Nearly empty range today... Ammo rationing

J

jg0001

New member
Scenario 1:
About a month ago I went to the range and it was PACKED. The number of shooters had been ramping up for months, mostly do to all the new people buying guns. Ammo was getting more and more expensive at the range, but they had plenty of it. They were charging $27 per 100 of 9mm (Winchester). I had to wait ever increasing amounts of time to get a slot.

Scenario 2:
I went again today and it was practically empty. Why the difference? There was almost NO ammo left at the range and what they did have, they were charging a lot for -- the price was now$36 per 100 9mm. The range master agreed -- he thought it might be that many people have run out of ammo and the casual shooter who never bought much ammo to bring home had slim pickings at the store/range itself. This particular range was rationing 9mm to 100 rounds per person. They had no 45ACP range ammo at all.

I was happy that my wait time was zero, but the the overall trend is pretty darn nasty (I ave a lot of ammo saved up). For the casual shooter, especially the NEW shooter, this current spate of thinly stocked shelves and doubled prices = a quick end to a late beginning.
 
Scenario 3: A large percentage of people who panic bought all the black guns and pallets of ammo in the last few months have never owned a gun before. They did this because someone told them there would be a ban again and it would be an unbelievable investment.."DOUBLE YOUR MONEY IN JUST A FEW MONTHS" is what they heard. Some of them even thought, hey while I got this shiny black gun I might as well shoot it so off to the range they go. What you say "I need bullets"" Oh, only $100 a box" hummmm, I can afford that because as soon as I sell this thing I will have doubled my money. Well now the novelty is wearing off and the credit card receipts are coming in. No problem I'll jsut list this on Gunbroker and similar sites for double what I paid for it, all the time telling their significant other "This is where we double our money". BUT just like the housing boom and the $150 barrel of oil...What goes up must come down...
 
I went to a "free" range yesterday in the national forest and no one was there....I spent two or three hours there. Shoot check shoot again....I also cleaned up for at least an hour between shooting. It's amazing how bad people will treat a place. I was packing up before anyone else showed up.
 
I went to my range Friday afternoon and it was unusually busy with a steady stream in and out during the hour I was there. Several large groups and lots of singles blasting away.
 
The range I go to most of the time has stopped selling ammo unless it's going to be used at the range. Won't sell you ammo unless you have a gun with you for the caliber you want to buy. They are selling mostly reloads and I believe it's stuff they're reloading (but not certain about that). It's still crowded most of the time; especially on weekends when it's generally 'backed up'. They're putting 40+ people a week through their CCW classes and those folks want to shoot after they take the class.
 
I shoot at a free Wildlife Management Area range that's near my house. I've noticed a downturn in activities lately. Can't imagine paying $.27 per round for blasting .223!!!
 
$27.00 per 100? That's less than what I pay at my range.
Click to expand...

You didn't read the whole thing... $27 per 100 (9mm!, not 223) is what is WAS (which was already bad enough)... they are now charging $36 per 100 and rationing it to 100 only per person.
 
I have seen fewer people at the range. Last week got there about 10:30 only two other people there. And that is the way it stayed till I left, one would leave and someone else would show up. Don't think it got over 4 people at the most. But I only go during the week would never think about getting near that place on a week end. :eek:
 
I went to the range yesterday. It was packed.

I've haven't seen so many people shooting big-bore rifles since the last time I went to Camp Perry. Between all of us we probably went through at least 5,000 rounds of .308, about the same amount of .223, and probably 2,500 rounds of 7.62x39. And that was just in the 3-4hrs I was there. The pistol lanes were just as busy, there was a whole lot of lead headed downrange.

It was awesome.:D

But when people packed up, they all took their brass with them. I've never seen a busy range so clean in my life. The rangemaster was hunting hard for some .308 brass, but couldn't find a piece, despite the constant thunder of rifles. Eh, watchagonado?:)
 
I too have seen fewer people at my range(s). Now that the weather is turning nicer more people will be shooting outdoors. I have been seeing more ammo at the local Walmarts lately (relatively speaking). I've been trying to score a couple of those Ferderal bulk boxes of .22LR but haven't seen any of it.
 
I've been going to the local public range on state park land for years, and it has been consistently busy since winter thawed out, both pistol and rifle ranges. I could usually find plenty of brass too for the calibers I reload for, sometimes people offered their brass after they were done when I mentioned I reload. I just joined a private gun club, much nicer set up overall, and best of all it wasn't too busy even on a pretty nice Sat. afternoon this weekend! But everyone must reload...other than 22 cases and some steel cases nothing left.

joe
 
At a local range in Northern Virgina today I arrived at about Noon and spent two hours there shooting 9mm and .22. The boxes of 9mm (Speer Lawman) that they were selling for $10 a box 2 weeks ago had gone up to $17 a box (still not a bad price in todays market). In the time that my wife and I were there, there wasn't more then 10 minutes at a time that all of the lanes weren't completely filled.
 
Again this past weekend on a SATURDAY, the range action dried up quickly.

At first, when I arrived (11am) it was 85% full. By 11:30am, it was empyting out rapidly (a lot of those in the morning seemed to be there for qualifying tests). When I left at 1pm, it was probably at 30%.

The range officers were blaming ammo supplies once again -- that and what little supply that's left has increased in cost dramatically.
 
Went to the range this Sunday I admit I like to go on Sunday to police up brass left on Saturday I used to get a lot but not anymore.

Also there were only 5 other people there the entire time I was on the Pistol and Rifle ranges and two of them were only shooting .22. I was the only one shooting .45 , .40 , 9mm. Two had .223 they were sighting in.

Several people were shooting trap and skeet but I really don't think the ammo scare has hit the target load shotgunners, I may take up skeet and save some of my primers for the pistols.
 
I've bought a couple boxes of .22 and I'm sitting on it... I'm not going to shoot any from my stock until I can replace it.

I have been getting a lot of dry fire and bb gun practice in. I'm going to guess others are seeing that they can't replace what they shoot and are sitting on it for now.
 
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