It's getting tough to support the local gunstore

[miningshawn]

I just took a trip around town (Butte, Montana) and I am very alarmed by what I DIDN'T find. It started this morning when I was talking to Phil Hohman at Berger about some powder/bullet selection (What a great resource!) and the mention of shortages came up. I won't repeat what he said, but it is extremely plausible and does not require a tinfoil hat.

I buy in bulk but there are a few items I buy singly. One of those is .223 match ammunition for comparisons. I went to the 3 gunstores in town and found exactly 0 rounds of .223 anything! Add to that list 9mm, any primer except shotgun, any popular H-series powder, any mid-range Alliant powder, .224 bullets excepting 40gr varmits, .308 excepting some low-end hunting stuff, and the .45acp is going fast. It is possible to reload for .50BMG, but not .223 - who saw that coming?

I'm going to have to get out of the basement more often. I knew it was lean - but no .223 in the middle of Montana lean? I realize that reloaders are pretty far down the component trough, but I never thought the day would come that we would be sharing a bed with those who don't reload.

There are plenty of guns on the shelves, but nothing to put in them.

 

[TheOtherZilla]

Yeah it's happnin agin. 22 LR too. Same here. In Wyo. Glad I reload and stocked up in fat times. I did find 2 boxes of CCI 22 LR today. Yeah I bought em both.

 

[edwardware]

I'm going to have to get out of the basement more often. I knew it was lean - but no .223 in the middle of Montana lean?

Yup, you do need too get out more. Any primer that feeds a popular black gun caliber is out of stock everywhere within minutes of restocking.

Since you buy in bulk. . . just add better inventory control, and never drop below 9 years supply (two election cycles).

Edit: and that LGS is going to need your support later. If we manage to defeat the Marxists, the arms market is going to slump something terrible.

 

[spaniel]

To be frank...if you've been shooting more than 5 years...you SHOULD have seen this coming. No offense intended. We've been through at least 2 shortages since 2012 where everything went out. Unless money is a limiting factor one who wants to shoot in any volume and reloads should have 2-4 years of components stocked up. I did it over time, but that's about where I'm at. Probably longer on primers. Probably shorter on certain bullets, but they are easier to substitute and don't seem to become as limiting (so far). .22LR was scarce for years after Sandy Hook. When it came back I left any store that carried it with at least 2 bricks.

And don't blame it on the local store....#1 if their suppliers had it they would stock it, and #2 you're going to do no better...probably worse...online.

 

[caihlen]

Same here in the Flathead. Good luck finding anything.

 

[Bill Norris]

Here in S E N C we don't have hardly any type of hometown small gun shops anymore so we have to depend mostly on the bigger retail stores and guess what ? They are OUT of everything too.

 

[J.d. Popkes]

I heard about this going on so I looked locally. One store had some of most all the brands of primers. Srp, lrp, pistol and shotgun, mag and standard. Not stacks but half dozen bricks of most. I don’t need any really but picked up the 450’s because that’s mainly what I use and apparently there’s a freak out going on. I didn’t look everywhere in town but they had them there.

 

[Dave Berg]

About a year ago while preparing for a permanent move from PA to FL I found that I had about 25 cases of factory handgun ammo, mostly 9mm and a few 40 S&W. I figured if I could get a decent price for it I could replace it in FL for less that the moving company would charge to move it. I called my local guy, gave him a list of what I had, and he offered me about 30% of what I had paid at SGAmmo. I respectfully declined. Last week, three days before the big move, local gun shop guy calls and wants to know if I still want to sell it. Seems he has a steady stream of customers looking at his used Glocks, etc. but he's got no ammo and can't get any. Apparently the new gun fans aren't interested in buying a gun they can't shoot so they're not quite as dumb as I thought. I didn't tell him that he missed his chance - thought he could probably figure it out himself eventually.

I left one case for the guy who bought my house, gave a case to a son in law who's out looking for his first gun, gave a few more away and put the rest in the car. An extra ten pounds of air in the rear tires and it looked almost normal. Fuel mileage was nothing to write home about, acceleration kind'a sucked but now I've got about 20 cases of Speer Gold Dot in a spare bedroom closet.

 

[swd]

The local gun shop here is selling Glock 19's for $2200 and can't keep them in stock. Insanity.

 

[Knotwild]

I really have really wanted to support my local store even if it cost me a little more money. But unfortunately the mind set of the owner and his employees make it absolutely impossible. For instance, I went in before the ammo crunch seeking a simple, good box of 38 special, perhaps lead semi wadcutter. The bozo puts a box of FMJ on the counter and starts into a speil about obama closing all the lead smelters in the US and now no one can get any projectiles, so he can't get any ammunition. I ordered a suppressor from the owner that was back ordered, and in 2 months he hasn't called me to update (and I haven't called him). It's like he doesn't care. I may never go back in unless he calls me about the suppressor.

 

[antelopedundee]

I just took a trip around town (Butte, Montana) and I am very alarmed by what I DIDN'T find. It started this morning when I was talking to Phil Hohman at Berger about some powder/bullet selection (What a great resource!) and the mention of shortages came up. I won't repeat what he said, but it is extremely plausible and does not require a tinfoil hat.

I buy in bulk but there are a few items I buy singly. One of those is .223 match ammunition for comparisons. I went to the 3 gunstores in town and found exactly 0 rounds of .223 anything! Add to that list 9mm, any primer except shotgun, any popular H-series powder, any mid-range Alliant powder, .224 bullets excepting 40gr varmits, .308 excepting some low-end hunting stuff, and the .45acp is going fast. It is possible to reload for .50BMG, but not .223 - who saw that coming?

I'm going to have to get out of the basement more often. I knew it was lean - but no .223 in the middle of Montana lean? I realize that reloaders are pretty far down the component trough, but I never thought the day would come that we would be sharing a bed with those who don't reload.

There are plenty of guns on the shelves, but nothing to put in them.

A store down the road from had 9mm stuff on sale. I guess they weren't moving it fast enough otherwise. I see primers, but never paid much attention to them. Don't want to end up getting stuck with something I can't use.

 

[Hohn]

The local gun shop here is selling Glock 19's for $2200 and can't keep them in stock. Insanity.

$2200? For a Glock? Really?

The ammo shortage will pass eventually and finally we’ll see components again. They’re diverting primers to ammo production.

 

[cheek9075]

On the shelf at the LGS today.... I'm not saying I'm set for the long haul, but doing pretty good. This happened 4 years ago, and I learned my lession. Buy when you can, and buy in numbers. I plan on using all I'll got, whether for fun or other wise.

 

[mr45man]

Today at SWH

 

[Dusty Stevens]

The local gun shop here is selling Glock 19's for $2200 and can't keep them in stock. Insanity.

I got some for sale if thats the case. Nobody here is dumb enough to fall for that.... but if it comes to that ill throw in a few cans of nato fmj with each one.

 

[hoz53]

Today at SWH
View attachment 1197687

i guess this is why there isnt any 9mm range brass these days where i shoot.

 

[hoz53]

I got some for sale if thats the case. Nobody here is dumb enough to fall for that.... but if it comes to that ill throw in a few cans of nato fmj with each one.

i was thinking the same thing- where are these places paying this kind of $. Ive got a few for sale when i find them.

 

[antelopedundee]

i was thinking the same thing- where are these places paying this kind of $. Ive got a few for sale when i find them.

It's the customers paying the $2200, not the shop. The shop would expect you to sell it to them for the same price as their supplier.

 

[swd]

I got some for sale if thats the case. Nobody here is dumb enough to fall for that.... but if it comes to that ill throw in a few cans of nato fmj with each one.

I’ve known him a long time he opened the safe to show me all the sold ones waiting their 10 day Kalifornia waiting period. He pulled 2 out and showed me the tags. One a G19 that sold for $2200 and a G43 that sold for $1700. There were probably 30+, all sold. People who didn’t own a gun before are scared and are desperate enough to pay insane prices to get a handgun in this state.

 

[hoz53]

I’ve known him a long time he opened the safe to show me all the sold ones waiting their 10 day Kalifornia waiting period. He pulled 2 out and showed me the tags. One a G19 that sold for $2200 and a G43 that sold for $1700. There were probably 30+, all sold. People who didn’t own a gun before are scared and are desperate enough to pay insane prices to get a handgun in this state.

would like to sell a few there