The "Where is everything?" thread -- guns, ammo, primers, powder, etc.

[Mike Irwin]

With the latest run on firearms, magazines, ammunition, reloading supplies, and other shooting accoutrements, there has been a corresponding rise in the number of "WHERE IS EVERYTHING?" threads.

This thread will hopefully do two things:

1. It will give everyone a place to discuss the low stock and high prices we are currently seeing in the firearms world.

2. It will hopefully give everyone a central place where they can report finding supplies (locally or otherwise).

What this thread will NOT be, however, (and I can't stress that strongly enough) is a thread for expounding:

• pet conspiracy theories about how the government is buying up all of the ammo to keep it out of the public's hands.
  
• how manufacturers are creating a false shortage designed to drive prices up.
  
• complaints about how this company or that store is gouging.

Posts along those lines will be deleted and the poster may receive either a warning or a sanction.

We know that threads will still be started in other forums. At the discretion of the moderators for those forums, threads may be moved to this one. If you feel a thread or post should be moved here, but it's in a now-closed thread elsewhere at TFL, please contact your friendly neighborhood mod.

[Mike Irwin]

As an example of the kinds of posts we'd like to see in this thread...

A friend of mine e-mailed me the other day that Third Gen Shooter supply allegedly got a large shipment of powder in. Not sure what, but keep checking their website for when it gets updated.

http://store.thirdgenerationshootingsupply.com/

[Don P]

how manufacturers are creating a false shortage designed to drive prices up.

Just to add to Mikes bullet point above. I work for a AR parts manufacturer, NO I cannot help with purchases and to Mikes statement,
WE CANNOT KEEP UP WITH DEMAND. PERIOD!!!!!
We would have to increase the number of machines and personnel by 50 -70% to even think about getting close to meeting demand.
A large expense/investment in a, for now, iffy environment with regards to possible gun legislation coming.
In closing the parts shortage is REAL.

[Tom Servo]

I also work in the industry. Demand is still through the roof. Manufacturer's capabilities are finite. It's simple math.

Some retailers are charging higher prices because they can't get a regular supply of wares, and they need to make money from existing inventory. Simple economics.

There's no need to read anything else into the situation.

[HILLBILLY-06]

I hear updates fairly regularly, that "Larry's Pistol & Pawn, also known as "the Ammo Dump" to others Located in Huntsville Alabama.... Has plenty of Ammo, even 22LR, "if your prepaired to pay a steep price, he has it. I don't know how much every caliber he has in stock costs, but when I got a call from a buddy about some 22LR (500rd boxes) is $60.00 each, so though he has it, it is expensive. It is a good place to go when you can't find ammo, he usually has it by the pallet loads, not just the little shelve's behind the counter.

[Mike Irwin]

Just to let everyone know, I wasn't able to do the merge that I wanted. The forum software won't allow it.

So, sometime this evening, all of the other active threads on this subject will be shut down and redirected to here.

[dakota.potts]

I don't know if anybody watches IraqVeteran8888 but it's two guys talking about guns in the Moss Gun & Pawn shop in Georgia. They do a weekly video about "gripes" like gun restrictions, people with poor muzzle discipline, tacticool weapons, etc.

This past week they said they got a very large shipment of .22lr and even had some AR's. That gives me a little hope.

[lcpiper]

We have a few ARs sitting on the wall at Trail Boss in Sierra Vista, AZ., .22LR, .223REM, and 308WIN calibers.

They have been getting a little ammo in the 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP range.

These are the first that have sat on the wall for more then a day or so before disappearing.

[UtahHunting]

I have gotten lucky a couple of times finding .22LR ammo using gunbot, but both times I happened to check it at 4:30am to find it in stock.

Here in Utah AR's are on most shelves in most of the gun stores. The demand for them seems to have gone down quite a bit. Just this morning I was in Sportsman's warehouse and they had $800 bushmasters.

Most of the popular ammo 9mm, 45, 380, etc can be found here at normal prices if you are willing to look and are consistent with it. I am fortunate I work all over the place and can stop in to check supplies daily. .22LR on the other hand is near impossible, not sure where it all is, other than in people's stash.

[JD0x0]

I'm perplexed, it seems some websites completely cleared their stocks of just about every firearm supply. I couldn't even find bullet molds or dies for .270 win. I can understand things like semi auto rounds being in short supply but it's weird that even the more obscure rounds, and the reloading supplies and components for those rounds are gone too.

[SVTCobra306]

A little late for this, but Monday I was in Bass Pro in Council Bluffs, IA and they had a lot of 100 packs of .45 ACP Winchester White Box, they also had a bunch of 5.56 Winchester 20 packs, but I'm sure the 5.56 was gone by Tuesday.

I also found some primers at a place in Omaha called Guns Unlimited, they had several bricks of CCI#34's which people seemed to be leaving unmolested, and they had a brick worth of WLR primer sleeves at the front counter.. I bought half of it and left half for the next guy. Again not sure if any has lasted, but they talked like the WLR's had been there a while. It looked like they had a decent amount of powder too.

Also in Omaha I've been regularly seeing some powder at Cabela's. I've gotten H335 and Benchmark there in the last month, they have usually had some H380 and H4895 too, and they had a whole stack of AR Series RCBS .223 dies there.

It is good to see things coming into the retail stores.. everyone be diligent and buy it retail, the more that happens the faster the scalpers get the carpet snatched from under them and the faster the shortage can pass.

[carguychris]

I'm curious how the supply of .25ACP / 6.35 Browning looks in other areas. I recently bought a Beretta 950 Jetfire because my wife thinks they're cute (what can I say?), and a LGS had the proverbial Deal So Good You Just Can't Walk Away. However, I've had an absolute bear of a time finding ANY ammo for it. I lucked in to one box at Walmart, and a local shooting range had some, but they had so little that they were restricting it to 1 box with a range pass. I bought my 1-box allocation, but my wife and I have now shot several mags, and we only have 33 rounds left. Any idea where I can find more?

Also, one curious thing I've noticed around here is a surprising abundance of 10mm Auto and 6.8mm Remington SPC; it seems baffling when all other "tactical" calibers are flying off the shelves. 6.8 SPC in particular is literally piling up at one of the local discount stores.

If anyone wants to trade some .25ACP for some 10mm Auto or 6.8 SPC, PM me.

[BigD_in_FL]

Gamaliel seems to be getting shotgun powder and primers in a little better than recently

[mayosligo]

Just a report. Went to Academy Sports in the Baton Rouge area today. Nothing for pistols. The did have some 30-06 and other larger rifle rounds. No 307 or 223.
They did have 12 gauge for birds and clays.

[kilimanjaro]

Car Guy, check out Kesselring's Gun Shop in Washington state, they have lots of .25acp and will ship. Prices are reasonable, don't know what it is for .25acp.

[pilot141]

I had posted this in one of the other threads, but I figured I'd repeat it here.

Like SVTCobra306 I had luck earlier this week at Bass Pro with .45 ACP. Lots of WWBs, Remington UMC, etc. It was like the good old days, at least for .45.

Today I scored a WWB of 9mm at Wally World. $22.97 for 100 rounds, and I left one on the shelf for the next guy.

This is in south Texas. We were slow to feel the panic (I was buying WWBs of .40 and .45 at Wally World well into January), but when it hit everything dried up completely. This is the first I have seen that things might be getting back to normal. Well, not normal, but some popular calibers actually staying on the shelves for a while.

[Pops1085]

Have people had any luck buying ammo online? I've always been a little warry purchasing online since I learned the hard way eBay sellers aren't always legit a couple of years ago.

[wilson396]

I went out today looking for the first time in a couple weeks. Went to 3 Walmarts which had nothing. Went to a Cabelas and they had nothing for pistol ammo. Last stop was a Farm and Fleet and they didn't have anything either. I went early before 9am at most of my stops.

I had better luck last month but maybe I was just lucky.

[nanewt02]

im not too woried about the ammo craze, nobody is panicing on purchasing the 500 magnum, 50 bmg and 10 ga

[StukaJU87]

Been reading and hearing a lot about how bad gun shows have been of late, so I thought I'd check one out just for giggles.

What I saw:
Plenty of "scary" black rifles.
Ar's were in the $1500 range.
WASR 10's - $500-$800
American Tactical 22lr Stg-44 - $539
Ruger 10/22 - $300-$450
Sks- $500-$600
Rifles & pistols were all around $100-$200 above normal.

Ammo was slim but still available.
.223 - $12/20rd Tula ammo
7.62x51 - $180/200rd. Battle packs
.22lr - $75/500rd. Federal
7.62x39 - $10/20d Tula ammo
All cases of ammo were about 2-3 times normal.

Plenty of mags of every type.
75rd AK - $310
30rd AK - metal - $30
30rd AK - Tapco - $15
100rd AR - between $300-$550

Reloading supplies: 1 table
2 cases of Winchester small pistol primers.
Bullets in most calibers
Brass for most calibers

What I didn't see:
.50 cal ammo cans
Powder

[Ignition Override]

Pensacola FL: AR-15 or M-4 in .223 (today) listed at $1,000. Jay's Guns, on Navy Blvd. just east of the 'hump' bridge.
He might also have had an AR in .308.
HILLBILLY06-Some 550 rd. boxes of .22LR for $150 were there today.

Unless the condition was worn, an AR in .223 listed at That price in a pawn shop tells us that demand is going down.

West Point MS: AK-74 folding metal 'stock' (yesterday) at approx. $800. In the pawn shop on Hwy. 45, south edge of town.
There were a few rifles in the AR pattern, but whether any were in .223, I did not check, as ARs don't really interest me. Vic Morrow never carried one in "Combat" when I was seven.

[KBP]

The one thing that has me at a loss is why many of the retailers(Dunhams, Walmart, Dick's) in my area of PA are not getting regular deliveries of ammo as they have in past years. What is the cause of the irregular or stoppage of regular ammo deliveries? I am just asking for any and all insight! Yes, I know ammo is in high demand such as 9mm and .22lr BUT why little or no resupply?

[carguychris]

The one thing that has me at a loss is why many of the retailers(Dunhams, Walmart, Dick's) in my area of PA are not getting regular deliveries of ammo as they have in past years. What is the cause of the irregular or stoppage of regular ammo deliveries?

There are 3 major factors at play with big-box sporting goods discounters:

• These stores typically purchase large lots of goods at a low fixed price and make money on volume rather than on markup.
• They don't stockpile large inventories in warehouses; they expect to buy from a supplier, promptly ship the goods to a store, put them on a shelf, and sell them quickly.
• The corporate bosses are usually sensitive about maintaining a consumer perception that their chain offers a low, or at least competitive, price. To that end, prices and inventories are controlled by the bosses at HQ, and individual store managers generally have little or no influence over what they get and how much they can charge.

This business model works great when you can get large quantities of goods from a supplier very quickly, but it puts them at a disadvantage to smaller retailers during an acute shortage that is driving up prices- a rarity in the Western world today. Smaller retailers have more flexibility to raise and lower prices to match demand, to stockpile high-demand goods, and to accommodate rapidly rising wholesale prices by raising retail prices accordingly. This gives suppliers an incentive to sell to small retailers during a shortage, as the small retailers are more likely to acquiesce to the higher prices.

[rajbcpa]

How has the scarcity of components like primers and smokeless powder impacted your shooting habits?

Are you shooting less now than say last year at this time?

When do you expect the supply chain to free up?

[serf 'rett]

Shooting about the same amount, but I'm more aware of the cost of my fun and training.

Loaded ammo should loosen up in 6 months, but would guess we are 9 to 18 months out on seeing components in stock.