Any insights into the current price escalation on shotgun shells, center fire pistol ammo, even .22LR ammo- Recalling a few years ago, when Obama was Potus, the "shortages" on ammo. What are current prices on 12 gauge target ammo, steel shot, coppered turkey loads.?? Our current Wally-Mart is sold out on all ammo- haven't been to Cabela's in Grandville (Grand Rapids Mi area) but rumors in area gun clubs seem to indicate shortages all over. RWTF

Here in Amarillo, Texas the demand is amazing. We have an Academy Sporting Goods store that sells ammunition and they only have it on Monday and Wednesday. On each day before the store opens there is a line of people stretching around half the building (pretty good sized store) waiting for their opportunity to buy two boxes of whatever is available. I’m told the ammunition is on tables near the entrance and only two people (men) are allowed in at a time. That’s to avoid fistfights, etc. CRAZY!

Crazy ammo prices everywhere.

No ammo on the market for the forseeable future. Best thing to do is to watch the obituaries for shooters whose names you recognize and get there first. Assist the widows in cleaning out their basements. Don't mention guns because family members are going after the guns. They know nothing about the ammo.

I have always considered a 5% change to be a big deal. If your wages go up or down by 5%, it's a big deal. If your taxes go up or down by 5%, it's a big deal. If the supply of oil changes by 2%, it's a big deal (I know because this is where I live). So, here in Ohio, gun sales went up by 10% in 2020, and all those new gun owners are going to want ammo. That's a big deal. Half of the population is/was terrified of Trump goon squads, and the rest are afraid of Biden. Ammo won't be readily available until everyone's nerves are settled.

Remember years ago when there was a lead shortage and they blamed China for buying up all the lead. Shell prices went up over a $1 a box but there seemed to always be plenty. I predict you will never see $5 boxes of shells anymore since they now see what people are willing to pay.

It's definitely the end of 8,000 calibers, most of whch are only deminimus improvements over 30-06, 270, 30-30, etc.

Wont be able to give away guns in 7SAUM and the like. No ammo, scarce components. Rebarrel to 270.

NDG

My friends used to laugh at me for accumulating what seemed like a lifetime supply of ammo. Not so funny now.

I went to a gun show in eastern Ohio today and saw plenty of ammo. But most of it was priced very high, with bricks of .22 LR at $100.00 to $130.00, and common handgun ammo like .380 and 9 mm at near a dollar a round. Lots of various gunpowder was being sold, with $24 .00 to 30.00 per pound prices. Primers were $80 to $100 per thousand. I saw cases of 12 ga. Federal field loads priced at $100.00 per 250 rounds. I did find several 20 round boxes of 7.62 x 39 at $5.00 a box, and bought it.since I don't expect to find it any cheaper until Biden is impeached or arrested for his part in the coup.

I bought a nice little engraved antique percussion pocket pistol with a broken hammer nose for $40.00. It looks to be about .40 cal. It was too cheap to leave behind. The best double gun in the whole joint was a very nice hammer Belgian Bayard priced at only $120.00, and someone bought it fairly quick.

I do not know about the supply chains for sporting ammunition components in the US. Though the Czech Republic is a very big player in this field, and at the moment Covid is is taking its toll on manufacturing there.

This surge caught the ammo makers by surprise. The problem is that they were running at near 100% capacity according to Federal. So there is not much slack I. Production they can ramp up and they are not that willing to expand not knowing what long term demand will be. I expect them to wait until the mid term elections before any major changes. If the Republicans take back the house or Senate demand should drop but if they don’t then I expect this to last longer and we will see industry expansion. After all we are seeing prices so high that future prices should remain high for years. Not as stupid as now high but 25-50% higher than just a years ago.

Insightful answer Jon. One of the reasons I am glad that I mastered a skilled trade is that by offering to do welding jobs for area large scale farmers is it gets me (and son-in-law) access to private lands closed to hunting by others-- Did a large scale welding re-fab job on both grain bins, and also milking parlor gates (galv steel--- with proper protection against zinc fumes)--farmer used to shoot trap at area gun club--he had 9 full boxes of factory new AA 12 gauge 7&1/2 handicap loads- he didn't reload-- offered the whole lot to me in payment for a day's work--I said "Thanks, Jim" and brought them home-- I'll use them for crows, pigeons and the first barrel on my M21 for preserve fezzants- should last me a good long time--Just curios is all, but assuming a dealer (even Cabela's had them in stock, what are these loads retailing for today-assuming availability and no restrictions on the quantity you can buy-- 2 boxes a day limit, and the Grand Rapids Cabela's is a 60 mile round trip haul ?? Foxy

How many cartridges are you men actually shooting?

Do you even fire 1000 in a year?

I don’t see many 80-year-olds at my club.

None that are shooting 250 rounds a week.

I think this anxiety is misplaced.

The only solution to this is for everyone to quit panic buying!!! We shooters are the ones causing this!! This shortage isn't created by the government or the manufacturers, it's just simple supply & demand economics where the supply shortage is created out of unsubstantiated fear panic buying. There's no one to blame for this other than the man in the mirror, if he's one of those participating in this panic buying insanity.

The other crazy market right now that's close to this craziness is lumber. Have you priced dimensional lumber or plywood lately? This isn't a good time to take on a major building project when a $2.00 2" X 4" stud is now close to ten bucks & a sheet of 1/2" OSB is pushing thirty bucks and that's only if you can find decent quality supplies.

Starting the beginning of next month at least 1,200 rounds a month until grouse season opens. More in a good month. If I don't shoot at least a flat a week it is a crappy week or I am on call which is the same thing.

Not as much as I used to as I am getting too old for Blizzard leagues and that other winter nonsense. The cold hurts my bones now, 80 is a ways off for me yet though.

My concern is that several of the replies are spot on. Not sure we will ever see a flat for $65 or under again but hope I am wrong. 20 even 30 years ago a box of shells cost $5-$6 so we have had it pretty decent for awhile. Not that I am complaining. I used to reload to save money but 5-10 years ago when lead really took off in price purchased factory shells as it wasn't worth it to reload the 12 and 20. Or even the 16 when Cabela's had the Herter's on sale for $50 a flat delivered to your door. I've started reloading again but of course components are hard to find and expensive when you do find them. Lead is still the most expensive component of the shell, as long as you don't pay what the price hogs are asking for other components.

Have enough factory and reloads to get through the summer of this year, I think. Been through shortages in the past but never anything like this. Powder and 22 yes. But never seen where you couldn't find factory shotgun shells anywhere. Well maybe 40+ years ago when 16 ga. shells were hard to find and I finally bought a 12 ga. because of it. But nothing like this.

The congressman who heads the committee that just got two gun control bills sent over to the senate is ideologically rooted in his home state. Defacto registration and criminalization of transfers aside, reaquaint yourself with what Californians have to do to purchase ammo. Then decide if anything is even slightly misplaced. I personally shoot many thousands of rounds of rifle and pistol ammo each year, just had the grandkids out and they can shoot as much as their hearts desire, but I look at a stash that there was a time that I wouldn't have wondered and worried about running down.

Supply chain issues more than anything else. I have a multitude of items on back order at the moment, triggers, sights, barrels, bottom metal, ammo. You name it and the supply chain has been disrupted due to Covid.

I didn't want to get a brough-ha-ha going on this (part 2) of my query- but as St. Patty's day is a loomin'- well, our half-vast femme Gov. changed the rules and regs- so that if you have a valid picture i.d.'d CPL (as I do) you just used that in lieu pf the NICS background check if you were, let's say, buying a new shotgun for duck hunting- now, if that is what is your plan, you have to fill out the entire form, wait for the dealer to call your data in, and get a positive response from the Feds- All part of new phase of gun regs and frustrations for all of us here who are responsible gun owners-- If Biden, Schumer, Pelosi, Feinstein and their Ilk stay in positions of power- add to that sad fact that Anton Scalia is gone, and the NRA in financial dis-array( due to wayne LaPierre's financial fubars) we are looking at dark days ahead-- one sure fire way to control gun possession is to make the ammo almost impossible to get-even if you had J.P. Morgan's checkbook-RWTF

I think you are wrong. Check with friends that do other gun work, there's been a huge shift to producing barrels, triggers, scope bases/rings, etc for the precision rifle market. Have you seen any ammo manufacturer reports of covid setbacks, don't they all report 24/7 production shifts?

Also, find out from the widow, when the time seems proper, not only about the ammo-and if her deceased husband was a fisherman-specifically for trout- good friend and master plumber often found fishing rod cases stashed in the floor joists and bracing in older houses where the gent had passed. Just as much as you might find a 20 bore Parker in the effects of a deceased grouse and woodcock hunter(nd a library of Burt Spiller and Wm. Hardon Foster books on "Sir Ruff"- if you find Ernie Schweibert books in the Library, you might turn up a fine Payne or Pre-fire Leonard fly rod- Hardy reel-RWTF

I do not think I am wrong. Much of my supply chain originates in Europe which has been under on form of lock down or another for much of the past year.

Primers are principly manufactured in Europe as well. Without a primer your are not making cartridges to sell. We live in a global market, problems in production far from here can and do have a huge impact on our supplies.

I do agree with you Craig in that I have no desire to jump through the hoops they do in CA to buy ammo but the proposed legislation is not the cause of the current shortage.

Take an election year with a clearly anti-gun party, add COVID impacting the entire manufacturing process, add riots where the police are unable/not allowed to do anything and you get the perfect storm.

We've seen a drastic increase in NICS checks with a lot of new gun owners, all desperate for ammo. Ammo makers can not keep in the production of loaded ammo, so the availability of reloading components is shrinking to the point of non-existence as primers, brass and bullets are being allocated to producing new ammo. Even reloading machines are back ordered and/or out of stock.

Production is focused on the most common calibers, so the annual productions runs of, for example, .30 Mauser, have been postponed indefinitely. Foreign suppliers (Italy & Brazil) are being hit even harder by COVID than the U.S. so there is minimal help from those producers.

Basspro/Cabela's should be a good predictor of what the future will hold. Yes their prices have gone up, but only by a little. Cases of Herters 12g has gone up by maybe $5 and the price for 50 rounds of 9mm has gone up maybe $1-$2, which is reasonable given the increased costs to ammo companies in just overtime for the workers.

As to who is shooting, I go through a case of 12g every 4-5 weeks shooting skeet and I see plenty of others shooting about the same amount. So when we do see ammo at Cabelas we tend to buy as much as allowed because we don't know when we will see it in stock again.

Hoarding is hoarding, whether you’re doing it with a Social Security check or you’re doing it with Mail.

Obviously ammunition is considered a fire hazard by most insurance companies, the big bad insurance companies could just as easily tell all the customers that you can’t have more than two boxes of ammunition in your house at one time or they won’t cover you, and you get the same result as if legions of anti-gun activists managed to convince Congress to implement the same thing.

It just seems really crazy when I listen to the old guys at my gun club talking about their secret connection at Walmart, or getting up at 5 o’clock in the morning to sit in the sporting goods department waiting for the two packages of 22 shells to come out of the back room.

I don’t even know if these guys actually shoot 22 shells.

Buy what you need, and enjoy our sport.

Hold your breath. That's gonna happen any minute now....

This guy is right. Gun owners are often their own worst enemy.

No. You are wrong. We got exactly what we were promised from the winner of the election, starting with the prices of energy. Literally, his first move was throwing unionized pipe trade workers, who were encouraged to support him, under the bus.

The guns and ammunition thing would have happened whether there was COVID19 nonsense, or, not under this administration.

They promised it.

Wanna’ wager on whether Biden completes his term? Not a prayer.

I’ll take that bet.

Best,
Ted

No bet. If he slows down the far left agenda too much or fails to meet Nancy’s goals they will start to notice his sudden failing. And he can not pass a close scrutiny. They have just about run the NY governor out out office because he was making noise about running for President in 2024. Can’t have that. Too many king makers already have their plans set.

The federal agenda to control guns and ammo mirrors almost exactly the program we saw in California when Harris was the state's AG. I have been warning you guys for years that the CA BS was coming to you, and now it's almost on your doorstep. Be afraid. Be very afraid. And fight it with everything you can muster. I'm so pissed, I can't see straight.

Thanks Ted, it really is that simple.

This doesn't make much sense. To slow something down, he has to have the thought that it is going too fast. He is constantly saying on camera, is this what I am supposed to say, is this what I am supposed to do. He signs things and reads things, how could he possibly fail.

Methinks a certain "lady" may be waiting in the wings for Joe's departure.......t

You're sure playing fast and loose with the word "lady". I think it may be safe to refer to her as female.

Another bet? I'm still waiting on those Durham indictments you bet me about a while back ago. You'll have to kick up on that one before I bet you again.

I don't think Joe will make another month before ole mattress back Commiela takes over. I also don't think the country is going to stay together with that communist at the helm. I can't see the center of this country putting up with what absolute craziness they are trying to feed us. Are we living in the twilight zone? They are teaching the kids in public school that there is 72 variations of gender! What! GTFOOH! The military is going to pay for your sex change operation now! That's going to make our enemies shake in their boots. Oh no, here comes the gay brigade, don't want to be captured alive by them! The country is coming apart and people see it, that's why they are arming up. Texas and some other states AG's are starting to push back on some of these nut policies. You can't have to much ammunition or fuel,,,,unless your in a fire!