Everybody’s read by now the Orlando Sentinel article about Florida’s “bullet” (sic.) shortages. Is that just a Florida problem? Hell, no.
Since our local Wal-Mart stopped carrying ammo (not foo-foo enough for the Bay Area suburbanites) I’ve been deprived of a handy source for cheap bulk ammo, and have generally bought it over the ‘net instead. So when we went to Tulare this past weekend, I was excited because their Wal-Mart, being sufficiently rural, does stock ammunition.
I mentioned as much to the staff at the Tulare range, and got lots of comments like “if they have any.” WTF? Wal-Mart’s never out of stock of anything!
Sure enough, when I stopped by Wal-Mart the next morning, they had only three bulk bricks of Remington .223, and six each of 9mm and .45ACP, plus a smattering of other calibers. Most of what was on the shelf was 20-round boxes, not their bulk fare. And the fellow said what he had on the shelves he’d gotten in yesterday. That’s a pretty pathetic shipment of ammo if that’s all he got. I took 300 rounds each of those three above calibers and counted myself lucky. Total bill $240 for 900 rounds. Ouch!
My buddy who finally purchased a hand gun got one in .40 cal and has had a really hard time finding bulk ammo, or even non bulk. Bass Pro used to be my go to for the bulk stuff but they are almost always out.
I did walk past the ammo isle as I was picking up powder to start reloading for IDPA comp this year, there were a couple of boxes of bulk but it was slim pickins…
The Wal-Mart one town over was dead out of .45 ACP and .223. Not sure where it is going, or if they are not producing enough, but there certainly is not enough on the market right now.
That’s how it was at my Walmart. The mental trauma of the constant shortage didn’t help. As I was browsing another forum, I read that Walmart was beginning to receive shipments (rumor has it that they were doing inventory).
I gave mine a try.
They received ammunition all right. Three cases of bulk Federal .22LR and 4 cases of birdshot cartridges…
I bought a case of the Federal anyway… that’s 5500 of the dirty, cheap, but inexpensive stuff.
Same here in OK; haven’t shopped at Wally World in quite a while, but a short time ago went in to check; some .22, some shotgun ammo, and damn little of rifle or pistol.
Sportsman’s Warehouse gets in powder, and by two days later it’s all gone. And they haven’t had a decent stock of bullets in months now; some come in, they go out. If not that day, then by the next.