Anyone else having difficulties purchasing Ammunition?

The difference between now and 4 months ago has nothing to do with the military! When I first bought by rifle, I had no problem finding ammunition for it -online or at any of the stores I frequent to buy it. Its only since Obama Lama came to town (so to speak) that the ammunition shelves have been literally empty, and online retailers 'Out of Stock'.

 

The difference between now and 4 months ago has nothing to do with the military! When I first bought by rifle, I had no problem finding ammunition for it -online or at any of the stores I frequent to buy it. Its only since Obama Lama came to town (so to speak) that the ammunition shelves have been literally empty, and online retailers 'Out of Stock'.

 

Well all I know is that 3 years ago when I bought 1,000 rds of 5.56MM SS-109 surplus it was about $250.00 and I was told at the time this was the last batch of surplus ammo that would be available. I should have bought 2. Even "Wolf" ammo has gone up and is unavailable.

My point is that there is no surplus military ammo on the market; it's getting used. The commercial manufactures can not keep up with the artificial demand that is being created by panic and speculation in the ammunition commodities.

You can not tell me that the military is not using more ammo than they were 5 years ago.

IS the current administration fueling the fears of the gun owning public sure they are and it is affecting the ammunition market. My point is that ammo was drying up long before Obama threw his hat in the ring. I have been waiting on a Mil-Spec Springfield Armory .45 for almost 18 months so you can't blame that on Obama.

 

Well, no kidding - military grade ammo is probably a bit harder to come by during times of war. Hunting Ammo - like the Winchester .308 that I buy - is solely for hunting. And of course, 9mm ammo which is widely used etc has a much larger market and with all this Obama-Fear, its being bought up. Pre-Obama, you could get your hands on any type of ammo pretty easily. Now, the shelves are empty and places are out of stock.

 

as per surplus military ammo, if you guys go to that post I made earlier "Where has all the ammo gone"... and click on the Bullets, Brass, Ammo, News and scroll down to the appropriate spot you will find that the surplus ammo/brass has been released for sale for the last four weeks. It was temporarily stopped, but due to the Democratic Congressmen/Senators from states which are pro-gun (Montana, ect) that has been reversed.

Military surplus brass is once again flowing into the open market. The advent of the Obama administration had nothing to do with this, or the shortage of ammuntion you are experiencing. It is the "fear" of what may or may not happen which is driving this. That "fear", coupled with those who wish to profit off of the "fear" by overbuying so they can sell later at inflated prices are the driving forces here.

http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=4629

Don't bitch about something Obama hasn't done yet, complain about the "fear" and the profiteering to which it is coupled.

 

BTW, there are 65 pro-gun Democrats in the House, and they will vote with pro-gun Republicans on any anti-Second ammendment proposals from the administration, anything from there is DOA; this doesn't count the ten pro-gun Senators, among whom are both Senators from Montana. Baucus and Testor.

The Administration only proposes, the Congress disposes. The Second Amendment remains in good hands.

 

Our governor(Edward Rendell) is demanding a ban on assault rifles.

 

And Montana's Democratic Governor, just signed a bill today which exempts weapons manufactured in Montana from Federal regulations. Of course at this moment Montana only produces a couple of specialty rifle brands, and one handgun. However, it is hoped by those who formed the bill Schweitzer signed today that it will be challenged by some group, and taken to the Supreme Court.

This is in the hope that the definition of the 10th Ammendment of the Constitution can be more clearly defined, i.e.; "that the those powers that are not specifically given to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution belong to the states."

 

I tried posting these up earlier and I don't know what happened. They are a pretty good cross section dating back to 2006. Give them a read, if anything else it will show what I base my opinion on.

The Ready Line: Florida Ammunition Shortage The Tip Of The Iceberg

Ammunition Shortage Feared by Gun Owners in Obama Presidency - Associated Content

from 2006:

7.62 x 39mm Ammunition Shortage, page 1

Ammunition shortage?

From 2007:
Confederate Yankee: Misfire: AP's Bogus Ammo Shortage Story

Surviving the ammo shortage

More recent:

Ammo shortage continues nationwide | CITIZEN-TIMES.com | Asheville Citizen-Times

These are what I based my opinions on. It seems like for every article written that blames the ammo shortage on Obama there is another that cites the war on terror.

My best guess is it is due to both.

 

I thought he said it was the 'raw materials' which are in shorter supply which does make sense, if the military are burning ammo like it is the 5th November/4th July (depending on who's army) then maybe the resources required to manufacture the stuff is in shorter supply. This would also make sense in the context if a shortage dating back a couple of years.

Ah well, I'm just jealous because when the zombie war comes (yeah, forget your vampires and werewolves, it's the zombies you have to worry about) I've got to get all the way to my barracks before I'll have anything worth defending myself with!

 

Yeah, RIGHT!

The same attitude of, "relax, nothing's going to happen" was prevalent when Clinton slipped through his "Assault Rifle ban". The economics of firearms was roughly the same then, too. Large capacity magazines were the issue then, and they went through the roof price-wise.

I personally do not feel confident that BO won't twist the Constitution inside out to get his pet gun bans through Congress. If you really want to see some politician sleaze, watch what happens when all those "pro-gun" Congressmen and Senators get offered a chance to slip their favorite pork through the Whitehouse signature process, if only they'll support this one little gun control bill that won't affect but a handful of people.

Yeah, RIGHT!

 

I am starting to get sick of these certain gun bans all the time **** it when will they remember every american has the right to bear arms and yet they are always trying this still trying to ban guns

 

From personal experience in the matter, I find it rather hard to believe that virtually overnight, ammunition becomes a problem because of the war on terror (which has been going on for ~10 years). The real cause behind the shortage of ammo - military, hunting, whatever ammo - is peoples fear of the Obama administration and his stance on gun-laws. Prior to the election, getting my hands on Ammo was not a problem. I could have easily bought a case (10 boxes) of Ammo at Bass Pro Shop, or a few boxes at the shooting range. Now, post-Obama-Election, I haven't seen the type of ammo I buy on shelves in over 4 months and had to settle for a different kind - grain and tip - in order to have any to shoot down the range.

So, based on what I experianced, placed on a timeline, the Obama-Administration is what is causing the ammo shortage. Think about it this way too - they're pulling troops out of Iraq etc, so why would that strain the ammo supply even more? Especially since over the last year they've gradually been handing things over to the Iraqi's?

 

Hi Jeff, in helping you keep it on track, I went to a Wally-World yesterday evening and they seemed to be a bit scant on boxes of ammo but still had a nice stock. They also had a sign out-which I tought was BS-that said due to severe ammo shortages-they wer limiting purchases to two boxes per customer. I was going to buy two boxes of Winchester 9mm Luger when the guy told me i'd have to show my DL and give proof of my current Addy. I told him BS-and that I don't need to show ID and proof of residency in order to buy cartridges. He said that was story policy which went into effect as of the beginning of this month. I said, "we'll" see how long that policy lasts when I find a Lawyer to sue you.

I called them up this morning to speak with the main manager-and inquired about their policy and he said the policy was no longer effective at his store. Gee I wonder why? :-D

 

You reminded me of the oddest thing that ever happened to me in MT., I went into a really SMALL gas station (Lothair MT, population 6 people) to buy a carton of .22 LR. This was in 1974, Nixon/Ford years, and the guy told me I would have to do exactly what you described!

I looked at Jake (I had known him for all my life) and asked; "whazzup?". He informed me that under the new laws, any purchase of any ammo, of any caliber over the normal size (single box), had to be documented with said IDs. I stood there and argued with him for a couple of minutes, and then asked if the same were true if I bought a single box of 50. He said no, that isn't a problem, no ID, nothing.

I asked how many times could I buy a single box of 50 in a day, and he said; "there are no guides for that." So, instead of buying a carton of 500, I bought ten boxes of 50. One at a time, made him ring up each purchase, took receipts for each purchase, and then asked him what he was going to do with the empty carton? Jake said he would just throw it away, so I gave him a dime for the carton and put everything back in the thing.

He and I both laughted our asses off, but the next time I went in there I didn't have to buy it that way. The next year that "law" on ammunition purchases was toast.

 

I think the fear and uncertainty that surrounds the current administration has a lot to do with the shortages. I have noticed a price increase and availabilty issues since 2005 for 5.56MM, 9MM, .45 .308 and 30-06. So, I don't think it is fair to blame the whole mess on Obama. I think there are a lot of factors that were in play prior to him running for office. His being elected was the straw that broke the camel's back and caused the issue to reach it's peak. I think we would be having this same discussion no matter who was in office.

As far as the Military effect on the ammo shortage there is a lot of brass that isn't being put back into the system. Without that brass there can be no bullets. Military brass is melted down and recycled to make all calibers, it is rarely re-loaded and re-sold.

Now with the troop withdrawl and turnover there is still going to be an issue with 7.62x39 and 7.62x54, because if beligerants aren't shooting American weapons then they are using those two calibers or .308.

It is still a supply and demand equation. There is more demand than there is supply.

You have to have faith in the system.

Brad

 

Hi Clint, great story. Heh heh, before I came into it in your post, I was thinking if you would have done it the same way I would have-you did. ) One thing I found out about the law over the years-is if it isn't exact in detail, there are always a way around the law.

Case-in-point, I bought two spring-loaded knives from a guy several years ago. I don't remember exact details but basically a person couldn't buy one because they were/are illegal to buy-IF it was sold as a spring-loaded knife. However, since he sold them to me as antiques-he and I were and are not breaking any laws. The samething happened to me at a gunshow about 8-10 or so years ago. Only this time it dealt with Bayonets.

There was and I guess still is-somekind of ban on Spiked Bayonets. SO, the dealers got around the ban by not selling them as such but selling them as Tent Stakes. I only bought one "Tent Stake" that day which is one that goes on an SKS Rifle. I still have it in my small Bayo collection.

 

I have everything I need issued to me, so I haven't noticed a problem. What I have noticed is that the gunshow vendors are having a heyday and business is booming there.