Guns & Shooting
Where's the ammo
Looking for trap loads for high school trap team in Wisconsin for next spring.We bought Direct from a manufacturer last year that let high schools buy direct, but people misused the program (sold cases to others) and they may not have the program this winter. Can't say I blame them. Someone always screws up a good thing.
MPiker Now that you mention it AMMO is building a new plant in Manitowoc to open next summer
Have to agree. All the botique calibers seem sensless and are a retooling expense that contribute to the shortage.
It was quite the stroke of marketing genius that gun makers recently came out with 17 caliber guns during a shortage of .22 ammo.
While I don't disagree that hunters make up a significant chunk of 2A supporters, I think at the end of the day, you have to maintain law and order and protect our shores before you make sure recreational shooters and hunters have everything they want. The problem is that hunters and recreational shooters require endless calibers and shotshell loads for their respective sports. Think of how many off-the-wall calibers there are that guys hunt deer with. All of those calibers require a plant to be re-tooled to do a run of ammo in that caliber. Does it suck? Absolutely. Is it permanent? I don't think so...The guys that will really be hurting are the ones shooting non-mainstream cartridges...257 Roberts, any of the WSM calibers, etc. Those using a .243 Win, .308 Win, .270 Win, .30-06, .30-30, etc. will probably be able to find something to use. It may not be their normal flavor, but it will get you in the field.
I think manufacturers will have no choice but to start up additional facilities in the near future with all the new gun owners. It is a HUGE risk tho given the political climate and all the talks of banning this and restricting that...Most people in my family deer hunt with the same two caliber rifles...either a .30-06 SPRG or .270 WIN. Times like these that comes in handy if someone is unable to find ammo. Someone else in the family can just step up and get them what they need. It may not be what they normally use, but I'm not going to sit back and watch my dad or brother miss rifle season because they can't find a box of ammo! As others have said, when things come back in stock and they lift all the limits on how many boxes you can buy, you don't have to go crazy, but buy 4-5 boxes so you have a couple year supply. The manufacturers are running plants 24/7 trying to keep up, but when you think of how many rifle calibers there are to produce, it is not shocking to me that they aren't able to keep up. And when that happens, they are going to do their best to keep as many customers happy as possible, which means those popular, time-tested calibers are going to be the focus.
WI deer gun season opens in three weeks. Average “Joe Hunter” will soon be thinking about picking up a couple boxes of 30-06 ammo to sight in the family’s rifles. If he is unable to find any……. ?? Or, hopefully those hunters have enough ammo leftover in there safe from past years to shoot a few rounds to insure the Redfield is still “on” , and still have a clip full to hunt with. Imperative to know where you’re shooting !!
Agreed the shelves have been lean for quite some time.
Also, the US banned ammo from Russia last month due to their position on chemical warfare. Somewhere around 30% of ammo came from Russia, so that isn't helping things...
Wow, you guys are reading a lot into this shortage.
This thread started in 2013 and shortages have been on a 4 year cycle since. Add in the pandemic and now supply string issues, literally millions of new gun owners, Remington ammo closing for a brief while, staffing issues across all mfg across the country and here we sit. With the new demand mfgr's may be willing to spend $ to tool up new plants.
My only recommendation is when ( and it will ) comes back into stock at a reasonable price buy more then one box. I almost got caught in 2013 not being able to finish out some league shooting. Never again. Stocked up on ammo I usually didn't and increased my reloading abilities.
Catfishhunter47,
If law enforcement and the military used 3.5" BB on a daily basis in the line of duty, you can bet the shelves would be full of them! But we know that the calibers used by those entities have (and probably always will) take precedence over others. It's not like the shelves are full of .223 Vmax or Varmageddon hunting loads...it is all mass-produced 55 gr. FMJ that is military surplus or at least made in some of the same facilities as the stuff for the military and police. They cannot shut down the Lake City plant to make .30-30 / .270 / .30-06, etc. for deer hunters or re-tool it to make steel shot waterfowl loads for duck hunters. This is why I order my deer rifle ammo by the case...you get 10 boxes at a time, all from the same lot, that were loaded using the same batch of powder, primers, bullets, etc and when one box is empty, you can grab another box from that lot and they will shoot the same. Yes, it is more expensive up front to do it this way, but times like this I know come opening day of rifle season I will be in the woods with plenty of ammo for my rifles and not frantically searching for ANY ammo that my rifle can shoot.
I watched a guy last fall pay $49.99 / box for Hornady Lite .243 and they limited him to TWO boxes...just so his kid could go deer hunting. Some don't consider the .243 Win to be a viable deer caliber (I think it is fine if used within its limitations), but when you lighten the loads even more and THEN pay .300 Win Mag prices for it???? I don't know...I mean, I would do anything for my kids - especially to allow them to hunt, but that had to be a HARD pill to swallow for that guy. It was honestly hard to watch.
I think ammo producers are starting to get their feet under them a little bit. The Remington Ammunition plant being back up and running will take some of the load off Federal, Hornady and Winchester. They will catch up eventually, but the panic buying and hoarding/reselling needs to slow down/stop or the problem will continue. I haven't ordered rifle ammo for 3 or 4 years, but eventually I will have to order another case for one of my rifles. It just won't be for a few more deer seasons...
