Cali Kid Corals

Any BA gun nuts out there notice the price of ammo or LACK of ammo?

Vincerama2

Vincerama2

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OK, I'm a recovered gun nut, but my friend just bought a nice Springfield TRP 1911 so he's all hot and bothered to go shooting.

Wow, you can't find .45 ACP anywhere for a decent price! At the range, they have some but sell it for $32 for 50 cartridges!

Usually I go to Big 5 and they were out, the guy said that in the past months, it's been like "the great famine" apparently just around the time that we got a new president, gun and ammo sales went insane and you couldn't get your hands of ammo of any type.

This morning, I thought I'd just go to Walmart since it's kind of on the way to work and traffic on 101 was stacked up anyway.
When I got to the sporting goods section the ammo cabinet was completely empty except for some rifle ammo. Oddly the case was open too. So I was wandering around looking at stuff and I hear a guy talking to the sales guy asking for 9mm and the sales guy asking him how much he wanted. So I went back to the case and he was stocking it! Woo! At Wallmart it's $17/box of 50. Sweet! He asked me how many I wanted, so I said um, 2 boxes. He says "No really, how many boxes? If you don't buy it now, you won't get any for a few months". Uh, OK, how about 4 boxes? "Are you sure?" OK, 5 boxes. "Seriously, how many do you want".. OK, 6 boxes. "Um, well you know we won't have any by the end of the day?" I stuck to my guns (ha ha!) with 6 boxes. Holy crap, I just bought $100 worth of ammo and I barely even go shooting anymore (like once every 6 months maybe).

I asked him what's up and he said ... well one guy "A tall white man" comes in and will buy ALL the ammo, $1500-$unpacket2000 worth. He owns a shooting range and he re-sells the ammo there for twice the price. Another guy "Some Asian guy" also will come in and buy everything and he sells them on eBay for a huge profit. Another guy was really paranoid and bought up $1000 because next year there will be fingerprinting necessary to buy ammo.

Wow, there are such things as ammo scalpers! They buy up all the ammo then sell it to you because you can't find it anywhere else (because they bought it first!).

I told my friend who ran off and bought 10 boxes and said there were only 5 boxes of .45 acp left at Walmart! I guess that there won't be any for the next month at least and only if you can get there before the "scalpers!"

Is this insane?

Two nights ago, I opened up my mothballed Dillon 550B and I'm thinking about where to mount it! I checked my old reloading supplies and I still have a metric crap ton of brass, primers and some powder.

My stupid friend has me getting all gun-nutty again.

I think it's time to pick up a .22 or a 9mm. Sheesh. (not because there is more 9mm, but it'll be cheaper to shoot/reload for and .22lr is still cheap, you get 500 rounds for the price you'd pay for 50 rounds of .45).

OK, gun nut mode off.

V
 
Part of the hobby should include loading your own shells. I guess its like mixing saltwater, you could buy premixed water but its not the same, eh?
 
Even out here in the sticks it is tough to get. Especially 9mm! Cheaper to buy and everyone wants some. I'm not shooting enough right now to justify reloading since I would have to buy all new equipment. I have a brand new S&W 1911 I've barely even fired with .45 ammo because I'm hanging on to my small stock of ammo. Been almost impossible to catch .45 around here...Bought a .22 conversion for it because at least I can get .22!
 
Great .... you read this thread, under that domain name....
A bunch of gun totin, pot smokin, nudists.
;)
And the "BA" in the thread did not help.

---

Some ranges have pretty cheap reloaded ammo. Have to use it there though - in theory.
 
Vlad, you want a shotgun?

I've never done any skeet shooting (or clay shooting or wahtever you call it) That would be fun, but I think you need a double barrel, not a pump shotty.

Shotguns are pretty cheap compared to pistols...go to Big5 and check some out!

V
 
You can shoot skeet with a pump just fine. On doubles you even have time for a third if you need it. I haven't shot skeet in a long time but would be down if others were interested.
I went to Arkansas last winter for ducks but it was all frozen up for the week I was there. Might try again this year??
 
Yeah, I read the lead thing. I think there is already a lot of steel shot for shotguns, but it's hard to get around lead for bullets since it's dense and cheap.

It's actually an issue in indoor shooting ranges. There is a lot of vaporized lead in the range so make sure to go to one with good ventilation.

Some ranges require using TMJ or plated bullets now (TMJ= total metal jacket, the entire bullet is encased in copper. FMJ= full metal jacket, the bottom might not be covered and that's the part that faces the expanding gas) Plated lead bullets are cheaper for reloading (if you do such a thing).

Buying ammo in Reno ... interesting if you happen to be passing through. I doubt that the next time I'm in Tahoe that Sandy would stand for the words "Hang on honey, keep the kids entertained for 10 minutes in the car, I'll be right back. Oh I'm just gonna buy a bunch of ammo for the ride home"

I bought some bullets (not live rounds) on the net. Lucky for "free" shipping as it came out to 35 pounds. But then again, how much does a bucket of salt weigh? Must be like 60 lbs!

V
 
The price and lack of ammo started years ago.... not soon after a couple wars got going IIRC. Kinda like the price of plywood after Katrina.

Lucky me, I have a decent stock pile from back in the day when it was cheap :)

My next gun will be a Benelli..... never really like Mossy's
 
You'd think that with a few wars here and there there would actually be more ammo around, especially 9mm. I mean OK, the Armed Forces uses up immense amounts, but they have to buy it from somewhere and I'm guessing that whoever is producing it would find that manufacturing in huge volumes is easier than small runs of other non-popular ammo. Or is the AF consuming it that quickly?

I think my next gun would probably be a 9mm, likely a CZ 75B. But I think it'll be a long time before that next purchase, since my kids consume a lot of my time/money at the moment!

Actually with that in mind I think a big heavy gun safe is the next item in line for purchase.

Vince
 
Next hand gun will be a .40 s&w I am pretty sure. I like 9's as well. Not sure on make or model though :)

Mine are in a safe.. I was lucky with the last break in that they did not find my guns. The police were far more concerned about them going missing then my camera :lol:
 
Ammo is expensive everywhere these days. I bought 100 rounds of ammo .223 in Tucson last month to go shooting my cousins AR-15's. since they are both Tucson PD we had a almost 1000 rounds they were able to scavenge from their target practice days, If not we would have been shooting for 15min. There are many reasons ammo has gotten expensive which all piss me off since I got my first gun last year and am looking for another one.
 
The best place to get ammo is Walmart if you can get there within the 5 minutes that the guy is restocking the cabinet! :p

If you do serious shooting (ie, you go to the range a lot), it's probably worth it to buy a press and reload the fired brass. At the very least pick up your spent brass, it's almost 25 cents per case (for .45) if you buy new brass. One day maybe you'll reload it, or you can strike a deal with a reloader to get a discount on reloaded ammo if you give him/her spent brass. Look to gun shows for a source of reloaded ammo!

V
 
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