Posted on 04/05/2021 9:49:30 AM PDT by rktman
All across the country, millions of Americans are on the hunt for ammunition, either for self-defense, target practice, shooting sports or hunting. Sporting goods stores and small mom and pop businesses have had to severely limit how many rounds of ammo a person can buy at one time. Some have even gone so far as to limit ammo solely to those who are purchasing a new firearm because of the shortage.
Rumors have swirled about various companies and their ammo production. Some believed Vista Outdoors, the parent company of Federal, Remington, CCI, and Speer Ammunition, ceased manufacturing all together while others have insisted the company is picking and choosing who to sell ammo true. It was an issue Vista Outdoors' President of Ammunition, Jason Vanderbrink, addressed back in December.
Steve and Jason Hornady, owners of Hornady Ammunition released an update on ammo production. The pair used April Fool's Day to troll gun owners and squash the notion that the government is paying them to seize the production of ammo.
"So, the government might be sending you a stimulus check but they are not paying us to not ship ammo," they said with a laugh. "It just doesn't work that way."
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Since the most recent shortage began, there's been a lot more .40 available than 9mm, in my area at least. (I've even found 100 rounds each of brand new factory .40S&W & .45ACP at regular pre-panic prices! ;>) That fits with all of my previous experience, including the last run under Obama - no 9mm anywhere, but .40 was available, even at the local Walmart.
I've been recommending to people for years, "If you own a 9mm, check into getting the extra parts so you can run it as a .40" - that's a fairly simple/inexpensive conversion, with an awful lot of firearms. Having a spare top half in a different caliber, with appropriate mags, gives you options; it also might let you keep a firearm functioning, if you had a parts breakage issue. Just plain common sense to me, which is why I have several firearms that will run in different calibers.
The most common reaction to my suggestion was, "Why would I want to do that? It costs more to buy .40 than it does 9mm!" Even when you spell it out for people, most choose to remain clueless (which maybe explains a lot of the folks who vote D@mn-ocrat, also ;>)...
There might just be a lot of 9mm around if we get into a gun grab/tree watering Barackolypse.
I found a thousand rounds of .223 ammo. It was a grand plus tax. This was a local store. So a buck a round. I’m going to use the casings for reloads since it’s much cheaper that way. I have thousands of primers.
That ammo search site only shows buckshot shotgun shells. I shoot 12 & 20 gauge target shells 7 1/5 to 8 shot for trap, skeet etc. That’s way hard to find. Like the fool I am. I quit reloading and sold my gear just before COVID hit.
Also if you need .375 h&h magnum ammo expect to pay out the nose. Was looking, it’s available but holy moly the cost is crazy.
Reload if you can people, or find someone who can do it for you.
I looked up .45 LC in several weights and reloading stuff and they had ZERO!
Actually , it’s not amusing in the slightest.
Bingo! It isn't rocket science, and it doesn't have to be a big investment - I got started years ago, with a hand press, a "speed die", some powder dippers, and a reloading manual to teach me how. You can even find classes in some areas. In 'normal' times, it not only saves money, but lets you load ammo that isn't even available "off the shelf"...
Have to agree with Augie this is not only amusing it was predictable.
Exactly. I started only a couple years ago, got the equipment and the reloading bible. It’s not rocket science but can be confusing.
I’m messing with ogive now to tweak my groups in my Creedmoor. It’s within an inch now at 200 but I’m interested in that at 300. That’s when you get a bit more technical.
Heck, even components are hard to find.
They are, you’ll also likely pay a premium for them at this point. Many people who like to shoot are going the route of reloading as it is more cost effective in the long run and you can tweak the round to what your particular firearm likes. For instance the Hornaday book calls for 4350 for best Creedmoor round but my gun seems to like the RL15 powder better. My groups are a lot tighter. Struggled to get 1” moa with the 4350. It’s trial and error
Was looking at powder cost, thankfully I don’t need any, and wow the price has increased for that as well.
Good luck in your searches y’all
You’re right! Reloading ammo for long-range precision shooting can get a lot closer to “rocket science” than your average gun owner ever gets, just putting together some basic ‘mil-spec’ or practise ammo...
As I’ve noted already - the shooting community is its own worst enemy. While certain ‘self-sufficient’ folks sit back and snicker at those in desperate straits, there are actual enemies watching the despair and panic and learning key lessons.
Lessons like - how to cut off the lifelines of a healthy viable shooting economy. Why “break down their door and take their guns” when we can just make their guns useless. When we can just knock out primer production, choke off imports, allow a vast number of retailers to die off because they have nothing to sell...
While it’s comforting to know you’re good-to-go (there myself), don’t think that means the nation as a whole is in a good place.
Me neither. Probably because it doesn't exist!
Production lines for bullets and ammunition are expensive to set up, and may require new buildings, which gets you into permits and other types of government roadblocks. I'm sure they're doing what they can, but they also don't want to over-invest in new capacity that might go wanting in the future.
Thanks for the tip.
I learn something every day. Thanks for both links.
With social worker de-escalation counsellors we won’t have to worry about guns and ammo. Kumbaya all the time./SARC
Rolling your own... This is the way.
Unless you already have the equipment and supplies, those channels have dried up, too.
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