Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Cabela's in Barrie, ON - I was disappointed

The place has been open for a few months now and the newness has worn off. Generally speaking, Canadians have few outdoor hunting/shooting stores, so anything is welcome.



Today, I drove to Barrie on business and stopped in Cabelas. The store smelled like fresh roasted, candy covered peanuts (on purpose, I suspect). The place was overrun with employees too. That can be helpful.

There were lots of clothes, archery stuff, optics, BP stuff, rifles and handguns. The accessory shelves were full with gun cases, cleaning supplies, doggie training stuff, rifle rests, bipods, etc., but...

As is my wont, I wandered down the reloading aisles. Lots of empty space! Oh my! A smattering of bullets, mostly Hornady. There were one or two bullet boxes in most of the popular calibres. 90% of the shelf was empty, as in no merchandise. And virtually no brass either!!

They had three or four bags of handgun cases and one bag of Winchester 223. There was a small selection of Nosler brass, but it was overpriced. That's probably why it's still there. I didn't see any cast bullets either. Hmmm.

I know it's hunting season, but there were piles of factory loaded ammunition there - individual boxes and cases as well. Where were all the reloading components?

I can only conclude that not too many people handload anymore. Tons of reloading presses, dies, scales, powder throwers, etc. Prices were okay I guess. Looks like I'll just mail order stuff in, as per normal.

I was in a rush, so I did not talk with any employees. I wanted to ask where all the Rem/Win/Lapua brass was. Next time.

The highlight of the trip was stopping at A&W for a Teenburger, onion rings and a root beer.

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And sousaphones have nothing to do with my Cabela's visit, or this post. I just like the picture.

You've concluded wrongly.

The ammunition companies are using every piece of brass they can find to load ammunition.

What's up with Canadian A&Ws? My son and I stopped in one in BC last year and needed an interpreter to find a hamburger on the menu. I've ordered off French menus that were easier to understand.

It stands to reason that if people reloaded here, there would be less reloading equipment and accessories on the shelves. The place was packed with factory ammunition, but very few components.

Conclusion: The boxes of factory ammunition are empty. It is a ruse to lull us into a false sense of 'supply meets demand' or,

Canada is in danger of being invaded.

This is what I mean. The Canadian Army is represented by King Arthur. The castle is Cabelas (secretly owned and ran by the French).



WRT A&Ws, I cannot answer. I can only tell you that the push here is for real beef, not treated with hormones or other chemical enhancements.

It is a reflection of what is going on down here in the states. The panic that took place after the Sandy Hook shootings is subsiding as shooters worst fears have not come to pass. Manufacturers are slowly catching up, allowing dealers get product back on the shelves.

Steve, have you been hiding under a rock for the last four years? :-)

No, the two other stores that I frequent have more brass and bullets. I was surprised that a chain store in a big city would be short.

No trip to the Gun Library? That's worth about an hour in our Cabelas in Texas...

No library visit.

I did follow a woman around who was taking pictures of the stuffed animals. I think she thought that I was stalking her. Oh heck, all I did was stick my tongue out at her and laugh.

The Cabela's I frequent has primers, a fair bullet selection, but cases and especially powders are lacking. Lots of factory ammo except RF.

Ernie

Steve, join the club. Our Cabelas has been here for ten years and the reloading components shelves are empty. They were full up until Sandy Hook. Nevermore I guess.

I'm fortunate to be able to cast my own bullets, as well as make my own jacketed bullets in four calibres. I was genuinely surprised this afternoon, but am confident that things will slowly swing back to normal.



Starting about 15 years ago, and over a period of about eight years, my investments in this equipment have already paid off. I'm not being smug. There is a real satisfaction in being able to use homemade cast or jacketed bullets with much less worry about component availability.

Better days are coming.

Obama keeps telling us that!!!

He should know as he is a Peace Prize winner, Author of several books and almost single handedly (along with the Party of Gun Control)
brought a once great nation to the brink of being a third world chithole. He can do it all!

Steve, Reloading components? Upon entering the Richfield Wisconsin Cabelas, my wife remarked that I had more primers and powder than the store had. That's the times we live in. Thanks democrats!!

I walked into a store here in NB last Sat and bought 2800 pcs of 22LR ammo. There was many more 1000s on the shelf.

At least we have that.

Steve, I don't know what, if anything you were looking for in particular, but my experience lately is that brass for really popular cartridges can often be found online, but usually in the pricey brands like Lapua, Nosler and Norma. Hornady also seems to be available pretty often. Brass for older rounds like .35 Rem., .257, .300 Savage, .348, etc. that was usually cranked out in small lots every year or so is just not to be had. I agree with rcamuglia that most of the brass produced is going for ammo, probably because there's more money to be made there. If you were a company with 5000 pieces of .303 British brass and had dealers clamoring for ammo, would you use it for that or bag it up for reloaders?

Brass for .40, .223, .45, .243, .308, and such is probably around because it's not hard to divert a small portion of production for reloaders from time to time. Stopping production of your bread and butter products and retooling to crank out some 6mm Remington for a few rifle loonys is something else.

Similar circumstances likely apply to bullets, powder, and primers. If the new war in the Middle East results in ground troops being deployed, look for our supply problems to get worse.

I wasn't looking for anything in particular. The reloading section of any gun shop is usually where you'll find me. I wasn't thinking about my own component supplies, but what about others? I'm not an economist, but I wish that we were still trading with the Europeans as in previous years.

Years ago here, we used to get much more European made stuff - firearms, ammunition and components. This will probably raise the hackles of a few here, but I prefer Euro brass over Win/Fed/Rem.

I also got most of my 5.56, 7.62 NATO and 303 brass from sources here. More than enough for several lifetimes. It was one of the perks being an armourer in the service.

The only brass that I could use some more of is 444 and maybe 30-30. The thing with 30-30 is it always goes on sale this time of year, so I'll likely pick up a few hundred at $13 or $14 for 20.

Unrelated to the component problem, I've jus sent a query to a business in Alberta for a TC Contender rifle in 30-30. The last ten years or so I've gravitated toward single shots.

For the most part, brass is just not available locally here. I pick up powder and primers as I find them and bullets I mostly find online.

The scarcity of brass has caused me to pass up a number of interesting rifles this year. The ones I did buy were in calibers for which I already had brass, except for a .243. Brass for that seems to be reasonably plentiful, except from the Big Three.