TargetTalk

how do yo think this will affect the National Matches? Will only the elite (AMU) have the ammo that is needed? The average shooter might struggle to find enough quality ammo to his/her liking for their rifle.

pmelchman

Yep. That's what I figure.

Tenring

We had the Annual Spring Fling Ken Quandahl Memorial match a few weeks ago at the NRA Range.

Several junior teams canceled they cited a lack of ammo.

Yesterday afternoon at 4:00 PM EST I received an email from one of the Shooting Supply companies that they had SK Standard Plus in stock. Limit of 1 case per person. By 8 PM CST they were sold out.

pmelchman wrote:how do yo think this will affect the National Matches? Will only the elite (AMU) have the ammo that is needed? The average shooter might struggle to find enough quality ammo to his/her liking for their rifle.

pmelchman

The "elite" like the AMU are using high end ammo such as Tenex. Ammo in the $15 to $20 a box range may be a little more difficult to get than normal, but certainly not impossible. I bought a case of Tenex a few weeks ago from Champions Choice. They, and other suppliers had it in stock.

I guess it depends on your definition of "quality ammo". If you are trying to buy a case of the $10 (or under) a box stuff............ good luck!!

If the ammo manufacturers are producing as much as they always have, where the heck is it going. Particularly the low end stuff. Have not either seen or heard of any at the local Dick's in months, certainly not what they had before. Champions Choice used to get 100's, if not 1000's of cases a year and they have not had any for months. People talk about hording but one can only hord if there is something to buy. Which distributors are the manufactures sending ammo to, and then which dealers and getting what the distributors have. Particularly wondering about CCI (00035 (cardboard) and 00032 (plastic)), SK Standard Plus, Wolf Match Target, Eley Target, Eley Sport, Federal 711B and all similar standard velocity ammo.

Maryland State Rifle and Pistol Association website says Maryland Smallbore Championship scheduled for May 12 is cancelled due to lack of ammunition and participants.

the gov is buying it......

The hot rumor I've heard is that the manufacturers are just using the powder that would normally be used in .22 and using it instead to make the more expensive and better selling big bore ammo. Supply and demand I guess.

Good New Bad News I guess,......Received and e-mail from CCC that they had some sks ammo in the other day, limited purchase to one case per person. By the time I called, they sold everything but 5 bricks. So I was in the process of ordering the five bricks when I got to my address "New York". They said they could not ship there because of the new safe act. Tried to explain that it did not effect ammo sales until Jan 15, 2014, but could not convince her over the phone, they said they would have to research it. I checked the back on their site later that day and they were sold out.

At least somebody was actualy getting ammo to sell, now those from NY I suggest calling and e-mailing CCC so this issue does not continue when the get some more in. I already sent them an e-mail with web info, I suggest we all do it so they here it from as many sourses as possible.

Is the .22 ammo shortage a USA phenomena, or is it happening to those overseas too?

corning wrote:Is the .22 ammo shortage a USA phenomena, or is it happening to those overseas too?

I was wondering this also.
I asked the guys at my local shop in the UK and they had not heard of any shortages, so I guess the UK is ok for Ammo.

There is plenty of the "high quality" ammo out there, you just need to be willing to spend the money. If in reality you mean lower priced mid-range ammo, then good luck. One of the Eley guys told me a few weeks ago Zanders got two million rounds of Club in and it was gone in three hours.

Eric U

In NZ we order indent ammo about six months in advance.There is no maximum order to the best of my knowledge and Im fairly sure there hasn't been any supply shortages fro quite some years.Its mostly Eley and SK that are used here.There is a saving of about 10% on the usual price.The only downside is that you take what youre given which has obvious disadvantages.Our indent arrived from Eley about 3 weeks ago and my order is just fine.
Do the clubs in the US not order as a club and then in turn through your association to place a decent order with the main suppliers? Seems bizarre if they don't?

Eric U wrote:One of the Eley guys told me a few weeks ago Zanders got two million rounds of Club in and it was gone in three hours.

Eric U

That's only 400 cases, I'm pretty sure that small of an amount was probably backordered and the 3 hours was what it took to make up the shipping labels.

But Eric is right ... there is really no shortage of the high-end match ammo. It's the plinking and mid-range that is low, and unless you are willing to part with lots of dollars, then it's a matter of getting in the backorder queue, which I'll guess to be in the thousands of cases here in the US. (I've got 4 cases on backorder for our club, and if I see it by Sept, I'll be stunned and very happy)

Which suppliers are taking backorders? The ones that I deal with just seem to be putting you on a list for email notification if something comes in.

Also, do we expect that the commercial row vendors at Perry will have any ammo? Will they limit the purchase amounts? Should I make plans for a special trip to Perry on the first day of pistol because I fully expect that nothing will be left by the smallbore phase?

Maybe "backorder" is not the correct term for most of the suppliers. Our club happens to have orders in for 4 cases of STD+ (our normal training ammo) thru NRA Foundation grants ... again, when they come in, they come in. (Received our pellets yesterday)
I purchased a case of Eley Sport while I was at the JO's, and this should "tide us over" this summer (hopefully???)

pmelchman wrote:Will only the elite (AMU) have the ammo that is needed? The average shooter might struggle to find enough quality ammo to his/her liking for their rifle.

No, not only the "elite". I think most shooters plan out their competitions at least a year in advance and get their match ammo in ahead of time. I know we do since we have quite a few that qualify for the JOs, Rocky Mountain, the NRA Collegiate Club Champs, our 4-H State match, as well as plan on attending the National Champs. The championship contests alone require at least 2 cases of competition ammo for us... we absolutely MUST plan ahead there, to raise the money to purchase this ahead of time at a minimum.

(Oh ... and we've started a couple of pistol shooters this year too ... man can they burn ammo in Sport Pistol!)

I have a problem that a lot of people would like to have. I personally have a huge (>100,000 rounds) amount of .22 ammo that I have bought over the years that I have been selling to various groups that I work with (college team, junior club, gun club, 4-H camps, etc.) as they need it. My local gun store has been after me to sell him some for resale to keep his customers happy. What I am having a hard time determining is how much to sell it for, and how much to sell. What will it cost me to replace what I have and when will I be able to do it? With hardly anything on the shelves, what is the "current" price? A case of CCI standard velocity that sold at Dick's, Champions Choice and Champion Shooters Supply less than a year ago for under $300 is sellling on Gunbroker for $650-$800. I have been told (have not seen it myself) that once in a blue moon Dicks gets some in and are selling it for $40/brick, limit one per customer. I want to help out the organizations that mean a lot to me but I also want to do it in an intelligent way.

What's fair? What's reasonable? What's the smart thing to do?

Ooold ammo? Oh, malfunctions, reduced precision etc. Worth nothing, send it to me, I take care of it... ;)

In all honesty I would not go by what people on Gun Broker attempt to sell it for, not sure how many people are willing to pay that price, plus in my opionon its taking advantage of people, if you are at true fan of the sport and concerned about the future of the sport you will sell it at a fair price. I still have a very small stock of ammo that I continue to sell/transfer to my club at exactly what I paid for it, for the the use of our junior and newer shooters (and some experainced shooter that have none) my only requirement is they purchase only what they need for that nights shooting. My supply is running very low, but I am not looking to make any money I am more concerned about the health of our club and sport. As far as cost goes I recently purchased two bricks of CCI standard for $40 a brick including tax delivered to my house. Champions shooters supply recently had a shippment of SKS standard come in (they sold out) but they were selling at their normal prices. So I do not think that most stores are selling it at much higher prices that what the original going rate was, manufactures do not appear to be charging more, the problem is their is currently nothing out there, and when it does people are quickly buying all up then some are attempting to make a fast buck by re-selling at crazy prices, I refuse to reward a person for this and hope they eventually get stuck with all of it.

My suggestion is to go to a local club, even better one with a junior club and offer to sell it to them, I used to be able to purchase CCI at about $3 a box of 50, now you need to sell it at a price that you think you will be able to someday replace it at, so it depends on the type of ammo you have, for CCI or Winchester T22 perhaps 40 a brick is more that fair, if you want to make a small profit then perhaps $45. Be fair, people will remember you for it, for being helpfull and a hero as supposed to a greedy person.

Its all about preserving a sport we all love, for use now and for the next generation. Thats worth far more than any profit you may make in the short run.

by the way the two bricks I purchased I passed off to two members of my club, at exactly what I paid for it.