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Posted by David Sherman on Sunday, May 03, 2009 at 04:38:48 :
In Reply to: O.T. ammuntion posted by Jay M on Sunday, May 03, 2009 at 00:17:43 :
It's weird, but I wouldn't get too scared yet. A few months ago, everybody was out of "military" rifle calibers -- 7.62x39 and .223, and .308 and .30 carbine were scarce. Now the supplies seem to be returning to the Internet ammo dealers at least. I don't know why the shelves are bare at Sportsmans Warehouse and Wal*Mart. Our local hardware store seems to still have a few boxes of everything in stock, but maybe that's because the panicky people in the big cities don't think to check there. I haven't looked specifically for 9mm lately, but there seemed to be plenty of ammo at the gun show this weekend, albeit fairly pricey. The good sporting goods store in Cd'A seemed to be pretty well stocked with ammo too, although like everybody they have no primers, which seems even weirder to me.
I realize lots of people are panic-buying ammo, thinking Obama & Co. will ban it or tax it, but until now most of the panic has been about "assault weapon" ammo, high-capacity mags, and the rifles themselves. I haven't even heard any plausible rumors about the Democrats going after ordinary pistol ammo, and yet I know 9mm and .45 acp are scarce. I have heard plausible rumors that Obama is considering re-instituting the ban on ammunition imports from Russia (Wolf, etc). I don't suppose any US ammo manufacturers are lobbying very hard to change his mind. I also know part of the problem is that stores are placing much larger than usual orders, hoping they'll at least get some of what they ordered, which is making it look like the demand is higher than it really is. I suspect that once the manufacturers and importers catch up, some of the stores will be swamped with more ammo than they ever really intended to buy.
Sportsmans Guide is showing most .45 and 9 mm as back ordered, but they're taking orders and saying it will be available May 18th. Prices on domestic brands are upwards of 50 cents a round, though, and imports aren't much cheaper. The days of blowing through it like firecrackers on 4th of July are over.
One bit of good news is that the DRMS has rescinded its decision to require all fired military brass to be crushed. They're going back to selling it as re-loadable brass. The Montana congressional delegation was instrumental in changing their mind on that, so we can't say all Democrats are anti-gun. It probably helped that commercial re-loaders like Hunting Shack are in Montana.
I could be wrong, but I think this is just a temporary shortage and supplies will be back in a few months, although prices probably won't come down, especially if they cut off Russian imports.
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