What fairly common ammo stayed available during the Corona virus freak out?

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40 was plentiful in my area. Same with boutique rounds like 38 Super, 357 SIG.

Oddly 38 special was also available.

Most of the big revolver calibers like 357, 44, 45 colt, 454 were kinda picked through. Mixture of being in Alaska and also not being heavily stocked for bulk to begin with.
 
A the shop I frequent, and help out at from time to time, 9mm and 5.56 disappeared. There was still plenty of .40 and .380 a few days ago.
 
How about 9x18 Makarov? Just food for thought.
Reportedly during a previous mass-stampede, this chambering was much more available than .380.

With .40 S&W having become so unfashionable over a year ago, almost as if the guns would be very Uncouth and Disease-ridden in the future, is it generally easier to find (.40) than 9mm at Academy etc? Just curious.

"Five days ago" comparisons might now be almost meaningless, never mind two weeks....
 
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doubleh:
As for police closing gun shops, aren't police chiefs, in most cases, appointed by city mayors?

Whether or not this tends to be the case, it is despicable and must be similar to what happens under authoritarian dictatorships.
 
Texas clarified matters at the state level ending inconsistent decisions among municipalities here.

Dateline March 27, 2020

"In a radio interview Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said gun stores and places that sell ammunition are essential businesses because if there's a "break down of society" people need to be able to defend themselves."

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.te...-essential-businesses-during-coronavirus/amp/

I didn't need to suddenly purchase ammo so I have no firsthand knowledge what was and wasn't readily available on shelves in my area. I still don't. There was no reason for me to expose myself further for that. Dr appts / treatments for things that must occur in person and still permittedby TX medical board, trips to Rx (often via the drive-through now), and grocery shopping primarily for perishable items not just for my household but also for dropoff to a senior disabled vet friend who doesn't (can't) drive and who shouldn't be exposed to the grocery store environment of the past month or so even if he took the bus to & from one with current bus system fee-free ridership here.
 
At our local Gander Outdoors, I was surprised to see .45 Long Colt...in several offerings when everything else was gone. There was lots of shotgun stuff....bird/clay rounds, etc. which of course can still be very effective at close range. They had one 500 round box of .45 acp on a table, no price. I was looking for some halfheartedly ( I reload, but keep some production FMJ on hand), but wasn't ready to spend whatever they would have been asking.
 
A few pics are worth 1K words... Local Academy store on 3/25/20
View attachment 906290 View attachment 906291 View attachment 906292

I stopped by the next week and it was worse than this. Should have taken pics then also. The only handgun ammo they had were CCI shotshells. The gun counter was hilarious too: not much on the back wall and 3+ handgun cases filled with scopes.
However... 22mag, 17HMR, rifle cartridges other than the usual panic buys, and shotgun shells (among a few other things) were available at typical Academy prices.
Btw, I may panic gawk, but I don't panic buy - haha.

Pretty much same situation here at the local Academy. Sparse a couple weeks ago, now just wiped out.
At a large, local LGS, an impressive stock of common calibers on pallets got taken down to the slats in about a week. Of the very common stuff, .308s lasted the longest.
Like the poster above, I just watched. Before the hard-ish "stay at home" order, I stopped by a couple places at opening times just to see what was shaking. Wow ... saw some odd behavior; some people definitely doing a freak-out, IMO.
Like many here, I didn't participate. I'd already topped off all my calibers/gauges pretty nicely. After the 2012-13 ridiculousness, I said, "Never this nonsense again."
Couple guys at work who shoot were getting a little anxious; so I took 'em each a gift package of a few hundred rounds. They're good dudes, and gunners should look after gunners, IMO.
 
.22 and 9mm. I've gotten most of it from Academy. When they are out, I get on line and asked to be notified when back in stock. I buy it online and pick it up. I've gotten my hands on so much of it over the last few weeks that I've stopped because I'm starting to feel like I'm hording.
 
I stopped by Academy again yesterday. I personally think this shortage is going to be short lived. Shelves still looking empty, but 40/45/38special/357mag/223/22LR were available. Even some 5.7x28 for $29.99/50. Remington 223 Rem 55gr FMJBT at $9.99/20 cartridges.

The prize does go to the people who own a .32 S&W Long. Of all the handgun ammo, that stack of ammo was hardly touched. Not surprising.
 
They had long gun ammo at the location I was at. I haven't kept track of their updated policy other than not selling handgun calibers and "assault" type. If I go in I'll snap a pic of the ammo case offerings.
What I want to know is how they don't consider 308 and "assault gun bullet".
It was developed by the army, for the army to fire in M14 and M60, replace and improve on the ww2 winning 30-06 which was a tall order to fill. It is still used as a machine gun and "sniper round" to this day.
The 5.56 doesn't have that much street cred, it was just supposed to be smaller, lighter, faster and shoot further than stamped commie sheet metal.
 
Right now, I think it's definitely worth checking out Academy online if there's something you're looking for. Prices are decent, and ammo ships at a flat $5.
At this moment, I'll actually go online and take what's available (if they have something I want) for curbside pickup here in town (no shipping fee).
If they've got something in national stock but not at a given town, you can make a separate order for delivery.
Ordering online, anyway, there's a five box limit on any given ammo item.
I just picked up some interesting odds and ends for curbside pickup, including five 100-count boxes of .38 Spl Win White Box 130 gr FMJ RN, and five each of their Monarch brand .410 and 28 gauge shotgun shells in No. 9 shot. (I've found the Monarchs a quite decent load for rec skeet).
 
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doubleh:
As for police closing gun shops, aren't police chiefs, in most cases, appointed by city mayors?

Whether or not this tends to be the case, it is despicable and must be similar to what happens under authoritarian dictatorships.

I believe so with input from the city commissions around here. The county sheriff and the Hobbs police have declined to lend a hand with this saying they have no constitutional authority to do so and it's in the hands of the state police. I may make a drive down to Hobbs and see if any of the gunshops are open out of curiosity. We have also been told to either contact the state's website or call the sheriff or city police if we see anyone violating the guv's orders. It will be cold day in a very hot place before I do.
 
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Some ome sneezed and just like that all the pistol ammo was poof and gone.
It was all the common stuff like 9mm, 38spl, 357, 380, 45acp.
Most but not all of the 44mag, no one wanted the 454 or the 45colt. I think the "forty five cult" either has a ton of ammo, manufacturs their own or both.
I don't think the local stores ever ran out of 5.7x28, not that it's super popular.
Didn't quite run out of 22lr here.
For 9mm it was real bad no one had any ammo, midway had no 9mm projectiles for a few days.
For long guns it was .223, 7.62xcommie and just about all the buckshot and slug shot gun ammo was gone but bird shot was still available.
A lot of the big rifle ammo stayed on the shelves, pretty much 30-30 and up.

How about for you?

The only ammo or reloading component I bought during this time was some 8lb containers of lead BB and lead T shot.
9mm, 223, and 7.62x39 was the only thing that disappeared at my favorite store. I'm about an hour away from Tulsa. The shelves there got hit pretty hard.
 
Is the freak-out over in your area? It isn't and has become even more draconian and extended to the end of April here. I don't know that there is an ammo shortage. All the gun store in the state had their doors slammed shut by decree weeks ago and remain that way for the duration. They haven't been able to sell anything to create a shortage. We can't even buy booze to help pass the time now as those doors were closed the first of this week.
 
I see that PSA is sending me the daily ads and that ammo is included in them.
Bummer doubleh, seems a bit much eh..? o_O
Heck, the liquor stores are even open in Kansass. (Tax revenue ya know..;))
 
Is the freak-out over in your area? It isn't and has become even more draconian and extended to the end of April here. I don't know that there is an ammo shortage. All the gun store in the state had their doors slammed shut by decree weeks ago and remain that way for the duration. They haven't been able to sell anything to create a shortage. We can't even buy booze to help pass the time now as those doors were closed the first of this week.

Gun stores and liquor stores both open in Indiana.
Party on, Hoosiers.
 
Lucky you. Evidently your governor, unlike mine, had a few working brain cells. :thumbup:

Weirder yet ... next door in Illinois they've got a Chicago Dem in the governor's mansion and the D's control both houses of the Legislature, and they didn't shut the gun stores or liquor stores.
Dayum ... next, dogs and cats together in the streets.
 
Lots of .223 was available today in two gun shops in, or near Fairhope AL. My brother who saw it never asked anything about when their last deliveries had taken place.

He saw plenty of the more common plinking brands. Prices were about 10% higher than normal. This also surprised me.

Maybe the Ammo Flippers only buy their ammo from WalMart (using an app to track deliveries), which is known to have the lowest prices?

I no longer use .223, but maybe this tiny news tidbit will reassure some of You, and is a sign that the Price Bubble has begun to slowly deflate in some areas. It's a phenomenon which I always find interesting.
 
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I have no idea as all our gunshops have been closed as no-essential along with almost everything else. Funny thing though, the liquor stores are still open.

The liquor stores are open so the ER won't be overwhelmed by people having seizures and DTs. For a real hardcore alcoholic going cold turkey can result in death. During a pandemic you don't want a hospital full of people that could have been "cured" by $5 worth of OE or cheap vodka.
 
I haven’t had trouble finding 150 grain .308 for the Socom. 9mm and 40 is harder to find. I can still feed the 45 colt and 357. Grabbed some 22lr and mag as I can. I’ve bought more than I’ve shot but not more than I normally do. I’m not jumping on the bandwagon. Got more x39 than I have mags for, and only one rifle in that caliber. I’ll keep buying mags though. Then more ammo. Then more mags.
 
Phaedrus/69: Cold turkey for alcoholics. I didn't realize that it's often quite deadly for so many people.

Earlier I told my wife that alcoholism be connected with the fact that so many, if not all, remain open.
 
Just paid for targetsports membership. Should pay for itself in a couple orders.
For that $99.00 membership, your next two orders better be massive to make up the difference in price. Funny how after the Wu Flu crud hit, some of their case priced .22 jumped $50.00 in less than two weeks. And no, I don't believe they were hit with a price increase either.

Bill
 
The liquor stores are open so the ER won't be overwhelmed by people having seizures and DTs. For a real hardcore alcoholic going cold turkey can result in death. During a pandemic you don't want a hospital full of people that could have been "cured" by $5 worth of OE or cheap vodka.
And so there won't be riots. Cut off an addict's access to alcohol or cigarettes and they will smash in the windows to get it.
 
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