Could the clouds be parting?

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I think we've hit the turning point, but there's so much back order out there that I predict about next December will be "normal."
 
I live quite a few miles from where I work and pass 3 Wal-Marts and 1 Bass Pro shop every day. I hit every one of them at least 3 times a week just hoping that some ammo on my wish list has magically appeared. Alas, that has not been the case so far...and I have been doing this since mid-January.

In the Bass Pro, one entire aisle of shelving some 20-30 feet long (maybe more) and 4 or 5 shelves high has nothing but row after row of little white tags stating that the ammo that used to ocupy this space is temproarily out of stock. Not one single box in the entire section. They have plenty of shotgun shells and a semi-decent supply of centerfire rifle ammo (except for .223 it seems) but if it'll fit a wheel gun or semi-auto pistol, you might as well be looking for solid gold bars. It just ain't there.

The Wal-Mart nearest my home has plenty of shotgun shells but I actually took an inventory last night of their other ammo. They had:

2 boxes of .25-06, 2 boxes of .308 Winmag, 1 box of .243 and 1 box of .270.

These same 6 boxes have been there for weeks. I asked the gentleman working the gun counter if he was seeing much ammo come in and his response was "Besides shotgun shells, the ammo we receive in a given shipment wouldn't normally fill the child seat on one of their buggies". He went on to say that he has not seen a brick of .22lr since Christmas.

Based on this, I would have to say that the clouds aren't parting yet in my neck of the woods.
 
I don't haunt the stores but my work schedule took me by an Academy this morning. There was a lot of 7.62x39, Monarch 40 and 223. There was also some Zombie 9. A guy was looking at the zombie 9 and wanted the clerk to open the box - I guess to see if it had real zombie bullets. He was incapable of that. So I said, could you just reach behind you and give me a box of the 223 ($9). He looks at me with scorn and says that 5.56 (yes, I know you can get techy on that distinction). But me and Zombie killer just laughed.
 
My Dad hangs out with a bunch of old farts at the local coffee shop. Most of these guys have not fired a shot in years with any of their guns. As soon as there was talk of a shortage back in Dec they all had to head out to find whatever ammo their old guns used and stock up.

Because ammo is going to be short, don't you know?

This shortage seems to be fed by a variety of fears, and the way things have been lately, some usually rational folks seem pretty afraid.
 
Cheap reloading components are pretty dang scarce as well, anything other than primo bullets has been wiped clean, shells are plentiful, haven't bothered to look for primers.

I don't even have the equipment or space to reload but once I saw that there was ZERO .308 FMJ to be found anywhere it kind of lit a fire under my arse to start.
 
A friend went to the Hampton, Virginia gun show this weekend, and said that there was plenty of 5.56mm ammo for $.50 - $.60 per round, and 30-round PMAGs for $20.

He asked one of the vendors "why so cheap?" (PMAGs were going for $40 each here not too long ago), and the vendor told him "I finally got the stock that I've been begging my distributor for, so I'm sitting on cases of these now, and so is everyone else. If I try to get $40 for them, I'm just going to end up taking all of them home at the end of the show."
 
It's an improvement, I scored 8 pounds of H335 at the standard price at Sportman's warehouse yesterday, I can now load myself out of 5.56 bullets primers and brass.:D
 
DPMS AR15 @ WalMart

I was in Walmart yesterday and they had just received a DPMS AR-15 Flat Top Sportical w/ 30 round clip; $597!!!!

I checked prices on Gunbroker and they were selling for $750-$799. I looked at what they were selling for on Gunbroker this past December for the same exact gun; $1250.

Today another Walmart received 200 cases of ammo, yes it sold in 1 day but still........

Slowly I truly believe we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.

Just like Lou Holtz said to his Notre Dame team before playing for the National Title Game - "if you score a touchdown act like you have been there before - don't act crazy". Now if we can only do the same when more ammo starts showing up.
 
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My LGS here in Cali is just now getting bad. That being said, it seemed untouched by the first couple months of panic buying. If I had to guess, I'd say that people in my area are just a little less interested in firearms and ammunition than in some other places. It wasn't until about a month ago that the shelves just suddenly went bare. They haven't recovered yet and I imagine that it will be a slow process for them. Online stores don't seem to be getting much better either as far as ammo goes, but the auction sites seem to be going down a bit in price for battle rifles. I have hope.
 
I hope you're right.

I got 300 rounds of .45 at Walmart last week. There were four boxes but the limit was 3 per customer. But the price was $40 not $34 like it used to be. That's an 18% increase, not really a bargain.
 
We looking for bargains or in stock ammo?

I can't even find my preferred 9mm ammo and am paying about that price for lesser ammo but its on the shelves and that's a good start.

Hope it gets back to close to previous prices but don't think it will. Right now, glad to be able to get a few boxed per week.
 
I had the same thing at my Walmart Eppie - I do not own a .45 so I passed on it. However, next week when they have more I am going to buy as many boxes as they allow so I can trade with someone for 9mm.

This situation has created what a mizer and drug dealer must feel like; I go up into my closet every couple of days.........except for one small night light I turn out the rest...... I sit down in the floor quietly all alone......open my ammo box and as I wring my hands excitedly I count each box, sometimes couting each bullet in each box. Carefully calculating what I caliber I can trade for another while trying to maintain that fine balance of equal between the numbers. :eek:

The sun is coming, just got to hold on a little longer. :)
 
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The same weekend as that gun show I was in Virginia Beach shooting at Superior Pawn and Gun with my son. I looked at their ammo shelves and thought I had been transported back to some mythical land of ammo availability. It really felt odd. They had 223, 9mm, all the rare stuff and it wasn't flying off the shelves. Picked up a box of Hornady Z-Max just because I could. The counter guy said their other store on Va Beach Blvd was even bigger and had more stock.
 
I've been to Superior Pawn & Gun in Virginia Beach recently, too - the larger one with the shooting range upstairs. I agree - it's like stepping into a time machine - shelves completely stocked with ammo, and there's even an extra table they've brought in that's stacked high with ammo, too.

I don't know how they're maintaining that level of stock - perhaps they're one of the ones raiding the local Wal-Warts?
 
It was amazing. I was at Dick's one morning on the way home from work before the doors opened. I knew they wouldn't have any 223 but I thought I'd pop in and see what guns they had and when they received shipments. There was another early bird there to see if they had and 9mm. On the way out the door he stopped me and told me to go 3 blocks and take a left. Southern Firearms had lots of 5.56 whitebox but would only sell me 200 round which I promptly bough. Stopped in the next day and they had even more so I bought another 200 rounds. 10 bucks a box, my wallet couldn't stretch for another 200 the next day but it was good to see they had so much.
 
I've been seeing lots of 7.62x39 out there. Dunhams near me finally filled their rain checks from pre xmas on 9mm remington mega packs the other day and had 5 boxes sitting on the shelf along with various other calibers. They also have been getting wasr 10/63s and I even saw a Bushmaster red dot sitting on the shelf. Cabelas too had the Bushmaster red dots and a couple other AR15s. Although I was more tempted by the mosin sniper sitting at the other end of their display...
 
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