I have been trying not to be an Ammo Glutton. That said I was stocking up back in 2017-2019 so I didn’t feel the pinch as bad as others. That makes it hard for me to get a feel as to how others are coping with this ammo thing.
At present I am buying mostly from local shops.
Only when they have some stock on the shelves
and
Buying less then their limit.
So if I walk in and they have 50 boxes of 9mm and a 2 box limit, I might buy a box (One)
While if they have 7 boxes on the shelf, I’ll pass and let someone in real need have a chance.
Are you still buying what you can as much as you can??
Still Dragging the wife and adult kids down to the store to each buy two boxes to get around the limit??
Do you feel the corner has turned (I do)
Just trying to get an idea how stressed people are about ammo.
Like I said, I stocked up 2017-2019 so my views are of little value, because I went into this in better shape than most (I think)
I gave up looking for .357mag and borrowed the dies to load my own.
I’m completely out of factory loaded 9mm and am getting low on reloads too. Still, I refuse to buy any until it is at or below $15/box.
Few people will admit to buying and hoarding, but my YouTube feed keeps showing me vids of guys stalking the ammo shelves, maxing their limit everytime a new shipment arrives. Even Psa can’t keep it on the shelves locally.
The ammo situation is like the gas situation a couple weeks ago. The high prices are due to the hoarding by people who don’t need it but think they do, then fill up trash bags with petrol.
I shoot at least twice a month and never had more than 1k rounds of a specific caliber and never felt short on ammo. I have a coworker who brags about having 20k rounds of 5.56, 9mm and 7.62x39 EACH but won’t shoot it because of the “shortage” and continues to buy more.
I’ve got about the same amount as you in reserve, maybe a little more counting loaded mags. I shored up a little when this all started to get serious, with purchases from individuals not scalping for profit. I’ve shot almost exclusively .22lr since the prices went full stupid, save for sighting in a couple new full caliber rifles I’ve picked up recently, before inflation gets out of control. There’s a good reason why I’ve got .22 trainers for Glock and AR (I learned from the last time[s] this happened), and with steel targets, they’re still pretty satisfying to shoot. And I picked up a big bucket o’ .22lr out at Bud’s in TN to help feed my kids’ guns, so they can stay sharp too. I don’t plan to buy any more full caliber ammo until things return to some kind of normal.
I’ll admit that I made some money selling ammo on auction when the panic buying peaked. I still sell my hand-loads, but the market is starting to level off. If people want to pay high prices for ammo, why should I not help them by selling what I worked to save up (or load myself)?
My girl and I bought quite a bit a couple of years ago and right away last year when things got crazy. I have my price limits set though, so I know what is a good deal for me and what isn’t. Lately, I’m leaving quite a bit more on the shelves than I used to.
I’m still shooting weekly, but working on more focused drills instead of plinking away aimlessly.
This is actually sounding much better than I expected.
My son and I try to shoot once or twice a month, but we have sharply cut the ammo count.
Rather that letting this upset us, we view it as a challenge. We try to set up drills that limit shots fired while still testing our skills. Watching “In Range TV” has shown us that, if we work at running smart drills, we can exorcise our skills using 50 rounds each where we used to us 300.
It becomes a game in it’s self, coming up with a “Course” that incorporates movement and mag changes yet doesn’t needlessly burn up rounds.
It’s probably better for all of us to practice conservatively like that. Most likely a real life scenario where you need those skills will come hand in hand with scarcity of resources, particularly ammo.
Brad we have been using short loaded Mags. In fact short loaded with no standard number of rounds.
So 15 round pistol mags, we load up 5 mags but I load for him he loads for me. Max capacity that’s 75 round, instead we load 25, but not 5 in each, more like 3 in one, 7 in another 6, 4 and 5.
Really rattles you at first, but it also improves your unexpected mag change skills.
I haven’t bought ammo in 2021. That said, for the past several years every time I went to PSA I bought 2 boxes of 5.56 and a couple of boxes of other calibers. I never bought the big ammo can deals though. But since I don’t reload (yet) that means I also haven’t been shooting as much in 2021.
I haven’t bought any ammo in 2021. As @TooEhh said I had people literally begging me to sell some of my ammo. I ended up selling 1k of 9mm, 1k of 7.62x39 and 1k of 5.56. I made a killing on it and they were begging for more. I will take the money that I made and buy more once the prices come back down. I have always kept a bare minimum of at least 1k of ammo for every caliber that I own. The more popular calibers that I have multiple weapons in I keep 5k on hand. I have always bought in bulk when something was on sale or just had a really good price. Buying ammo is really how I first got introduced to the PSA website. Let’s face it ammo never goes back to the price it was before a panic. Ammo has been on a constant steady upwards curve in price for the last few decades. Trump actually gave us some stability as far as the 2nd Amendment goes so you actually saw prices decline some. I bought a lot of bulk ammo in 2018 and 2019 simply because the prices were the best that they had been in a long time.
I’ve only just started gathering ammo as of this year…. Didn’t own an AR until the 1st of this year & it’s been a game of catch-up ever since.
It’s a sad pittance of a start- 2 boxes of 20 in .556 and even then, in steel casing. I’m thinking of it as “survival rounds” since it’d only fill a mag-n-a-third.
With politics being what they are- I’m taking the “slow & steady” approach and even then, only when the prices are actually reasonable.
I’m finding that at a dollar a round for 223 or 556 is killing me. I have a few friends in friendlier states other than CA and it seems the going rate is still high. Not sure the reason why other than someone wants to make a bucks on pandemic fears.
I reload or can reload every caliber that I own. I was/am a reloading supply hoarder. The Obama years taught me that you can never have enough. That said, I was still buying PMC Bronze .223 at PSA for $6 a box on a regular basis. That same box is $15 now. I wish I had bought even more and also cases of 9mm that were selling for $150 a thousand. I truly feel sorry for new gun owners who are being forced to pay these inflated prices and I fear we will never return to the good old days.
I’m vary off the shelf with most of my firearms. In fact, right now my fav Plinking pistol is a BERETTA 81BB, a vary European 1980s pistol. . . but fun to shoot., My boys grew up shooting Enfields back when ammo was 0.17 a round. My youngest still really loves an afternoon out in the sticks with a steel target and an old bolty.
I can’t speak to CA such a sad mess for such a lovely state.
Sometimes you need to look at options, Out here in the world 7.62 x 39 is about 1/3 that price, you might be able to afford a rifle & 1000 rounds for around the price of just 1000 rounds of One Dollar a round ammo.
Reloading is vary viable now as well. IF you can find Primers even at 0.10 per primer you can reload pinker 5.56 at something like 0.40 a round (your millage may vary) If 1000 rounds saves you $600 you can pay off all your reloading equipment right there.
Yep, as of now, only the “cheap” Russian stuff is even catching my interest at all. Everything else is still stupid expensive.
I’ve always shot 2x the Ruskie stuff than US for full caliber ammo (especially since Walmart stopped selling cheap US-made aluminum 9mm) because it’s often 20+% less and just as good. Benefit of having dependable guns that eat whatever I feed them.
Everybody had to start somewhere. At least it is isn’t too late to buy any. Just keep buying in bulk if you can afford to. If not then buy what you can at that time. Whenever you see something at a good price or going on sale. Go ahead a stock up as much as you can. Every penny saved really adds up when buying in bulk.
I am with you on shooting these well made Berettas. I have picked up quite a few when the supply was at it’s highest. I picked up 4 Beretta M71, Model 81, Model 81BB, Model 85BB, Model 1951 and a Model 1934.
