ammo. All lined up throughout the store, no Black Friday madness.

After that I went to my local Sportsman's Warehouse and they had about 20 boxes of Hornaday CD, no line so I said wth and bought the 2 box limit.

Then proceeded to one of my LGS and ended up walking out with a new 9mm Shield EZ and a box of Fiocci 9mm. They had a 1 box limit but had about 15 boxes of 9mm, 5 boxes of Win .45 and some other misc calibers. Glad most of these Academy fools stay away from the LGS.

 

[GypsmJim]

The people that are out there chasing ammo when they don't particularly need any are part of the problem.

The ones that get it and then try to sell it for obscene prices are not shooters or sportsmen. They are as bad as looters.

To those that didn't plan ahead, so sad, so sorry. You'll learn next time.

To those that are now actually paying the high prices because they missed the boat, you are hurting everyone else.

If we all chill out and wait for common sense to prevail, we will then be part of the solution.

 

[Baltimoreed11754]

I put 50 rds through a new to me .45 Colt New Service this afternoon. The bullets were what I had cast and pc'd, the powder was old bullseye junk that had been given to me so I only used 50 precious LP primers. And this was shot off my deck so there were no range or travel costs. This ammo disaster was a foreseeable event and it amazes me that so many were surprised. As close as the election was 4 years ago it should have been easy to see the danger. I'm hoping that the opportunity to have a record year or two drives the ammo makers to do whatever they need to do to crank this stuff out and by next year we are done with the pandemic and shortages of everything.

 

[jag1954]

Interesting..... And here, I always looked at a Golf course as the waste of a perfectly good rifle range.

Fairly good perspective. I was a grounds maintenance assistant super/superintendent at various golf course for 20 or so years and I was shot at/shot numerous times by 'errant' hacks one of whom hit his tee shot that crossed the opposite fairway and caught me flush on the right side of my face fracturing my cheek bone and knocking a few teeth loose. Felt like I'd been shot. May have felt safer at a rifle range.

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

I started my quest to stock up on 9mm and 22LR back in May when prices started creeping up. None of the retail stores in my area were stocking handgun anymore and the LGS's were in short supply or had already raised prices to the ridiculous level. I kept an eye on the online sources and I bought when I found a good deal. I was able to add about 1600 rounds of 9mm (no more than 36 cents a round) and 3200 rounds of 22LR (no more than 7 cents) before the supply dried up and prices went insane.

 

[dmn57]

Interesting..... And here, I always looked at a Golf course as the waste of a perfectly good rifle range.

Right, and I've never pitched a rifle into the lake after a bad shot.

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

During the Obama ammo shortage, I chased ammo at local Walmarts as it came off the truck.


This time around I'm using some of the online sources.
I have bought 10,000 rds of .22 online the last 2 weeks for .08 a round with free shipping. Also bought 700 rounds of 9mm that works out to .45 a round.

Yesterday i finally found 22mag and bought 1275 rounds and this morning another 500 rds of .22mag. All from the comfort of my home or office. No waiting in a line and no real limits except for the 9mm.

Now most of these purchases occur between 5am-6am and items are in stock for about 5 minutes, but if your quick with your fingers you can get a couple orders completed.

I would say you were in the right place at the right time. I haven't seen 22LR on Ammoseek at .08 since July, same for 9MM at .45. Where have you been shopping?

 

[mmaher94087]

"Interesting..... And here, I always looked at a Golf course as the waste of a perfectly good rifle range." Same here. I was never addicted to golf; couldn't grasp the concept. Why pay good money to walk across someone's pasture for a few hours? What is the thrill of hitting a ball 100 yards and then chasing it? Isn't that what a dog is for? And, ball washers? No thanks.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

I have ammunition. All long term shooters should have ammunition. newbies are another story. But I'm friendly with my LGS and do some legal stuff for them so the'yre holding some 9mm and .38 Special for me. It's good to have friends.

 

[bbbb]

I would say you were in the right place at the right time. I haven't seen 22LR on Ammoseek at .08 since July, same for 9MM at .45. Where have you been shopping?

Check your messages

 

[MTC(SS)Ret]

Thanks bbbb.

 

[Jon651]

Looks like the supply may be gradually catching up. Academy got the biggest shipment in of ammo in months. Was probably 50+ folks waiting at opening and they still had ammo after everyone bought their 3 box limit. Had a lot of Monarch steel case .223 and 9mm. Was 30-40 cent per round, still high for pre-pandemic, but cheap for what things are going for elsewhere. Also saw some winchester and browning brand ammo for sale.

And you know, those lines of folks are quite cordial, discussing ammo, the market and politics. No fighting or the like you see on Black Friday. Everyone waits their turn.

Rosewood

It's amazing how polite everyone can be when the presumption is everyone else is armed...

 

[ladder13]

"Interesting..... And here, I always looked at a Golf course as the waste of a perfectly good rifle range." Same here. I was never addicted to golf; couldn't grasp the concept. Why pay good money to walk across someone's pasture for a few hours? What is the thrill of hitting a ball 100 yards and then chasing it? Isn't that what a dog is for? And, ball washers? No thanks.

Funny. When I moved to NC everyone assumed I golfed or wanted to golf. They seemed stunned when I told them I had no desire to chase a little white ball around.