Everyone in the States has heard about the shortage of ammunition, but I was naive enough to think it probably applied only to the military and self defense calibres. Think again. Seems all the manufacturers are making hay while the sun shines and their production lines are now dedicated to the rounds that are now in high demand due to our government's current policies -- e.g., .223, .308, .45, 9mm. (Those are all out of stock everywhere).

If you don't handload and are going hunting soon, start looking for ammunition. You may have a bit of trouble finding it. By way of example, Midway has Federal Premium .416 Rem. ammo (softs and solids) on backorder -- expected delivery date late August. They did have Nosler Custom Ammunition available at $50 a box more -- anyone had any experience with Nosler solids on elephant?

Graf & Sons has .416 Rem. Federal Premium (softs and solids) in stock, but they are backlogged for 3-5 weeks to ship. I'm covered, but I wouldn't recommend waiting until the last minute to stock up.

Just a heads up.

Started stocking up about 5yrs. ago.
Glad I did.
Even handloaders are having trouble finding components.

I have always kept some ammo on hand for everything I own, but that might be only a few boxes of 20 rounds each for guns I rarely shoot anymore, whereas my african rifles usually have a couple hundred rounds on hand. I have been searching for handgun ammo for all my handguns and it is VERY difficult to find almost anything out there.

I am awaiting arrival of 500 rounds of M1 Carbine ammo - it shipped after 2 months from date of order. 200 rounds of .45acp enroute after a 17 day wait, along with 60 rounds of 500NE solids - that's all they had. I have 5000 rounds of .22LR on back order but don't expect to see it until sometime this Summer. I'd buy a case of .38 special if I could find it.

I've been buying ammo for almost 50 years and have never, ever seen things this bad. Components aren't any better. It took me almost 2 months to locate 10# of RL-15 in the mid-west and then had to have it picked-up because they couldn't ship powder.

With the current federal contracts and the civilian demand, I don't see things getting better anytime soon. And the anti-gunners are now going after ammunition as a means of control.

I sure wish I had stocked up on 12 gauge dove loads when I saw them in Walmart for $20 a case on sale back in 2005. Now there $60 a case.

All of my rifles I am ok on ammo and reloading components although I could use some more powder and primers.

This ammo shortage is just plain stupid. No one is banning 22lr.

Only ammo at wal mart near my house in Orlando was 30/06 federal with barnes tsx 180 grain - perfect for plains game and I bought it. The case for ammo was bare after that. The sales guy said it had not sold cause it was 50 bucks a box.

I have managed to get some 9.3X62 at a local shop for $20 for 20 round - they had no idea what it was and got it as a trade for pistol ammo. Lellier & Bellot 285 grains - anyone know this brand?

Why this crazy rush to 22lr is beyond me. As long a wal mart and other retailers don't jack up the rate and this demand is crazy we could have this shortage for a while.

There were 50 plus people at Gander Mountain on a Thursday afternoon waiting to buy ammo from a truck that was delayed from 8 am. The sales guy told me they normally sell out in under 30 minutes every thursday on all 22lr, 223/556 and pistol ammo.

I agree, I understood when the 9mm and 5.56 disappeared, but 22lr?

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
This ammo shortage is just plain stupid. No one is banning 22lr.

Only ammo at wal mart near my house in Orlando was 30/06 federal with barnes tsx 180 grain - perfect for plains game and I bought it. The case for ammo was bare after that. The sales guy said it had not sold cause it was 50 bucks a box.

I have managed to get some 9.3X62 at a local shop for $20 for 20 round - they had no idea what it was and got it as a trade for pistol ammo. Lellier & Bellot 285 grains - anyone know this brand?

Why this crazy rush to 22lr is beyond me. As long a wal mart and other retailers don't jack up the rate and this demand is crazy we could have this shortage for a while.

There were 50 plus people at Gander Mountain on a Thursday afternoon waiting to buy ammo from a truck that was delayed from 8 am. The sales guy told me they normally sell out in under 30 minutes every thursday on all 22lr, 223/556 and pistol ammo.

Nothing wrong with Sellier & Bellot ... They will do the job most others do ! Great cal. !!!

IMO, not everyone has a hi-powered rifle or pistol, but just about every gunowner has a 22lr of some sort & a brick of 22 ammo cost less than a bx of your average centerfire ammo.
Folks are buying ammo for any & every caliber firearm they own right now, therefore 22lr is one of the ones getting hit the hardest because it is the most popular.
Bought 4 bricks a few yrs. ago myself, the 2 bricks of Rem. thunderbolts have corroded heads now & will not feed anymore, rendering them useless. Wish I had bought all Rem. Golden bullets.
IMO, it will take more than a yr. for ammo supplies to get back to anywhere near normal again.

Sellier & Bellot I great.

But, stay away from HERTINBERGER from Austria.

It is UTTER RUBISH!

It is loaded far too hot for my liking.

It's not just ammunition, it's reloading stuff...just paid $60US per pound for RL15 in a 5 lb canister...$70US for 1k Federal 210 primers.
We've had prior spot shortages of components, but nothing like this in my 45 yrs of reloading.

These shortages are certainly frustrating. Like nothing I've seen before. However, I'm seeing SOME signs of improvement. Not across the board but some.

I got caught completely flat footed with this shortage. Had almost no excess supply on hand. So about 10 weeks ago, I started accumulating what I could. Purchased a progressive press for the first time as well. Some of the components to that press are still on back order (shell plate for 7.62x39 and shell plate for the 223) but I have the remaining items now for reloading all my tactical calibers (45ACP, 9MM, 380ACP, 223/5.56, 7.62.39). It took some time, but I did find enough components to give me a sigh of relief. I've been able to amass 30K primers in that 10 week period with the hardest to find being small pistol. However, I've found quite a few of those lately and am sitting OK for now.

22LR is the one that really took me by surprise. Had my son and his girlfriend home from college 10 weeks ago (and this is what woke me up to the severity of the shortage). She had never shot anything. So I grabbed a couple of 22LR's. Couldn't find any shells. Hit Wallmart on the way to the range. BINGO! Shelves were bare. Spoke with my Dad who told me he had been looking for 22LR for months. Anyway, I've found 3 local gun shops that are now getting regular shipments. I've finally accumulated 10K rounds and for the first time this past week, passed up buying more with ammo on the shelf.

Those 3 shops always seem to have 45ACP, 9mm, 380, and 223 in stock. AK, not so much but you can often find it periodically at Cabelas, although never in bulk any longer. So is it getting better? Seems to be at least to some extent in terms of factory ammo. But just check any online dealer for reloading components! "OUT of STOCK, NO BACKORDER" seems to be the rule across the board.

The one real issue I'm still having is finding RL-15 for the 500NE. Because it's the preferred powder for the 5.56 factory fodder, it's been a real pain to find.

One additional comment. 12ga shotgun shells are still readily available. I listened to the owner of one of those local shops speaking to a customer the other day. He said that when the shortages hit, there was a large back stock of shotgun ammo and that is why we still see it on the shelved. But, he stated, because of the demand for centerfire rifle and pistol ammo and components, the ammo companies have been focused on catching up there with almost no attention to resupplying shotgun stockpiles. He expects the shortage to hit shotgun ammo this summer. Maybe, maybe not, but something to think about. I'm stocked up on those 12ga, 2&3/4, 00Buck, 5 packs now as well. They are still running about $3.75 per box. Better get em while they're hot!

Just went on Sports South's website.
Not one S&W pistol of any make or model available.
So it's not just ammo that is in short supply right now.

If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

Larry, I don't know that I'd say that publicly. You might want to edit your post.

"I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges".

And therein lies the problem.

I have two new calibers coming, 300 and 9.3. Even though I don't know when I will get them, I started stocking up on brass, bullets, ammo, dies and powder for these two as soon as I could.

It's ridiculous. Even in winter of 2008 when the first real scare hit, you could still find components. You had to look a bit, but Midway had brass and bullets, local shops had powder.

Now? Forget it. If I see it and know I may need it in the future, I buy it because I don't know when I will see it again. 3-4 month delay in getting powder that is "in stock" at Midway. I can't remember the last time they had primers of any kind.

Yep, it's ridiculous all right.

I am sure there are numerous factors. Civilian consumer demand has to be the greatest factor, but I wonder how much the supply has been effected by DHS order of 2 billion rounds of ammo?

All I know is cant find Rl 15 or 223 75 grn bullets anywhere. Don't need until the Eastern games but everyone starting to get nervous.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

so that makes you part of the problem.

quote:

Originally posted by Cross L:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

so that makes you part of the problem.

I disagree here guys. If Larry, or anyone else, has 50 guns, that would be 500 rounds per gun! For weapons like the 45ACP, 9MM, etc, that's 10 boxes of shells per gun. Throw in a few thousand rounds for the 22LRs and several cases of 12ga shells for a guy who does lots of bird and clay pigeon shooting and that's hardly excessive IMO. My goal is to have 2K rounds for each tactical weapon and a bit more for each 22LR. 50 guns isn't too hard to collect over 30 years or more.

Ditto Todd.

My gunsmith told me last Friday that he was notified by suppliers that manufacturers were raising prices by 15% in the coming months.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:

quote:

Originally posted by Cross L:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

so that makes you part of the problem.

I disagree here guys. If Larry, or anyone else, has 50 guns, that would be 500 rounds per gun! For weapons like the 45ACP, 9MM, etc, that's 10 boxes of shells per gun. Throw in a few thousand rounds for the 22LRs and several cases of 12ga shells for a guy who does lots of bird and clay pigeon shooting and that's hardly excessive IMO. My goal is to have 2K rounds for each tactical weapon and a bit more for each 22LR. 50 guns isn't too hard to collect over 30 years or more.

Todd

its not the total thats the problem--its stating that he buys a "ton" when he can find it--leaving the shelves empty for others--

perhaps if everyone just bought a little more than normal, we would not have this problem.

In this crazy world I am glad Wal Mart is the largest national retailer of ammunition - they will be able to keep manufactures honest.

Short term - actually since the crisis has begun the cost of making ammo has come down as industrial commodities have weakend (copper, lead). Long term 5-20 years I firmly believe we are headed in a world of very expensive ammo not based on anything Obama, Bloomberg, Cummo or any politician does but due to commodity inflation - mainly copper (I am a copper bull).

After this panic buying ebbs, hopefully in 6-12 months. I would be buying and stockpiling ammo and reloading components. I am personally going to learn to reload even though i have little skill or temprament for it.

How long does ammo last? Is it safe to shoot 25-30 year old ammo?

What is the best way to store ammo?

This totally amazes me.

IF( and IF is a big word here) you could find, for example 22 LR, I have yet to see a single place that would allow anyone to buy all they had. They limit the numbers that one can purchase.

Does a single one of you know what I meant by a "ton" of ammo? I can tell you that not a one of you do. No one has asked me to explain. I have yet to leave the shelves bare anywhere.

I have a lot of guns. I have ammo for all of them. There are some guns for which I have a lot of ammo. For example, I will bet I have 4,000- 5,000 rounds of 20 gauge #8's. Does that seem like a lot? I can easily shoot 1,000 in a weekend. Plus I have 2 sons. I have less than a 2 weeks supply when we are really shooting a lot.

If we go to the range, we can easily go through 1,000 rounds of 22 LR in a single trip to the range with 3 of us shooting.

Stop reading things that aren't there gentlemen.

quote:

Originally posted by Cross L:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

so that makes you part of the problem.

Don't be annoyed with others because they prepared years or months ago while you didn't. Anyone who wasn't buying several thousand rounds of x39 or 5.56 ammo and dozens of mags YEARS ago was just not paying attention to the changing political reality and economic landscape. I did some calculating the other day and ammo that I stocked up on in the mid 1990s is now going for a price that yields a nominal annual return of over 13%. Not to shabby if you had the space to stack and store cases of .308! Being annoyed that guys bought ammo that you now can't find is like being pissed off that the owner of a particular stock is making a profit that you didn't think was possible. To be totally frank, in the extreme long term, people who stocked up on stuff like this will not part of the problem...they are likely to be part of the solution.

I was in Cabelas in Billings, MT this weekend. I have to admit I don't frequent gun stores regularly because I usually order what I need and I have enough of about everything I use in my shop so I was shocked when I tried to find a box of 338 bullets at Cabelas. The whole bullet section was almost empty. I bet they didn't have 30 boxes total for all calibers. This may not be news to many folks but I personally was very surprised.

Mark

The shortage isn't just a recent development. I finally was able to get ONE case of .22 ammo in after having it on order for almost a year. Last week, I finally got 1000 rounds of ammo for one of my customers for his .223. He had 10,000 on order for 9 months or more. The other sporting goods stores in the area have powder, although it is usually just muzzleloader stuff, nothing else, no bullets, no brass, no primers, no powder. Wal Mart has 7mm Mag and some 300 win a couple of boxes of .300 wsm and nothing else. If you want something there, they get a delivery once a week and you better be first in line. One of my suppliers told me that primers looked to be a year out. I think people are scared.

I just returned from the Tulsa Arms Collectors Show(worlds largest gunshow) ammo was a feeding frenzy in every caliber.The big dealers had pallet fulls except in 22lr and it was $80-$110 per brick and a 1 brick limit(glad I bought cases 2 years ago). People were buying by the handtruck load.By Sunday most of the popular(.223,9mm,.45,7.62x39 etc. were all gone except for the relly high priced brands. .223 and 7.62x39 were readily found for .75-.85 cents per round which is down from $1.10 per round a month ago. If you told the American people peanut butter would be in short supply at 6pm today,by 5pm they would be killing each other in the Walmart to get a jar.If everyone would just relax and breathe I think the shelves would fillback up within a couple of weeks but thats just not going to happen.
Just my observations from the show.
Wesley

Larry is not "part of the problem".

I guess folks that can afford to keep paying high fees for nice safaris year after year are why they are so expensive and part of the problem too?

Gee, if folks would just go to Africa once every few years, the demand would drop and others could afford to go.

Silly example, but exactly what some here advocate.

I seriously doubt Larry has a flat bed truck to haul his ton of ammo home on.
It's just a figure of speech.
I have also been buying up ammo for the last 5yrs.
Not my fault if some of you have not been paying attention to what is happening in our country.
I have been trying to prepare for the what if's that may very well be coming our way.
Hope all I ever need is my hunting ammo, but I am at least somewhat prepared if s&!t hits the fan.

+1 I believe that ammo will last nearly indefinitely, if kept cool and dry. I have shot shotgun shells and rifle ammo older than 25-30 years and have had no problem with either.

I'm on board with you guys. I'm buying all the .600, .577, 8-bore, 4-bore stuff I can find.

After the '08 election and the supplies returned, I bought a life's supply of powder, primers, bullets, brass, and lead. I'm good until I die. And, should I get out of the gun business and join PETA, I can sell my stuff at a good profit. It is a win-win situation.
Cal

I have not bought any ammo in a number of years. I stocked up 8-12 years ago when I was working before I retired. 30,000+ rounds of 22RF/6000+ rounds of 223 and 308 and 30-06.

I also stocked up on powder/primers/brass and bullets. I have bought some Swift bullets for my trip to Africa this month. I have also bought a few mics 1lb cans of powder for load testing but I am good.
I have many thousands of rounds loaded up but I also have over 100 firearms.
Just remember I bought and stocked up LONG before the panic buying. I have also given and loaded quite a bit of ammo/reloading stuff to others lately.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

WTF.....paranoid are we?

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
This totally amazes me.

IF( and IF is a big word here) you could find, for example 22 LR, I have yet to see a single place that would allow anyone to buy all they had. They limit the numbers that one can purchase.

Does a single one of you know what I meant by a "ton" of ammo? I can tell you that not a one of you do. No one has asked me to explain. I have yet to leave the shelves bare anywhere.

I have a lot of guns. I have ammo for all of them. There are some guns for which I have a lot of ammo. For example, I will bet I have 4,000- 5,000 rounds of 20 gauge #8's. Does that seem like a lot? I can easily shoot 1,000 in a weekend. Plus I have 2 sons. I have less than a 2 weeks supply when we are really shooting a lot.

If we go to the range, we can easily go through 1,000 rounds of 22 LR in a single trip to the range with 3 of us shooting.

Stop reading things that aren't there gentlemen.

Larry,

I certainly do understand your post. I don't think 25,000 rounds is excessive in today's climate, especially if one owns quite a few guns. I think several thousand rounds per tactical type weapon is a good plan and accumulating that amount, especially over time is both smart and practical. I don't have that much loaded currently but I have components to load close to that should this shortage continue. And I've never cleaned the shelves of a single store either. As you say, even if a guy wanted to buy the entire stock, all the stores I've been in lately are doing a good job of limiting how much can be purchased at a time. I also know you do not reload but rather shoot only factory ammo. That makes the number even more reasonable IMO.

I know you and know that you do a lot of shotgun shooting. Both birds and target. It's pretty easy to go through a large amount of shotgun ammo in a short amount of time with those sports. Unless a guy is going to completely stop enjoying the sport of shooting during this shortage, having a good back stock is the only way forward, and it needs to be replenished often whenever you can find it.

I threw out that 50 gun number because I don't think that is an excessive number of weapons, especially when accumulated over 30 years or so such as I've done. And with that number of guns, 25,000 rounds is an average of only 500 per weapon. I've had possession of my new 500NE double now for about 5 weeks. Maybe 6. I don't rightly know. I've easily put 300 rounds through it already. Every time I take it to the range, I shoot a couple of boxes of 22LR just to keep my trigger pull clean without developing a flinch. I usually fire 3 or 4 mags of 45ACP between cool downs. Throw in a few other guns to shoot in between barrel cool down rests and you've gone through some ammo. I'm shooting the stuff, not hoarding. I know you are a shooter as well, not a hoarder. Just my opinion, but I think you were wrongly called out.

quote:

Originally posted by FAST996:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
If you look hard enough, one can still find ammo in the major safari calibers. I just bought 20 boxes of 416 Rem Mag.

I am buying a ton of ammo when I can get it. I recon I have about 25,000 rounds of various calibers and gauges.

WTF.....paranoid are we?

I recon you don't shoot as much as I do nor go to Africa as much as I do either. I like to shoot from the same lot. I can easily burn that up on the range or hammering hogs. Paranoid? Not hardly.

I can go through a hell of a lot of ammo in short order. I took Mary Lynn's daughters to the range one day. They both shot for 3 hours. 22 LR, 17 HMR, 223, .410 & 28 gauge. OMG those girls burned up some ammo. It is easy to do.