Why is there an ammo shortage?

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Another reason .22 rimfire is pricey and scarce is that many shooters have switched to it as it is(or was)much more affordable than center fire rounds. In order to be able to afford to shoot and stay tuned up many have given up their .45 ACP, .40, and even 9mm in favor of the rimfire.
Having said that, I am amazed that the same $6 brick of .22 is now selling for upwards of $20 in 5 short years!
 
Local Wal-Mart here is bone dry ... Dicks has some overpriced hd ammo, but not much. Gun shops have little on the shelves.
 
My local FFL is a relatively small shop that sells Fish Bait, Dog Training Supplies and of course Guns.
My friend at the shop tells me that in the current crises he has sold an unheard of 35 AR's, all of the AK's, and SKS's therein.
Not a SPECK of .223 or 9MM ammo to be had.
15 to 20 calls/day looking for an AR.
Keep in mind that this is a SMALL shop catering MOSTLY to retirees and Farmers!
 
Even when explaining this to a wife who is very intelligent and understanding, some of them must suspect that if we accumulate more than a few thousand rounds, we might later lose interest in either a specific gun or 'caliber'.
 
I too am seeing the .22 rimfire shortage that others have commented on. My usual online ammo source is backordered for months and the neighborhood WalMart has been sold out since before Christmas.
 
500 rounds of 5.56 fell off the back of the FedEx truck (in transit, not out-for-delivery) 8 days ago....2 hours drive from my home. And of course I can't get a replacement because the vendor (LuckyGunner) doesn't have any stock and doesn't plan to anytime soon. Anyone had similar experiences with FedEx? Is UPS any more reliable?
 
What, a shipping clerk somewhere who steals products clearly marked as to their contents? Unheard of, I tell you! :(
 
The prices on ammo are ridiculous. 5.56 and 7.62x39 are not going away. Prices will normalize... eventually...
 
MHow many guns can one guy shoot at a time?! I'm not advocating that we shouldn't have a back up gun or two, but it's just plum crazy!

I used to joke that i had enough pistols to fully arm 4 Octopusses. I have more now...BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAAA!:D
 
Prices on ammo may normalize...at a new level. And ammunition companies may switch to producing other calibers. Like they went from producing large amounts of .32 and .25 caliber in the old days to .40 and .45 now. Society changed and so did people's perception of "a good caliber". If magazines are limited to 10 rounds, do you want 10 rounds of .223 or x39, or would you want 10 rounds of .308? If a ban happens and goes on awhile, everyday prices on less attractive calibers could double or triple. I'm thinking of .303 here.
 
Last week I was looking online at several of the different internet places I buy ammo and saw that basically no one really had much of anything in 9mm fmj.
And a lot of the other popular calibers were in the same shape of non availability.
So last week after work I head into Academy Sports armed with three Christmas $50 gift cards to buy myself a Shakespere Ugly Stik fishing rod and the model I was looking for was unavailable.
So I head over to the ammo aisle and sure enough there was zero 9mm,380,or 32 ACP left.
But then at the end of the aisle was a platform that had those little green plastic ammo boxes Blazer Brass sells in 350 rounds(7 boxes) for $99 stacked up.
So even though I did not like basically having to pay over $14 a box for Blazer Brass,well there it was.
I took two of them and paid with the gift card.
A nice find I thought.
However,after the great ammo drought of 2009-10,especially in 380 I have been steady buying and have now accumulated quite a bit and plan to keep buying as I use up certain set amounts of stock.
So as a few other ammo preppers having been saying in this thread and that is basically that after the 08 election YOU really should have had a clue which way the wind was blowing.
Sorry.
 
Notice that .380 ammo pretty much did not run out this go around?

I just bought 1,000 rounds of Blazer Brass (9mm). I think I'll also buy 1,000 rounds of .380, too.
 
I see 45 ACP (and 1911s) becoming a lot more popular. I should be getting mine next week (GB win). Of course, I had been planning to get one to pai up with my Marlin Camp 45 I got last November.
 
Part of the problem is the gun shop workers. I know because I am one.


Truck came in yesterday and between the boss and me all the .22lr and half the .223 were "sold out" 5 minutes before we opened. (couldn't take all the .223 because thats just mean)

Not really the best business practice, but if I want to shoot and have access why not buy. We are a low volume gun dealer (maybe 1-3 firearms per day even with the craze) and I can only expect our competitors do the same with the hundreds of thousand of rounds they usually stock.

At least we don't jack up prices :D

Just an "insiders" perspective, trying to aware and explain not be flamed.
 
It's pretty simple. A whole lot of people
recently purchased a few million guns.
You need ammo to feed them. More guns
equals more ammo. And those who did
not buy a gun, still need to feed the ones
they have. And, yes, Poo happens.
(Caca pasa)
 
We need to remember that there are numerous bliss-ninnies screaming for disarming the public...........that tends to make some folks nervous about future availability. Just sayin'
 
just as a side note.... there doesn't seem to be any shortage of shotguns or shot gun shells, or shot gun reloading components out there.

No love for for the shot gun?
 
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