Ammo shortage is still going strong

Here in Utah I have been seeing every type of ammo for a couple of months now including .380. Cabelas is usually fully stocked although their prices are generally a bit higher. I have seen .22 bulk at the local WalMart on several occassions as well. Sportsmans Warehouse has had .357 and .380 every time I have been in there the past month and they have not inflated thier prices. I think people are slowly running out of money to hoard the ammo in this state.
 
Most stuff available here in St. Charles, MO. Wal Mart, Cabelas and Bass Pro all have most of what you want. The .380 is harder to find but available if you want to pay the "crazy" price for it.

The "shortage" here lasted a while but now it isn't the shortage as much as the price.
 
Has anyone been shopping for .357 mag ammo, for example?
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Nope. I reload, and I happen to have plenty of components on hand. The only factory ammo I buy anymore is .22lr, and even then I haven't needed to buy it in a while.
 
Yeah up here in WI its still pretty barren... that or the prices are nauseating... I've given up on ammo for a bit and taken up archery... :rolleyes:
 
Over here I can get every caliber I regularly shoot, no problem. 22lr, 9mm, .45 all available at the range too. A while back they had one box limits on 9mm and .45, but no more going back a month. All the Obama nightmares are proving to be just bad dreams, and people catching on. That doesn't stop some from blaming him for the sinking of the Titanic of course.:rolleyes:
 
No the Titanic sinking must be Bush's fault. They will continue to blame him for everything.

I forgot to mention in my last post that prices around here really aren't bad. 9mm is around $10-15. Wal-Mart had some .380 a few weeks ago and I think that was around $12. 40 S&W were $18. I don't remember how much the 45 acp was, but it didn't seem unreasonable(I think just over $20).
 
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Local Walmarts are an absolute waste of time and have been for the past year or so. Plenty of #8 shotgun ammo, and practically nothing else.

Academy has a good stock of rifle ammo, but mostly expensive "premium" hunting rounds. They DO get some cheap Russian 5.56/223 in from time to time. It goes fast. Hit or miss on handgun ammo. They've been getting lots of 9mm lately, but no 38, 357 or 45acp. They had a couple of boxes of 380 last spring. I bought 'em. Haven't seen any since.

Local gunshops can provide small quantities of ultra-expensive top dollar hollow point ammo. Target/plinking ammo is nonexistent anywhere but on the web for this area. Been that way for the best part of the past year, with no signs of improvement. :mad:
 
Short supply of ammo:

Was in my ex-favorite Wal-Mart store yesterday to buy some ammo. They had none on the shelf except some .22 and couple boxes of Winchester .30-30 ammo. Asked the clerk what the problem was and he just shrugged his shoulders and said its our fault for buying all of it in the first place.
I went to the manager and complained about the clerk's attitude and answer to a customer's question. The manager gave me the same sort of look as well. So I told him I was through with his store and will take my business elsewhere. He just said okay and have a nice day. What the hell has happend to people in the country nowadays? Nobody seems to give a damn about customer service anymore?
 
"just shrugged his shoulders and said its our fault for buying all of it in the first place."

So, you're ticked at the clerk for at least telling you half the truth?

People ARE buying way too much right now, in large part a reaction to Obama's election.

What exactly were you expecting out of the clerk or the manager?
 
I find it hard to believe that the shortage is caused by hoarding. In order to hoard, there must be ammo to buy. There is not.
One would think if ammo was being produced, it would go to the big retailers.
Sportsman's Guide, Natchez, Cabella's, before it went to Joe's gun shop in Fremont, TX.
So why have I been backordered for months for .380?
 
So why have I been backordered for months for .380?
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I am not sure why you have been backordered for months. I have been able to walk in just about any local gun shop including Sportsmans Warehouse and Cabelas and buy a box of .380 almost any time I want for the past couple of months now. I have even seen it at a couple of the Walmarts by me.
 
At least in the SW things are getting better.

One explanation for the initial shortage was when Obama was elected a lot of people paniced and would go into Walmart and charge a couple thousand dollars worth of ammo. No problem, Walmart and the other big guys would order more from their warehouses. Problem. According to other forums many of the big ammo plants (used to) shut down during the Thanksgiving to New year hollidays. With no limits on ammounts people could purchase and people buying all they could afford or charge, plus manufacturing shut down what happenned happenned.

Lately I have been able to order .45 on line and buy it at Walmart, but the price is now higher, with best prices of around $32 per 100 versus $22 per hundred before Obama.
 
It's been discussed.... I can't even begin to say how many times over the past.

The rather massive increase in sales to worried civilians is only PART of the reason why we have ammo shortages right now.

Another VERY significant portion?

The United States is currently engaged in two wars -- Iraq and Afghanistan.

What do you need to fight a war, and train people to fight a war?

Ammunition.

Where does that ammunition come from when the sole large ammunition manufacturer can't provide for the military's war-time needs?

Civilian sector manufacturers.

How do they make that ammo?

By converting production lines used for manufacturing civilian ammunition like .30-30, .30-06, 9mm, .45 ACP, etc., to manufacture military ammunition.


As I said, there have been literally dozens of threads about shortages of ammunition and components on TFL over the past few months, sprinkled liberally among the many forums here.

Use of the search tool will reveal a wealth of topics on the subject.
 
I agree its just as bad as it was about 7 months ago when i got back into handguns after a 20 year hiatus.
Granted i can get any ammo i want,but it takes time,money and a willingness to make phone calls and travel.
.380 seems to be the hardest score and the most expensive.Gander Mtn is the most consistent supplier,but at $20 a 50 round box its no cheap score.

My local rather large independent gun store always trys not to gouge and i respect them for that and buy most my guns there also.But 9mm recently was unavailable and if it was is stock out priced .40 by a buck or two.

In another thread i spoke with people on another forum about mouseguns and .25 and .32 ammo.Oddly enough i can find these calibers in low amounts still on Walmart shelves,but its rather highley priced but i figure its been that way prior to this issue.
It does make me want to snag a KT P32 just so i can have another mouser.

I have learned to keep 200-300 rounds of each caliber on hand,and replace them as i shoot.My .380 is down too 150 rounds so when more cash pops up ill add a few more boxs.
I dont hoard,i just want enough on hand so that when i go to the range im not stressing and spending hours just ammo hunting.

I went to the range 2 days ago and the salesman at the counter told me not to shoot all my .380 that day and its too hard to replace,i replied only brought enough to shoot and have enough at home to keep me shooting a few more trips.
 
Are the companies not able to make enough or is there too little profit?
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They can't keep up with demand and because the shortage is (correctly) perceived as being temporary they are not going to make permanent changes (buy expensive facilities and equipment) to increase production further.
I find it hard to believe that the shortage is caused by hoarding. In order to hoard, there must be ammo to buy. There is not.
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Here's how it happens.

People get worried and start buying a lot more ammo than they normally would. What people don't understand is that there isn't a huge reservoir of ammunition out there. So when demand bumps up significantly stores and distributors will begin to run short fairly quickly.

So now we get supply starting to show the strain a bit. A person goes to buy 9mm and the particular store he chooses to visit is out of 9mm. He's heard the rumor about ammo shortages so he goes to the next store and buys all they have. For good measure he buys some of the other calibers too just in case. Now anyone who goes into either store sees that they're out of 9mm and are maybe a bit low on some other calibers so they get freaked out because they've heard the rumors too--and if they haven't the clerk is happy to tell them some. So they go out and scour the immediate area for ammo, buying all they can afford. Someone gets on the internet and posts that "!!!ALL THE STORES IN MY AREA ARE SOLD OUT OF 9MM AND THEY'RE RUNNING OUT OF OTHER CALIBERS TOO--THE RUMORS ARE TRUE--THE SKY IS FALLING--OUR GUNS ARE USELESS WITHOUT AMMUNITION--WE'RE DOOMED!!!"

From there things really take off. You can see the results for yourself.

And it keeps going until people run out of disposable income/credit or some other major factor increases supply or cuts down on demand.
 
I think 357 mag is about the hardest ammo to get now. Some of the non USA companies like PMC and Fiochhi have filled some of the void but I do not consider them high quality self defense rounds like the yellow/green boxed Remington or silver boxed Winchester. If you do find it on Ammo To Go it is like $60 a box.
I think most of the ammo companies are concentrating on 223/5.56, 9mm and 40 SW. and think no one uses a revolver anymore?
 
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