Crazy Ammo Shortage (aka why I'm glad I don't own a .380)

Been to Bass Pro several times over the past few weeks. They even took down their pistol ammo display shelf. All they had behind the counter was .460 and a few boxes of .45 LC.

The shelf at the local Wallys remains empty with a big sign that reads "TWO BOX LIMIT" over the empty display case.
 
christcorp hit the nain on the head. I have Cabela's and Old West Guns in Kearney Ne. to shop at. They don't seem to be marking up stuff. When ammo comes in they put it on the shelf for the price they have been selling it for in the past. I bought 2 boxes of Hornady Critical Defense at Old West last month for $17.00 a box. When I got home and looked on Gunbroker at what folks were paying I was tempted to put ot up for auction. I did not, cause first then I would have none and second it is just wrong to take advantage of folks. I too think this cal. shortage will pass. Folks just keep hording because of the scare. I hope that this scare is like the "Y2K bug", just a scare. Only time will tell us the truth. Untill then we have either to wait or pay out the nose. We here should band together and stop buying ammo altogether. Our numbers are high enough that we could tip the scales from demand to surplus. It is just getting all of us to band up that is the problem.
 
I hear a lot of talk online about the 380 ammo shortage, but I know I could buy all of it I wanted from multiple sources. It's about the only ammo the walmarts have left. This may be because of the lack of ccw in wisconsin.
 
When ammo manufacturing capability catches up in a year or two, and this mess is over, dealers are going to crack open the palate in the back and set two or three boxes on the shelf at a time. "Federal still has an 18 month back log! We were lucky to get these on the truck this mornin'. Only $60 a box!" ;)

It's a gold mine just waiting to happen.
 
...dealers are going to crack open the palate in the back and set two or three boxes on the shelf at a time. "Federal still has an 18 month back log! We were lucky to get these on the truck this mornin'. Only $60 a box!"
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That will only work if all the dealers can get together and agree to do exactly what you describe. They'd also have to bribe the ammo companies to go along with their story so no one figures out the conspiracy and goes into business selling ammunition cheaper.

But even if they get the conspiracy set up & get everyone's story straight so they're not discovered, as soon as just one of them decides he can gain customers and make more money selling it for $55 a box to undercut his competition then it's back to every man for himself. It all falls apart and the prices will rapidly collapse to what is justified by actual supply and demand. In other words, trying to maintain an artificial shortage, working at the dealer level, that lasts for any appreciable amount of time is not feasible.

Just look at what happened to gas prices over the last year. If what you're saying is possible then we should all still be paying over $3 a gallon for gasoline. We're not because it's difficult to set up a conspiracy like the one you describe, and if someone does, it's not hard to figure it out and break it up.
 
Prices have been getting higher and higher over the past couple years. I predict that even when the supply catches up with demand that we'll still be paying pretty high prices for the ammo. When I saw the prices starting to go up really high last year I started stocking up and don't consider myself a hoarder. I was just prepared for the rough times ahead. One of our local gun stores had 9mm aluminum cased Blazer on sale for $5.99 a box so how could I not buy two cases while the getting was good?
 
I bought a box of Federal Critical Defense 380 over the weekend. It was only $19, but it was the only box they had. At least they hadn't marked it up. Good guys.
Our local range had a pocket pistol match over the weekend, and i couldn't find anything cheap to feed my Pocketlite, so I couldn't play. Looks like I'll be outfitting the Dillon 550 with a new caliber. Now to find 380 components....
 
I work part time for a fifteen store Canadian owned sporting goods chain in the northwest, and currently have no .17 HMR, .22LR, .25 acp, .32 acp, .32 H&R mag, .380 acp, .38 spl, .357 mag, 9mm, .40 S&W, .38-40, .44-40, .44 spl, .44 mag, .45 acp, .45 Colt, .45 Schofield, .204 Ruger, .222, .223, 7.62x39, and probably another dozen or so that don't immediately come to mind. I haven't had rifle or pistol primers in three months, no percussion caps, other than musket caps, and ran out of shotgun primers three weeks ago to boot. Powder is very low, with none of the mid range rifle powders on hand, no BP subs, the bullet selection is virtually non existent, and over 50% of the brass bins are empty.

I had a Hornady rep in the store about three weeks back and he told me that Hornady is turning out ammo and components 24 hours a day, 6 days a week at 200% their normal capacity and they're still back ordered until October... of 2010. HSM in Stevensville, MT, a small commercial reloader, is turning out mainly .223, and at the rate of 90,000 rounds per day, they are falling 10,000 rounds a day behind. They're also making 1500 rounds of .50 BMG per day and are waaaay behind, even with the stuff selling for $5-$6/round, depending on the bullet.
 
Checking availability of .380- on line and was happy (for a minute) to see Cheaper than Dirt had 250 bulk back of Remington available. Then I saw their price $249.97 plus shipping. Don't think I'm willing to pay a $1 per round.

Cheaper than Dirt??? don't think so...
 
There are definitely some differences according to where you live. Around here, the first ammo to get real scarce was 45 Colt and 380. I noticed that in December/January. The guy at the Big Bear store in Billings, MT told me in late January that they had been out of those cartridges for a month. According to his observations it all had to do with the Taurus Judge and the Ruger LCP. They had been selling those guns as fast as they could get them, maybe 12/week. Most of the buyers were first-time buyers and were motivated by fear of a gun ban and also just fear for personal safety. They buy a gun and figured they need 5-10 boxes of ammo.

At the time, you could buy all the 9 mm and 357/38 ammo you wanted for reasonable prices. That was just 3 months ago! Now you don't see it anywhere. And they will literally laugh at you if you ask about 45 Colt ammo.

But a month ago my buddy in Michigan said it was still possible to buy 45 Colt and 357 ammo around there. It was the 9 mm ammo that was in short supply there at the time. Of course, now it's the same situation around there. Hardly any factory ammo to be had there, but they do have more primers/powder than we have around here.
 
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