The Russian Mosin Nagant Forum

It seems to me that the ammo shortage is getting worse. It no longer seems to be just the common ammo that is being made of unobtainium, but it is reaching down into the niche market. I am having a heck of a time trying to find .32 acp and .25 acp. (unless, of course I am willing to pay an obscene amount for it) After nearly a year of panic, I am now getting close to my strategic reserve of 9mm and .45 ACP. The only stuff I have that I can shoot without fretting is .22, 7.62 x 54R and 8mm.

I see that Bud's Gun Shop has some Tula 9MM, but what was selling for ten bucks a box a year ago is now $30.00. It is soon going to be, "buy a box of ammo and get a free gun." Perhaps, they will start selling ammo by the round...... Maybe after this damn election is over, people will stop panicking and allow the supply to catch up, but one thing is for sure, the prices will never return to the pre-panic pricing. We keep showing the producers that we are willing to pay much higher prices, and they keep paying attention. Self inflicted wounds are the most painful.

Reloading components are out of control too. I’m seeing people paying up to 150.00 for a box of 1000 primers. I saw a dealer at the gun show last month getting 125.00 for a 150 rd box of brass case 115 gr 9mm AMMO.

It's obvious that no matter the outcome of the election things are not going to get better. The shit has started all across the country with the riots, and the anti police movement. Really? People are preparing to defend themselves, and maybe take it to somebody else for whatever reason. Covid isn't the reason for all this, it may have slowed up a plant of two here and there, but the industry is still pumping out more than enough ammo and guns for normal times. Fear, rising anger at the national situation, realization that there will be a steep price to pay for the pandemic shutdowns is helping fuel it along. Some kid got busted for plotting to whack Biden, I fear that's just the tip of the iceberg. People are getting much more comfortable with the idea of political violence, or violence in general for just about any reason. Anyone with a brain and something, or someone to protect can see this coming and is getting ready. People who did get ready years ago and buying more while they still can. Even the lefties are starting to realize that all the words, and reasoned arguments in the world don't mean shit when your facing feral human savages with weapons and a total willingness to use them against anyone who has it better than they do.

The ammo shortage is getting worse, and it is trickling down to the less popular cartridges. In some cases I am sure the manufacturers have shut down production on the less profitable, or less in demand cartridges in favor of making more 9mm, .45acp, and so on.

SA1911a1 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 24, 2020 7:47 am It seems to me that the ammo shortage is getting worse. It no longer seems to be just the common ammo that is being made of unobtainium, but it is reaching down into the niche market. I am having a heck of a time trying to find .32 acp and .25 acp. (unless, of course I am willing to pay an obscene amount for it) After nearly a year of panic, I am now getting close to my strategic reserve of 9mm and .45 ACP. The only stuff I have that I can shoot without fretting is .22, 7.62 x 54R and 8mm.

I see that Bud's Gun Shop has some Tula 9MM, but what was selling for ten bucks a box a year ago is now $30.00. It is soon going to be, "buy a box of ammo and get a free gun." Perhaps, they will start selling ammo by the round...... Maybe after this damn election is over, people will stop panicking and allow the supply to catch up, but one thing is for sure, the prices will never return to the pre-panic pricing. We keep showing the producers that we are willing to pay much higher prices, and they keep paying attention. Self inflicted wounds are the most painful.

It’s going to be at least late 2021 or early 2022 before the manufacturers have any chance of getting supply to catch up to demand, barring any more developments. COVID has seriously screwed up supply chains and the new outbreaks in Europe and other areas don’t help. Until commercial supply can catch up, reloading components are going to be hard to come by. The manufacturers are probably running as much product as they can right now, assuming that they are able to get sufficient quantities of raw materials needed. Prices are going to be higher due to increased manufacturing costs if nothing else. Transportation costs have gone up significantly.

We have not had any of the popular ammo since August. Not any that we felt we could pass on to our customers at a price that we felt comfortable to pass on. Like 9mm at our cost of 71cents a round, then add shipping and tax and our 30% to 40% and you do the math. The manufacturing plants of Blazer, Winchester, and other guys are saying 8 to 10 months for things to catch up. Even then military and police order and contracts will get filled first.

My personal ammunition status is fairly comfortable at the moment. I was buying components by the thousands earlier this year and the only thing I got caught short on has been small pistol primers. I’ve got just over a thousand in store right now in addition to the loaded ammunition. I may buy some primers at the current going prices if it comes to that, but it will take a while for me to hit reserve on my 9mm Luger. I’m pretty well out of loaded 45ACP at the moment, but I don’t consider my 1911 to be a defensive purpose weapon. I have the powder and primers on hand to load over a thousand rounds of 45ACP and plenty of supplies for the rifles. For those, all I need to purchase are the bullets. Well, I should purchase some more brass for my 30-06 and 30 Carbine, but that’s not the hard stuff to obtain right now.

The only rationing I’ve done is my pistol shooting. I load my magazines at home and do not take any extra pistol ammunition with me to the range. At the rate I’m consuming 9mm Luger ammunition, I could probably go another several months before getting to my reserves. That’s what I get for planning my reloading supply purchases at the beginning of the year. I was planning for the election panic buying and accelerated those plans when COVID popped up.

I did go through my loaded ammunition on hand and it turned out that I am well above my reserves for 9mm Luger. After drawing my allotment for the Sunday range outing, the can I am currently drawing from still has over 600 rounds of ammunition and I have enough additional range ammunition in stores to last me until I can obtain more bullets and primers.