more on ammo shortage

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Rifleman1776

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Our local Wal-Mart has had a continuing shortage of ammo, particularly .22lr. And most particularly .22 in the bulk boxes. A clerk told me someone is in the store in the early hours and buys all the new shipments that come in at night. I have noticed ads in our local newspaper for ammo. Just a phone number, no store. The .22 bulk, which retails for about $15.00 he is offering for $50.00.
This is a rip and may be illegal if he does not have a dealers license. But it is angering that he is denying others the opportunity to buy from Wal-Mart at appropriate retail prices.
 
You need a dealer's license to sell ammo?

I would direct your complaint to the manager at Wal Mart. I don't necessarily advocate a limit on ammo purchases, but if he's hogging it all up maybe that's the answer.
 
My local ( In Connecticut) wally has a three box limit on ammo any type

The sad part the shelves are always empty
 
My local Walmart has a sign on the ammo case saying something like "3 boxes per day".
It seems they are aware of the hoarding/reselling problem.

Lately I've sold off all of my 9mm and 45 pistols, mostly for my own reasons, but its nice to see plenty of 40s&w and 30-06 on the shelves.
I have several bulk 22lr boxes already, always keep 3-5 boxes of that around anyway.
I was going to buy a 308, but I think I'll stick with 30-06 instead.
 
The manager is probably in on it.

It may not require a dealers license. But if they are selling enough for a profit they might require a business license. Are they going to report their profits on their taxes?

The principle of not reporting the income tells me that a person who is flipping large amounts of ammo is a dishonest person.
 
We have the same sort of deal going on around here, although the flipper uses word of mouth instead of advertising in the paper.

The local WalMart has the 3 box limit in place, but the flipper guy owns a bunch of mobile homes he rents out, sort of a slumlord. The housing is all what we call "section 8" which means the goverment subsidises the rents.

The tennants that have the proper ID for buying ammo he loads up and takes to WalMart when the shipment is in. They all get their 3 boxes and go to the next WalMart to clean the shelves. When you see this bunch coming in it is a true opportunity for photos to add to a "people of WalMart" photo gallery.

So they pay the sales tax on the ammo when they check out. He needs no special license to resell here. The only "law" he may be breaking is the sales tax on the mark-up, and probably the profit on his income tax.

I have found out that local law enfocement is watching him, but he is used to that.

Sad days indeed.
 
Rifleman1776 said:
This is a rip and may be illegal if he does not have a dealers license.
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AFAIK there is no federal license required to resell commercial ammo that has been purchased at retail. (IIRC manufacturing, wholesale, import, export, and military sales are a different story, but that's not the topic here.)

State laws may vary.
Rifleman1776 said:
A clerk told me someone is in the store in the early hours and buys all the new shipments that come in at night... it is angering that he is denying others the opportunity to buy from Wal-Mart at appropriate retail prices.
Click to expand...
If it's so infuriating, then get to Walmart before he does, buy the ammo yourself, and undercut his prices. :D
 
This is a rip and may be illegal if he does not have a dealers license
Click to expand...
Rip off only if you make a purchase for that price and feel you were ripped off. Please provide a link to the info supporting you statement about needing a license to sell ammo. :rolleyes:
 
$50 bulk pack 22 ammo.... Gougers

I think I would probably buy a bulk pack or two if I had to pay $50 each and I had no other 22LR ammunition. Unless it was a family outing, I doubt I would just shoot it up. It would stay "available" until the need justified the use.

I don't particularly have to make this decision since I have a good amount cached. But $50 would not stop me from enjoying shooting. I just wouldn't enjoy it as often.
 
At our local Walmart. They are limiting ammo to two boxes per customer.
This policy has upset some customers who want everything.
 
AS I am training 3 adults in my household with no prior experience on two newly purchased weapons so we are using a fair amount of ammo, I make a run of three walmarts about once or twice a week. at 800 on the way to work.
I was able to pick up on average two boxes per run, mostly 40 and some 9. For the past three weeks there has been nothing at those times. Since two of those walmarts are not 24 hours I decided to try those at 6:00 am when the doors opened today. They were just putting up the a boxes and there were five employees there calling people or texting. I managed three boxes of wwb 9mm. I arrived at the second walmart at 625 and the case was empty except a single 50 round box of tulammo Russian 45 cal. the person working the area told me they had a bunch of 9, 40, 223 and 22 come in and within 5 minutes they were cleared out.

I don't think you need to blame flippers, I think anyone with a friend at walmart has asked them to flag let them know the second ammo comes in.

As far as the internet sellers, I wouldn't be surprised nor would I blame the small LGSs for clearing them out. Difficult to sell guns or pay the rent without ammo and those small LGSs have always had to pay more at wholesale than walmart.
 
In reference to needing a license to sell ammo, a license is not required for dealers in ammunition only.
[18 U.S.G. 921(a)(17) and 922(b)(5), 27 CFR 478.11 and 478.125]

Taken from page 177 paragraph (A4) in the Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide ATF publication 5300.4
 
So, where is all this ammo going?

All of the online sellers are on back order - so folks aren't buying much through them.

I was actually at my LGS a couple of weeks ago and watched as a big truck unloaded pallets of ammo - so I know ammo is being made and shipped.

I'm at a loss to figure out where all the ammo is going????:confused:
 
People's basements, ammo lockers, and GunBroker.

I still respect people's ability to buy whatever they won't so long as thier wallets hold out, but it is starting to grate when I think what harm they may doing to the next generation of shooters.
 
I was talking to a guy at my LGS about their ammo shortage and "3 box per caliber" limit. He said they originally instituted that policy because people from another local LGS were walking into the store with wads of cash and buying everything they had. They'd then put them on their shelves with a $4-$8 mark up. That particular store was always more expensive anyway...so I don't buy ammo from them.
 
Where is the logic in paying $50 for a bulk pack of .22, then sitting on it until the panic is over? When the panic is over, you'll then be shooting marked up .22 when every one else, that waited this out, is shooting it up for normal prices..?? I can understand paying $50 if you need it, and intend to shoot it now.
 
If people keep freaking out the ammo will eventually be 50 dollars a brick even at Walmart. It will priced at the rate the market can support.

Considering ammo is not as necessary for the daily function of life such as oil and milk are I would hope that gun owners as a whole would exercise enough restraint to starve the ammo market of revenue so the market can stabilize.

Instead of the Nov buy ammo day, perhaps there should be an April buy no ammo week or even better month.
 
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