Went out this weekend with my wife, as she had to exchange some clothing. So I decided to go into Field and Stream. Was shocked to see the ammo shelfs were void of all pistol ammo and only a few box’s of 300, o6, and 270 ammo. Shot gun ammo was sporadic no 12 gauge field loads and a few boxes of TSS and 28 gauge ammo. Most of the guns were also picked over.

Benelli and a few Brownings and Beretta o/u shotguns. Ruger and Savage rifles were on the rack. I handled a Benelli Ethos in 20 gauge, 26 inch barrel. I was impressed with how light it was and how it pointed. Nice little gun. The price was a little shocking at $1,889.99

Rich

Sure glad I reload

Glad I do too & that I have stuck back components over the years. But probably not to the some of the hardcore, seasoned authorities on the board. Bullets are a bit difficult to come by so I have resorted to seconds. Kids will shoot you out of house & home.

But never in my lifetime have I been to Walmart, week after week & stop by the ammo case & see the shelves devoid of any ammo. And too that was for multiple locations. I didn't have any intent on a purchase though. Plus, gunshops have ammo but it is tied to their gun inventory. So, if you wish to purchase ammo, you have to throw in a gun.


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

I try to keep 1000 rounds or more on hand for all my firearms...pistols, rifles, shotguns...no matter. I always kept a year's worth on hand not knowing it might be a lifetime supply.

I visited a local cabella’s recently and their handgun case contained approximately 10 revolvers. All semiautos were sold and the shelves empty. There were 15 people lined up to buy the 10 guns and the gentlemen at the end of the line were nervously craning their necks and mumbling. A glance at the ammo shelves portended some consternation among the new gun purchasers.

Called a gun shop near my middle son who has had powder in the past when, others are sold out. Wanted 800X powder which he had on hand. Owner said still had some powder but he was completely out of primers and could not even load himself. Asked him what he used and I happen to have them on hand. So I sent two thousand of them up with my son when he stopped by for the powder. he gave them to the owner with a message from me that they were for his personal use, not for sale. Return them in a year or two when things come back into stock. Son did say his shop was stripped bare of ammo and most guns. Owner called me and said in 40 years in business he never has seen his shelves so empty and thanked me for the primers. Told me he has so many orders for gun that he has zero idea when many will ever come back into stock. Worse than it was six years ago and hit all within the last three months.

It wont be long before we start hearing about gun makers having long back order or just stop taking new orders at all. Ruger a few years, ago stopped taking all orders I was told when they had a million guns on back order. Those days may already be back. Hoarding is counter productive but a very human thing. I was not hoarding the 800X as much as buying it for future use. Since it has stopped being made it has gotten had to find around here. I use it in low pressure 2 1/2" 20 loads. Of the seven pounds on hand I only bought four of them so someone else might get a little before it is gone like PB and so many other powders we took for granted for so many years.

Didn't we- the legit gun owners under our 2ND BOR experience this same scenario when O-Bama first took office? Now we have Bye-Bye Biden, and "Chuckie" Schumer taking over in Disneyland on the Potomac as of today- does not bode well for us, adding in the sad fact of financial problems and the NRA moving to The Lone Star State- I have mainly shotgun ammo in my inventory- because I still hunt, and my CF ammo is mainly in 30-06 deer hunting rounds- BUT I see scarcity in .22Lr target ammo too-not a good start to 2021, Covid nonwithstanding. RWRF.

Friend in GB complained a couple months ago that he was having a very hard time finding pellets of any type for his favorite air rifle. Did not think much about it until last night I was watching a video where they were using air rifles to reduce pigeon populations in farm building in areas that shooting them otherwise would not be allowed. They also said there was an “extreme” shortage of pellets and they were scraping up what dregs they had left to do the job. Might look into shipping my friend a few tins of pellets if the process does not make me an arms dealer.

Perhaps “ammo” is in short supply because of hoarders and many people shooting for something to do in this COVID forced isolation. The shutdown of Remington has not helped at all.

800x has stopped being made????

There seem to be lots of reasons for the shortages in ammo, reloading components and even reloading machines:
Covid causing disruptions across the industry, including raw material suppliers
The rioting causing people to go out and buy guns for the first time in their lives
Hoarding and scalpers
Overseas suppliers unable to make up for the domestic shortages due to their own Covid related problems
Politics, the Democratic nominees and the Democratic Party's history of wanting more gun control laws.
People unable to get factory ammo and have started reloading for the first time

I have never seen it this bad, even the odd ball calibers like 30 Mauser, 7.62 x 25 Tokarev and 7.62 Nagant are out of stock.

One of our HS trap teams ordered next years shells a month ago and was told they might be in by April. Federal has said if they worked 24-7 for the next 18 months they would be caught up with current orders. There are no primers or powder. This year you will likely have to shoot your back stock, if you shoot. @0 million NICS checks last year, many first time buyers and the anti-gun attitude of the current administration will make the next few years difficult. 2008 will be the good old days in the near future.

I just went over to RST and discovered they are closed until 1/22/21 and have shut down their webpage for the time being--no orders accepted. Wow that is scary.

Yes 800x was discontinued in 2020 according to hodgdon web site. Also noted on half a dozen retail sellers as being discontinued. If you like it buy a bit before it is all long gone. Also print out a copy of your favorite load from Hodgkin web site. That information too will soon be discontinued.

Well that kind of sucks. I don’t use 800x like I did early on, specifically for heavy ultra low pressure loads using FGM hulls. I really like it for bismuth duck and heavy pheasant loading. I still have a couple pounds. Just hate seeing things discontinued though. I have a terrible feeling that a lot of things we like will be discontinued within the next couple of years.

Sadly, as bad as 2020 was in so many ways, it may also be soon looked at with nostalgia.

I looked hard at handloading in 2013 or so, the last time ammo got scarce. Even then, looking at the cost of equipment and components, particularly the scarcity of primers and powder, it didnt make any economic sense.

Clearly handloading for better accuracy does, but not handloading purely as a cost savings. So i just decided to stock up with a reasonable supply. And it wasnt necessarily that I thought there would be ammo available. But that I wouldnt find the exact loads that I wanted. As of 1/15/2014, New Yorkers couldnt buy ammo online. So i reasoned i would be a begger, not a chooser, with local supply. So why not get exactly what I wanted ahead of time?

The situation today is actually far worse than 2013, because it isnt driven entirely by hoarding. Covid is crimping both the supply chain, and manufacturing capacity. Hard to know how it gets better, given the party now in power.

I havent bought ANY ammo since 2013 now. At the time I chided myself for maybe going a little overboard.

I dont feel that way now. I havent looked myself, but friends tell me you cant even find ANY brand/load of 12 gauge locally. I mean...12 ga ammo was like eggs and milk forever until just a couple years ago.

This is a weird time.

NDG

Whatever you do, don't pull AP bullets or break down AP ammo for components. Well, maybe the case & powder. But the Las Vegas incident noted that it was against the law to pull AP bullets and reload them(maybe crossing calibres)? Don't know it chapter & verse but that seems to be the gist?


Serbus,

Raimey
rse

At the end of the day handloading is less about economics than it is another hobby. It does come in handy intimes like these though.

I heard that all 30,000 troops in Washington today only had one bullitt in their guns

Not true. Loaded magazine on an empty chamber.

Covid may(?) not be affecting supply, ammo production is projected to be way up in 2020. All the ammo makers claim to be running 24/7 shifts. It's probably something else that is far worse than in 2013?

Loading has always been a mixed bag. Hard to beat promo load prices. Easy to make loads much better suited to your needs. I reload because it gives me many times the options that I can get buying factory loads. I can load 10, 12, 16, 20, 28 and .410 from 1/2 ounce to 2 ounces from sizes 9 to BB in lead, Bismuth or steel. Velocity can go from a sedate 1100 fps up to filling loosing 1450 fps. And I can do it in quantities as small as a few shells up to hundreds or thousands. I have more loaded shells than any two local Cabellas or Bass Pro shops.

Yes I can save money on some loads but cost is not that big of a factor. You can save $4-6.00 a box on some loads. 12 gauge promo loads can be bought just a cheap as you can load them. But the investment in loading can get large if you go into it in a big way. I have a Spolar with a Hydraulic system, a Spolar that is manual, with die sets for 12,20,28, .410 in 2 1/2 " and 3", five MEC 9000H in five gauges with two hydraulic pumps, MEC Steelmasters in 10 and 12, a MEC Sizemaster in 20 setup for 2 1/2" shells and several old 600 Jr loaders. Call it $10,000 invested and that does not get into metallic loading. Then you look at empty hulls, primers, powder, wads and shot you can all another couple grand to the total. Maybe more, a lot more. Yeah, a lot more. Unless I load for a 150 years I am not getting my money back until I sell everything off. Right now I finished counting up what shells I have loaded for shotguns and it is just over 17,000 reloaded shells and 2750 factory shells. Supplies on hand to reload about twice that many. More if I can find where I hid, mostly from myself, 50,000 Remington 209 primers. Metallic cartridges about three times that in factory with just a few hundred in reloaded bullets. 90% in four different calibers with the last 10% covering a smattering of maybe 10 other caliber sizes and most of these as reloads. Metallic components on hand for them almost nothing, except for a few primers which suddenly are worth their weight in Bismuth shot.

So my wife has asked me why I load? Lord knows it is not to save money, even I know that. I want flexibility in my ammo supply, to match gun and game, as best as I can figure my needs. When you go from clay targets be they Skeet, Trap or Sporting Clays, to Dove, Duck or Geese you need a lot of options in what guns to use, what ammo to take and even how much to have on hand. Worse I often supply everything for three or more people so everything needs to be on hand in depth. It just is a pain when I fall asleep and miss that one of my favorite low pressure powders is being discontinued until six months after the fact. I am sure there will be a alternative low pressure powder in the future, if I look for one. The real problem is that I reload against the normal for most people who load. I want lower velocity not the warp speed loads so fashionable today and I want pressure levels low where factory loads are loaded hotter to make sure semi autos function reliably. I doubt my 20 gauge, 7/8 ounce loads that are running 7,000 psi would keep my old Remington 1100 working. And I don't think factory 10,000 psi would keep my 20 bore Pope hammer gun in good health very long.

I reloaded 9mm, .45, and .470 NE for years but early experience with my MEC 9000 put me off shotshell reloading. Then California decided that we are too dangerous to buy ammo without a background check and I find that so insulting that I came to terms with the MEC.