OP, you are just now figuring this out? I remember the weekend it happened, shelves emptied and subsequently prices have increased dramatically.
Prices had been good the last couple years though
OP, you are just now figuring this out? I remember the weekend it happened, shelves emptied and subsequently prices have increased dramatically.
Prices had been good the last couple years though
Ammo shortage? Naaaaah.
Just got this from one of my wholesalers this AM:
If you win the lottery drawing, you THEN have the privilege of buying the entire pallet of ammo.I have 1 pallet of 5.56 ammo that we are selling as a complete pallet. If you are interested please let me know and I will enter your name in a drawing and let you know if your name gets drawn. I will put the listing from the website below. Please let me know today before noon central time.
HMMM . . . maybe it's time to sell some of that stock I accumulated during the Obama years. I paid dearly for it back then and once Trump was elected I figured I would have a lifetime supply as I didn't want to lose my shirt culling any of it.
All the best,
--esq_stu
NRA Life Member
NRA Certified Instructor: Basic Pistol, Personal Protection in the Home, Personal Protection Outside the Home
The above comments are not intended to be and do not constitute legal advice to anyone.
Wholesalers may be doing alright, but the retail side is running a little lean. I stopped in at the new Sportsmans Warehouse in K-zoo Monday... they were completely out of .380, 9mm and .223/5.56. They were limiting most other handgun calibers and the 7.62 to four boxes per customer. Granted, this was partly due to their grand opening. One of the gun counter employees said they moved 4000 boxes of ammo out the door that day.
I can’t do it with the velocities I run without gas checks. My typical .454 is around 1850 fps per the book, and my .45 colt is around 1250 fps. I guess I might be able to pull off lead with the colt.....I need to do some reading to see at what point I don’t need gas checks anymore. Or even how to use gas checks, because I’ve never tried them before.
I’ve only ever used XTP’s and XTP mags. Last time I bought them they were only $0.25 per. Now they’re around $0.38 per.
Even wholesalers are hit hard. Distribution is pretty much bone dry, supply issues due to Covid, and increased demand caused by new owners buying ammo and old owners stocking up. Every so often I'll see a few boxes here or there at a local retailer but they disappear pretty quick. Like you mentioned, .380, 9mm, and 5.56 are all gone. I've seen a decent chunk of .45, plenty of .22lr, and oddly enough, tons of 12GA. I wanted to get another few thousand rounds of 9mm since I burn through that faster than anything else and my back order that was originally due in August got pushed back to November.
That all aside, the number of retailers I've seen just straight up price gouging is sad. Guess I know who not to support after all of this.
I stopped buying lead bullets a few years ago..right after I tried polymer coated bullets from either Bayou or Falcon bullets.
Before this , I shot lead (hard cast) bullets almost exclusively. The polymer coating reportedly contains a lube in it's formula, (Hytek coating)
so it doesn't wear the bore (as some who powder coat their own cast bullets with Harbor Freight kits may be doing)
I've tested bullets (firing them into dirt / sand), to see how well the coating stays on the bullets..quite well in my experiments.
No leading is the reason I switched..& though the MFRG's state to limit velocity to cast bullet speeds..I believe the coatings will work well beyond
loading manual maximum velocities listed for cast bullets..in my experience. Don't usually load > 1000 fps in my pistol loads, but believe
the polymer coating will perform well beyond that speed.
I prefer Falcon bullets to Bayou as I prefer the shape (truncated cone) to a more conventional RN..which Bayou seems to prefer.
I do use both brands, prices are identical, or very close between them.
What's really tough is finding good prices. My local gun store in Holland has pallets of 9mm, I bought 1k for $240 out the door. I miss when it was $150 for 1k of 9mm FMJ 115gr