Main Cause of the Current Ammo Shortage?

[wmg1299]

I’ve been looking for some extra ammo recently because my wife has finally decided to get her LTC but needs to brush up on her skills. I’ve seen ammo shortages before, especially during the Obama years, but this one seems different. I know there have been a lot of new gun buyers due to the Coronavirus outbreak and recent riots, but I thought the run on guns and ammo would’ve slowed down by now. Do any of you guys have any insight on the main cause of this shortage? Did some manufacturers have to shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions, did the new buyers buy more than expected, or is this mainly due to existing gun owners hoarding?

[Hal]

Who knows why?

I mean really - ammo shortages & my dogs barking like goofballs have one thing in common.
The reason for both is ridiculous at times.

A leaf blows across the yard & the hounds go nuts.

Some idiot says they are going to burn down the country & all of a sudden, ammo sells out.

I'm beginning to think that - the reason for anything any more is - that it just so happens to be a day of the week that ends in a "y".

[FITASC]

A little bit of everything you mentioned in your OP. That idiotic term "perfect storm" could apply here as you have a huge increase in demand and the virus making production lower than required. Political and societal fears will help keep the demand going well into, and past, November.

[Swifty Morgan]

I'm pretty sure I'm the main cause. We've had two panics this year, and the Biden panic is yet to come. I'm storing nuts for the winter.

[mr bolo]

new buyers & stocking up

the days of buying two or three boxes of ammo is gone, you better buy as much as you can get to at least build a reserve, never shoot your last box

buy it by the case if you can

[jmhyer]

Agree with the multi-cause explanations. And I don't think it will get any better before the November election...and probably not for a while after that if Trump loses.

[Pahoo]

I'm pretty sure I'm the main cause. We've had two panics this year, and the Biden panic is yet to come. I'm storing nuts for the winter

Folks are looking over the horizon and seeing what is "potentially" coming. A dealer friend of mine says that he is getting new customers every day. Distributors can't keep up with demands and manufacturers are in the same boat. I have acquaintances that have bought firearms and want me to show them how it works and what ammo to buy.

Be Safe !!!

[wjhenderson]

Originally Posted by Pahoo

Folks are looking over the horizon and seeing what is "potentially" coming. A dealer friend of mine says that he is getting new customers every day. Distributors can't keep up with demands and manufacturers are in the same boat. I have acquaintances that have bought firearms and want me to show them how it works and what ammo to buy.

Be Safe !!!

Exactly. I was in my LGS last week, the place was packed with folks and the pistol rack, the AR rack and the ammo shelves were almost bare. I was able to buy my powder and primers though. I asked the owner about all the people and he said that he has been swamped with first time gun buyers.

[Hawg]

Thankfully it hasn't hit here yet. Even Walmart shelves are full, just no pistol ammo. The gun shop I frequent has plenty of guns. Tons of semi autos and AR's. Not to mention everything else.

[cslinger]

Your in Mississippi. WHO DOESN’T already own a gun or 12 their.

[KyJim]

I think it has been worse because first, there was the pandemic. Then the riots. And the panic from the latter has been made worse by mainstream media and a perceived swing to the left. I've noticed more shortages of 9mm than in other major calibers and this seems to be the caliber that attracts new gun buyers.

[Kreyzhorse]

Gun owners stocking up, the China Virus disrupting supply chains and former anti-gun folks getting wise.

[ghbucky]

A sportman's warehouse had a grand opening here last month. I stood in line for 5 hours (cause the idiots only had 1 station to process NICS) to buy a rifle and watched a pallet of 5.56mm American Eagle dwindle away, with a limit of 10 boxes per customer.

[5whiskey]

Thank God for reloading! As hard as primers and powder can be to find, they can usually be found eventually if you’re looking diligently.

[TBM900]

The answer is here...

[Bartholomew Roberts]

2020, in only six months, has already sold more guns than any previous recorded year in history. Just the top two of those six months is 4.7 million background checks.

You know what guns are pretty useless without? Ammunition.

If the last few months haven’t made it abundantly clear, you need a garden, a gun, and a freezer full of your preferred animal flesh.

[FoghornLeghorn]

already sold more guns than any previous recorded year in history

Yeah. People want to make any ammo shortage all conspiratorial, nefarious and mysterious.

There's no ammo cause there's no guns. I went to the largest gun shop in town today and bought their last Daniel Defense AR DD4v12. Or, something like that.

And they were so low on ammo they're only selling 100 rounds per customer. And only to those customers buying a rifle. I bought 100 rounds.

I save my brass and have plenty of 5.56 but never reloaded that round. I guess I'll start.

All these new gun buyers are buying tons of ammo.

This, too, shall pass.

[FoghornLeghorn]

You know what guns are pretty useless without? Ammunition.

Where's the like button?

[Onward Allusion]

wmg1299 - Main Cause of the Current Ammo Shortage?

Combination of all of what you had mentioned. I've been through #1 and #2 and those were nothing compared to now. Things may get better but if the Covid-19 situation continues to rise, States will shut down again and the economy will get even closer to a Depression. It also looks like the next administration will be blue, hence more fuel to the fire. Of course that doesn't even take into account BLM & Antifa.

[bill460]

Any shortage is caused at any time, over anything by the the same thing. Unprepared people suddenly buying in a panic.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by wmg1299

I’ve been looking for some extra ammo recently because my wife has finally decided to get her LTC but needs to brush up on her skills. I’ve seen ammo shortages before, especially during the Obama years, but this one seems different. I know there have been a lot of new gun buyers due to the Coronavirus outbreak and recent riots, but I thought the run on guns and ammo would’ve slowed down by now. Do any of you guys have any insight on the main cause of this shortage? Did some manufacturers have to shut down due to COVID-19 restrictions, did the new buyers buy more than expected, or is this mainly due to existing gun owners hoarding?

Panic buying.
Is the shortage wide spread, or is ot just isolated regional? My LGS has as much ammo as I have ever seen there. Online seems to have everything. My local Wal Mart is even busting at the seams.

[zukiphile]

Originally Posted by KyJim

I think it has been worse because first, there was the pandemic.

I wonder whether this is a large driver. If state imposed commercial restrictions have interfered with distribution and delivery of goods of all kinds, ammunition certainly wouldn't be exempt.

I had thought that after the extraordinary sales of ARs and AR parts in 2016, that market would be well insulated from shortages and price shocks. From the browsing I've done over the last couple of months, that's not so. It isn't a post 2012 drought, but prices are up and lots of common things are out of stock at the least expensive places.

[44 AMP]

the days of buying two or three boxes of ammo is gone, you better buy as much as you can get to at least build a reserve, never shoot your last box

buy it by the case if you can

This attitude on the part of many people is one reason. Some of us, shooting enthusiasts have always bought ammo in "large" quantities, but now that nearly everyone is doing that, the system can't keep up.

I was much more worried when the stores ran out of toilet paper!

Today's buying panic is different from the previous ones. The Obama scare, etc. only affected people who had guns (and wanted to be able to get more) and those who were considering a gun, getting one "while they still could", and was mostly about those guns most likely to be banned, and their ammo.

Today's panic has a additional element, and, its a huge one. People who never before thought they might need a gun, now realizing that they do, just in case.

Before it was worry about what new restrictions the Govt might put on gun sales, now the worry is about the breakdown of society and basic services due to the virus. people are worried about masses of panicked people doing some kind of Night of the Living dead thing with virus infected "zombies" everywhere.

So, now, with "the end of the world" just over the horizon, and being more credible that some "prepper's fantasy" they think they need a gun (and ammo).

Wouldn't surprise me at all to find a number of anti-gun people trying to get a gun now. The system simply isn't set up to meet the huge surge of demand, and so, shortages. Given enough time (and continued production) things will eventually return to a balance point.

Toilet paper is again available where I shop, eventually, ammo will be, as well.

[ghbucky]

Wouldn't surprise me at all to find a number of anti-gun people trying to get a gun now.

I read stories about California guns stores dealing with a huge surge of shoppers becoming enraged because they couldn't leave with a gun. One store had a stock response when the customers became angry: "No one in this store voted for that"

I also witnessed here in KY at a Sportsman Warehouse grand opening a guy who stood in line for 5 hours in front of me innocently explaining that he was there to buy a gun for someone else and getting hostile when told it was a crime.

Lots of wakeup calls happening right now.

[reynolds357]

Originally Posted by ghbucky

I read stories about California guns stores dealing with a huge surge of shoppers becoming enraged because they couldn't leave with a gun. One store had a stock response when the customers became angry: "No one in this store voted for that"

I also witnessed here in KY at a Sportsman Warehouse grand opening a guy who stood in line for 5 hours in front of me innocently explaining that he was there to buy a gun for someone else and getting hostile when told it was a crime.

Lots of wakeup calls happening right now.

You do realize that liberals and leftists think laws apply to everyone but them. Thats not an insult, that is a defensible observation.