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Where has all the ammo gone?

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\”Are YOU Ready?\”

I’m sure you’ve experienced it: you’ve gone to your local ammo-obtaining locale, thinking you’ll pick up a box or two of .22 ammo to plink with, maybe some 9mms to train with. Your thoughts are swimming with the joy that will be coming of spending the day at the range, hopefully with your kids, having quality time together and getting some valuable practice in. Then, your thoughts are quickly sobered when you round the corner and are greeted with this:

No ammo. There may even be a couple other gun people there with similar destroyed days, shaking their heads in exasperation. looks are quickly exchanged, all with the same defeated, “WTF?!?” expression. Someone else got there first. And got it all.

I sometimes feel like Steve McQueen at the end of “The Sand Pebbles” (GREAT movie, BTW), screaming, “What the hell happened?”

If you’re just starting to get into firearms, and beginning the phases of incorporating a firearm and ammunition into your plans to prep, you’ve unfortunately, because of sheer circumstance, started at a damn bad time. Since Adam Lanza decided to gun down children in Sandy Hook Elementary on December 14, 2012, gun owners have been in a generalized panic, grabbing everything they can to have in fear of a massive repercussion down the road. Gun parts, high-capacity magazines, and especially ammunition have been snapped up at a jaw-dropping rate, and it’s starting to really hurt the rank-and-file who just want to go to the sandpit and plink a little. When you CAN find ammunition, the prices have gone up, and you get the feeling that you’re going to have to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the guy who got there seconds after you, and wanted what YOU got. A box of 50 .22LR cartridges has gone from approximately $3.00 to $5-7.00, IF you can find it. A 500-round “brick” of .22LR ammo, once around $20, now will be upwards of $50, no problem. .223/5.56 ball ammo has gone from 20 cents a round to almost a $1.00 every time you pull the trigger. And STILL ammo is almost impossible to find.

What is being done?

“Well, why can’t the ammunition manufacturers just make more ammo?” you may wonder? They are. Ammunition is being produced in record amounts to keep up with demand. Most major manufacturers are running three shifts, 24/7, in the major calibers, and buying more equipment and opening up new producing locations, even (Winchester/Olin just opened up a new 500,000 square foot facility in Mississippi, dedicated solely to producing ammunition.). That’s BILLIONS or rounds of ammo a month. Even “uncommon” calibers are going, going, gone! So, trying to feed your M96 Mauser in 6.5x55mm will be tougher and tougher. But where is it all going?

I’ve heard all kinds of stories: my favorite is the government is buying it all and dumping it in the ocean, just to keep it out of civilian hands. Yes, the DHS bought billions of rounds of ammo for “training” purposes, but ammunition manufacturers report that federal contracts are just a fraction of their total output, even with active military engagements around the globe. Almost all the ammo they are producing is going to feed the civilian market feeding frenzy. Yet, ammunition rationing is in place, and forget trying to find .223/5.56, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .22LR in regular quantities.

What can we do?

From the articles I’ve seen, ammunition companies expect to be back on track with demand! That’s the good news! The bad news is that the time frame is 18 months to TWO years! That’s pending political situations, of course. If your senators and congressmen decide to fold at the knees and not protect your rights, then you can forget firearms in your future plans. (go to http://www.ruger.com/micros/advocacy/takeAction.html to help combat this, by the way…we ALL will appreciate it!) But I digress.

So, if you’re expecting to start a stockpile for your SHTF bug-in location, expect hard times ahead. It sucks, but there it is. Ammo will continue to be scarce, and credit card companies will continue to rake in the profits. But there are things we, as preppers, can do to help stem the tide a bit.

-Don’t feed the frenzy. There’s nothing wrong with shooting, practicing, and training. But when you get your ammo to do so, leave some for the next guy. Ammo rationing may be in place, but don’t fill your quota, and don’t bring your wife, parents, and uncle’s-neighbor’s-in-law’s-twice-removed-cousin Phil with you just so you can get MORE. It’s unscrupulous and it hurts the guy behind you in line who just wants to take his kid to the sandpit for the day, or out bird hunting. Yeah, you won’t quell the wild eyed monster inside you that’s screaming “MORE AMMO!! The government is gonna take it away!”, but you will help out your fellow man and get a warm fuzzy feeling. If you need to buy bulk, do it online, where it’s obtainable (generally) if you keep your eyes open (Lucky Gunner, one of our advertisers, usually has lots of ammo, FYI). Don’t rape your local shop.

-Don’t shoot as much. This one hurts to say. But, instead of blowing the WHOLE box of ammo at the range, save half and practice dry-firing and drills at home. My local training facility can’t get 9mm, their bread a butter caliber, so they are emphasizing repetition with dry-firing at their classes. And you know what? It works.  I’ve been shooting half/saving half for a while now in calibers I don’t reload for, and the stockpile is going up still. Funny how that works.

-Learn to reload. This is a prepper MUST anyway. Hand-loading your own ammo is a huge satisfaction, a price savings, and it helps you tailor loads to your gun. Granted, a big reason ammo companies are having a hard time is basic component obtainment: They need brass, primers, powder and bullets like we do too. But to be honest, I haven’t had a terribly hard time finding any of those things. I go to the local sandpit and gun ranges to scrounge empty cases. Yes, I may not be able to get the exact powder I like, or the make of primers I developed a load for, but substitutes work just fine. Bullets may be hard to find, but if you keep your eyes open, they are out there. You just end up paying a tad more due to demand, but it’s still remarkably less expensive than buying loaded ammo. Plus you’re not dealing with the crazy ammo hoarders, just the crazy primer hoarders. And those are fewer in number, thank God.

-Get active. Without our support and urging, our government will fold to political pressure, and slowly but surely erode our rights as gun owners. Take 30 seconds a week and fill out the link I provided above, and once a month (or much more often!), send a personalized form letter to your reps and senators, even the president. It’s pretty easy, they even made a list at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml . Let them know this is important to you, and that their necks are on the line. Volume speaks, people, and the more people that let Mr. or Ms. Representative know that they won’t get a vote in November if they capitulate, the more chance we will have to protect ourselves in the future without breaking laws. They don’t want to lose the jobs they suck at, and we don’t want to lose our rights. It’s a symbiotic thing.

What else do you do to help yourself prep with the shortages we have?

Stay safe!

-TRW


Source: http://www.shtfblog.com/where-has-all-the-ammo-gone/


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