Ammo Supply

[Tom in GA]

This might be a new thread, but I thought it might be worthwhile to get everyone's updated opinion or facts as to the ammo supply problem. Dealers told me last winter that the supply problem would be pretty much over by summer. Summer is here and still no ammo in GA... unless you want to pay some outrageous price for it. Even .22lr can't be found here. Walmart says that guys find out when the supply truck will arrive and hang out until the ammo is unboxed and then they buy it all....even with the number of box purchase restrictions.

[Johnny in Texas]

Same around Austin Texas early bird gets the ammo

[Art]

From what I've seen where I live most popular calibers are available though some are still pricey and many are still rationed. 9mm Parabellum, .38 Special, .45 ACP and .40 S&W can be found at only modestly over pre panic prices but take a bit of shopping. 7.62x39mm is readily available now and reasonably priced. 5.56x45mm/.223 is less available but can still be found but the prices are still pretty high. 7.62x51mm Nato can also be found but is expensive stuff.

.22 rimfire, in fact any rimfire.....forget it. The hoarders/speculators are still stocking up and there is a lot of resale of all rimfire calibers at wildly inflated prices.

A lot of popular powders are still virtually unavailable here, as are projectiles in certain popular weights especially for rifles in .223, .308, and pistols in 9mm (.355,) .357, .40 and .45 calibers. Primers are coming back on the shelves though. It actually is tougher to re load around here than to buy loaded ammo which under the circumstances is really spooky.

On another note, the racks at dealers are now loaded with "black rifles" at mostly pre panic prices, though some dealers are still selling AK clones at somewhat inflated prices.

[Tuna]

I have noticed that ammo is starting to show up on dealer shelves. Not a lot at a time but a steady flow of pistol rounds and some 5.56 every week now. Lots of steel cased is appearing but most people want the brass cased ammo instead of the steel. Prices are not that bad in reality compared to what they were during the panic buying. If this keeps going then I would guess by fall the shelves will be stocked with ammo. But powder for reloading rifle ammo and bullets are just not to be found yet.

[Fred Pillot]

When the hoarding is over, the hoarders will have one heck of a hangover when they can't dump their hoarded goods.
This will be the time for the shooters to get a good deal taking all that ammo off the hands of the profiteers.

[Fred]

So, what could a person expect to get for 5,000 rounds of Yello Jacket .22 LR right now?

[dave]

very few buyers!

[BudT]

I don't know but I walked away from 70 per brick of the Rem. .22lr standard velocity a few days ago and it's some pretty darn good ammo, I didnt see any other buyers for the stuff.

[Fred]

Well I guess a person would have enough to use for some time then. A person would be wise to just keep it.

[Art]

Academy is still the best place to buy in the Houston Texas area. I have a buddy who picked up a brick of Remington .22s for $21.00 last week, it was rationed one brick to the customer. I usually stop in to any Academy I drive by in my regular course of business just to see what they have and today I got a 100 round box of Tula 9mm brass case ammo for $27.00 and a box of Federal .22 Long Rifle hollow points for $2.19. They are still rationing but they usually have at least some of the more popular ammo in and they aren't gouging.

[Bob - The Beagle Master]

Got 5 bricks of .22LR Thunderbolt at the local farm store last week for $24.95 each. They had plenty but a 5 brick limit per customer. .223 Winchester was $12.95 per 20 with no limit since they had over 10,000 rounds on one truck. They also had plenty of .308 at the same price. They had a sale special on Ruger .380LCPs at $314.95 and several brands of AR15s for $695 to $995. I quit with the .22LR ammo because I didn't need another gun.

[BudT]

OMG.................a hoarder, look over here another of them hoarders. Just teasing. Carefull Bob some of the dumbchits here will label you as one of those evil hoarders. Good to see that your local dealer is getting some ammo to sell, they need to sell the stuff to make a buck so they can keep the doors open. Today at my local dealer he had something I hadnt seen in years and years 22 long so I bought 1 whole box just for me to shoot LOL.

[Bob - The Beagle Master]

My grandsons are 14, 12 and 11. With bolt action rifles, mind you BOLT ACTION rifles, they can go through a brick in a little over 2 hours. Notice that I didn't buy the .223 or .308, just the .22s. The first year that the CMP was in existence a friend and I went over to Camp Perry the first week of that year's national matches (that's when the Major was still working with CMP). The shipping dock of their building was stacked with cases and cases of US milsurp ammo and since it was the first week it was nothing but us and all the young kids shooting .22s. Both of us were in a member club but my friend was only into .22s and the limit on ammo was one case of each caliber per member. I got a case of everything there, 30M2 ball, .30 carbine, .45 LCNM, 7.62 and 9mm. I had my friend get a case each and we loaded my wife's brand new Chevy Malibu until it was riding on the frame all the way back to Indiana. The price of all of it was dirt cheap, like 7 or 8 cents a round and I've still got a lot of that ammo left. Sadly by the next year someone had told CMP what that ammo was worth and the deals weren't as good but I still got more. I was a happy hoarder!

Oh yeah, all you Johnny-come-latelies can just read that and weep!

[BudT]

Good on you for your planing. A lot of what I have has been accumulated over the years and most of it "many" years ago. I wish I had bought truck loads of it now, I could help out family and friends even more than I do now. To soon old to late smart......oh well.

[Griff Murphey]

Thunderbolt is highly unpredictable. Usually I expect about 3-4 percent duds. I don't recommend it. The Federal in the 40 rd. boxes with neat plastic loading blocks... That is also dud city, and FTF as well. Those are two manufacturers to stay away from, at least in regard to .22LR; sorry- that is my experience.

The OLD Remington stuff was good. White box standard velocity was great; and the Yellowjackets were every bit as good as CCI stingers. Sad there has been such a QC problem. Just my experience. Remington even sent me a replacement 525 rd bulk pack of Thunderbolt and the replacement was just as bad as the first one.

[Bob - The Beagle Master]

You probably are right but right now you take what you can get and besides that bolt guns will shoot most anything.

[Griff Murphey]

Remington admitted to me that some of the duds I returned to them had not been primed at all. Even a bolt rifle cannot fire a round with no primer compound in it!

[Art]

Remington admitted to me that some of the duds I returned to them had not been primed at all. Even a bolt rifle cannot fire a round with no primer compound in it!

I quit using Remington rimfire ammo when I shot several boxes of Vipers with very inconsistent reports when fired. One would go "bang" and the next "pop." I have bought some Federal lately just because it was available but my usual taste in rimfire ammo is CCI or Aguila, both of which are accurate and reliable, at least in my experience.