Plenty of .40 S&W was left.

[mannyrock]

 
  At the gunshow in Harrisonburg, VA last weekend, absolutely all 9mm and .22 LR at the entire show was gone by noon.   When the show opened, UMC 9mm was selling for $30 a box.  By 11:30, it was being sold by the round, for $1.00 a round.  All of it went.
  The .22lr was being sold at around $85 to $100 a brick.  All of it went.  (I was soft-hearted, and sold my one Walmart Value pack of 550 rounds for just $50.)
  There was very little .45 acp available, and of course all of that went in short order as well.
   People arriving after lunch were absolutely stunned to find that there was not a single box of ammo for sale in 9mm, .45 or .22 at the entire show.    You should have seen the looks on their faces.
  Yet, at the end of the day, and indeed at the end of the show on Sunday, there was still lots and lots of .40 S&W ammo available.  Cases and cases of it.  Also boxes of .38 P+, at $30 per box. 
  Kinda makes you stop and think.
  Regards,
  Mannyrock
 
 
 
 

[JonnyReb]

   .22 ammo is 3 times its previous market price by the selling prices you saw, that stuff has appreciated faster than gold over the last few months. Wish I had a couple thousand spare rounds.. wonder why so much .40? Its right up there with .308 and .22lr so far as scarcity is concerned, locally that is. Its actually the one caliber i'd be willing to get scalped on a bit, if I could find any. Might actually brave the next gunshow ,watch the crowds and pick up a bit.  J

[spruce]

Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to most of it.  Some places guys are finding a fair amount of one thing or another and other places the same stuff is not to be had.   For the most part .22's seem to be universally scarce.
 
Stopped at a Gander Mountain today just to look thru their clearance racks of clothes (found a shirt) and while I was there I thought maybe I'd pick up a box of 16 gauge birdshot - thinking that shouldn't be scarce.
 
Well,,,, they had one (1) box of 16 ga #8 Federal game loads.  That was ALL the 16 ga ammo they had!!  Plenty of 12 ga, 20 ga, and .410 in both lead shot and steel.  Plenty of centerfire rifle ammo on the shelves (over priced of course),  some .17HMR, a few boxes of .22 shorts and .22 birdshot.  The .410 ammo was Remington in #4, #6, and #7 1/2 - and was priced at $21.95!
 
Needless to say, I left with just the shirt I found on sale.
 
Almost forgot.  They had a pretty fair amount of .40 cal and some .45 ACP.  9mm was down to a few 25 round boxes and the price on those was outrageous.

[JonnyReb]

 Spruce you made me think about my trip into Dicks sporting good yesterday, .410 was 29.00 a box I swear.
 Plenty of shotshells for turkey season.. they're ready for that. Joe Biden had a point. "Buy a shotgun".

 My 2 local walmarts are now virtually out of all shotshells save the new shipment of turkey rounds.

 I treasure a yardsale purchase I made years ago of perhaps 700 old paper shotshells. From buckshot to .410, there's a little bit of everything. Some are swollen and barely chamber, some appear brand new. They don't fire reliably, maybe get a dud every 10 shots, but darned if the smell of those old fired hulls don't bring back the memory of dozens of childhood hunting trips where you stop after the shot,,pick up the fired hull and give it a sniff before sliding it into a pocket. Yes I admit it, I sniff old shotshells.  J

[Old Fart]

I've given a couple federal bulk packs of 22lr to friends because of this stupid stuff.
Thier kids got guns for Christmas and couldn't find ammo for them.
 
The 40s&w is easier to find, but not like the last scare. A lot of guys bought 40's in anticipation of another scare and it's even selling out. A lot slower, but going just the same.

[jhm]

     There are probably more .22 cal. rifles, and handguns across this country than any Cal. meaning that the GENERAL public see something in the wind, not just your garden variety hunter, shooter, hobbiest.  Jim

[spruce]

jhm, I think you bring up a good point.
 
There are so many NEW gun owners this time around and also even the once a year deer hunters are stocking up.
I''ll bet there are a lot of guys who normally only shoot one or two shells a YEAR who now have a 300 year supply!

[dakotashooter2]

I don't think a lot of shops carry the backstock that they used to. I know of many places that  5 years ago probably could have gone a year without ordering under normal sales. Now most places have cut their inventories to have less money tied up and might not have more than a couple months supply before the HAVE to reorder. I think that is part of the reason for the current shortages.
I think the guys with one gun or caliber are also at the biggest disadvantage. I have .22, .38, .40, .45 and 9mm to work with. While I have ample supplies of all because I reload and cast, even if I didn't it increases the likelyhood that I would be able to find some ammo for at least one of them.
With the price they are getting for .22s I'm almost tempted to sell off my stash as I don't shoot .22 that much and can reload .38s for what .22s are going for. ALMOST....................

[KIMBER45]

Several boxes of .40 and .45 at my local Wal-mart. Nothing in 38, 9mm or .22 .

[guzzijohn]

Was it .40s that the DHS is suppose to be buying so much of? If so it would seem even more strange that .40 appears to be around when 9mm and others are not.
GuzziJohn

[yellowtail3]

....but darned if the smell of those old fired hulls don't bring back the memory of dozens of childhood hunting trips where you stop after the shot,,pick up the fired hull and give it a sniff before sliding it into a pocket. Yes I admit it, I sniff old shotshells.  J

So I'm NOT the only one who does that???

[KIMBER45]

....but darned if the smell of those old fired hulls don't bring back the memory of dozens of childhood hunting trips where you stop after the shot,,pick up the fired hull and give it a sniff before sliding it into a pocket. Yes I admit it, I sniff old shotshells.  J

So I'm NOT the only one who does that???

I wish they made a woman's perfume with that smell.

[JonnyReb]

 Lol. Good common ground .  And I suspect our numbers are many but dwindling

[tobster]

Of all things I seem to see quite a bit of .222 in my area. I have some paper hull shotgun shells that I thought might be worth more to collectors than to shoot. I might shoot a few just for the smell of it.

[Empty Quiver]

Around here I haven't had a lick of trouble keeping a .40 S&W fed. Same results in 2008 too. Sure, I might not find it every day, but with a bit of patience I kept mine fed.


I made the decision to hold onto a gun in each of many chamberings after the last ammo fiasco.

[Graybeard]

What is available at your local gun shop is apparently a very localized thing and just depends I guess on what is popular in that area.

Around here it is next to impossible to find 9mm, .40 S&W or .45acp on the shelves. The only rimfire ammo in stock is for the .17s and a little .22 magnum. I did find some .22 longs NOT LR at one shop but they wanted $14 for 50 rounds.

I've been doing a LOT of looking around on line to see what is the national status and it seems about like it is locally in my area. No one has 9mm, .40 S&W or .45acp ammo available to ship and the only rimfire ammo is the 17s plus match 22LR at anywhere from $10 to as much as $30 a box of 50. Rifle ammo seems to be in decent supply with few shortages of that other than .223 and .308.

[JonnyReb]

Of all things I seem to see quite a bit of .222 in my area. I have some paper hull shotgun shells that I thought might be worth more to collectors than to shoot. I might shoot a few just for the smell of it.

 Shoot it and sniff it, the memory is worth more than the little bit their worth. I took my whole paper shotshell array to the metrolina gunshow in Charlotte. I started at a buck a shell for pristine stuff and by the end of the show was askinga quarter a shell. Very few takers at any price. I decided to shoot it and haven't regretted that decision a bit. 

[Old Fart]