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Ammo Shortage

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:16 am
by outdoors4evr
Was shopping for some primers and lead to reload some pistol bullets and to my suprise I couldn't find any.
I knew some ammo was unavailable on store shelves, but was very suprised to find that reloading material is not available either! :?
Also started looking online for it and this stuff has become scarce there as well. :censored:

I've been shopping for a new glock, but it doesn't seem useful if I can't buy rounds or brass or primers or lead!

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:59 am
by Eugene
No 22 LR shells available in any area retail stores. Some shotgun shells and larger caliber bullets were in stock. Price is out of sight for available ammo.

I own a few shares of Olin stock. Olin is the owner of Winchester. Just received Olin's material for annual share owners meeting. Winchester's back log was approximately $440.8 million dollars in January 2013. Compare that to the $136.8 million dollar back log in January 2012.

Any way, no more family Sunday afternoon plinking outings.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:04 am
by Super A
From what I hear by summer things should be more normal. I have some co-workers that do a lot of target shooting and they say a few things are already beginning to show back up on the shelves.

Al

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:14 pm
by VinceD
Outdoors4evr, we do a lot of reloading and you are right - supplies are almost impossible to find. I load lead bullets (38-spl) for Cowboy Action Shooting and the lead is available. (Just took delivery on 16K.) Primers and powder are almost impossible to find unless you get lucky and are standing in the gun shop when they unload a truck. Most places will not take a backorder. Hopefully it will get better soon. Good luck. What primers are you looking for? let me know and I will let you know if I find any. What caliber are you loading?

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:15 pm
by RaymondDurban
A guy I work with just ordered a couple thousand shells, primers and lead for both 40cal and 9mm. Don't know where he ordered from, but he seems to have no issues getting what he needs/wants.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Wed Mar 20, 2013 9:24 pm
by VinceD
You can find all components on-line (gun broker.com for example) if you are willing to pay the price. Many components are going for 4-times what they would normally sell for. People are still in a panic buying mode and that is keeping the prices so high.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:49 am
by Bus Driver
Sellers are receiving new supplies and sales are usually brisk, selling out quickly. WalMart apparently is not price gouging as their prices have held steady and the shelves are mostly bare. I found some boxes of a popular caliber there recently, clerk said they had been on the shelf for about an hour, I bought all of them. Other shoppers are no doubt doing the same. The price was about 1/3 the price some sellers are charging.
Gander Mountain briefly had some larger boxes of .22 at reasonably good price with limit of three boxes. Bought three of them. Now their limit is one box. The only "regular" .22 rimfire they had on the most recent visit was boxes of 50 of Federal Match for $24.99 plus tax-- over $0.50 per round!! I saw no one buying them and neither did I.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 8:11 am
by outdoors4evr
I reload 44 mag pistol rounds and 30-06 rounds.
I like to use the same formula for my reloads so I'm kinda brand and model specific so I can get very repeatable results.
Currently, I am short on primers. CCA Large Pistol primers are my favorite.
I have found some, but putting in a 10-20 cent primer is not very cost effective. I thought a dollar per bang was expensive!

I'll probably just wait until summer to build up more rounds. I still have about 100 rounds per caliber already built.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 1:19 pm
by John *.?-!.* cub owner
Bus Driver wrote:...... I bought all of them. Other shoppers are no doubt doing the same. ........
Precisely why there is a shortage, everyone is grabbing all they can find, and they will end up having it till it is not dependable as to trajectory, because in spite of what some claim, gunpowder does degrade with time, though it does take several years.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2013 6:13 pm
by VinceD
Outdoors4evr, I know exactly what you mean when you talk about consistency. I do exactly the same thing. I will keep my eyes open for any CCA large pistol primers. I called one of my suppliers 5 times today trying to get some Trail Boss powder but the delivery truck never showed up as promised. I will bug them again tomorrow. I will ask them about your primers.

John, you are right. The new powders have a much better life but it is still a good idea to have a system where you can always shoot your oldest loads first. As I restock the gun cart ammo box after each shoot, everything gets "moved up" with the newest reloads going in the back.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 2:30 pm
by lazyuniondriver
One of my favorite bulk suppliers, ammoman.com who features free shipping on every order seems to be pretty well picked over at this time too. The common stuff is sold out.

If you shoot weird stuff, it may be still in stock. Minimum orders are usually 500 rnds with better pricing on the 1000 rnd orders.

I have never found any ammo cheaper per round than this guy even with the "free shipping" you are paying for in some way. Still cheaper than the best local sale price with with sales tax.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:36 pm
by BigBill
Before this panic buying of guns & ammo happened 5,000rd case of CCI 22lr ammo was $225 delivered. Thats 10 500rd bricks of 22lr. I just seen a box of 50rds of 22lr on the net selling for $39.95. You do the math thats 10 boxes of 50rds for $22.50 a brick at normal prices. The cost today would be $399.50 a brick thats silly.

Finding ammo and the reloading supplies forget it.

Gun powder life. I have ammo that i reloaded in the early 70's that fires off like i loaded it yesterday. I have military surplus ammo from the 30's that all goes bang today too. It matters how you store your gun powder, your primers and ammo too.

I learned on the very first ammo shortage that we purchase ammo & reloading stuff when its on sale long before the shortage happens.

Go to; www.gun-deals.com then click on ammo-deals they click on the ammo your looking for the cost and availabilty will come up. Plus who has it. But move quickly.

Re: Ammo Shortage

Posted: Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:04 pm
by coppersmythe
concerns about powder shelf life may be true , but i also have been reloading since the 80's and just finished off my last bit of bullseye (45 acp mainly, a few 9mm) and my chronograph shows no significant difference , measures out on my scale like the day i bought it , and the powder was about 12-15 years old . i also have some 22 lr from the 70's that work fine . stored in us army ammo cans . some russian spam cans from wwII have fired without a hiccup , so far about 100 rounds . primers may be a little more sensitive . my experience , coppersmythe..........................................