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Post by bluecrabber on Mar 18, 2009 21:57:17 GMT -4
I have discovered recently the WalMarts are having trouble keeping ammunition in stock. The shelves are basically empty of handgun ammunition. What's up? (As if I didn't know) Best regards, BC
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2009 23:30:59 GMT -4
Didn't WalMart stop selling handguns back in the 90's, I think Kmart too. I have to say, I never tried to buy handgun ammunition at one though. I wouldn't think they would sell it it since no handguns were being sold. I get my ammo at Chesapeake Guns. It's not the cheapest, but it's convenient.
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Post by bluecrabber on Mar 19, 2009 9:28:10 GMT -4
Most of the WalMarts I go to sell pistol ammo. I was up at the new WalMart in Middletown yesterday and the shelf with cabinet with ammunition was half empty. The shelf with the pistol ammo only had a couple of boxes of 380 left. They had a sign on the cabinet apologizing for not being able to keep ammo in stock..
Best, BC
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Post by bchevy on Mar 19, 2009 9:31:03 GMT -4
I went to two walmarts in tidewater Va. a couple weeks ago, no pistol ammo on ths shelf. At both stores a worker apologized for being out.
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Post by RobMoore on Mar 19, 2009 14:55:45 GMT -4
Even Bass Pro gets dry on certain calibers lately. I went a couple weeks ago for 9mm, 45 colt, 45ACP, and 303 British. All were out, except for Remington green box 9mm. I didn't want it, but I needed 9mm for a match, so I had to make-do with it.
They had every dang type of shotgun round you could ever want, though, and plenty of them.
Ammo is really short lately everywhere you go. With the exception of 9mm (because I go through it so fast), I normally try to get things in bulk online.
Have any of you run across someplace that didn't want to sell you more than a couple boxes?
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Post by Frank on Mar 19, 2009 15:51:55 GMT -4
I've been buying ammo in Bowie from a guy selling it out of his attic! Just his side business, works from home after his regular job. Great prices, reputable gunsmith work.
PM for more info.
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Post by RobMoore on Mar 19, 2009 16:39:38 GMT -4
Are these reloads or factory ammo?
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Post by islandgirl on Mar 19, 2009 16:43:55 GMT -4
I thought you had to buy ammo at gun stores/bass pro just like purchasing a gun??? Just curious
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Post by RobMoore on Mar 19, 2009 18:18:49 GMT -4
Its not regulated. You can buy it from a shady guy out of the back of a van in an alleyway and its perfectly legal (come to think of it, most rifles and shotguns are this way as well)
Its only restricted to minors.
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Post by mcbeth on Mar 19, 2009 18:24:57 GMT -4
I know I bought some for my brother for Xmas a few years back, so at least the one up this way did not too long ago. (I never look since I don't hunt, and he hasn't asked for it as a gift in a while).
Is anything "in season" now? (Like I said, I don't hunt, obvious as it seems. ;D)
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Post by islandgirl on Mar 19, 2009 18:26:29 GMT -4
Gotcha - thanks
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Post by bluecrabber on Mar 21, 2009 12:17:49 GMT -4
Is anything "in season" now? (Like I said, I don't hunt, obvious as it seems. ;D) Terrorists, Muggers, Rapists, Child molestors. :-) Just kidding. Hope nobody ever has to deal with any of the above. Best, BC
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Post by mcbeth on Mar 21, 2009 12:32:51 GMT -4
Is anything "in season" now? (Like I said, I don't hunt, obvious as it seems. ;D) Terrorists, Muggers, Rapists, Child molestors. :-) Just kidding. Hope nobody ever has to deal with any of the above. Best, BC Uh-huh...just couldn't behave yourself today, could ya BC? ;D
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Post by linda712 on Mar 21, 2009 13:03:19 GMT -4
;D ;D ;D But he's just got that way about him -- to get away with it!!!! Love the humor!
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Post by mcbeth on Mar 21, 2009 13:25:27 GMT -4
LOL. BC's response did make me giggle. 'Course, had my husband made the same type of response, I would have referred to him as an "intelligent backside"... ;D BC forced me to go out and look the hunting seasons up for myself, just to satisfy curiosity. I had no idea there were so many options of critters to hunt here, and that there are some animals that can be hunted in seasons other than what I thought were traditional (fall, mainly). So, now I know...
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Post by Frank on Mar 21, 2009 22:27:36 GMT -4
Are these reloads or factory ammo? Factory ammo. Lots of other goodies as well. No shady stuff though. I think he's setting up his retirement business.
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Post by RobMoore on Mar 22, 2009 22:45:27 GMT -4
I experienced the shortage this weekend. I was in Norfolk VA at my folks house for a match today, and my dad and I drove to three different walmarts to find their ammo shelves bare. (yeah, I called first, and each time the lady was too lazy to actually walk to the case and physically inspect the stock, or too stupid, or both)
I finally found what I needed at Bass Pro, but they had less than 1000 once I took my 200.
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Post by Deleted on May 5, 2009 11:17:15 GMT -4
I remembered this thread when I came across this article. I didn't understand at the time, I thought it was more of a slow down in ammo production. Now I understand the reason for the shortage.
AMMO SHORTAGES ACROSS THE COUNTRY
By Jim Spellman CNN AURORA, Colorado (CNN) -- Gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures.
Ron Cardwell fires his 9 mm semiautomatic at a paper target at a range in Aurora, Colorado. "In the last two months it's gotten very, very difficult to find ammunition," says Richard Taylor, manager of The Firing Line, a gun shop and shooting range in the Denver, Colorado, suburbs.
"There are a lot of rumors floating around that the present government would like to increase taxes on ammunition. I think [there is] just a lot of panicked buying going on."
While campaigning for the White House, Obama supported re-enacting the now-expired ban on assault weapons. But there is no indication that the administration will take up that measure -- or any other gun-control initiative --anytime soon.
Nonetheless, some gun owners aren't taking any chances.
Two weeks ago, The Firing Line was forced to impose a four-box-per-customer limit on ammo. Before that, the shop was selling 10,000 rounds of 9 mm handgun ammunition a day.
Some calibers of ammunition have been unavailable for months.
"Currently no .380 ammunition -- I haven't seen any for about four months ... .38 special, it's been at least a couple of months," Taylor says. "It's just that there's been a huge demand and it's far outweighed supply right now."
Taylor says plenty of people are still coming to the range to shoot, but are gun owners hoarding ammo?
"People are buying cases or whatever they can get their hands on and putting it away, absolutely," he says. "The only way that this shortage can have to do with it is that people are buying and hoarding."
Karl Roos, a physician, stopped by the range to do some shooting with his Smith and Wesson .357-caliber Magnum, using some rounds from his personal stock of ammo.
"I have yet to see .38 special or .357 Magnum ammunition on the shelf. The stuff I'm shooting I've had for several years. I just haven't seen it for the last several months," says Roos, who adds he is always on the lookout for fresh sources of ammo. "As I'm doing the rounds of the local stores that carry ammunition, if I see something on the shelf I'll buy it."
"I'm not too worried about things being banned or anything like that," he says. But he notes that many of his fellow gun enthusiasts are scared: "There's definitely a lot of fear."
Jim Minardi, a gun dealer in Lakewood, Colorado, says only a few people are actually hoarding. But they are buying up so much ammo that there isn't much left on the shelves.
"The minority of our customers are stockpiling ammunition," Minardi says. "The majority are standard shooters buying what they can."
Wal-Mart is one of the largest ammo dealers in the United States. In an e-mail exchange, a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed that ammo sales have been brisk.
"Some Wal-Mart stores have experienced an increase in demand for guns and ammo and for those locations, we are working closely with suppliers to replenish shelves," says William C. Wertz, the discount chain's divisional director for public affairs and government relations. "In some situations where demand is high, so that we can better serve all customers, we will place a limit on the amount of a product that can be purchased."
"It's no different with ammo than other products (toilet paper, batteries, etc.) that may be in short supply for one reason or another."
Each year U.S. ammo manufacturers make about 8 billion rounds, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry. Current production data won't be in until late May, but the foundation expects the numbers to be way up.
"In order to keep up with demand for ammunition, manufacturers are working at full capacity, 24-7," says Ted Novin, an NSSF spokesman. "Currently demand for ammunition is outpacing supply."
Novin says he believes the reason is clear.
"The increase in demand for firearms and ammunition is largely attributable to gun owner concerns regarding the current political climate," says Novin, referring to the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.
"Many of the lawmakers in power have a long history of supporting legislation that violates the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans," Novin adds. "Gun owners recognize this and are reacting accordingly."
Ammunition manufacturers have been scrambling to keep up with demand.
A message from Steve Hornady, president of Hornady Ammunition, on the company's Web site reads:
"Here at Hornady Manufacturing we are breaking our own production records in an attempt to keep up with customer demand. We have added extra shifts, machinery and we are also in the process of expanding our manufacturing plant."
Winchester Ammunition posted a similar statement:
"Winchester Ammunition, like other ammunition manufacturers, has seen the demand for our products increase significantly since last fall. To meet that increased demand, our operations are running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."
Andrew Arulanandam, communications director of the National Rifle Association, says the "unprecedented ammo shortages are widespread, and they affect small and large retailers."
"We have heard from members across the country in cities and in small towns from California to Maine," Arulanandam says. "There is a fear that Congress or the new administration will push for a firearm or an ammunition ban, or for a significant increase in excise taxes on firearms and ammunition. We hear this from hunters, target shooters and even from first-time gun owners who fear that there will be an effort to incrementally curtail and eventually dismantle this freedom."
Back at The Firing Line's gun range, pilot Ron Cardwell is working on his target shooting with his 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. He loves to shoot and hopes the ammo crisis ends soon.
"I have three or four boxes of 9 mm left at home and a couple of boxes of .45," he says. "I'm just buying as much as I can whenever I can."
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Post by bchevy on May 5, 2009 18:31:23 GMT -4
Funny how the guns and ammo industry doesn't need a bailout........
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Post by shoreterp on May 6, 2009 12:56:46 GMT -4
I've been buying ammo in Bowie from a guy selling it out of his attic! Just his side business, works from home after his regular job. Great prices, reputable gunsmith work. PM for more info. I'm guessing you're talking about Lou's. That guy is a little nuts so beware. Lot's of complaints about his business practices on a shooting board I frequent. Last three times I have been to Wal-Mart they have been completely picked clean. I have to get ammo mail order unless I want to spend top dollar at Ass Pro
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Post by RobMoore on May 6, 2009 14:44:28 GMT -4
Maybe they ought to scare the public with a potential vehicle ban, then Detroit won't need the bailout.
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Post by Frank on May 8, 2009 9:41:18 GMT -4
I've been buying ammo in Bowie from a guy selling it out of his attic! Just his side business, works from home after his regular job. Great prices, reputable gunsmith work. PM for more info. I'm guessing you're talking about Lou's. That guy is a little nuts so beware. Lot's of complaints about his business practices on a shooting board I frequent. That's the place. He's a little weird the first time you meet him, but he's not a bad guy. It's quite strange to go up to his attic and find 8 guys talking guns up there. His prices have always been good though, and I've always gotten ammo there (lately he's been getting low)
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Post by dogluver on Jun 12, 2009 13:01:10 GMT -4
Walmart's ammo prices can't be beat!
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