This is the May 2013 Article I wrote for the Courant:
Trigger Talk: Ammunition Shortages
Yikes, have you tried to find ammo lately? I was reminded recently not everyone is aware there is a huge ammunition shortage out there.
While talking to my brother I asked if he had enough ammo for his daughter to practice for her 4-H Rifle Team. He replied “Oh sure, I have a half a box, I can stop and get some more at the store”. Of course I had to break the news to him that even rimfire ammo was almost impossible to find. He was totally unaware of the current difficulty people are experiencing finding ammo and asked “Why?”
I realized that as the weather gets warmer and more casual shooters head back to the range, they will find out what many of us have known for months.
In many areas there is just no ammo to be found. Yes it is still arriving at stores, but people are waiting for the doors to open, making a bee-line straight to the ammo department. Stores report 500 boxes of 9mm gone in 19 minutes. Most stores have set limits on how much you can buy in a single day, so people packing up the whole family for a trip to the gun store to load up on their limit. “Grandma, How much 44 Magnum did you say you need?”
I heard from one big sporting goods store that people are hiding ammo around the store so they can come back and “find” it later. Good grief people, we are better than that. Buy what you need and let your fellow shooters have a chance get their practice ammo too. Where I teach we have been having a hard time finding enough ammo for our training courses. Some CPL courses are not even able to do the range qualifications.
There are many theories’ on the reason for the shortage ranging from the Department Homeland Security placing huge orders to keep ammo out of the hands of civilians. To my favorite: needing to use all available lead to shield the tsunami damaged nuclear reactors in Japan. Actually that would be a good reason because we wouldn’t want any radiation enhanced reptiles named Godzilla wandering around Tokyo.
I think we may be partly to blame ourselves. Are you hoarding ammo? Buying more ammo than you normally would? Maybe you squirreled away 10X what you normally would purchase and much more than you can actually shoot.
I understand the temptation, just take a look at the anti-gun rhetoric coming from Washington and you begin to wonder if you may not be able to get ammo in the future. Maybe the prices will be so high that you cannot even afford a box of .22lr for practice. I better get mine now rather than pay through the nose later.
I’ve got news for you; you are already paying through the nose! That 550 round box of bulk ammo that was $9.00 five years ago, $19.00 last November, and $60 now is totally outrageous. I have heard that people have paid as high as $130 in online auctions for a single brick of .22lr. Don’t even get me started the price for serious handgun ammo, or heaven-forbid, 5.56NATO for your Modern Sporting Rifle.
The ammunition companies are working around the clock, and the word from retailers is they expect the shortages to ease after July and into the Fall. Will it be as cheap as before? Maybe not, but you are going to feel awful bad about shooting that $.25 per round .22lr ammo you bought once the price comes back down.
So let’s show what good sports we are and give our fellow shooters a chance until then!
