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Ammo Shortage

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  • Bersa Fan

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    Apr 18, 2009
    6
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    Some Where In Texas
    Can anyone tell me IF there is an ammo shortage? i ask this cause both me and my GirlFriend have 380's and we have been UN able to find any ammo for 380's for target pratice i called Sports Academy and the told me that they have over 1 million boxes on BACKORDER...1 MILLION BOXES..WOW so ok what's the deal?

    Bersa Fan
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    JKTex

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    Mar 11, 2008
    2,011
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    DFW, North Texas
    Is that a real question or just poking or having fun with the issue?

    It may just be that it's hard to believe the question being asked, is really being asked. Or maybe I'm missing the humorous hook in it.
     

    Bersa Fan

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    Apr 18, 2009
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    Some Where In Texas
    Nope sorry to say the Question WAS A REAL 1 i have been UNable to find ANY 380 ammo for the past month and IF u think i'm kiding do a search for 380 ammo and see for yourself

    Bersa fan
     
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    Feb 1, 2009
    59
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    Lewisville
    Lol this is funny, and to answer you question, yes there is an ammo shortage. The reason why is that every time a seller gets ammo from their supplier, some one comes along a buys it all. The manufactures are not able to keep up with the demand. This is with all handgun rounds now, . 380 is even harder to find than 9mm and .45. I work at Bass pro in Grapevine, and we have been out of pistol rounds, and i mean all pistol rounds for about a month now and we never know when we are gonna get it, we get like 24 hour notice on a shipment. I am going to the gun show in Ft Worth, and im going on sunday, with hopes to find ammo and not to get raped on it lol.
     

    Tired Retired

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    Jan 19, 2009
    37
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    DFW Area
    Well, shortage is not the question to ask. Yes, there is a SHORTAGE because the shelves are empty and people are wanting more ammo. I think you are actually asking a different question - are you wanting to know if the producers are making enough ammo? Everyone has an opinion and there are alot of rumors running around on the net and in gun groups. Dig a little deeper and here are the "facts" as I understand them.
    1) gun sales have skyrocketed in the last 6 months. This fact is established by numerous gun and retail industry reports, the number of guns on backorder, and by just talking to your local shop owners about the number of weapons they have sold.
    2) Those guns (often purchased by 1st time gunowers) take ammo - so people bought ammo to shoot their new guns. That was an increase in demand for ammo.
    3) The ammo manufacturers are at max capacity. Go to the business sites of the ammo companies and read their stockholder reports and the reports that they must file with the FTC/SEC. Additionally, they are reporting anywhere from a 24% to 40% profit increase in ammo sales. now before you jump on that, there are alot of business considerations and that increase is not a direct result of just raising prices - most of it is from volume of sales.
    4) Ammo companies are not going to invest in adding more production capacity to their plants. That is also in their business reports. They lived through this "shortage" in 1996 and then saw demand drop a few years later. They will not pour their profits into overhead when the will not get a return on the investment in the future (when demand drops again).
    5) people are hording - just go to your local gun shop owner and ask. I have been personally told stories of buyers who come in buying $1,000 to $3,000 to (one time ) $6,500 worth of ammo at once. I had one employee I know at cabelas tell me of a buyer who walked in and bought over 400 pounds of gunpowder and every primer in the place in November.
    6) Oh yea, if you have been a gun nut for a while, you will remember 1994-96 and the shortages in ammo, high capacity mags and reloading supplies. People will stop buying when they run out of money and they figure out that guns are safe for the near future (dems want to stay in power - the AWB in 1994 is what caused them to lose 1996 elections).
    7) Some calibers have only recently seen a jump in popularity which exceeds the "old" demand and "old" production rate. The .380 is a perfect example. Few people would even admit that they owned or shot .380's 10 years ago - it wasn't seen as a popular caliber. But Ruger and others have recently produced (and highly marketed) some .380's and now everyone wants one. Kinda like the old "tickle me elmo" dolls.... And guess what, the next Christmas the "tickle-me-elmo's" were marked down cause no one wanted them anymore.


    There is ammo. The ammo companies are putting it out in the set amount (or more) than what they were doing 3 years ago. The problem is people are over-buying increasing the demand to very high amounts out of a "got to buy NOW" fear. Its like a bathtub with the drain open wider than the tap is flowing - the water is running out faster than it is running in.

    This is just like 1995-96... be patient, it will change.....
     

    ebk06

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    Mar 15, 2009
    98
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    Austin
    I have to agree. The panic buying will slow/stop and when it does I plan to buy all the ammo/guns I can that will get sold for cheap by the resellers. To Bersa Fan, whatever you do DONT get price gouged by resellers. Be patient and shop around often. .380 is very hard to come by compared to anything else right now but you can find it. honestly I would consider buying a different caliber until the panic stops. a 9mm wouldnt be a bad choice.
     

    kingofwylietx

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    Feb 29, 2008
    1,424
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    DFW area.....Wylie.
    I work at Bass pro in Grapevine, and we have been out of pistol rounds, and i mean all pistol rounds for about a month now and we never know when we are gonna get it, we get like 24 hour notice on a shipment. .

    Cool.........now, if you will just send me a pm when you are informed of the next 'shipment'.....so I can get some range ammo.
     

    Old Man of the Mountain

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    Jan 5, 2009
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    Some folks have been saying that .22 LR is hard to find in their area, while at the same time CCI says they are manufacturing and shipping FOUR MILLION ROUNDS PER DAY.

    And CCI is not the only company manufacturing .22 LR rounds.

    That is a lot of ammo being bought up!

    The normal demand for .380 ammo is low compared to other cartridges, so they manufacture less of it to begin with.

    I keep hearing that .40 S&W is the highest demand pistol cartridge, so that might be what they are producing the most of. The other main handgun rounds are most likely 9 mm, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, and .45 ACP.
     

    texagun

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    Feb 28, 2008
    118
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    North Texas
    I went to the Ft. Worth Gun Show last weekend and saw a guy pay $100 for 2 boxes of 50 rounds 9mm FMJ. As long as there are fools like that around, the price will remain sky-high.
     

    jsbcats

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    May 4, 2009
    179
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    Kingwood
    The Academy in Humble seems to get some in every 3rd week or so, but you have to hit them right when they get it. I bought 10 boxes about 2 weeks ago there. It was Monarch and I paid 13.99 for FMJ and 15.99 for JHP. They did have a lot of 9mm in on Tuesday.

    A place in Conroe got some cheap overseas crap in, not even in a box and were asking over 40$ for 50.
     

    jsbcats

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    May 4, 2009
    179
    1
    Kingwood
    The Academy in Humble seems to get some in every 3rd week or so, but you have to hit them right when they get it. I bought 10 boxes about 2 weeks ago there. It was Monarch and I paid 13.99 for FMJ and 15.99 for JHP. They did have a lot of 9mm in on Tuesday.

    A place in Conroe got some cheap overseas crap in, not even in a box and were asking over 40$ for 50.
     

    SAND_MAN1

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    Mar 19, 2009
    24
    1
    Fort Worth
    I went to the Ft. Worth Gun Show last weekend and saw a guy pay $100 for 2 boxes of 50 rounds 9mm FMJ. As long as there are fools like that around, the price will remain sky-high.

    Damn, that dude got ass-raped! My co-worker told me he went and someone was selling a box of .40s&w (50 rounds) for $50 as well. What a rip-off. I was at Academy off Bryant Irvin Rd in Fort Worth and I heard the guy working there talking to a guy about the show and he said the same thing. Everything was overpriced.
     
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