OK, SO WHERE'S THE AMMO THEN?

[shovelmike]

Last time I was in an Academy I was surprised to see dozens of 200 round boxes of .380 on the shelf. I hadn't seen much .380 in months. They also had plenty of 9mm, .45, .223, 5.56, 7.62x39, .308, and 7.62x51 along with a smattering of others. Prices are also a bit lower than they were a few months ago.

I try to go to my local Academy on delivery days, price is down a bit...got to get there early.

 

[S&WIowegan]

Mills Fleet Farm, Ankeny IA

I just did a quick walk through and they had several types of 9mm including Federal Syntech 150 gr 9mm for $21./box of 50. Another guy was looking for 45-70 and they had none. He's frustrated because that's what he uses for deer. We have lots of deer.

 

[Rifleman200-10X]

To the same folks that started the Panic: new gun buyers, anxious peppers, speculators.

Well, if theres none on the shelf to buy, I doubt it's still the hoarders. I just can't understand why major distributors like Midway, Graf, and etc. show pretty much "out of stock, no backorder" on almost everything, if they're producing what they claim.

 

[LVSteve]

Well, if theres none on the shelf to buy, I doubt it's still the hoarders. I just can't understand why major distributors like Midway, Graf, and etc. show pretty much "out of stock, no backorder" on almost everything, if they're producing what they claim.

Because they don't like the current wholesale price. Several smaller ammo places have all the ammo you want...if you like paying 46 cents a round for 9mm 115gr FMJ plinking fodder.

When it comes to rifle cartridges, I suspect that the manufacturers are not doing runs of many hunting calibers but are concentrating on the bulk sellers, .223, 5.56 NATO, .308/7.62 NATO, and 7.62x39.

 

[LNBright]

I'm now seeing 'common' calibers. 9mm, .45acp, .357mag, .22, .223, etc.

What I am NOT finding, any at all, are things like .45LC, .45AR, .45 Cowboy Specials, etc etc. I used to be able to find these sitting on local shelves, but they've simply vanished, aren't even locating them available online (maybe they're out there, and I've not found the right place to look).

In a shop yesterday, they had a beautiful S&W in .45LC. When the fella asked if I needed help, I pointed out that gun, that you have it, but do you have any ammo for it... he really hated having to say that he didn't have a thing for it. Kinda puts a cramp on selling something, if you can't feed it.

 

[The Norseman]

Fear in Buying

Wow! "A Nice S&W .45colt" ammo would have been the
least of my worries.

I wouldn't let having "no ammo" make my decision
not to buy a S&W Revolver.

Oh well, to each their own.

 

[robrossk]

My local places have a lot of common calibers but prices are still very high. Last gun show I attended had LOTS of ammo. I did not see anyone buying (prices again).

 

[sigp220.45]

Targetsports is advertising steel case Wolf 9mm for 16 bucks a box.

Can $9.99 be far behind?

 

[LNBright]

Wow! "A Nice S&W .45colt" ammo would have been the
least of my worries.

I wouldn't let having "no ammo" make my decision
not to buy a S&W Revolver.

Oh well, to each their own.

I'd just gotten another S&W project, I'd have been in the doghouse if I brought home a second one back-to-back. It really wasn't the S&W that was my goal for the day anyway, I was really using it to broach the lack of ammo availability in the non-popular calibers, without outright just throwing down a "why don't have LC available?", thought it might be gentler to bring up the caliber in such a way...

 

[The Norseman]

A matter of perspectives

Now that you said it that way, now I understand.
Thank you for the explanation. I wish you the
best in your project. Please share the adventure
when your done.

 

[HappyJack]

It has to be some folks buying up components and ammo to keep the prices high. I still have primers from years ago and can load my own so I have no need to buy nor do I want to at these prices. Best thing for folks to do is not to panic buy. Just stop buying it period unless you really need it. If folks stop paying those prices for ammo and components the prices will come down. But not until folks stop paying those inflated prices.

 

[CH4]

They're putting most of their production effort into 9mm, 223/556 and other handgun cartridges. Lots of it on shelves with prices slowly coming down. Still don't see much rifle ammo aside from 270, 30-06, 243, etc. What the heck is 224 Valkyrie. Federal apparently sees a demand for this. Doesn't seem to move fast.

 

[scoobysnacker]

I'm seeing lots of ammo out there at high prices and mostly all in the high demand calibers - 5.56, 9mm, etc. On the other hand, hunting calibers are still harder to find and good luck if you're looking for something a little out of the ordinary. I've been looking for .257 Roberts lately, either loaded or just the brass. Not a chance. No one has it in person or online. I have some 7x57 brass laying around and it looks like I'll be using it to make up the .257.

My observation- my son and I both like to shoot.

My son likes to shoot rifles, "surplus" for the most part, but in our case that includes 30-30 (Winchester 94 lever gun). This being an old, classic "Western" gun.

So... run on guns and ammo started last summer; popular rounds like 9mm and .223 fly off the shelves (you can include 45 acp and 380 acp in this).

Manufacturers see this, see demand, and crank up production of those (9mm, 223 and such). Emphasis on those, other (ie "hunting" calibers) will be ignored... because they weren't in high demand.
*most people weren't rushing out to buy a .243 bolt action for self defense at that moment.

So now, we're seeing the results of the manufacturers. 9mm, 223, and such- now more available. Still pricey because hey, why not?, but it's out there.

Hunting calibers, which generally would be produced in small runs, weren't made in their normal timeframes, because there was such a continued high demand for the other stuff. So now, people are going to the shelves, and not finding what they normally would.

Going back to my son and his rifles- I found and bought 4 boxes of 30-30 (Federal), at Walmart, for $14 a box, last November. Wasn't in high demand. Seems to be extremely hard to find now. We're not interested in flipping or selling, at some point we will shoot them.
Argentine 7.65 Mauser ammo, same thing. Last year, found some PPU at reasonable price, found some surplus at reasonable price (as in, maybe about the same it had been in say 2018). Bought it, going to shoot it up eventually. Not available currently.
308, last year early on came across a clearance on ammoman, baggies of loose brass 308 fmj (Armscor), $20 for bag of 50. Bought a couple hundred. Purpose, shoot (at the time) through an Ishapore in 7.62 NATO, Armscor upon contact assured me they load their 308 and 7.62 NATO identically, that the rounds THEY MAKE would interchange.

You can go on and on, and draw the conclusion: big ammo run on popular calibers, manufacturers then focused exclusively on those calibers. As supply of other calibers dwindled, they weren't replenished.
We bought 'excess' because we plink in those, others might buy a box or two for express hunting purposes and didn't expect to need to buy more than needed that season. Now THEY feel the pinch.

Goes to show you, you SHOULD get 2+ years worth of what you need, even if it's not high demand. Limits of production dictate what gets made, and if you have something 10 million folks don't want right now, it won't be prioritized.

 

[max]

I was on my 24th annual pheasant hunt in South Dakota a couple of weeks ago and only 1 store we found had any #4, 5 or 6 shot and they were limiting to 2 boxes.

Everybody in my group had enough, but one guy bought 2 boxes just in case for next year.

 

[GypsmJim]

Where's the Ammo; it's on the Local Gun Stores
from here to Wyoming.

Components are available. One Store I could've
bought Primers, had about 12 Bricks (1000 count
cartons) behind the counter.
One Store had some Powder too.

I am more Optimistic more stuff is coming once the
Cargo Ships, Truckers, Supply Channels can
deliver.

The best to you and your endeavors, and you
should have stocked up when times were good.

Well, that's just fine for y'all between the Dakotas and Wyoming. But, it's not the same for us back east.

I have been dealing with my LGS for over 40 years now. Just bought a gun there yesterday. They have not had a delivery of primers in over 6 months. They had a few boxes of off-brand 9 mm, at a price point that was 3x pre-pandemic.

My local WallMarts (4 of them) have had bare shelves for 18 months. Maybe a box or 2 of target 12 gauge shotgun shells.

My Local Cabellas used to have a whole room of ammo. Now they have one single shelf, with odd calibers that hardly anyone buys anyway.

My goto online stores are all sold out of primers.

Deer season starts here in a week. In the short time I was doing the paperwork for the new gun, no fewer than 6 guys came in asking for shotgun deer slugs. None to be had anywhere.

Actually, I DID stock up and right now have an 8 year supply of everything I need. But a lot of my friends weren't that thoughtful, or didn't have the cash laying around.

 

[Univibe]

After Sandy Hook I foresaw all this. Last few years I've been stocking up. Bags of bullets, bricks of primers, 8# jugs of powder. Cases of .22LR when they had free shipping.

 

[RCL-09]

The ammo and component makers all claim to be cranking it out as fast as they can, 24-7-365. Soooooo, since no one anywhere seems to have received more than a tiny trickle of it, where the heck is it going?

To one of my LGS.... more ammo than ever before.... 100 of thousands of rounds...

Of course it all starts at about a $1.00 to $1.10 a round and goes up from there.

 

[jeffrefrig]

It's turning even MORE people into criminals, apparently. Just this past week, a small local PD had a shipment of 1000 rounds of .45 (I assume ACP, as they didn't get that specific) stolen from the box the delivery driver was bringing into the station; poorly re-taped. The chief said they needed it mainly for annual qualifying. I can't remember if FedEx or UPS. Article said they have 10 full & 2 part time officers. The chief said something about the box may have broken open and it all fell out at one of the dist. points! The box was decorated with "Warning: Live ammunition" tape & stickers. I suppose that means "Steal me" to the workforce. So now he said he has to pay retail.
I would advise anyone driving through Allegheny Township in Western PA to obey all traffic laws to a T for a while!
I've had ammo delivered to my house and never had any boxes labeled with that caution tape.
1000 rounds isn't very much for 10-12 officers, but somebody is gonna have a Happy Holiday.

 

[g27racing]

I am an FFL for about 5 years now. As many have noted the common calibers are significantly more available now and while prices have come down a lot from a year ago they are not at pre-pandemic prices. I can also say that the prices from distributors are up 50-90% from the pre-pandemic levels so right now. Ammo costs me more now than I was selling it for pre-pandemic. To put this bluntly: The reason ammo was so high for the first year of so of this fiasco we call the pandemic was dealers raised prices on their goods as they were in very very high demand. As demand has lessened the retailers have lowered their prices. However the distributors have raised their prices (not sure if manufacturers have raised prices) which is why at this time ammo couldn't get back to pre-pandemic retail pricing even if gun stores wanted to drop the price. Remember that the price of virtually everything has gone up due to various supply chain and labor issues. Doesn't mean things won't get back where they were but its impossible to happen right now.... and I have had primers backordered for well over a year.. probably 18 months.

 

[wyo-man]

I've been looking for .257 Roberts lately, either loaded or just the brass. Not a chance. No one has it in person or online. I have some 7x57 brass laying around and it looks like I'll be using it to make up the .257.

Please contact me regarding .257 Roberts brass.

wyo-man