Ammo Shortage ?

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Cochise
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Ammo Shortage ?

Post by Cochise »

Has anyone noticed that gun stores have been offering very reduced selections of handgun ammo in the last year. Slowly the 50 round boxes of good defensive ammo is being replaced with 25 round boxes, much of which is gimmicky stuff. I won't define gimmicky by brand as I don't want to start a debate and that is not the topic of this post. There is some tried and true ammo that has been used by law enforcement over the years and has proven itself reliable and effective. Some of that ammo is Gold Dot, Ranger T and Federal HST. These have all but disappeared from the gun stores (at least in my area). I was told by one store that "We order it, it just doesn't come in". Another store told me, "They don't make that in 50 round boxes anymore". Neither of these statements are true. Handgun ammo was always sold in 50 round boxes. 25 round boxes of handgun ammo is ridiculous. Anyone who carries a handgun for defense should occasionally practice with the ammo they use for carry. The cost of the 25 round boxes makes this very expensive. I wonder if the real reason stores are only selling the 25 round boxes is that they make much more profit on them. The cost of a 25 round box is about what a 50 round box should cost. I know this is true because I just received (ordered online) 10 boxes of HST in 50 round boxes that cost me less per 50 round box than what much of the 25 round boxes cost in stores. I also ordered 10 50 round boxes of 9mm Gold Dot which will be here Friday, again for less per box than the cost of some 25 round boxes. I don't shoot that much gold dot but ordered extra boxes for some friends. I have never bought a 25 round box of handgun ammo and never will. The cost per round is ridiculous.
I talked with the owner of one of the larger online ammo stores who told me he has no problem getting the 50 round boxes of Gold Dot, Ranger or HST. He also told me that as far as he knows, those rounds were never packaged in 25 round boxes by the manufacturers. That's likely why the stores don't stock those rounds, they only want to sell what they make a huge profit on. Shop around, check prices, do some research and don't believe everything gun store employees tell you. There is no shortage of ammo and there are good deals to be found, you just have to search for them.
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Bruenor
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Re: Ammo Shortage ?

Post by Bruenor »

The Ranger T that used to be in the Tan box has been repackaged into a fancy Blue box, and it's availability on the secondary market is now pretty much NIL.. I think Winchester drop ships it to departments that use it now.

I too don't care for the boutique ammo in the little 20 round boxes.. that's One Box per magazine i wish to fill.

Use the Ammo search engines to find what you are looking for, pretty much the only place to find that stuff now.

http://ammoseek.com/ammo/9mm-luger/Federal?ikw=HST" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://ammoseek.com/ammo/9mm-luger/Speer?ikw=gold" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://ammoseek.com/ammo/9mm-luger/Winc ... ikw=Ranger" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Mr. Glock
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Re: Ammo Shortage ?

Post by Mr. Glock »

Ammo makers restrict certain rounds and box sizes for LE only. This is not a legal thing, just company policy, but can affect supply in certain locations.

For example, I received a couple boxes of Hornday TAP (LE version) from an ammo vendor that were corroded (back in one of the scares) I sent them to Hornady, who covered them under warranty. However, not being LE, I had to pick other ammo as they wouldn't ship the exact same item to me as per company policy.
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BEAR!
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Re: Ammo Shortage ?

Post by BEAR! »

I bought two 50 rd boxes of 9mm 124 grain HST's at the last gunshow for what I thought was a pretty good price.

There were 3 dealers there with that particular ammo.
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Aesinsp
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Re: Ammo Shortage ?

Post by Aesinsp »

I recently saw 9mm hollow point Independence (reloads by Federal) in 50 round boxes for about 15$ea at a local hardware store(yes, only one I know of with a gun counter). Other varieties available were 20/25 rounds Hornady, etc at typical retail $$.
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Cochise
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Re: Ammo Shortage ?

Post by Cochise »

Thanks for the comments everyone.. I think Bruenor is correct, about the only way to find the 50 rnd boxes is by searching online.
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