9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I had decided to pick up 1,000 rounds of 9mm ball ammo today. I needed non-berdan primed brass case so I could reload. In the past I've purchased "Independence" ammo at Sportsman's Warehouse for $7.99/50. Today they are completely out of stock and haven't been able to get more. The cheapest 9mm FMJ ammo they had was 115 gr. for $12/50. So I decided to check with my favorite local gun store (they sell a lot by the case). Nadda. In fact, they said that they have been out for a while, and they have no idea when they will get more. This is the LARGEST VOLUME gun dealer in the state of Colorado -- if it can be found, they can get it.

So, Wally World it is. I'm heading out tonight to check a couple different stores for Winchester white box 100 ct. They had these for $16/box recently. I'm inclined to buy every box I can find at the various Wal-Marts in my area.

Just a heads up for everyone.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I pick up a 100 box of either .40 S&W, 9mm, or .45 ACP every time I go to Wally-World - sometimes two. And a 15 rd box of 12 ga. 00 buck while I'm at it....

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Well... my wife begged me to stay home tonight, so I'll go shopping in the morning. I noticed that the same box of Winchester ammo is now $21 on www.cheaperthandirt.com. I'm wondering if the stuff at most Wal*Marts is old stock. If so, then their prices may jump significantly when they order another shipment. I'm highly inlined to take a wad of Benjamins and buy every single box of Winchester 100 ct. I can find for $16/box at all of the local Wal-Marts.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

100 round winchester is still 15.77 here BUT the .45acp blazer brass that was 11.88 for 50 rounds is now a whopping 14.88 per box. 3 bucks in 3 weeks. Same thing for the rest of the blazer brass product line.

These prices will probably be cheap in 12 months :banghead:

FYI plenty of 9mm all around my area.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I've got this eerie feeling that now is the time to load up on reloadable ammunition. This is really confirming it for me. Anyone else have a regional report?

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Almost every ammo manufacturer gave us a nice 10-20% price increase for New Years. Always a little disruption when that happens.

FYI the Sportsmans here (AZ) never has deep stock of ammo. In fact you never know from week to week what they will have.

SLV, when in doubt, stock up on primers. Everything else you could make/scrounge if you really had to. No way I could manufacture primers.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

7.62X39 is almost impossible to come by in Socal I haven't seen 7.62x51 in 6 months. I buy online to get it now.

HUB

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

This sounds like a great opportunity for a reloaded to become very happy with his sale price?

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I mainly shoot .45 ACP, and in 4 months 50 round boxes of federal american eagle have gone from $12.99 to $18.99- a 140% annualized increase- too bad .45ACP of any sort is almost totaly unavailable here at any price now- I say "almost" since I can still find MagTech 50 round boxes for $22per box. :thumpdown

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

If you're buying boxer primed ammunition to reload that's great. But just as ammo is getting more expensive and difficult to acquire so are primers and powder. It may be wise to purchase a box of 1000 small pistol primers and a pound of Bullseye or Power Pistol when at the gun shop in order to start layin' in what you need to reload. Oh yeah, let's not forget lead either. Many of the local tire shops where we've gotten wheel weights for free want $$$ as they realize that stuff isn't trash anymore. A couple years ago they were happy to see our group of friends come in and take that heavy garbage away.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Wow ....when see this many people talking .I feel something is amiss.

I am deep respecter of the gun buffs on this forum.



Gotta try to be at the ready.



T

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I visited two local tire shops yesterday. One had about 10 gallons of weights, but they are working on their race car and they wanted to keep it in case they needed to cast balast for it. The other had just been cleaned out. They told me that there are about 3-4 guys who come around and buy it from them. They get $25/5 gallons. I think that is a fair price, but I miss the days when it was free. Today I'm stopping by a big-rig tire service near the interstate. Someone who used to work there said that they are over-flowing with large weights. I'd feel good if I could lay aside about 500 pounds of lead.

I'm also going to go by Sportsman's and pick up the rest of their CCI pistol primers. I'd like to lay aside about 10,000 (I have about 1,000 on hand right now). I'll also pick up some Accurate #7. My calculations show that I can load just over 900 rounds with one pound.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Gonna start casting bullets? Pretty easy to do, easy to get good results from wheelweights.

But... Got any molds? Handles? They are not available in any abundance at any retailer I've ever seen. There are a few sources by mail/net. Lee molds are a very good value since they come with handles.

You will need a lubricating/sizing machine and a specific diameter punch and die for each bullet diameter you plan to use. Usually .001 larger than the nominal barrel diameter for your cartridge. IE .38/.357 takes a .358; .308 takes .309. etc.

Pretty easy to melt lead on a campstove, but something like a 5gal propane fired burner is better. You definitely want good ventilation, and eye protection. Also, you'll see that the dinky melting pots are a very slow go. I use a cast iron dutch oven pot, the kind without legs. It was $15 at Wallys about 10yrs ago and had a glass lid so I hardly used it. Now it melts lead in big quantities.


Probably don't need to be told this, but NEVER remove primers from their original containers. A couple years ago, a guy at a pawnshop was showing me a bunch of reloading components and picked up a jar of primers that this yehoo had stored 200+ primers in, loose. The guy shook the damn jar! Amazing he didn't blow us up!

Primers will store forever, powder for 15years easily. Just keep them dry; cool temps are an aid to smokeless powders.

Probably also know this, but not much reason to buy anything but carbide sizing die sets for doing pistol ctgs. Much faster since no need to lube cases, and the first time you stick a case you'll wish you'd bought carbide.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

dont know if you have tried wheel weight before but they are an alloy and you will have trouble with many moulds getting it to pour corectly you can still get them to work by mixing in pure led.

also at least for my replica revolvers i need the softer pure lead to corectly load.and most i have read recomends just pure lead for this reason.

i have used harder lead in other application where hardness was not an issue.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I think wheel weights contain higher amounts of antimony to give them more strength, this is not a big deal, and you can just "dilute" it by adding more lead as you say. You can skim a lot of impurities off the top of the lead also to clean it up when molten.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Stopped at my local Waldo-Mart on the way home tonight.

They were fully stocked on just about anything you could think of, from BBs to 22LR to 357 Magnum and everything in between. Shells too.

In fact, they had a bunch of Winchester stuff on Red Tag Clearance, marked down by $3 or $4 a box.

So, whatever you think of Waldo-Mart, check 'em out anyway. If you need it, they've probably got it, cheap.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Yeah, well my wallyworld had everything marked up. It was a sad day for me. Glad I'm well ahead of the game. I remember when Blaser Brass 45 ACP was 8.99 just last fall(I think). Now it's 14.88??

SB

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I'm sorry you are having this difficulty....I would say that this is only through a complete lack of effort.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Did you check ammoman.com? Very cheap plus free shipping.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Now that's some good advice!

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

I spent all of yesterday prepping my ammo supplies. I started out at my nearest Wal-Mart where I was able to buy the last 12 boxes of Winchseter 100 ct. for $15.74 each. Midways USA sells the Winchester brass alone for $16/100! I also picked up three boxes of Federal .22LR 550 ct. for @ $12.00 each. Later when I was at Sportsman's Warehouse I saw Federal .22LR 525 ct. (25 fewer) for $17.00!!! In fact, there were new tags on all of their ammunition cover up the old prices. The guys in the gun department said that it is getting much hard to keep ammo on the shelf -- they just can't get enough. The department manager at Wal*Mart pointed to a large box of Wichester 12 gauge and said, "You see that box? Just last week that box was $16." It had a price tag of $22.84.

At Sportsman's I picked up two pounds of Accurate #7 and 2,000 CCI small pistol primers. Then I went searching for lead wheel weights.

EVERY single tire shop I stopped at had been cleaned out within the last couple days. They told me that they usually sell a 5-gallon bucket (@125-150 pounds) for $25-$30. I figured I'd be willing to pay the same... if I could only find some. Finally I stopped by a local salvage yard and found 2 full buckets (270 pounds total). I had to give $40/bucket, but $0.30/pound is a lot better than buying casting lead.

BTW... when you melt wheel weights you DON'T want to skim off the tin and antimony. The alloy will make better bullets. Just cut a little parafin wax into the mix and ignite it with a flame. This will flux the tin and antimony back in with the lead. Do this several times and only black ash will rise to the surface. Skim this off and you are ready to cast.

The BONUS was that while I was at the salvage yard I stumbled upon 5 gallons of range brass. It was a bit of a gamble, but I gave $90 for it ($2/pound) hoping that:

1. It would be usable brass
2. It would have sufficient quantities of 9mm and .30-06
3. I would be able to sell the rest for $90 or more.

My thinking was that I might be able to sort it out, keep the brass I can use and sell the rest to cover my cost. Well, it took about 5 hours last night to sort it. I learned that .45 ACP, .40 S&W, and 9mm, play together like babushka dolls.

I'm still not sure how I will come out of this. Most of the pistol brass is usable. By far the bulk of rifle brass are poodle cases in poor shape. I did pull out about 20 or 30 .30-06 that weren't cracked/crushed and about 600+ usable 9mm.

Last night I dumped out the lead on the patio to pick out the garbage and wash out the dirt. This morning my lead is frozen into two large masses. I might have to break out the propane ditch burner to remedy the situation.

I haven't found ANY online source with the Winchester 100 ct. for less than $20. I think that once the currest stock at Wal*Mart(s) is depleted they will significantly increase the price on the new stock. JMHO.

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Just and FYI, I stopped in to Wally World the other night during a snow storm which made the sports section a little slow. I ended up hanging around chatting with the department manager for quite some time and told him I was interested in purchasing some bulk ammo. He quickly offered to knock 10% off a bulk purchase (he thought about how many that would be for a few seconds so I guess it's a "discretionary" number). I landed a 1000 rounds of 9mm for $140 OTD. I was passing through so I asked if other Wal-Marts would accomidate and he told me to just call ahead and it shouldn't be a problem. I've already spoken with my local wally world here and they offered the same thing so it shouldn't be a huge issue elsewhere. Good luck!

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

Bulk purchases will always get you a discount...... and if you let them now in advance they will be extra happy as they wont have to stock a shelf that will be empty in no time....

get as much as you can....... ammo pricess will be 15-40% higher by this time next year

Hyperinfaltion ..is just starting up....



T

Re: 9mm ammunition in short supply
 

At Wal-Mart yesterday I found that the 9mm ammo (Winchester, 100) has gone up $1. I paid $14.72, and yesterday the price was $15.72. The Federal 550 pack was still $11.97, so I picked up another box. I've decided to pick up a box each week when we get groceries.

Thanks for the tip on the 10% bulk purchase discount! I'll have to give that some thought... maybe pick up 10 boxes of .30-06.