Ammo Out of Stock? Maybe Not

by David Higginbotham
Guns.com

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Ammunition is scarce. As the gun debate heated up in December of last year (that seems like such a long time ago), ammo began selling at unheard of rates. It didn’t take long.

And it isn’t just the recreational shooters who are running dry. Austin, Texas’s Fox 7 News reports that local police precincts are looking at at least a year’s delay in new firearm orders. And they’re facing similar delays on amunition orders. Rollingwood Police Chief Dayne Pryor says, “we have adequate supplies right now but we’re limited to how often we can go to the firing range to train because we want to be conservative right now.”

In an undisclosed location, government employees swim in pools of .223 like Scrooge McDuck does with his money.

Now, many are asking when ammunition will be available again. And all we have is speculation. But I’ve been watching stock levels very closely, and I’m happy to report that the trend is easing a bit. There’s ammo available. Even .223.

How to Find Ammo

Calling gun stores and ammo suppliers doesn’t work too well these days. There are so many people making legitimate inquiries that the phone lines are busy. I have had great success with the Internet. Whenever I’m online, I’ll open several browser tabs, log into sites that specialize in ammunition sales, and hit the refresh button every few minutes. It is tedious, but it works well.

The .223 pages are telling. Most of these sites (this week and last) have occasional options, but they’re oddball bullet weights, or high-end offerings that are selling for close to $2 a round. And they come and go.

Take last night, for instance. Lucky Gunner, at 8:45, had Speer Gold Dot .223, 20 packs, for $1.75 a round. Not bad. If you have to have some .223, you won’t regret Speer.

Shortly after 9, I checked again, just to make sure I had the brand information right, and there were 13 tins of Tula. I bought one, typing like a mad man to get all of my information entered, and by the time I was finished with the transaction, there were eight left in stock. Then three. At 9:09, they were gone.

But they were there. When I talk to someone who says, “There’s no .223 for sale,” I know it’s an exaggeration.

The Tula sold for 71 cents a round (500 rounds). Some discerning shooters will not put steel cased Tula into their AR-15s. I’m not passing judgement, myself. I bought a tin. I’ve had good luck with Tula. It is my ammo of choice for the AK.

And there are other options

This past weekend, I had my feelers out. My right-hand-tactical-man came through. Jacob sounded like an auctioneer on the phone. “Ijusttextedyoualinkbutyougottagettherequick.” I had the page up and the order placed in well under a minute.

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February 2, 2013

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