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I sent this to their CS reps:


While this is as much a rant as anything else, I am thoroughly disgusted with an industry that is now creating, as well as participating in, an anxiety ladened market. I do hope hobbiest and collectors alike remember who have taken advantage of our brothers and sisters, friends and foes alike, during this idiotic panic.

And while we, more or less, all participated in this self-centered, run on ammo and firearms, it is time to make amends. It is time to right the ship and remember who we are and who we are not. Stop buying this stuff at inflated prices. If the practice of capitalism and even greed is what has driven up the prices, let it also have it level everything out. Don't be content with even $15 for a $10 box of ammo.

Be principled.
Have edifying character.

Not to put too fine a point on it but you couldn't get 9mm around here for $10 before Sandy Hook. American Eagle is far from real "budget ammo" too. The last I saw day-in, day-out $10 9mm was Walmart's reloadable Blazer ammo back before Obama got elected the first time. During that run, it went up to about $13 per box of 50 and has stayed there until this run. I expect you could still get some if you were there at the right time, but I haven't seen any since it got going in earnest. You can buy American Eagle right now at my local gunstore for $14 or $15 a box (50), which I assume was pre-Sandy Hook prices.

While I can appreciate those who hold the line on prices, they are selling below the market's own limits.

I had to laugh the other day, when I took out a couple of boxes of 9mm Ammo, I picked up when I bought my wife a Ruger P89 or 90 back before 2000, to have in case of a break in and me traveling for business...

Had two boxes of some brand, with 125 FMJ bullets on them, with a price tag of $5.99....

took a couple of returning vets from Afghanistan, who wanted to go out shooting with their younger 15 yr old brother ( one of the Scouts in our troop).. they wanted to shoot 9mm, so I took out the Ruger for them....

they picked up ammo at a local gunshop I know of, where the guy operates a shop, in A small building next to his garage...

they paid $40 for a zip lock bag of 9mm ammo, handloaded by who knows who....darn stuff jammed the Ruger about every 5th round or so..

after the chore with the 9mm, at least the 17 HMRs and the Old Rem 870 functioned well without a hiccup...

Sometimes it's better to sell when there's blood on the streets.

Apparently supply and demand is a foreign concept to many in this country.

OP feels entitled to an item at a price he sets.

Funny how places that have that ammo priced at $10-$30 don't have any and places that have it at $50 do......imagine that. That's an item finding the intersection of supply and demand.

what gets me is .22 ammo being totally sold out, everywhere. And if you want .454 lead round balls for a cap & ball revo, you're out of luck, no one has 'em

22LR is the only one I care about, I can load the rest and I think I'm good for awhile.

Good with LR for a good piece too, but you can never have enough LR.

I find the .22 situation strange too. I haven't looked for the other, but will when I'm in a gunshop. Back in '08 there was a hiccup with .22's but then they were back in-quantity. Now, nada. Shorts, CB Caps...maybe a few boxes of this and that at gunshows. Some Eley. Gosh, $80 seems to be the going price for a brick. Glad I've got a bit. I've seen more 223 than I have .22!

I don't know why people find it hard to believe that anything and everything is flying off the shelf.

Even Hornady had a deal on it's website this week about how much they are producing and how far behind they are. The reason supply is so low is demand is at an all time high.

Never underestimate the idiocy of the politicians which will ultimately control supply and legality of owning it.

Lots of people only own a .22. Lots of people switch to .22 shooting when other ammos get too expensive. It's not sold out "everywhere", it just moves fast. Was in Bass Pro coming back from Mardi Gras Tuesday and everyone in front of me had 3 bricks of .22lr each checking out. While people might balk at the expense of storing away a lifetime of .223 if you shoot a lot people can wrap their brain around stockpiling a lifetime or at least several years of .22lr at once and even now is relatively cheap to do so.

Look how popular .22 AR and .22 conversions for AR have been in the last few years, all those people have to feed them somehow and you can burn thru a crapload of .22 in one pretty quick and they most likely aren't shooting .223 much now.

Hornady statement

Couldn't be further from the truth, I find it exploitive. When we have kids who can be introduced to the joy of marksmanship, yet can't afford to do so, something is wrong.
There are too many posts here lamenting an inability to find reasonably priced .22 ammo. It's simply sad. It's disappointing. Perhaps seeing this requires us to look a little bit deeper.

I haven't seen any around here to fly off the shelves. I've only been to Academy other than the normal two or three Walmart trips per week...but even the LGS that has everything else for decent prices, has no .22 shells.

Why don't you stop buying gas until it goes back to .25 a gallon .

If they listed it for $10 that wouldn't make any more of it available meaning you still would have the same chance to buy some at whatever price.

If they lowered the price to $10 even more people would buy it or backorder it making the backlog stretch out even further.

If you want it or need it, pony up is all I can say.

It's only sad in that people don't understand supply and demand, supply has stayed basically the same or even increased slightly and demand is at an all time high.

What I find sad is after 1993/1994 with the Brady bill panic, the assault weapon ban panic, the 2008 election panic, the 2012 election panic is people didn't have enough CHEAP .22 stored away to last the first 2 months of the next panic.

If you really really really want ammo spend some time on sites that list who has ammo available etc...Everyday post on places like www.ar15.com people post who has ammo in stock either in brick and mortar and online so that people can locate it. It disapears quickly (there's that demand thing again) but it lets you know how much is actually being put on the shelves and not lasting minutes.

Distributors are posting nubmers over there as well. Many with backlogs of between 9 and 12 months of "normal" sales of ammo and sales now aren't normal.

On the other hand I guess it is exploitive, only in the way that they are exploiting people who couldn't see far enough ahead to have 2 months supply of the cheapest ammo avaialable like .22lr

I don't know how anyone is out of ammo totally for a gun they already own after only 2 months. Ok maybe if you bought a new gun chambered for something you didn't have...but for a cartridge you already used how do you not have 2 months supply on hand? Especially stuff you shoot a lot like handguns and .22

You are probably right. In E. Texas, AE 9mm was frequently "on sale" for $10-ish, or so. $11.99-$12.99 is most likely more accurate.
Fear is a powerful foe, influencer and corrupter. And there is only one thing that casts out fear...



There is a fine line between enterprising and exploitation. Defending $54/box for AE 9mm falls on deaf ears. Yet, a fool and his money/resources are easily parted. For a retailer to sell below market value is foolish, unless they have a bigger purpose in mind. People buying above market value is also foolish, unless, again, they have some other purpose driving them.
It's hard to stay in business if you aren't making business based decision. That said, sound business practices demand sound business practices, yet veering off the path of sound business practices is pretty easy.

Amen to that last brother. People can set their own prices with my full blessings, but I gotta admit that this is unexplored territory. The previous runs on stuff weren't this bad, that I recall. Now the initial Obama run lasted longer than this, but stuff trickled in more frequently. Maybe it's just my location.

Lots of ammo and supplies are making it to the shelves, it just doesn't last long enough for people to see it. The local walmart here has quit opening up boxes of ammo that come on a pallet and instead roll it out in the morning and let people pick off of it and it only last a few minutes.

From reading the reports of distributors for every case they ship out they get an order for 2-3 more.

I can't find any 22lr,9mm,223,308 anywhere for a reasonable price. 3 weeks ago. I was at a store it had all this ammo for sale. It was a sportinggoods store that doesn't sell meny guns, but has a good supply of ammo. It's about 15% higher then your walmart store, but they had some. This guy next to me bought all the Remington ammo (over 10000 rounds). I picked up 500 rounds of Winchester super X (2.99/box 50). After seeing this joker buying that much I bought 2 more bricks (knowing these would be gone soon). Wish I would have bought some 9mm. They are all gone too now.

I saw an ad on craigslist were the guy posted the 10000 rounds of 22lr for an AR15 or for $2500.00 (he had a picture of all the ammo in his SUV). NICE

10 years ago you could buy the said 10 dollar a box 9mm for 2.99 a box quite often.... so is 10 unfair?

It's a free country. If you want to price gouge, you can. If you want to think pricegougers are SOBs, you can do that instead.

FWIW. we got an email this morning telling all dept personnel that if we want to shoot then we have to provide our own ammo until further notice as our suppliers dont have any. I couldnt believe it so i called our sarge that handles procurement. He said he talked to 3 suppliers we use and all they had was some 308 tracer rounds. Ive got about 600 rounds each of .223 9mm and 45 and a couple humdred rounds of 12 guage slugs and buck. But. I really should have more 22lr