How's the ammo supply locally?

[Phaedrus]

With the sad events in Orlando this last week I wonder how the ammo supply is for you all locally? And of course for those of you that strictly roll your own, how's the supply of primers and powder? Things had pretty much got back to normal around these parts except for .22LR; that may just permanently be scarce I guess. The LGS has a pretty good supply but it's $10/100 and limited to 500 rounds per customer- no thanks!

So far things don't appear to have changed this week. Lots of 9mm and 5.56 ammo, prices unchanged, too. The LGS has a ton of P-Mags with prices still around $14 each, a couple bucks cheaper for the older ones with the green followers.

Between reloading supplies and factory ammo I'm sitting pretty good. Still I try to add to the stash regularly. Work has kept me busy this whole year so I'd been slacking off but I have been picking up a box or two every time I head "to town" lately. SGAmmo is still well stocked so I've been adding to my stock of Federal HST, my preferred ammo for CCW in 9mm, .40 and .45ACP, and I have a bit of premium 5.56 coming as well.

For the record it's not the potential bans I'm concerned about, it's the panic buying that always sets in after these kinds of events.

[madmax]

Pretty much normal. I stopped by Gander Mountain several times since the attack and the lines were fairly normal. They had an ammo sale on so I could watch the supply dwindle. But no panic buying that I saw. I bought .45 auto and 5.56 at a fair price.

[hunter63]

.22 still low supplies, limited choice, higher prices.....but then again you won't see $12 buck brick of 550 Remington Hornets ever again.
I do see some are actually staying on the shelf for at least a day or two.....

Everything else seem in good supply, and several sales going on as mentioned.

Pretty well stocked on components......but then again I just haven't been shooting at the same volume as before.
Several reasons for this, ....some not related to any buying panic.

[kyratshooter]

$10/100 is the new retail normal Phaedrus. Ten cents a shot us what the sport costs now and I have noticed that while the local range still has about the same amount of brass in centerfire calibers, the trash rimfire rounds are fewer than they used to be.

People are not plinking up the thousands of rounds they once did.

I have also noted that the .22lr shooters at the range are more concerned with hitting a target than with making noise with rapid fire at nothing in particular. They want to get that .22 zeroed at the preferred range, then they shut it down and go home. Not much in the way of letting the 10 year old shoot up a bulk box and never hit anything. If they want to make noise they get firecrackers.

I have also seen a trend toward buying .223 caliber rifles instead of .22lr. Lots of .223 empties at the range and since they only cost a little more than .22lr why not have a real gun.

The shelves have not been stripped of ammo for this event. Might be due to there not being a clear announcement of just what the administration intends, just the general "we gotta' do something" threat. Part may be the thought that this is an election year and hopefully the threats will stop with a change in November. I just read that there is a strange rush of pro-gun support even in liberal areas at the moment. Something about the Santa Monica pier being lined with "gay rights/arm yourselves" posters. There seems to be a universal belief that disarming the American people in the face of terrorism is not a sensible thing.

And part of it might be that most shooters have stockpiled a good supply of ammo and are not in panic mode. Buying one box of ammo for your .223 when the magazine holds 10 more rounds than are in the box does not make much since. Even .22lr shooters have started buying on the internet, and in larger quantities. As an example, sportsman's guide has good prices and offers free shipping on orders over $50. Why not get the lower price, get it shipped to your door, and avoid the letdown of finding that the dealer only has one brand and imposes a $50 max purchase.

I am at the point that I have no pity on the poor guy that gets on the internet to whine because he was looking for a box of ammo, has not bought any in 10 years and is enraged because; 1. he can not find any ammo for his .267 Whizbang! 2. His last box of .22lr cost him 35 cents and he refuses to pay $5 for fresh ammo.

That should have ended back in 2008! After all, this ain't the first rodeo in the past 8 years.

[hunter63]

One thing I have noticed is the lack of the, "MY .22 rifle/pistol....only likes to RUN on Thusandsuch Gofasters" ........

Now its "Hey found something that goes bang, most of the time......for only a few body parts....."
Different point of view......

But yeah, now we play "roll the can" with a SKS/AK or AR instead of the .22....

[canid]

Same as before. Not terrible, not great. I surely don't expect any improvement in any case. We actually had to buy a brick of thunderbolt a couple months back to get a reasonable price. It still pays to buy online while that lasts and that makes me sad because my LGS recently opened a location just at the corner.

[Phaedrus]

Yeah, I'm trying to keep this as apolitical as I can. I'm pretty liberal/progressive myself on many issues (especially social issues) but also extremely pro-gun. It's interesting that there's a big push in the LGBT community for armed self defense. It seems that they "get it"- few people are in their corner and they will have to watch out for themselves and each other. Good for them! The spokesperson for the Pink Pistols has said some great things about the 2nd Amendment. I think that politically people aren't buying it anymore, they realize that gun control hasn't made anyone safer in any country where it's been tried.

Again, that's as close as I want to get at the politics of the deal!

I suppose that $10/100 is the "new normal" for .22LR ammo. And I agree, you don't take your rimfires out and blast a whole brick anymore, not with the stuff as expensive as homemade 9mm ammo! I personally could probably get by for the rest of my life with just what I already have on hand but of course there wouldn't be a lot of epic plinking sessions in there. But it's true- it used to be people would basically just blast it into the dirt, it was so cheap. Now people are a bit more thrifty and respectful with it. Realistically even at the new inflated prices I'll still buy it occasionally. If I got shoot a couple hundred I try to at least replace it to keep my stock level at roughly where it's at.

Funny, I don't really think of myself as a "prepper" in the sense that the word is used now. But growing up my dad had an FFL and license to mfg'r ammo, and we always had 80 or so personal firearms in the house plus whatever Dad had as stock for his small club/store. And since we lives out in the country in a part of the country with unforgiving winters we always had month's worth of everything one would need- gas, ammo, canned food, frozen food, etc. It was a different era. I have a good supply of ammo simply because shooting is a hobby of mine. No point in getting low.

[Phaedrus]

One thing I have noticed is the lack of the, "MY .22 rifle/pistol....only likes to RUN on Thusandsuch Gofasters" ........

I'm afraid I still have to baby my Ruger MkI. It's pretty finicky about what it will run. I dunno why- I clean it every 20 years or 10,000 round of ammo, whether it needs it or not. A couple years back it had gotten so gunked up I needed to physically push it back into battery so I decided to clean it. Taking it apart was easy but back together took an hour and five different youtube videos.

In all seriousness I take care of my guns but old beater .22 does get rode hard and put up wet (metaphorically).

[jim Glass]

Good shape in Northern Illinois on ammo. I noticed yesterday Walmart had 22LR. Have not seen that in many years. One gun shop I visit has pallets of ammo around the store. All kinds of 22LR for about .07 per round, 9mm for $11/50. I bought my first box of 300 Blackout, $13/20. Walmart has the best buy on .223, Federal, box of 100 rounds for $37 and a box of 5.56 for $8.

Still pays to shop around because some stores think the ammo shortage is still on.