Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Ammo shortages just before the WI deer opener

Many of the newspapers are reporting that sporting goods stores are running out of ammuntion just before deer season. I have been in 3 stores nearby and can confirm that the shelves are nearly empty.

The news stories link the shortage to ammo buying after Obama was elected. What have you seen locally?

I will have to walk deep into the bunker and see what I can find to go afield this weekend.

I went to the local Bass Pro Shop and they have ammo , but it is higher than a cats back.

I went to Walmart and they were out of .270 but had 5 boxes of .308 . I took them all home with me.

We are short in MN too. Our season started a little over a week ago and we nearly didn't find 30-06 ammo for my buddy. I'm guessing some Minnesotans close to the border might have bought up some Wisconsin ammo too. and yes people are hording ammo. ammo companies have nearly doubled prices because they know people are trying to find ammo and are scared they might not be able too later. plus, if you can't find something anywhere, aren't you going to stock up when you do find it?
I've been looking for LR or LR mag primers for about 8 months and can't find any anywhere.

Yup, my pop called me last night and the only rifle bullets that they are overstocked with locally are big magnums and bulk .223

They had plain ol' Core Lokt 270 Win marked at thirty bucks a box at one of my stops last week. In August they were twenty.

Strange, I went into a couple of local gunshops yesterday (Jacksonville and Kinston NC) and while their ammo supplies were not robust, between them you could buy any common round out there in several choices. Our rifle season has been open a month, so maybe they have caught up. I am shooting rifle ammo I handloaded last summer, so I haven't bought any factory yet this year. I thought I wanted to try the new Winchester Powermax and the second shop had .308 WIN and .270 WIN for $21.95 per box, but I passed because I have so much ammo already. By the way, they had standard Remington CoreLokt in those two cartridges for $15.98, a lost leader deal.

zero 30-06 here in central missouri...

we been looking for two weeks, nothing in 06'


peabody

some .308 and .223

seen two guys trade in their 06's for .308's just so they could buy some ammo.

we have shotages on everything from .22 to .308 to 30-06. .223 is non exsistent, and ace is limiting purchases of ammo to two boxes of whatever your buying excluding shotgun rounds. my dad is under sheriff and collects the brass from firing range and reloads 9mm, .40, .45acp, .223, and .357 for reload. wally world had the 550 rd value packs of .22 for $20. i bought my last one for 10$ or so. the just put in their new ammo case and its full of price stickers. and it has all been since obama took office and people started realizing what he wants for gun owners...there to not be any. its crazy.

i dont see the connection.
what does .223 and pistol ammo have to do with the deer season?
is it common for people in WI to stock up on ammo right before the season?

I was cruising through a Walmart before going to the range one morning a few weeks ago and noticed they had eight boxes of blue box Federals in 243 for $13.97 a box.
Hardly anything else in the way of ammo mind you.
Anyway being that i already had eight boxes of that ammo at home i passed it up.
That was at 8:00 a.m.
Went back after the range session and an early lunch and this time they only had five boxes left.
Hmm I said to myself.
So i got the associate to get them for me and she said i could only buy four boxes.
So i bought them and at that price would do it all over again.
Went back that evening and the remaining box had already found a new home.
Stopped at the local Academy(sporting goods store) this past Friday looking for some 6mm ammo.
Of course they had none.
What they did have was some imported Monarch in 223 and 30-06,a few boxes of Rem Corelockts in 270 and 30-06.
No 308,7mm-08.
A few 300 Win mag and ten full boxes of Rem 7x57.
Truely slim pickings from a few years ago.

our local WM said policy changed, they can only order what sold out last year, and only a certain quantity, and can NOT reorder anything. IE we were sold out of 30-06 ammo 3 weeks BEFORE season here.

I only reload but had heard this from others and the assistant manager is a friend so I asked him... yep....

the problem doesnt stop at hunting rounds. you used to be able to buy almost all ammo at half the price it is today and buy hunting rounds the same and not have to hunt them down. people are buying everything they can get their hands on thinking obama is going to ban guns before he is out of office. the problem extends farther than just hunting but hunters need to be concerned and stand behind each other because it will affect everyone. it doesnt matter if you one of everything or everything for one, your going to be affected. hunting rounds are what you notice, i notice i cant find rounds for my 9, 40, 45, 223, or 22. its getting rediculous im tellin ya.

I cannot find the ammo I use most locally - Federal Fusion in .270 and .30-06 - and Midway has been backordered for quite some time. I contacted Federal's media people, they claim they are making them as fast as they can. .300 Savage is always limited in selection locally to Remington, haven't seen any of those in a long time. I did stock up the last time Fusion was available from Midway, and lucked into a couple of boxes for the '.06 at an Academy last week, so I'm probably OK for deer season, if I don't do a lot a the range. Strangely, my local mom & pop gun shop has ammo for .218 Bee and .25/20 on the shelf.

I wonder if we have to re think the age old argument to buy a 30-06 because you can find ammo for them anywhere?
Maybe se should change it to buy something unusual because it may not be sold out as quickly as popular calibers.

I hope you find something, or someone loans you a few rounds.

Strangely enough as i mentioned before there was a full case of 7x57 AKA 7mm Mauser.
At times I also see 300 Savage in stock and 35 Rem.

With the ammo shortage being at least 10 months old now, why would anybody wait until a day or two before their season opener to by some?

Good point, but if you think back to the shortage right after the election and up through the summer it mostly impacted semi-auto pistol, and some revolver rounds (.38 SPL & .357 MAG). The only rifle ammo that seemed hard to find was .223 REM/5.56mm and .308 WIN/7.62mm in black rifle configurations. Hunting ammo has been well stocked until the season began. I speculate that the ammo manufacturers, having an ample amount of hunting ammo in the distribution network, ramped up the short items and let the hunting ammo cough up the manufacturing time. Now that the hunting season is in full swing and hunters are buying 5 or more boxes of what they used to buy 1-2 boxes of, it has crimped the supply pipeline and shortages are appearing.

Just before deer season???? Where have you folks been since last January???

On StrayDog's suggestion:

A good thought. This year I went in as needed and stocked up on all the 240 Weatherby, 6.5 x 55, 45-70, and 45-90 cartridges I might need. I've been well stocked for years on the more common cartridges, primers, and powders. On the up side. With a decision to purchase 25 lbs of black powder, it showed up on my doorstep in 3 days.

People have been hitting the best known retailers and buying a lot of ammunition to hoard. I've seen it. Mom and Pop at WallyWorld whipping out the credit card and paying for a full grocery cart of ammunition. It happens as fast as deliveries hit on most of the more common rifle and handgun ammunition including .22lr in bulk packs. I thought it would let up before now. I've bided my time and bought what I needed at reasonable prices to have a little laid back in the calibers for which I'm not set up to reload. I'm not having any problem with reloading supplies. Like a lot of the other members here, I'm surprised people have waited 'til the last minute - unless they just bought a new rifle.

do you guys ever shop online? There is NOTHING out of stock, if you look around.

+1...there's a lot more bullets, brass, and powder right now than there was 4 or 5 months ago...just shop a little..