The Great Ammunition Shortage of 2009...

[spin]

Anywhere USA - -(AmmoLand.com)- In every corner of the USA, at every gun show and at every gun club meeting we are hearing the same question. Where is all the ammunition?

It seems we are in the dust bowl of all ammo shortages. Store shelves are bare and when new ammo does arrive it is over priced and still sells out in a flash.

We have been flooded with reports of retailers gouging shooters by hiking up the prices. A box of 45ACP on average now goes for $22.00 a box up from $15.50 just one year ago. That is if you can find it.

Even 22 LR ammunition of all things is hard to find.

***snip***

he End is Near:
The end of the Great Ammunition Shortage of 2009 that is. All sources claim that this is just a temporary shortage and that with the increased production coming online at ammo manufactures in the private and government sectors that we should start to see increased availability in the next few months as the supply stream catches up to the demand.
http://www.ammoland.com/2009/05/27/ammunition-shortage-2/

[MineralMan]

1. Someone's stockpiling it.

It's that simple. It's fear. So, they buy everything they can. How hard is that to figure out?

Heck, I ran right down and bought another box of 00. That ought to last the rest of my life.

[bluestateguy]

2. Obama's early record as president is very favorable to guns and the gun industry

Gun and ammo sales are thriving under his presidency, and he signed a bill allowing loaded guns in national parks.

The gun people should direct their whining elsewhere.

[pscot]

3. And they're making a fortune

off the self-generated buying panic.

[MineralMan]

4. Well, the odds of that happening are miniscule, at best.

The rules state that you must whine at the current administration at all times regarding firearms.

Get with the program.

[spin]

6. That seems to be the NRA-ILA and the Brady Campaign view...

but then they do try to drum up contributions.

[aikoaiko]

20. Mostly, except for talking about banning many popular firearms and firearm accessories

That might have been a teensy weensy distressing to some gun people.

Until recently, this was on the Obama-Biden position:

Address Gun Violence in Cities: As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment, which restricts the ability of local law enforcement to access important gun trace information, and give police officers across the nation the tools they need to solve gun crimes and fight the illegal arms trade. Obama and Biden also favor commonsense measures that respect the Second Amendment rights of gun owners, while keeping guns away from children and from criminals who shouldn't have them. They support closing the gun show loophole and making guns in this country childproof. They also support making the expired federal Assault Weapons Ban permanent, as such weapons belong on foreign battlefields and not on our streets.

After Heller, Obama had a good opportunity to say that the new SCOTUS ruling would making banning popular and useful weaons for self-defense (like AR-15s) unconstitutional. In my opinion, the panic buying scared the administation into backing away from the AWB.

[X_Digger]

5. *fingers crossed* I sure hope it's over soon

I've put off scheduling my CHL class because I couldn't get enough ammo for my new springfield to practice and qualify.

[krispos42]

7. This can't last

There is only so much money that can be spent on ammo. Unemployment is rising, too.


I bet in six months there'll be a massive glut.

[spin]

9. Just like the housing boom and bust. (n/t)

[spin]

8. After waiting MANY months, my Christmas present for my son in law...

finally arrived last week.

It became his Christmas and birthday present. a Ruger LCP .380 pistol. (He wanted a smaller and lighter pocket pistol than his Glock 23 for concealed carry.



The dealer said that on the same day ONE box of .380 ammo arrived.

Now I'm on a search for enough ammo to check the new weapon out and for my son in law to gain proficiency with it.

[Xela]

25. It's not a good time for .380 ACP firearms

I just saw a box going for $59.00 here in the DFW area.

Let's see how things turn out in the next months.

Xela

[spin]

29. Damn, thats some EXPENSIVE ammo!...

One son in law wants to put at least 100 rounds through his new Ruger .380. At $59 a box that would total out at almost as much as the firearm itself cost.

[Xela]

31. The box I saw...

I think it was a 20 round box, definetly not a 50 round though, as it was rather small box.

It's been my experience that .380 is even harder to find than all the rest. I actually hadn't seen one single box until this past weekend.

Regards,

Xela

[darkskinkracker]

33. .380 Ammo

I live in Lewisville, Tx, just north of Dallas and I have about 5 extra boxes of .380 ammo. I have some Monarch from Academy and some Winchester.

[423aaron]

32. A gun dealer friend of mine...

Said he would not even put .380ammo on the shelf.

He said he was embarrassed to price it for what he is able to get for it on line.

$45.00 for 50 rounds of FMJ
$75.00 for 50 rounds of HP.

Not so embarrassed that he would sell them for less mind you.

Aaron

[Deadric Damodred]

10. I've been good to go for a long time.

I saw this happening long before it did, so with the exception of a box of ammo here and there, I've just been concerving what I've got:

.22cal - 3,077 rounds
9mm - 1,200 rounds
.40cal - 700 rounds
.45ACP - 1,245 rounds
.357mag - 260 rounds
.500mag - 200 rounds
.50AE - 210 rounds
5.56mm - 243 rounds
.223mm - 1,440 rounds
7.62x39mm - 2001 rounds
.308cal - 650 rounds
.50BMG - 75 rounds
Buckshot - 488 shells
Slugs - 333 shells

[ManiacJoe]

13. Off on a tangent,

Do you really have a rifle in .223 so that you need to distinguish between .223 and 5.56mm ?

[Deadric Damodred]

16. No.

Mine all shoot either/or.

[TheWraith]

19. Holy mother of fuck.

I want to be you. No more having to conserve target practice!

[Tim01]

21. I'm don't think we define "good to go" the same way.

1,200 rounds of ammo is what I call a serious training weekend.

[TheWraith]

22. My stockpile is ~100 rounds each for my shotgun and rifle.

I envy you.

[Tim01]

23. Here you go.

http://www.ammoman.com/

I get to sit in on a lot of pistol and rifle classes. Most people get their ammo from this guy. .45 acp is as little as 1000 rds for $350, free shipping. That's 48 lbs.
Mostly I reload.

[TheWraith]

24. Makes me wish I owned a .45.

I'm 100% 12 gauge and 7.62x51. The latter you don't get into for cheap ammo, but there's some definite deals out there. I just picked up 80 rounds for $35 shipped off a guy online.

[gorfle]

28. Even he is sold out of most 9mm and .45

n/t

[Tim01]

30. It's about a 3 week delay.

As a friend of mind said yesterday. "If you are going to need a few thousand rounds you will probably know a few months in advance.Most people don't need a thousand rounds this weekend."

I hadn't thought of it that way. Makes sense.

[BigBluenoser]

11. In my unscientific opinion...

Things are starting to loosen up. At least in south Texas. Hell, I was even able to grab 5000 primers from Natchezss.com the other day at retail prices. I've got to order another case of 7.62x54r from AIM in a few weeks, and I'll need some new bricks of CCI SV 22lr in a week or two, but I don't anticipate any issues in either of em.

Gun show attendance is down, nobody is bidding on Gunbroker and I've seen SKS back down into the mid 200s (with ammo) on Texasguntrader. Things are getting back to normal.

So I anticipate an idiotic statement from a member of the Presidents staff any day now. Barring that, we are on the downward slope of this boom cycle.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. Finally, maybe I can get some decently priced sub-230 grain .45 ACP now.

Stupid Taurus Millennium.

[Tim01]

14. I wish we hadn't been threatened with bans by Obama, and Clinton, and Holder, and Kerry.

How many people did I miss? People in the current administration who have brought up a ban in public since Obama took office.
Who was it that said that she will positively try to bring a ban at a time and place of her choosing?

[rl6214]

15. That would be fienstien

[Euromutt]

17. And let's not forget Carolyn McCarthy

Who introduced HR1022 two years ago, and now wants to prohibit people who are on the TSA's "No Fly" list from being able to possess firearms and to hell with due process.

[spin]

18. If the object of the anti-gun politicians was to reduce or limit firearm ownership...

their comments fueled an enormous surge in the sales of firearms and ammo.

USA Buys Enough Guns in 3 Months to Outfit the Entire Chinese and Indian Army
Law abiding US citizens bought on average 3,177,256 guns every 3 months in 2008.

EveryTown, USA - -(AmmoLand.com)- In just 3 months Americans bought enough guns to outfit the entire Chinese and Indian army’s combined.

“You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto WWII

You also bought 1,529,635,000 rounds of ammunition in just the month of December 2008. Yeah that is right, that is Billion with a “B”. This number takes no accounting of reloading or reloaded ammunition.

This is an evaluation of overall firearms and ammunition purchases based on low end numbers per Federal NIC instacheck data base Statistics. The numbers presented are only PART of the overall numbers of arms and ammunition that have been sold.
http://www.ammoland.com/2009/04/22/usa-buys-enough-guns-in-3-months-to-outfit-the-entire-chinese-and-indian-army/

Firearm Sales Continue to Climb in March 2009


National Shooting Sports Foundation


NEWTOWN, Conn. - -(AmmoLand.com)- Firearm sales continued to surge across the country for the fifth straight month, extending a trend that began after the November elections. The increase also follows recent comments by several high-profile members of the Obama administration about re-imposing permanently and expanding the ban on modern sporting rifles.

Data from the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) show background checks on the sale of firearms jumped 29.2 percent in March when compared to March 2008 and were up 27.1 percent for the first quarter of 2009 over the same quarter last year.
http://www.ammoland.com/2009/04/03/firearm-sales-continue-climb-march-2009/

[cslinger59]

26. The law of unintended consequences

their comments fueled an enormous surge in the sales of firearms and ammo.

More guns, models of guns and ammunition have been put on the market/streets etc. by the efforts of those who would try to ban them then would have been if they had never taken on the issue.

Before the 1994 AWB, evil black rifles EBR's were languishing on the shelves. Nobody wanted those ugly things.

Enter 1994 and BLAMMOOO Nabisco is making AR15s (ok maybe that's a little facetious but you get the point.)

10 round magazine limit drives the production of uber tiny real caliber concealable handguns, which is not a HUGE market in the firearms industry

10 round magazine limit drives up the sale of larger caliber weapons, if I can only have 10 I might as well have 10 big ones so to speak

10 round magazine limit drives designs of revolvers holding 7 to 8 rounds and sales skyrocket for S&W

Ammo encoding talk drives sales of both ammo and revolvers

Smart gun talk/laws drive massive increases in firearms before these guns are mandated

Hillary/Holder speak of AWB and everybody and their brother goes out to buy guns.......which leads to them needing ammo..........which then runs out which leads to them buying a .22........which leads to .22 ammo becoming scarce. The next thing I see as scarce will be optics, accessories and holsters. it is sort of a wave effect of new buyers

All the talk of bans/fears drives carry permit applications through the roof.

Basically if all the folks who really want firearms out of society just STFU they would naturally become less and less available through normal market conditions and shooters would become more of a fringe group as before.

Think of how many new shooting voters the past few years have created. Now think about where you want your party to fall in terms of telling these folks that you want to take away their possessions or limit them severely. Its not a win situation and by letting one party play the role of the great 2nd amendment defender (whether that holds any truth or not) you give them a huge block of free voters, let them rape other rights and lose the chance to pass legislation that really matters.

[X_Digger]

27. All good points.. and welcome to DU! n/t

[spin]

34. Update on .380 auto ammo and my son in law's Christmas present..

As I said in a post above, I bought my son in law a Ruger .380 acp pistol. It was supposed to be his Christmas present, but took so long to come in that it ended up being his Birthday present as well.

When we picked up the weapon, the store owner had received one box of .380 ammo at the same time as the pistol. He had set it aside for us as he hates to sell a firearm with ammunition.

Well this week, my daughter got a call from the store saying that four boxes of .380 auto had arrived and he was holding two for her and two for another customer. When she arrived at the store to pick up the ammo, several people were interested in buying it. The other customer was also there and wanted his two boxes.

She paid $14.99 a box for the ammo (20 rounds). The ammo was Magtech Guardian Gold .380 auto+P 85 grain JHP. Not an unreasonable price at all.

My daughter said that while the store had some ammo on the shelves, the more popular calibers were on back order.

[Ready4Change]

35. Is it only certain calibers?

I've checked out a couple stores/gun shops, and the calibers I'm interesting in are in supply.

I don't see much .223, so maybe it's just that and other more 'popular' calibers?