Ok, I have a question for all who are up to speed on ammo purchases

[Road Scholar]

I like to go out to the pistol range to burn some powder. I have a re loader, but I have found it to be cheaper to purchase my ammo from Wal Mart. I haven't been shooting in a few months so to my surprise the clerk at Wal Mart tells me that they can't keep any ammo in stock. I go by my favorite re loader supplier and they say I can't buy primers because they can't get them. Nobody can tell me why for sure. WTF?
Is this related to my fucking right wing nut job brother-in-law and his wife and children all with brand new permits to carry and packing heat since the election?

[peace13]

1. We have the same problem here in Ohio.

Bare shelves in the ammo department. I think you have hit on the answer to your question.

[Pullo]

16. Can't get ammo here either.

I've been trying to find some 9mm in central OH for the last week or two to no avail. I peeked in a local shooting range last week, and their CCW classed are experiencing a huge backlog.

There's a lot of first time gun owners who want to shoot their new hardware, and a lot of long-time gun owners who hadn't shot much for a while are now rediscovering the range.


This reminds me of the '94 Clinton panic, only back then there was no frenzy until after the AWB ect had passed....and this is worse. I guess gun owners have discovered there's more pleasure to be had from the anticipation?

[atreides1]

2. Here's a story about it.

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-finance/20090329/Ammunition.Shortage/

[Road Scholar]

6. Thank you. Well, that about answers that. I guess I'll just keep a few

rounds to protect my family and give up my favorite hobby 'till these paranoid screwballs find some other things to go nuts about.

[Common Sense Party]

3. Yes, ammo is in short supply nationwide. n/t

[rl6214]

4. It's just got to do with supply and demand

The suppliers cannot keep up with the demand. I go by my local Academy Sporting goods and the gun counter always has 6-10 people waiting to be helped and they aren't just looking, they are buying and all those new guns need to be fed. Since all the new gun owners are buying up the factory ammo, the older shooters are buying up the re-loading supplies to fill their needs.

[sharp_stick]

5. It's due to RW nutjobs and the NRA in large part.

The NRA, Wayne LaPierre and his cronies are telling all their brethren that the big black guy in the White House is going to confiscate all the weapons.

There is nobody easier to lead around than a RW moron, so when the NRA and the rest of the assholes that profit from massive gun sales go out and tell their dues paying assholes to buy they go out and buy.

Some dipshit in CT tried to buy all the 12 gauge ammunition at a local dealer but didn't have the cash to do it. He wanted it on credit because he was sure it wasn't going to be there the next day because Obama had a secret order to have it all picked up over the weekend.

The ammunition sellers and manufacturers are laughing their asses off at the number of idiots I'm sure. Me, I'm kind of nervous with all these conspiracy assholes holing up tons of explosive ordinance in unsecured condition.

[Road Scholar]

9. I belong to the NRA as a requirement of my shooting club and

you wouldn't believe the bullshit they are pumping out. I thought most people had enough sense to ignore all that fear mongering.

[sharp_stick]

11. I can't stand them anymore.

I belonged to them for years, back in the early 90s. I finally quit about 6 years ago because I couldn't handle it. They are still trying to get me to rejoin, the crap they send me is beyond libelous it's pure crackpot idiocy. I thought I'd escaped them until Obama won the election and then it really started up. From "All your guns are going to be taken" to "You've got to rejoin the NRA to protect your family from the coming evils"

I sent the last 3 mailers back to them empty, at least they have to pay the postage.

[Road Scholar]

13. I got asked to participate in a phone survey. First I had to listen to

La Pierre recording. The first question was, "Do I feel that my 2nd amendment rights are threatened now that Obama is President? " My answer was no. She thanked me and said that that was the end of the interview. I laughed.

[old mark]

7. Absolutely. No one can keep ammo in stock, especially in

most handgun calibers and military related rifle calibers - .308, .223, 7.62x39, etc.
I bought the lst box of remington .308 at my local Walmart last week, was told the same thing - deliveries are spotty because of incredible demand, ammo sells out same day it arrives. You can't even find much online.

We have a Democratic President,who happens to be black, who has a rep favoring gun control, and a few million RW'ers think he's a communist musilm satan and are preparing for the 2nd American revolution for real.

They seem to believe the Federal law enforcement and military people will side with them because everyone secretly hates and fears Obama except us "stupid liberal socialist sheep" who want to confiscate their guns, etc, etc. We of course don't have guns and will just lay down and get rolled over by the wave of armed RW'ers.
I am on a lot of gun forums for imformation, and read some of their political stuff when I can stand it.
I take them a lot more seriously than most people here seem to.

Interesting times, huh?

mark

[Road Scholar]

12. Thanks. i'll say interesting but it's hard to believe how nutty

some people can be. I grew up hunting, but now just love to go to the range and burn a little powder.Maybe even compete just for fun. My grandson was looking forward to learning how. I had already been teaching him gun safety.

[ConcernedCanuk]

8. I'm assuming that you are in the USA with your reference to carry permits.

.
.
.

since we don't have them up here, except in VERY exception circumstances, I have no knowledge of USA's policies.

However, I think some of y'all, as well as any Canadian that reads this tread might be interested in our situation in Ontario, Canada.

If I want ammunition, I have to have a Firearms Possession Permit, that being for rifles only, or a Firearms Acquisition Permit.

The Possession permit allows me to keep the rifle I got, but I cannot lend or borrow, but I can buy ammunition - they record the purchase.

Firearms Acquisition Permit (which I don't have) would allow me to buy and sell firearms, rifles only to another person ONLY if they also have a Firearms Acquisition permit -

or course they also can buy ammunition, and the caliber and amount are recorded.

[doctor jazz]

10. My local WM had a pretty good supply Saturday, I bought 3 boxes of .38 spl

(I usually get it at the pawn shop but was in WM for some other stuff anyway)

[Tim01]

14. Military use, and panic buying.

[aikoaiko]

15. raw materials and military contract demand began to put pressures on prices

about 2 years ago. People started to horde then because it was clear that prices were going up.

then panic buying increased after the election because of the general worry about increased ammo taxes, required encoding that would increase prices, and some general fear of ammo getting harder to find.

Now nearly everyone who shoots is "filling up their tanks" in much the same way that car people do when they hear about gas prices increasing or scarce products. Its really unclear to me what will happen inthe future. Ammo is consumed like gas, but people around shooting all of it. they are storing it.

Ammo scarcity will likely end, but I predict the prices will remain high.

[rl6214]

17. One reason not brought up yet is

Importation of some surplus ammo was cut off so shooters have to buy more expensive domestic ammo.

[bossy22]

18. surplus ammo is still being imported

that was a rumor that was never substantiated

[rl6214]

19. Not fom communist countries

Is it?

[benEzra]

22. No more ammo imports from China...

but that happened during the Clinton years.

HOWEVER, the biggest producer/exporter of popular Eastern Bloc calibers (7.62x39mm, #2 centerfire rifle caliber in the USA) is Russia, e.g. Wolf, Barnaul, Silver Bear, Brown Bear, etc. There have been some hiccups in that supply, first over trade issues, but then over supply issues as a lot of Russian 7.62x39mm output got purchased and sent to our allies in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle east. That tightened up the U.S. supply considerably and drove prices through the freaking roof. Then throw in ban concerns, and concerns over import restrictions...

I still have some Wolf 122-grain 7.62x39mm JHP that I paid $1.75 a box for in the early 2000's. That's now $5.00 to $8.00 a box, depending on where you look.

:wow:

[ManiacJoe]

20. There is no surplus.

Currently various militaries around the world are consuming it all.

[benEzra]

21. No, it's a combination of factors, starting with the Iraq war and the Katrina confiscations.

A lot of ammunition makers got subcontracted to the major military ammo makers to provide ammunition for the war in Iraq, and as a result shifted their production lines over to military-contract ammo.

That didn't start to cause a shortage until the Katrina debacle in New Orleans, which involved ammo sales suspensions and illegal door-to-door confiscations by the DEA, California Highway Patrol, and some rogue Oklahoma National Guard units. That got a lot of people to thinking that having just a box or two of ammunition on hand for their preferred firearm probably wasn't enough, and the supply of popular defensive calibers started to get really tight, prices increased sharply, and availability went down. I'd say it was some time between mid-2007 and early 2008 when demand started outstripping supply, and THAT caused people to start paying more attention to the ammo supply situation.

THEN the gun prohibitionists started circulating model legislation to require serialization and tracking of all new-production ammunition all the way to the end user, usually including a ban on legacy ammo by a certain date. Such a scheme would drive availability WAY down and prices WAY up, so that increased "just in case" sales.

THEN the economy tanked, Great Depression II/Peak Oil became at least a possibility, and having a bit more food, water, and ammunition on hand started to seem like a good idea, whether as a hedge against hyperinflation or against increased crime, take your pick. More concerned people buying ammo.

Finally, the election, since which the MSM and the repubs at the Brady Campaign have been crowing that the Obama administration is going to give them their precioussss ban on the most popular civilian rifles in America. I do NOT think Obama is foolish enough to try to resurrect the "assault weapon" bait-and-switch, but there are those in his administration who do favor it (Holder, possibly Clinton, probably Biden), and the BC and MSM are beating the drum for it. So millions of people who thought they might like to own a small- or intermediate-caliber "black rifle" someday decided to get one sooner rather than later, as a hedge against the possibility of a future ban. A lot of those are first-time buyers (including a lot of Dems, FWIW). Those ban concerns triggered perhaps the biggest run on guns in recent U.S. history, and of course gun buyers are buying ammunition as well.

As a result of THAT, John/Jane Q. Citizen goes to Wal-Mart or his local sporting goods store emptied, and the ammunition manufacturers backordered. So he/she decides to buy extra when the ammunition does come in; more demand.

All in all, it's pretty much a perfect storm as far as ammo availability---the war, crises, and the MSM obsession with new bans.