Guns & ammo today

J

JimL

New member
I was just in Sportsman's Warehouse and they had 20 times as many guns as two weeks ago. But there were many calibers of ammo totally unavailable and what little they did have was only a few boxes of each - even for shotguns.

Has anyone seen any sign of relief on ammo or has Obamas reclassification of primers done its job all too well?
 
Not in my area.

I was never a hoarder, but with all these people stocking up nowadays, and ammo prices slowly increasing as time goes on, Im starting to stockpile myself.
 
Nope, the shortage is not abating whatsoever. The stuff comes in but if it's a high draw caliber like .45 ACP or .223/5.56 it's gone in a hurry if it's well priced.

Wal-Mart remains the best source for standard caliber ammo in my area. Within the last month I've purchased 9mm for $9.98/50 Federal, .40 S&W for $13.50/50 Federal and .45 ACP for $32.50/100 Winchester. No one else can seem to touch those prices. But in order to do this I have to call my 2 local Wal-Marts every day that I'm off by about 8AM and run over to buy the max (6 boxes) on the days it's come in because it'll be gone by 9AM guaranteed. Often I see three or four other men who look strangely like me speed walking into the Wal-Mart when I make these runs and of course they're always heading for the ammo counter. It's ridiculous.

My local Dick's also has great ammo prices when they run a sale, but day to day they don't touch Wally World.

Totally and completely sick of it.

Oly
 
The Wal-Mart here doesn't get much ammo in, and when they do it's gone in a few minutes. I haven't seen a box of .22 LR there in a year. They usually have a bit of .17 HMR, and once in a while they get a little bit of .22 mag, but not much else.

Not that I care all that much. I handload, and I learned a few decades back to keep a decent supply of components on hand. I'm glad I did, too.

But, please pardon my ignorance on this, but what did the OP mean by:

Has anyone seen any sign of relief on ammo or has Obamas reclassification of primers done its job all too well?
Click to expand...
 
Sportsman's Warehouse closed 80% of their stores. We lost ours in Lexington I am guessing it is stock form other stores.

Doug
 
Just stopped by Bi-Mart out here, and picked up a 250 round box of Remington UMC 9mm for $57. Not *too* bad... They had quite a few there.

They also have .22 ammo, but it's Remington Thunderbolts :barf:.
 
...Obamas reclassification of primers done its job all too well?
Click to expand...
Don't know where you heard this but it's not true.

To my knowledge there has been no "reclassification" of any ammunition or component. There HAS been a shortage of ammunition and components due to a combination of factors--primarily it's due to panic purchasing by people who are afraid guns and ammunition may be shortly outlawed.
 
I saw a whole shelf of .380 (yes, as in acp) and was able to shoot some .45 also, a whole load of .45, 40, .357 mag or sig, .38 spoecial 9mm, 10mm, 762 tokarev, you name it, things are looking good:)
 
Has anyone seen any sign of relief on ammo
Click to expand...

Very slight relief. The local Walmarts are a total waste of time for rifle/pistol ammo. Bare shelves, but plenty of shotgun shells, though. Local gunshops have some but are really jacking up their prices for low quality crap.

I've been buying online for months now. Maybe it's the new reality.
 
Ive heard complaints from people who live in the southern states they can't even find rifle ammo, I saw shelves loaded with .223, theres an overstock if anything.
 
An O crony in Department of Defense DID reclassify used brass so that anyone who bought it was required to shred it. A couple Democrat senators and a Republican went to work and got a higher up in the involved office to reverse most of the decision, requiring only that the brass couldn't be sold overseas. The senators' issue was that they had reloading companies in their states that would go bankrupt if they were unable to get the usual quantities of government brass.

Here are a couple links on that:

http://www.americangunowners.net/gu...-fired-military-cases-223-308-t2897.htm#21673

http://www.packing4life.com/showthread.php?t=6328

http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?topic=5659.0

I can't recall or find the details of the primer reclassification. It had only to do with one of the main primers used for making handgun ammo as I recall. Something to do with reclassifying the primers to the same category as C4 explosives, or something like that. It may have been reversed in a similar way to the brass situation.
 
An O crony in Department of Defense DID reclassify used brass so that anyone who bought it was required to shred it.
Click to expand...
That lasted about a week. There was an attempt to reclassify D.O.D. surplus brass such that it would be destroyed rather than eligible for resale to ammunition remanufacturers. The attempt was shut down so rapidly by efforts from pro-gun organizations (primarily the NRA) that no brass was actually destroyed.

Therefore there was no practical impact on the shortage situation as a result of this attempt other than perhaps to induce some panic.

I have not seen any evidence linking the attempted reclassification to any "O crony" although I suppose it's possible.

Back in 2007 OSHA did make some noises about reclassifying primers as explosives but that never even got past the proposal stage. Again, it contributed absolutely nothing in terms of causing any shortages other than, again, to possibly induce some panic.

This clearly had nothing to do with Obama since it happened long before he was elected.

The bottom line is that NO ammunition components have been reclassified in actual practice. In one case there was an attempt to reclassify military surplus brass that was shut down before it could have any effect and in the second case it was just a proposal--they never even actually tried to reclassify the primers.

The ammunition/component shortages are due to combinations of the following things:

1. Two wars resulting in large military ammunition orders.
2. Reduction of ammunition imports for various reasons.
3. Panic due to the election of an anti-gun president.
4. More panic due to people seeing that there was a shortage.
5. Even more panic due to people circulating apocryphal stories about how anti-gunners in the administration are somehow restricting supply to the civilian market.
 
guns/ammo

I bought my 308 AP4 before the election, cost $1,059, ammo was $0.60 a round. In February, same weapon was $2,000, and ammo was $1 a round. Today, weapon is once again $1,059, and ammo is $0.55 a round. We're in the tail end of the imscaredobamasgonnabanalltheguns syndrome. The panic's easing, and all the hoarders are hoarded up past their budgets. The econmoy is weak, all the ammo you want is there if you shop around hard enough.
 
Has anyone seen any sign of relief on ammo or has Obamas reclassification of primers done its job all too well?
Click to expand...
strangle.png


JohnKSa, the OSHA proposal was 1910.109, if you want archival copy.

I remembered when it happened. It would have killed the entire industry. Fortunately, reaction was swift and decisive, and OSHA back-pedaled, swearing it was an oversight. That was when I realized that the Clinton effect had worn off, and that we had a chance at gaining ground back.

You're absolutely right on the causes for the current shortage. I hear about it all day, every day. Often, I hear about it from some schmuck who's got 20,000 rounds of .380 sitting in his living room, despite the fact that he shoots maybe 50 rounds/year.

The same people who gripe about WalMart being out are the ones who follow the delivery trucks to the loading dock, then buy out everything coming in. Then they gripe when retailers limit quantities.

It's got nothing to do with Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Kim Jong Il or Zurg the Many-Tentacled. We're the ones causing the shortage.
 
Thanks for the OSHA proposal info.
We're the ones causing the shortage.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately that is very close to the truth.

I'm not saying that we haven't seen attempts to restrict the ammo/firearm supply. I'm not saying that we won't see more. I just want people to expend their efforts working against REAL problems instead of spreading rumors and half-truths and causing panics where none need exist.

Sorry, JimL. I don't mean to unload on you, it's more a general frustration that happened to spew forth on this thread. I do some work in a local gun club and I've been fielding a LOT of concerned emails from club members who are frantic about mostly non-existent threats to their rights. It really wears on a person after awhile... :(
 
I'm really sorry I was unable to stop the two-timer Arnold the gobernator from being so unfriendly to his own state by signing AB 962 into law a couple weeks ago. This will cause more lay off and a loss in state tax revenue that ammunition for handguns was bringing in. The worse part is that some other state copy cat Ca. laws as the spread of a virus . Dan
 
Tom Servo:D What can I say? The paranoia running around is getting rather hilarious when you have a head screwed on right. I like your response. Best post so far. Standard TCP/IP who is the guy praying? Boston Strangler?

Seriously, Obama has not and will not be banning your guns, or signing away US sovereignty to Climate Change people as has been rumored. Some of these rumors are so crazy I can't believe anyone takes any of it seriously. Wow!! He knows better, and even if he wanted to, he doesn't even have the power to. Wake up people, there is a reason congress exists.:) Oh and that CA law that Terminator signed will obviously be rolled back before it kicks in in 2012. Its so unworkable as to be the one big joke. It makes no sense and it was all about cheap political points rather than commonsense.
 
Standard TCP/IP who is the guy praying? Boston Strangler?
Click to expand...
TCP/IP is the framework in which data flows through the internet.

The guy's praying for the power to reach out and strangle people through the internet. Some days, I sympathize. :cool:

The ammunition situation does appear to be clearing up, albeit quite slowly. Perhaps the panic is dying down. In any case, I'd expected it to be over far sooner.

The oddest part is the fact that most of it is handgun ammunition, the worst of which is .380 of all things. Are people planning on fighting the Revolution with pocket pistols?

One last thing. Ammunition prices have not gone up significantly since the election. Some retailers are paying slight premiums for expedited shipping or first grab with distributors, but even then, ammunition should only be up about 5% over this time last year.

$50 for a box of Blazer .380 FMJ is gouging. $1/round of .223 FMJ is gouging.
 
Last edited:
Addition to John's list

The economic crisis caused many to arm themselves and maintain fairly (un)modest ammo stock piles.
 
Seriously, Obama has not and will not be banning your guns, or signing away US sovereignty to Climate Change people as has been rumored. Some of these rumors are so crazy I can't believe anyone takes any of it seriously. Wow!! He knows better, and even if he wanted to, he doesn't even have the power to. Wake up people, there is a reason congress exists. Oh and that CA law that Terminator signed will obviously be rolled back before it kicks in in 2012. Its so unworkable as to be the one big joke. It makes no sense and it was all about cheap political points rather than commonsense.
Click to expand...

Obama won't be banning guns? In spite of the fact that he's already bemoaned not having the votes to do AWBII?

Those of us from Illinois have no doubts what he'll do, and when he'll do it-he'll ban every gun he can, as soon as he has the political ability to do so.

He's said, repeatedly, that he doesn't believe in the private ownership of guns; why don't you believe him?

Larry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top