My point exactly. Other than shotgun shells, any rim fire or centerfire rounds are not to be found. Shelves are empty virtually every where one shops. Weird to say the least.
Demand is high, people are exploiting the demand with higher prices, however manufacturers and retailers have been holding prices down. The paultry amounts of ammo that make it to stores is being bought up the moment it arrives on the sales floor — in most cases it never reaches the shelves. The ammo is then being turned around by individuals on forums and various third party sales outlets for outrageous prices because most people are too busy to compete for it at the store level when shipments arrive and are willing to pay the high prices to get what they want.
The sad thing is that most of the ammo that arrives at the stores is the type most individuals would pass over for better quality or function if demand was being met. So far, the brands I have seen show up regularly in the past four weeks at three stores have been Remington, Hornady, and Blazer with an occassional box of Winchester in the mix. With the exception of Hornady, all of it is plain ball type ammo. In Hornady’s case all of it is high quality, but also expensive and in smaller quantities (i.e., 20 rounds of personal defense ammo for $22).
The stores have been trying to combat the resale path and have started lieing to customers about what they have, are more guarded about shipment days and times, and will filter out their orders over a period of hours and days rather than bring it out all at once. Some stores are issuing numbers to those in line waiting for their doors to open on a delivery day and limiting the quantity buyers can purchase. Even with these restrictions the first seven customers might still buy up all that was delivered that day.
You can find most any odd hunting rifle caliber centerfire at my Walmart and the other two near here.