Ammo availability and you

lohman446 · March-18-13 07:03

I handled a couple .22LR and .22Mag rifles this weekend while at a large sporting good store. In the end I never considered buying them because of a lack of ammo on the shelfs and the ridiculous prices that ammo is commanding right now.

Do you think this factor is hurting gun sales? Why bother buying a gun you cannot buy ammo for? How does this impact NAA?

TwoGunJayne · March-18-13 08:03

For what it's worth, centerfire handgun and centerfire rifle (except .223 and 7.62x39 ) are back in stock near me.

No metric calibers at all, sadly. It's a good time to pick up a few boxes of your favorite big bore, though. Prices aren't that bad, here at least.

The best tip: Don't bother to look for ammo at Walmart. I think they are keeping the shelves bare on purpose. In the same town, a sporting goods store has racks and stacks of centerfire ammo, a hunting shop has tons of primers and powder. A pawn shop has everything but rimfire. What gives, Wal-mart? Why no ammo on the shelves and you're the only ones limiting "2 boxes per customer?" The other guys in town have stopped that nonsense.

Primers and powder everywhere, no projectiles though (very strange.)

Premium defence ammo lines the shelves. Cheap FMJ availability is spotty.

Rimfire is nowhere to be seen. Apparently, the .22 shortage cause a whole lot of folks to get .17 rifles and now you can't get that, either.

On the plus side, the Cap and Ball Companions are supposed to be restocked in April! Woo hoo! A pair of Super Companions for me and another C&B Earl for a C&B Quad Carry

If you want spare cylinders, April might be your month. As we've proven in another thread... you're getting several THOUSAND shots for a pound of black (if you can find it.) Percussion caps are out there by mail order.

Besides... once you get 5,000 rounds for a .22 mag rifle after it is scoped in, just a few rounds a day to stay sharp and you've got several years worth of ammo. The CCI Maxi-mag +V and Gamepoint rounds are impressive out of a rifle when you consider what they are... the bullet weight, the straight-wall cartridge design, so on and so forth. If you got caught by this shortage unprepared, just remember that the next time you see premium .22 mag ammo for $9-$12 a box. Run-of-the-mill .22 mag is almost always higher quality than run-of-the-mill .22 long rifle.

I miss the availability of cheap bulk .22, but oh well. If the store shelves near me are any indication, the premium ammo will be back first. The people looking to buy 100,000 usually don't go for CCI Stingers. They'll get the low-quality Aquila stuff (which are no good anyway for NAA, the brass is too thin.)

cedarview kid · March-18-13 08:03

The only ammo I've bought since this whole craziness started has been .22TCM. Yeah, I paid a little bit of a premium, but not gouging prices. Fortunately, I've had a stock from past purchases and I've also not been shooting up what I have for fear of not being able to replace it.

Will I buy a guy that I can't shoot due to scarce ammo? Well, I just bought a Rock Island 22TCM. LOL. So I guess I would. But the deciding factors was that it also comes with a 9mm barrel, of which I have a fairly decent supply already.

I think ammo supplies are getting better and by summertime I think it won't be too bad. People are starting to realize that the gun control attempts aren't working, except for liberal states where some of them are passing. Once the hoarding slows down, I believe the ammo famine will cease.

RogueTS1 · March-18-13 11:03

cannot find reloading supplies in my area unless you are reloading shot shells.

frimsure · March-18-13 15:03

you guys are right about ammo. last week i went to 2 wal-mart in my town i found 5 boxes of cci mag ammo. i had tobuy 2 at on store and 3 at another because thats all i could find. but i did buy 15 boxes of .17 hmr ammo at $10 a box. only because i have a .17 hmr rifle with a big a** scope for long range shooting. not to mention i just bought a .17 hmr minimaster. lol

cedarview kid · March-18-13 15:03

Quote from: frimsure on March-18-13 15:03
but i did buy 15 boxes of .17 hmr ammo at $10 a box. only because i have a .17 hmr rifle with a big a** scope for long range shooting. not to mention i just bought a .17 hmr minimaster. lol

frimsure · March-18-13 15:03

cedarview kid · March-18-13 15:03

Oh, so we're having a smiling contest, eh?

TwoGunJayne · March-18-13 17:03

No! Like this!!

G50AE · April-02-13 22:04

Does this mean we need to all get one of those pocket watches that plays chimes and has a picture of Colonel Douglas Mortimer's sister on the inside?

OV-1D · April-03-13 03:04

YUP a smiling contest . I know it ain't a yellow smilly but it's close .

TwoGunJayne · April-03-13 14:04

I'd like a music box pocket watch, and a pair of those Sabata pistols as well.

MR_22 · April-03-13 14:04

I had NO PROBLEM buying a box each of .38-special round-ball practice ammo and Zombie-Max hollow points at my local gun store on Saturday--and for the regular retail price. Of course, they only had ONE BOX of 9mm--and it was a 25-round box of hollow points, but I think the buying frenzy and the ammo famine is waning--slowly but surely.

bigwheel · April-03-13 16:04

Thanks for the ammo report. Sure wished I had kept the guns which shoot that stuff. I am currently like a hound trying to sniff out .40's. Kindly give a holler if you happen to spy any of that.

.54Cal_Kidd · April-03-13 17:04

I've been checking PSA for ammo since I have an account there. It's been trickling in. You can always tell they have something when the site lags like crazy.

AZsnipe · April-03-13 17:04

I work for a large retailer. We get a truck once a week, on friday. This past friday, I got to the store at 7:15, and there were already people in line for ammo. We open at 9:00.
It took about 1/2 hour to sell out. We only received 3 cases of .22, 3 cases of 9mm, 1 case of 40 S&W, 3 cases of .223, 1 case of .45, and 1 case of 308.
I limit sales to three boxes per customer (total), with only 1 being 200 rounds or more.

This hasn't eased up even a little bit here in Arizonal.

Snipe

Kentucky Kevin · April-04-13 10:04

People blame the hoarders and preppers, but they don't have to buy during the shortages, thank God

TwoGunJayne · April-04-13 10:04

I've only managed to get 4 boxes of CCI CB caps (since nobody else wanted them) since this whole shortage thing started. It isn't that I "don't have to buy," but can't get the ammo to replace what I shoot... I end up shooting less. Sad, the weather has been great for it lately.

Kentucky Kevin · April-04-13 10:04

I hear you there, I used to burn up a couple of hundred at a time because I could. I now think of range time as an investment and act accordingly

RiverRat9533 · April-04-13 14:04

Still no powder or ammo to be found in the Raleigh area. I wonder if I would have better luck in an area that doesn't allow guns, like DC. Have family up there, maybe they could send some down this way

MR_22 · April-04-13 15:04

If they don't allow guns, there should be plenty of ammo, right? Because nobody would need it, so why buy it?

bud · April-04-13 17:04

Went to Dunhams Sporting Goods at 1:00 today, and they had just unloaded the truck and were taking the ammo out of the boxes and putting it on the shelf. They had a line of around 12 people buying some of the ammo before they could get what they had on the shelf. I was able to get 100 rounds of 38+p H.P. and two boxes of Hornady .223 55 grain. Paid a little over $85.00 for it but was glad to have it. NO .22 ammo other than magnum though.

RiverRat9533 · April-04-13 17:04

MR_22, exactly my thinking. When I lived in the DC suburbs, there was always an over abundance of ammo, nowhere to hunt, nowhere to shoot, and only the criminals in DC had guns, so all of us surrounding the crap hole had guns and ammo enough to keep the trouble in the city and not have it wandering its way out

Last I heard, there's ammo up that way, maybe it's time to give mom a visit

TwoGunJayne · April-04-13 17:04

Ammo over here, gents. Big bore, centerfire only. Powder? Primers? Come get some. We'll cook some steaks and go shooting in a friendly environment.

Do you actually WANT premium centerfire SD pistol ammo? It's here. Want some rifle ammo? Guess what?

I know a store with many thousands of pistol, rifle, and shotgun primers. Need smokeless powder? Guess what? Want to have a cookout?

I can't guarantee a specific blend of caliber/casing/bullet. What I CAN promise is that if you've got a few guns, I can get you something.

Can't mail ammo by post or UPS. They get awfully mad and want a bribe to make it happen. Sorry, California. Sorry New York. Your leaders are trying their best to keep you from revolting by keeping you either unarmed or without enough ammunition to finish the campaign. Sorry again, I'm not equipped for that sort of gig. I was just talking about steaks, adult conversation, and a few legitimate beverages.

RiverRat9533 · April-04-13 17:04

Next week temps are rising to the 70s and 80s, which direction do I point my motorcycle from NC for bullets n burgers?

RogueTS1 · April-04-13 19:04

Are the prices normal on the reloading items or inflated in your area for these TwoGun?

rhett · April-04-13 19:04

As of this post 9:07 PM Central Time, SGAmmo has 466 boxes of "22 Magnum Winchester Super-X 28 Grain Lead-Free Hollow Point X22MHLF - LIMIT 40 BOXES PER CUSTOMER" @ $15.95 a box or 40 boxes @ $14.95.

http://www.sgammo.com/product/winchester/50-rd-box-22-magnum-winchester-super-x-28-grain-lead-free-hollow-point-x22mhlf-li

yup it is that liberal stuff, but it is there to be had if you want it.

Kevin · April-04-13 23:04

Thanks for the tip, rhett. They are down to 327 boxes now.

G50AE · April-05-13 00:04

"Indio! This is Colonel Mortimer, Douglas Mortimer! Does the name mean anything to you?"

bigwheel · April-05-13 06:04

A friend just sent this link verifying Obamies plans for the bullet supply.

http://lastresistance.com/1808/obamas-government-prefers-empty-guns-and-knife-fights/

TwoGunJayne · April-05-13 06:04

Quote from: roguets1 on April-04-13 19:04
Are the prices normal on the reloading items or inflated in your area for these TwoGun?

They're not bad, actually. Powder, primers, no casings or projectiles... so you'll have to cast your own and fix gas checks or plate your own. No biggie. It's why I prefer 12 gauge loading, you don't have to bother with checks or plating. Quick, easy, hard to screw it up. I've figured out all of my loads with one powder and one powder bushing. 1 oz at a little over 1600 ish feet per second. Slug, buck, small shot. Patterns great out of my cylinder bore, I could go hotter but I like the patterning and the recoil is easy; my small shot loads actually pattern better than Winchester AA with a touch better velocity. BPI piston skeet wad for a good spread with a dense center or Z21 Trap commander for an even pattern and a 1 oz cast lee slug drops right in to that Z21. 2 3/4" seems to do it all as far as lead goes. It's kind of weird making slug loads with a trap wad, but whatever works...

I could go check primer and prices if you like. Yeah, I'm going to tour the supply shops today. I'll jot down the numbers.

Anyone know a good place to get 12 gauge ball bearings?

RogueTS1 · April-05-13 07:04

Thank you TGJ; we have only one place around here that has any reloading supplies and they are charging near double the normal price for just about everything. I would be interested in picking up a bit of primers and powder if the prices are not too inflated. I am good on everything else.

Kentucky Kevin · April-05-13 09:04

I reload all the pistol calibers that I have except 22, but never got around to shotgun. If the products are available reasonably I will

RogueTS1 · April-05-13 10:04

All the stores around here have plenty of shotgun reloading supplies. It is the the rifle and pistol supplies that are either near impossible to find or priced two to three times normal.

MR_22 · April-05-13 11:04

.22's are the ONLY round I reload!

Hehe. Maybe it's not the same as what you mean, tho. When I was a teenager, I used to pull the leads out of .22LR rounds and drop down a bead of hot glue inside them. It made a great seal and resulted in a cool "rubber bullet" round. Not quite as lethal, but still nasty to be shot with.

One day I convinced my cousin to let me shoot him in the butt with one, because, after all, it was just a "rubber" bullet, right?

He still won't let me forget about that. LOL. I guess it was pretty painful, but it didn't break the skin (or even the denim pants he was wearing). I'm sure it bruised him, but he never showed me.

BTW, I am NO LONGER a STUPID TEENAGER and DO NOT RECOMMEND such STUPID and DANGEROUS ACTIVITIES! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!! In fact, these days I'd probably get sent to juvenile detention for doing that. Ah well, we live in a different world now.