Could the clouds be parting?

erob3 · March 22, 2013, 10:04 PM

I was in Walmart today for my routine bullet check and to my pleasant surprise what did I find --- MORE AMMO THAN I HAVE SEEN IN WEEKS!! Boxes of .380, .45's, .40's, shotgun shells, rifle shells..... it was almost too much to take!! Frustratingly no 9mm or .22's BUT they also had a S&W M&P 15 .22 for $450 AND a .223 AR for $970. The prices were of old days - .45's were Winchester White box 100 rounds for $40. The others were not elevated in price. Could the clouds be parting? I think I see the sun shining thru.

Now if everyone will not go crazy when more hit the shelves.
We can only hope.

Jeremiah/Az · March 22, 2013, 11:23 PM

At my LGS yesterday, I bought 100 rounds of .22's & a new 30 round mag for my AR15.

kozak6 · March 23, 2013, 06:02 AM

It might have been luck.

I went to two Walmarts lately.

One had a .22 lr AR lookalike, but was cleaned out of ammo.

The other one had .243, .270, and .410.

Danxyz53 · March 23, 2013, 06:51 AM

My local Walmart has nor 9 mm. The clerk said other clerks let their friends know when new inventory is stocked and it is gone in less than 15 minutes.

erob3 · March 23, 2013, 07:59 AM

From just these replies I truly believe things are TRYING to return back to normal...... IF WE WILL LET IT!

**Spats McGee** · March 23, 2013, 08:18 AM

Fingers crossed!

TailGator · March 23, 2013, 10:28 AM

I am hopeful, too. I picked up a box of 9 mm at my local WalMart last week. They had two 250-round boxes of UMC. After some thought, I left the second box for someone else. Haven't got the scent of any .22LR, though. I haven't run out, but I have cut back on shooting to avoid running out, and that is almost the same.

chris in va · March 24, 2013, 03:00 PM

We're only doing it to ourselves. If a quarter of this panic energy was spent writing to legislators and protesting, we'd have ammo and firearms to spare.

ClydeFrog · March 24, 2013, 03:20 PM

I'd pump your breakes(as the kids say)....

A few ammunition styles may come back up or prices may level off but Im still a tad unconvinced.
A local FFL shop near me is pushing new duty size Glocks for $900.00

and all, yes ALL my bookmarked GunsAmerica.com firearms were sold. I've been a member since 2004 & never saw that.

Most factory LE type handgun rounds are still $1.50/2.00 per round too.

CF

SauerGrapes · March 24, 2013, 03:31 PM

Call me a pessimist, but there are alot of people sitting around with little to no ammo. They are going to scarf up every round they can get their grubby little hands on.
Then there's the guys that have shot some of their stash and are looking to replenish.
We are our own worst enemy.

bshefa · March 24, 2013, 06:20 PM

I thought maybe things were slowing up on this craziness. I was actually able to order 2 AR 10 mags from Armalite at the normal price. They arrived as ordered! Unfortunatley, I see now they are listed as out of stock again. Oh well, at least I have as many as I really need now.

erob3 · March 24, 2013, 06:35 PM

Quote:

We are our own worst enemy.

Sadly this is true. I can't help but think of all of the 9mm, 22LR and other ammo calibers that have been placed on popular auction sites by gun stores to fetch the highest dollar instead of just putting them on the shelf. Hopefully everyone will relax a little. Another bit of POSITIVE news, there is a Walmart in my area that has some 22LR in stock. I still think there is a rainbow finally showing thru this storm.

psyfly · March 24, 2013, 06:50 PM

Still lookin' for that old rainbow.

I was in one of my LGSs and, after trading for a .22 revolver (see below) was asked if I needed any ammo for it.

You have .22.lr? I was surprised, of course.

The salesman led me to the end of the counter where he had two 550 rd boxes of Federal (he said).

Price clearly marked on each box was $ 250.00

.

Okay, I realize it was kind of a joke, meaning "We have a little but don't expect/intend to sell it."

Maybe tomorrow.

OTUS (OnTheUpSide), I picked up a good clean used New Model Ruger Single-Six convertible for a really good price (I think).

Will

**Tom Servo** · March 24, 2013, 07:23 PM

I got a Remington Bucket O' Bullets, which is 1400 rounds of .22, for $75. Not the best deal out there, but at least I've got some.

I keep lots of ammo on hand at home, but I've never kept .22. Why? Because when does anyone ever run out of .22, and...ermagherd what the heck?!?

Yeah. So, I'll be keeping some on hand from now on.

yankytrash · March 24, 2013, 07:45 PM

We're learning....

dstryr · March 25, 2013, 08:15 PM

I don't see us coming out of this in 6 or 8 months like has been suggested though I hope I am wrong. There are shooters who have years worth of ammo and would like to have more, shooters with a few months worth who would like to have a lot more, guys who just don't ever keep much and want their share, and all of the new shooters coming along who want a few thousand to many thousands of rounds of anything and everything they shoot.

If the influence and pressure we have been applying to our legislators continues to pay off then I would expect demand to get more back to normal, but not before everyone has satisfied their current wants/needs for ammo. If more strict laws are enacted and/or taxes on ammo per round are passed then the demand will remain high until the taxes and restrictions make it too expensive or impossible to buy. If nothing else, the burden of taxes may help drive the cost of ammo down again.

Illinois has one of the lower ownership rates of firearms in the nation per capita and once the legislature address the state's supreme court demand of reviewing its overly restrictive laws there will be a lot of catching up to do. Imagine another few million gun owners who want to learn to shoot and want to not have the smallest ammo stash. There are a few other states with high populations and low ownership rates and if the trend continues, that means a demand for ammo and weaponry.

This is going to be around for awhile I believe.

kilimanjaro · March 25, 2013, 08:56 PM

Guy at a local pawnshop got $50 knocked off a Single-Six, because 'you can't get ammo for it'.

Tucker 1371 · March 25, 2013, 09:55 PM

Shelves are bare of any kind of plinking ammo round here. There's a 1080rd tuna can of 5.45x39 at a LGS I would buy but it's over double the normal price of about $150, think ill wait. I am starting to see lots of ARs pop up at normal prices, same LGS I mentioned has about a dozen ARs, even more AKs, and a PTR91, all at sane prices.

Rmart30 · March 26, 2013, 09:17 AM

ordered 800 rds of in stock wolf 9mm this morning. Its slowly coming back.

chewie146 · March 26, 2013, 10:56 AM

I think we've hit the turning point, but there's so much back order out there that I predict about next December will be "normal."

FISHY-A-NADO · March 26, 2013, 02:07 PM

I live quite a few miles from where I work and pass 3 Wal-Marts and 1 Bass Pro shop every day. I hit every one of them at least 3 times a week just hoping that some ammo on my wish list has magically appeared. Alas, that has not been the case so far...and I have been doing this since mid-January.

In the Bass Pro, one entire aisle of shelving some 20-30 feet long (maybe more) and 4 or 5 shelves high has nothing but row after row of little white tags stating that the ammo that used to ocupy this space is temproarily out of stock. Not one single box in the entire section. They have plenty of shotgun shells and a semi-decent supply of centerfire rifle ammo (except for .223 it seems) but if it'll fit a wheel gun or semi-auto pistol, you might as well be looking for solid gold bars. It just ain't there.

The Wal-Mart nearest my home has plenty of shotgun shells but I actually took an inventory last night of their other ammo. They had:

2 boxes of .25-06, 2 boxes of .308 Winmag, 1 box of .243 and 1 box of .270.

These same 6 boxes have been there for weeks. I asked the gentleman working the gun counter if he was seeing much ammo come in and his response was "Besides shotgun shells, the ammo we receive in a given shipment wouldn't normally fill the child seat on one of their buggies". He went on to say that he has not seen a brick of .22lr since Christmas.

Based on this, I would have to say that the clouds aren't parting yet in my neck of the woods.

Glenn E. Meyer · March 26, 2013, 07:04 PM

I don't haunt the stores but my work schedule took me by an Academy this morning. There was a lot of 7.62x39, Monarch 40 and 223. There was also some Zombie 9. A guy was looking at the zombie 9 and wanted the clerk to open the box - I guess to see if it had real zombie bullets. He was incapable of that. So I said, could you just reach behind you and give me a box of the 223 ($9). He looks at me with scorn and says that 5.56 (yes, I know you can get techy on that distinction). But me and Zombie killer just laughed.

rlc323 · March 26, 2013, 07:40 PM

My Dad hangs out with a bunch of old farts at the local coffee shop. Most of these guys have not fired a shot in years with any of their guns. As soon as there was talk of a shortage back in Dec they all had to head out to find whatever ammo their old guns used and stock up.

Because ammo is going to be short, don't you know?

This shortage seems to be fed by a variety of fears, and the way things have been lately, some usually rational folks seem pretty afraid.

Tucker 1371 · March 26, 2013, 08:35 PM

Cheap reloading components are pretty dang scarce as well, anything other than primo bullets has been wiped clean, shells are plentiful, haven't bothered to look for primers.

I don't even have the equipment or space to reload but once I saw that there was ZERO .308 FMJ to be found anywhere it kind of lit a fire under my arse to start.

ScottRiqui · March 27, 2013, 01:52 PM

A friend went to the Hampton, Virginia gun show this weekend, and said that there was plenty of 5.56mm ammo for $.50 - $.60 per round, and 30-round PMAGs for $20.

He asked one of the vendors "why so cheap?" (PMAGs were going for $40 each here not too long ago), and the vendor told him "I finally got the stock that I've been begging my distributor for, so I'm sitting on cases of these now, and so is everyone else. If I try to get $40 for them, I'm just going to end up taking all of them home at the end of the show."

March 22, 2013, 10:04 PM	#1
erob3 Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2010 Location: East Tn. for 56 years Posts: 540	Could the clouds be parting? I was in Walmart today for my routine bullet check and to my pleasant surprise what did I find --- MORE AMMO THAN I HAVE SEEN IN WEEKS!! Boxes of .380, .45's, .40's, shotgun shells, rifle shells..... it was almost too much to take!! Frustratingly no 9mm or .22's BUT they also had a S&W M&P 15 .22 for $450 AND a .223 AR for $970. The prices were of old days - .45's were Winchester White box 100 rounds for $40. The others were not elevated in price. Could the clouds be parting? I think I see the sun shining thru. Now if everyone will not go crazy when more hit the shelves. We can only hope. __________________ If something is worth doing well, it is worth failing at to get there.

March 23, 2013, 07:59 AM	#5
erob3 Senior Member Join Date: January 9, 2010 Location: East Tn. for 56 years Posts: 540	From just these replies I truly believe things are TRYING to return back to normal...... IF WE WILL LET IT! __________________ If something is worth doing well, it is worth failing at to get there.

March 23, 2013, 08:18 AM	#6
Spats McGee Staff Join Date: July 28, 2010 Location: Arkansas Posts: 8,821	Fingers crossed! __________________ I'm a lawyer, but I'm not your lawyer. If you need some honest-to-goodness legal advice, go buy some.

March 24, 2013, 03:20 PM	#9
ClydeFrog Junior member Join Date: May 1, 2010 Posts: 5,797	Slow your roll.... I'd pump your breakes(as the kids say).... A few ammunition styles may come back up or prices may level off but Im still a tad unconvinced. A local FFL shop near me is pushing new duty size Glocks for $900.00 and all, yes ALL my bookmarked GunsAmerica.com firearms were sold. I've been a member since 2004 & never saw that. Most factory LE type handgun rounds are still $1.50/2.00 per round too. CF

March 24, 2013, 03:31 PM	#10
SauerGrapes Senior Member Join Date: March 22, 2009 Location: S.E.PA. Posts: 920	Call me a pessimist, but there are alot of people sitting around with little to no ammo. They are going to scarf up every round they can get their grubby little hands on. Then there's the guys that have shot some of their stash and are looking to replenish. We are our own worst enemy. __________________ NRA member, DCF&S member, PAFOA member, USPSA member, NSCA member R.I.P.____Murphy

March 22, 2013, 11:23 PM	#2
Jeremiah/Az Senior Member Join Date: May 27, 2009 Location: Az. Posts: 509	At my LGS yesterday, I bought 100 rounds of .22's & a new 30 round mag for my AR15.

March 23, 2013, 06:02 AM	#3
kozak6 Senior Member Join Date: June 16, 2005 Location: AZ Posts: 3,113	It might have been luck. I went to two Walmarts lately. One had a .22 lr AR lookalike, but was cleaned out of ammo. The other one had .243, .270, and .410.

March 23, 2013, 06:51 AM	#4
Danxyz53 Member Join Date: September 19, 2010 Posts: 26	My local Walmart has nor 9 mm. The clerk said other clerks let their friends know when new inventory is stocked and it is gone in less than 15 minutes.

March 23, 2013, 10:28 AM	#7
TailGator Senior Member Join Date: May 8, 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 3,787	I am hopeful, too. I picked up a box of 9 mm at my local WalMart last week. They had two 250-round boxes of UMC. After some thought, I left the second box for someone else. Haven't got the scent of any .22LR, though. I haven't run out, but I have cut back on shooting to avoid running out, and that is almost the same.

March 24, 2013, 03:00 PM	#8
chris in va Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2004 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 13,806	We're only doing it to ourselves. If a quarter of this panic energy was spent writing to legislators and protesting, we'd have ammo and firearms to spare.

March 24, 2013, 06:20 PM	#11
bshefa Senior Member Join Date: November 22, 2006 Location: Central Texas Posts: 185	Armalite AR10 Mags I thought maybe things were slowing up on this craziness. I was actually able to order 2 AR 10 mags from Armalite at the normal price. They arrived as ordered! Unfortunatley, I see now they are listed as out of stock again. Oh well, at least I have as many as I really need now.

March 24, 2013, 06:50 PM	#13
psyfly Senior Member Join Date: April 27, 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 932	Still lookin' for that old rainbow. I was in one of my LGSs and, after trading for a .22 revolver (see below) was asked if I needed any ammo for it. You have .22.lr? I was surprised, of course. The salesman led me to the end of the counter where he had two 550 rd boxes of Federal (he said). Price clearly marked on each box was $ 250.00 . Okay, I realize it was kind of a joke, meaning "We have a little but don't expect/intend to sell it." Maybe tomorrow. OTUS (OnTheUpSide), I picked up a good clean used New Model Ruger Single-Six convertible for a really good price (I think). Will __________________ Show me the data

March 24, 2013, 07:23 PM	#14
Tom Servo Staff Join Date: September 27, 2008 Location: Foothills of the Appalachians Posts: 13,059	I got a Remington Bucket O' Bullets, which is 1400 rounds of .22, for $75. Not the best deal out there, but at least I've got some. I keep lots of ammo on hand at home, but I've never kept .22. Why? Because when does anyone ever run out of .22, and...ermagherd what the heck?!? Yeah. So, I'll be keeping some on hand from now on. __________________ Sometimes it’s nice not to destroy the world for a change. --Randall Munroe

March 24, 2013, 07:45 PM	#15
yankytrash Senior Member Join Date: April 17, 2001 Location: Farnham, Va Posts: 2,183	We're learning.... __________________ Right turn, Clyde.

March 25, 2013, 08:15 PM	#16
dstryr Senior Member Join Date: April 14, 2012 Location: IA Posts: 132	I don't see us coming out of this in 6 or 8 months like has been suggested though I hope I am wrong. There are shooters who have years worth of ammo and would like to have more, shooters with a few months worth who would like to have a lot more, guys who just don't ever keep much and want their share, and all of the new shooters coming along who want a few thousand to many thousands of rounds of anything and everything they shoot. If the influence and pressure we have been applying to our legislators continues to pay off then I would expect demand to get more back to normal, but not before everyone has satisfied their current wants/needs for ammo. If more strict laws are enacted and/or taxes on ammo per round are passed then the demand will remain high until the taxes and restrictions make it too expensive or impossible to buy. If nothing else, the burden of taxes may help drive the cost of ammo down again. Illinois has one of the lower ownership rates of firearms in the nation per capita and once the legislature address the state's supreme court demand of reviewing its overly restrictive laws there will be a lot of catching up to do. Imagine another few million gun owners who want to learn to shoot and want to not have the smallest ammo stash. There are a few other states with high populations and low ownership rates and if the trend continues, that means a demand for ammo and weaponry. This is going to be around for awhile I believe. __________________ dstryr, since 1986. http://www.dstryr.com/

March 25, 2013, 08:56 PM	#17
kilimanjaro Senior Member Join Date: November 23, 2009 Posts: 3,963	Guy at a local pawnshop got $50 knocked off a Single-Six, because 'you can't get ammo for it'.

March 25, 2013, 09:55 PM	#18
Tucker 1371 Senior Member Join Date: December 29, 2008 Location: East TN Posts: 2,649	Shelves are bare of any kind of plinking ammo round here. There's a 1080rd tuna can of 5.45x39 at a LGS I would buy but it's over double the normal price of about $150, think ill wait. I am starting to see lots of ARs pop up at normal prices, same LGS I mentioned has about a dozen ARs, even more AKs, and a PTR91, all at sane prices. __________________ Sgt. of Marines, 5th Award Expert Rifle, 237/250 Expert Pistol, 382/400. D Co, 4th CEB, Engineers UP!! If you start a thread, be active in it. Don't leave us hanging. OEF 2011 Sangin, Afg. Molon Labe

March 26, 2013, 09:17 AM	#19
Rmart30 Senior Member Join Date: June 20, 2008 Posts: 602	ordered 800 rds of in stock wolf 9mm this morning. Its slowly coming back.

March 26, 2013, 10:56 AM	#20
chewie146 Senior Member Join Date: October 25, 2010 Location: New Mexico Posts: 853	I think we've hit the turning point, but there's so much back order out there that I predict about next December will be "normal."

March 26, 2013, 02:07 PM	#21
FISHY-A-NADO Member Join Date: December 7, 2012 Posts: 40	I live quite a few miles from where I work and pass 3 Wal-Marts and 1 Bass Pro shop every day. I hit every one of them at least 3 times a week just hoping that some ammo on my wish list has magically appeared. Alas, that has not been the case so far...and I have been doing this since mid-January. In the Bass Pro, one entire aisle of shelving some 20-30 feet long (maybe more) and 4 or 5 shelves high has nothing but row after row of little white tags stating that the ammo that used to ocupy this space is temproarily out of stock. Not one single box in the entire section. They have plenty of shotgun shells and a semi-decent supply of centerfire rifle ammo (except for .223 it seems) but if it'll fit a wheel gun or semi-auto pistol, you might as well be looking for solid gold bars. It just ain't there. The Wal-Mart nearest my home has plenty of shotgun shells but I actually took an inventory last night of their other ammo. They had: 2 boxes of .25-06, 2 boxes of .308 Winmag, 1 box of .243 and 1 box of .270. These same 6 boxes have been there for weeks. I asked the gentleman working the gun counter if he was seeing much ammo come in and his response was "Besides shotgun shells, the ammo we receive in a given shipment wouldn't normally fill the child seat on one of their buggies". He went on to say that he has not seen a brick of .22lr since Christmas. Based on this, I would have to say that the clouds aren't parting yet in my neck of the woods.

March 26, 2013, 07:04 PM	#22
Glenn E. Meyer Senior Member Join Date: November 17, 2000 Posts: 20,064	I don't haunt the stores but my work schedule took me by an Academy this morning. There was a lot of 7.62x39, Monarch 40 and 223. There was also some Zombie 9. A guy was looking at the zombie 9 and wanted the clerk to open the box - I guess to see if it had real zombie bullets. He was incapable of that. So I said, could you just reach behind you and give me a box of the 223 ($9). He looks at me with scorn and says that 5.56 (yes, I know you can get techy on that distinction). But me and Zombie killer just laughed. __________________ NRA, TSRA, IDPA, NTI, Polite Soc. - Aux Armes, Citoyens

March 26, 2013, 07:40 PM	#23
rlc323 Senior Member Join Date: January 23, 2013 Location: Forgottonia, Il Posts: 217	My Dad hangs out with a bunch of old farts at the local coffee shop. Most of these guys have not fired a shot in years with any of their guns. As soon as there was talk of a shortage back in Dec they all had to head out to find whatever ammo their old guns used and stock up. Because ammo is going to be short, don't you know? This shortage seems to be fed by a variety of fears, and the way things have been lately, some usually rational folks seem pretty afraid.

March 26, 2013, 08:35 PM	#24
Tucker 1371 Senior Member Join Date: December 29, 2008 Location: East TN Posts: 2,649	Cheap reloading components are pretty dang scarce as well, anything other than primo bullets has been wiped clean, shells are plentiful, haven't bothered to look for primers. I don't even have the equipment or space to reload but once I saw that there was ZERO .308 FMJ to be found anywhere it kind of lit a fire under my arse to start. __________________ Sgt. of Marines, 5th Award Expert Rifle, 237/250 Expert Pistol, 382/400. D Co, 4th CEB, Engineers UP!! If you start a thread, be active in it. Don't leave us hanging. OEF 2011 Sangin, Afg. Molon Labe

March 27, 2013, 01:52 PM	#25
ScottRiqui Senior Member Join Date: January 27, 2010 Location: Norfolk, VA Posts: 2,905	A friend went to the Hampton, Virginia gun show this weekend, and said that there was plenty of 5.56mm ammo for $.50 - $.60 per round, and 30-round PMAGs for $20. He asked one of the vendors "why so cheap?" (PMAGs were going for $40 each here not too long ago), and the vendor told him "I finally got the stock that I've been begging my distributor for, so I'm sitting on cases of these now, and so is everyone else. If I try to get $40 for them, I'm just going to end up taking all of them home at the end of the show."