Ammo shortages (now 2016)? What are you seeing out there?

[SloSheepdog]

I got lucky and grabbed a 500 round brick af 22LR last night from sportsmanswarehouse.com for $22, less than $30 after shipping. Only the second time I've bought any 22LR this year, since I'm not willing to pay the inflated prices. Also kinda nice since I loaned a bunch of my 22LR stock to buddies to keep them shooting and I'm at the absolute minimum that I find acceptable right now, so I wasn't shooting it. 

Sometimes it pays to stay up late chatting in the TSP chat room while watching for ammo online.

[nelson96]

I got lucky and grabbed a 500 round brick af 22LR last night from sportsmanswarehouse.com for $22, less than $30 after shipping. Only the second time I've bought any 22LR this year, since I'm not willing to pay the inflated prices. Also kinda nice since I loaned a bunch of my 22LR stock to buddies to keep them shooting and I'm at the absolute minimum that I find acceptable right now, so I wasn't shooting it. 

Sometimes it pays to stay up late chatting in the TSP chat room while watching for ammo online.

I hate that we may now have to call this ($30) normal pricing and have to buy it online to find it.  I used to be able to walk in to multiple stores on a whim and find that box of ammo sitting on the shelf for $17-18 all day long and under $15 on sale. 

[SloSheepdog]

I hate that we may now have to call this ($30) normal pricing and have to buy it online to find it.  I used to be able to walk in to multiple stores on a whim and find that box of ammo sitting on the shelf for $17-18 all day long and under $15 on sale.

Yeah I completely agree. It was sold out within a couple minutes. I just don't feed the scalpers and keep waiting for this to all get better.

[Adam Campbell]

Does ANYONE know where someone can find 380 ACP ANYWHERE? Online, bulk, Wally World, anywhere?

I have no idea where to find it anymore and since my daily carry gun is 380 I refuse to even shoot up the target rounds I currently have unless I know they can be restocked at some point.

It seems like I may never be able to find ammo for this gun ever again.

[Adam Campbell]

The ONLY source I MIGHT be able to find is a "Basement FFL" guy I used once to do a FFL for a revolver I bought. He had some stacks of it he was selling for $18/box and I bought a few because he had to sit on the phone forever with the over-crowded call-in line for background checks as a "thank you" for getting it done that day, but still cringed at the price.

At this point even $100/box would suck, but at least it would be nice to know the ammo still EXISTS somewhere!

_______

WOAH! Cheaper Than Dirt has some (first time I've seen it in supply there) but WOW they want almost $40 / box. EXACT same American Eagle rounds that the FFL guy was selling me for $18/box back in January.

Yeah, I can't WAIT until this happens with FOOD.

[Crazy Fox]

Any gun shows coming up in your area Adam B.?

I saw plenty at one in CO last month, although prices were not stellar.

[Adam Campbell]

^^^^^^ I had to modify my post after seeing it on "Cheaper than Dirt"

However if THAT is cheaper than DIRT — I am expecting to find gold nuggets in my dirt.

I gotta find this FFL guy's business card and see if he still has any I suppose. I'll have to buy him out if he is still at $18/box LMFAO (ridiculous).

[Adam Campbell]

Pretty soon you will be able to TRADE a bullet for more meat than you would be able to get by using the same bullet to shoot a MOOSE.

[nelson96]

Pretty soon you will be able to TRADE a bullet for more meat than you would be able to get by using the same bullet to shoot a MOOSE.

You've probably seen past threads where folks were asking "how much ammo is enough"?  The current environment is a good example of why I've always said "there is no such thing as owning too much ammo" and "buy any and all common calibers, even if you don't own a gun that shoots them". . . .  Ammo can be a great barter item, even if we never see a SHTF.

[SloSheepdog]

Does ANYONE know where someone can find 380 ACP ANYWHERE? Online, bulk, Wally World, anywhere?

I have no idea where to find it anymore and since my daily carry gun is 380 I refuse to even shoot up the target rounds I currently have unless I know they can be restocked at some point.

It seems like I may never be able to find ammo for this gun ever again.

http://gunbot.net/ammo/380auto/
http://www.gunbroker.com/Pistol-Ammunition/BI.aspx?ca=5000111

Ammo is out there, you just have to be willing to pay for it. The cheap stuff does come up on gunbot but goes very very quickly. The ammo that's ridiculously priced stays available. Ammo is being sold on gunbroker all the time but it's also at premium cost due to the nature of an auction. Good luck, and I suggest you don't overdo it. Prices will come down eventually.

[nelson96]

Prices will come down eventually.

Will they?  My Magic 8-Ball must be broke, it keeps telling me "Reply Hazy Try Again" or "Outlook Not So Good".

[Smurf Hunter]

Each day I think about it, the $45 100pack of .223 seems like a better deal.

BTW: Natchez had Tula small pistol primers $19/1000 - said limit 10, so I added 10 to my cart, but the shopping cart page only allowed 1.  Totally would've eaten the hazmat for qty 10.  I should email them and ask what's up...

[nelson96]

Each day I think about it, the $45 100pack of .223 seems like a better deal.

I never buy milsurp, I only buy ammo with brass casings, and never pay shipping charges. . .  and I've had a rule for some time now that if I found 1000 rounds for $300 I had to buy at least 1000 rounds.  I suppose your $45/100 is only $15 more, but that's $150 more per 1000. . . .  Damn that broken Magic 8-Ball.

[SloSheepdog]

Will they?  My Magic 8-Ball must be broke, it keeps telling me "Reply Hazy Try Again" or "Outlook Not So Good".

Meh, I can't write "IMHO" on everything I write.
I hope I'm right. That being said, I'm not at the range blowing through my whole stash either. I'm not that optimistic, especially living in California, where anything can happen in the CA.gov.

[nelson96]

Meh, I can't write "IMHO" on everything I write.

 

[Smurf Hunter]

I never buy milsurp, I only buy ammo with brass casings, and never pay shipping charges. . .  and I've had a rule for some time now that if I found 1000 rounds for $300 I had to buy at least 1000 rounds.  I suppose your $45/100 is only $15 more, but that's $150 more per 1000. . . .  Damn that broken Magic 8-Ball.

That stuff wasn't steel, it was brass boxer primed American Eagle like Walmart used to stock.

As a handloader, I hate milsurp too.  Now that I've got my AR running, I'm going through some old "blasting" ammo that's at least a decade old, a lot was LC and other milsurp 5.56. 
I've had very mixed results removing the primers and crimps.  Some came off easy with the Lee Universal Decapper, others required extreme measures.  Removing the crimp and trimming are also annoying.  This is based on my experience hand loading straight walled pistol rounds.  No comparison regarding the labor invovled

I'm told I need only do all this processing once, and it'll behave for reloading thereafter.

[theBINKYhunter]

i've seen 380 at the local wall mart off and on, but that's the only place. ranges between $15 - $18 per box depending on the brand.

[nelson96]

As a handloader, I hate milsurp too.  Now that I've got my AR running, I'm going through some old "blasting" ammo that's at least a decade old, a lot was LC and other milsurp 5.56. 
I've had very mixed results removing the primers and crimps.  Some came off easy with the Lee Universal Decapper, others required extreme measures.  Removing the crimp and trimming are also annoying.  This is based on my experience hand loading straight walled pistol rounds.  No comparison regarding the labor invovled

I'm told I need only do all this processing once, and it'll behave for reloading thereafter.

I don't reload my .223, hence the rule for buying it when I find it for $300/1000 or less.  IMHO it's not worth my time and effort to reload if I can buy it at .30/round.   I may have to rethink my strategy but I can't find any damn powder.  I do retrieve my brass just in case.

[Smurf Hunter]

I got spoiled when I started casting and handloading for .38spl revolver.  My per round cost was was less than $0.10 each.  The case prep was limited to tumbling for an hour and resize/deprime (one step that I taught my 9 year old son to do on my Lee classic).

Once every week or so I spend an hour priming and expanding the case mouths. I usually get 150 or so done each time.  On a different day I'd charge and seat the bullets with the same rate of effeciency.  So for a long while I had this rhythm of $50 in components + 6-8 hours of my time got me 500 revolver rounds for plinking each month.  I was making better quality ammo at 25% the retail cost.

Right now for .223 components:

55gr bullet: $0.16
sr primer: $0.04 (if you can find it)
24gr powder: $0.08

That's $0.28 AND I have to dork with brass prep.  I think I'm going to limit my AR hand loads to premium stuff, like 68gr matchkings with varget in the best brass.  If I can't save money, I'll instead improve the cartridge quality and dial in a load my gun really likes.

[FreeLancer]

That being said, I'm not at the range blowing through my whole stash either. I'm not that optimistic, especially living in California, where anything can happen in the CA.gov.

Me too, I'm not shooting much until the legislative dust settles, I'm kind of worried that ammo could get a lot harder to come by here in CA.

[4bull]

I found .22 CCI,s 7.99 a hundred the first i've seen .
And the vary first .223's for 7.99 a box of 20.
And 7.62 x 39 6.99 a box of 20.

[Smurf Hunter]

Me too, I'm not shooting much until the legislative dust settles, I'm kind of worried that ammo could get a lot harder to come by here in CA.

I thought I recently read CA passed some kind of "ammo license".  Was that FUD or for real?

[16onRockandRoll]

It was FUD, but not by much. The state Senate and House each passed a handful of GC bills and handed them to each other. One of those will require a license to buy ammo, which requires a background check and a $50 per year fee. It also makes mail order illegal, and apparently, makes private sales/transfers illegal. So if my BIL and I are shooting at the range, and he runs out of ammo, I can't give him some of mine

It was carried by a lot of news/internet articles like it was now law, but thats not true until the branches each sign off on the others bills and the Gov signs them in. Hopefully a couple die in the process. These are horrendous bills.

[nelson96]

It was FUD, but not by much. The state Senate and House each passed a handful of GC bills and handed them to each other. One of those will require a license to buy ammo, which requires a background check and a $50 per year fee. It also makes mail order illegal, and apparently, makes private sales/transfers illegal. So if my BIL and I are shooting at the range, and he runs out of ammo, I can't give him some of mine

It was carried by a lot of news/internet articles like it was now law, but thats not true until the branches each sign off on the others bills and the Gov signs them in. Hopefully a couple die in the process. These are horrendous bills.

All I can say is WOW.

What would this change or help?  Even if a guy abides by this rule (knowing that there's a high probability that criminals won't) but at some point decides to go on a killing spree, how would this law have helped anything? . . . .  I'm sorry, but as bad as Oregon is, I would live in my car before I would live in California.
.

[Adam Campbell]

It's like gasoline. Once they get everyone used to paying $4 a gallon — there is no longer any reason for them to find a way to bring it back down to $1, even if they could somehow get their operating costs down where profits would be the same — they would just keep it at $4 and make 4X more money than they do now if that was the case.

Kind of like how they all magically started making 4X more money when they quadrupled the price in a short time.

[Smurf Hunter]

It's like gasoline. Once they get everyone used to paying $4 a gallon — there is no longer any reason for them to find a way to bring it back down to $1, even if they could somehow get their operating costs down where profits would be the same — they would just keep it at $4 and make 4X more money than they do now if that was the case.

Kind of like how they all magically started making 4X more money when they quadrupled the price in a short time.

with a difference being that refining oil into gasoline has a high barrier to entry.  Neither you nor I cannot dig an oil well and start making our own gas next month.

On the other hand,  it's considerably easier to manufacture ammo from a supply chain and operational perspective.  I believe this is exactly why reloading components have surged in the past 6 months.  It's a reaction to the sticker shock of retail ammo prices.  Because of this, it's a target for regulation.

[inbox485]

Gas really isn't a good example. That is driven primarily by inflation and cost to acquire the oil. Record profits just means they are following inflation.

Ammo is a scalp and hock issue. Retailers have to choose to either jack prices up or ration or both to try to curb a-holes buying and reselling. If I needed ammo bad enough I would find a retailer that is doing the markup and is donating the bump to civil rights groups. The scalpers that horde just to resell need to get skull fornicated. I won't even consider buying from them.

[theBINKYhunter]

+1 for skull fornicated, that made my night.

[d3nni5]

Wally world had several boxes of 9mm....the Winchester Red&White boxes of 100....I'm very proud of myself, I passed it by.   Don't need 9mm right now, and I'm sure there were plenty of people who do.   

Whew, I think my skull is safe for this week!

[ADKwarrior]

Cabela’s got some .22lr in today, scored a 1000rnd box of Winchester 40gr.  I would advise anyone really needing .22 to just backorder from Cabela’s. I have and I’ve been getting 1-2 backorders in a month for pre-insanity prices all the way too.  Just my opinion but Cabela’s has been doing right by me for months now and its awesome to get 1000-2000rnds of .22 a month with no extra effort and a little patience.