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Oooh, the price of ammo!


Pat Riot

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I went to LAX Ammo in Orange County yesterday to pick up some .308 for my M1 Garand and hoping they had some 9mm 115 grain bullets. There are none to be found online. The place has had a line out the door for weeks, but they are regulating the number of people inside. 

Anyway, I I just looked at a few things before snatching up 100 rounds of .308 at $1 per round. Sheesh!
9mm FMJ in different brands and weights was running 44 - 50 cents per round. 

.45 ACP FMJ, 55-70 cents per round. 

Their LAX Ammo brand “factory new” .357 Magnum 158 grain FMJ was 56 cents a round. The .38 Special was just a little less. 
 

Unbelievable! 
 

Oh, I did get a box of 500 9mm 115 grain bullets for $45. That’s 9 cents per bullet!

 

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Around here 9mm brass & bullets are both in short supply.  Loaded 9mm ammo is almost non-existent.

 

About 15 years ago I was going to start reloading 9mm and picked up components at gun shows, etc.  The first time I set up to load the powder overflowed the case.  Soooo, I put everything away.  Now I've pulled all that stuff out and dusted it off.  Rolled 1500 rounds off in fairly short order (no overflows - never did figure that out).

 

Until all this rioting, COVID, and election get over it will be buy it if you need it, hoard it if you can.

 

Take care and stay safe,

BS

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And that boys and girls is why we reload and stock up when we find a sale.

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34 minutes ago, Cold Lake Kid, SASS # 51474 said:

And that boys and girls is why we reload and stock up when we find a sale.

Yep!

 

I overheard a couple of guys talking about “hoarding ammo” at this store. One said the prices put a damper on hoarding. The other said he had “hoarded” 500 rounds of .22. I smiled and asked them what they thought constituted “hoarding”. The first one said “No one needs 500 rounds of anything”. Everyone within earshot chuckled. 

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Even people you think should know better often don't.

I had an off duty LEO almost lose it over the amount of .45 Colt and 12 ga. ammo I had on the shelves in my reloading/safe room.

I showed him the summer match schedule and explained the number of rounds expended at each, without counting any practice and that I did all my reloading in the winter so I wouldn't be stuck inside during our all too short summer.

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3 hours ago, Tascosa, SASS# 24838 said:

I found a hidden box of 45 Colt, 50 rounds Remington, for $14.50. I know I got it from a store no longer in business, but I don't remember \buying it.I have no idea what 45 Colt goes for today.

 .52 to .54 cents a round for 255  gr lead and the price goes up from there.  Specialty rounds for bear are $2.05 per round.

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At Sportsman Warehouse last Wed was a very few boxes of ammo, 30+ boxes of .22LR snakeshot and lots of. 338 Lapua, .375 Ruger Magnum, .416 Rigby and various WSSM stuff.

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I only buy a box or two of factory ammo a year for my cc guns.

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1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I only buy a box or two of factory ammo a year for my cc guns.

I typically buy three boxes of new cc ammo in the caliber of the three cc firearms I normally carry each December, shoot up one box as a function test, store the remaining two, then shoot up the remaining two of last years cc ammo. Sadly with things going as they are, I will probably have to modify/suspend this practice as prices keep going up and availability goes down. 
regards

 

:FlagAm: :FlagAm: :FlagAm:

 

Gateway Kid

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13 hours ago, Tascosa, SASS# 24838 said:

I found a hidden box of 45 Colt, 50 rounds Remington, for $14.50. I know I got it from a store no longer in business, but I don't remember \buying it.I have no idea what 45 Colt goes for today.

About 35 for 50.

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Few guns and less ammo - stopped by two places today as I was curious - shotguns, a few .22lr pistols, a dozen .380, one 9mm, some bolt action hunting rifles, a bolt action .22lr rifle, and one M1A for $1400, no AR's. Ammo was even more limited and almost twice the price it was last year. Glad I stocked up some on ammo and reloading supplies and bought a bunch of firearms in previous years. This could go on for a long time especially if things go south in Nov. Of course if things go south in Nov then this shortage and higher prices will be among the least of our worries. 

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I buy bulk .22 LR when I can find it.  I can make everything else that I want shoot.  I found a box of 300 CCI solid slug hi-speeds yesterday at a country hardware store for $29.  10 cents a round and having it is better than not having it.  I think.

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On 7/18/2020 at 11:57 AM, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

“No one needs 500 rounds of anything”. Everyone within earshot chuckled. 

That isn't even 6 months of any competition for me. And I compete in several sports.

 

Barring further weirdness, I expect supplies will start to flow again in another month.

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1 hour ago, John Kloehr said:

Barring further weirdness, I expect supplies will start to flow again in another month.

I hope you're right - last time after Sandy Hook I couldn't buy 22lr bulk retail for over 2 years.

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9 hours ago, Raylan said:

I hope you're right - last time after Sandy Hook I couldn't buy 22lr bulk retail for over 2 years.

I was not involved in shooting at that time, but the memory seems to be wide spread.

 

From what I have heard, the .22lr shortage was due to high demand for other calibers. .22lr is the most popular but also the lowest margin round. It would not surprise me though if demand for 9mm and .223 impacts .22lr production again.

 

The big difference this time compared to then is the impact on supply (reduced production); last time, demand surged beyond normal production.

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The reason there was an ammo drought is the Federal Gov’t set up billions of dollars in contracts for handgun ammo, primarily.40 S&W. Manufacturers had deadlines that had to be met and raw materials had to be poured into fulfilling those contracts. When people started noticing shortages people starting buying and hoarding ammo. @John Kloehr is correct regarding .22 ammo. 
 

I find it interesting that the prior administration authorized all these huge purchases when all the agencies making those purchases switched to 9mm. I think that switch also caused part of the shortage problems because they also had to by ammo in preparation for the switch. Not sure if it was conspiracy or just good ol’ bureaucratic dumbassery. I am leaning toward dumbassery. 

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I purchase a little extra inventory when it's on sale.   Carries me through the times when prices are high or the store shelves are bare.

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On 7/18/2020 at 10:57 AM, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Yep!

 

I overheard a couple of guys talking about “hoarding ammo” at this store. One said the prices put a damper on hoarding. The other said he had “hoarded” 500 rounds of .22. I smiled and asked them what they thought constituted “hoarding”. The first one said “No one needs 500 rounds of anything”. Everyone within earshot chuckled. 

That is my daily ammunition expenditure on humanitarian missions.

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7 hours ago, Matthew Duncan said:

I purchase a little extra inventory when it's on sale.   Carries me through the times when prices are high or the store shelves are bare.

 

I do this, too. Buy a box or two most forays into the stores. Over time you always have a good reliable supply.

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3 minutes ago, Finagler 6853 Life said:

500 rounds of .22 is hoarding.  Now that is funny right there.  I don't care who you are.  That isn't even a good start.

We shot 1000 rounds  yesterday in a couple hours at out plate rack

Glad I have 17 cases of 1600 to go 

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