Jacketed Bullets - OUT OF STOCK

[alfsauve]

Uh, I'm starting to notice a trend.

My favorite handgun bullet place, Magnus, is out of stock on all their jacketed bullets.  Most of those I checked at MidwayUSA at also out of stock (.357 - 158gr).   

Is this a trend?   I've never had trouble before.

[billt]

If it's a company like Remington or Winchester who also make ammunition, they can shift production of their bullets from the retail handloading market to ammunition production if they should fall behind, or else have to up production to fill a recent contract. This can happen if a mega retailer like Wal-Mart places a very large order of ammunition. This happened with .223 components when the government secured massive contracts due to the Iraq and Afghan wars. With so much social instability in the world, it's wise to keep far more on hand than needed. These things have an unlimited shelf life if stored properly.  Bill T.

[alfsauve]

It's not just that Bill, but the reloading component companies seem to be short of stock.  Magnus Bullets, who doesn't make ammo, is almost totally out of jacketed bullets of any caliber.   The big retailers are in short supply of Speer, Nosler, Sierra, etc.   There's some out there,but  just seems like all of a sudden there some shortage of copper.

PLUG:  I like Magnus for most of my handgun stuff.  Southeastern company that takes advantage of USPS flat rate shipping.   70# for only ~$12 anyplace in the US  (ANYPLACE!......AK and HI too.)   They have plenty of lead just no copper.

Quandry:   I just stocked up on bullet boxes.   I now have boxes to hold 1,000 rounds of each handgun caliber.   But I'm a tad short of .357 JSP bullets.   hmmmm.   It's always something.   I might call Magnus tomorrow to see what's up.

[alfsauve]

Just for comparison.  Magnus .357 JSP 158 gr is $0.12/bullet WITH shipping. 

I might have to wait until they're back in stock.

[twyacht]

Prices are creeping back up again, I just checked 45 Colt on ammoengine.com and it's like gas prices,..

It trickles down to the reloaders, just like the primer craze last year.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

I was at Cabela's again this morning and they had plenty of everything. They were a little down on .30 caliber Sierra Bullets, but had plenty of brass, powder, and everything else. I picked up some MFS 9 MM FMJ ammo for $9.95 a box. That's just under $200.00 a thousand. Not too bad. As usual they had pallets full of .223. PMC .223 for $6.49 a box, or $324.50 a thousand.  Bill T.

[alfsauve]

Bill,  Yep, there's bullets out there.    There just seems that many of the on-line dealers and direct-from-manufacturer places have an inordinate number of their product marked "out-of-stock".    Magnus says, "Jacketed bullet production has extensive backorders."   Could it be that now that primer manufacturing is catching up with demand, that now the bullets are lagging behind?  OR is there some sinister copper shortage being effected by the administration?

Guess I'm the only one to notice.

Oh, and Cabela's?  They were going to build a store just up I-75 from me, but they couldn't get any special tax breaks from Pickens County so the plans have been on hold now for a couple of years.   Cabela's even did a press release on it, a little prematurely evidently.

[billt]

I don't think non ferrous metals are in any short supply, or prices would reflect that. Lead shot is still going for around $30.00 a bag. After the election when China was buying all the Copper, Lead, and Brass they could, lead shot was over $50.00 a bag, providing you could find it. Many firearms related companies are seeing supply catching up with demand, and in many ways surpassing it. For example there is a huge glut of AR-15 rifles on the market right now.

I like to use the Cabela's by me as a barometer for these kind of things because they are such a large national retailer. When Cabela's is out of something, you know it's getting hard to get. They have a tremendous amount of buying clout. Compared to a year ago they have plenty of everything. They even had a WASR 10 AK-47 on the rack there yesterday. I haven't seen that at Cabela's in over 2 years.

A lot of these bullet manufacturers are cutting back on overtime, and running on a normal work week. Many fear getting stuck with too much product the way the AR-15 rifle manufacturers did by running their production well beyond what was demanded.  I wouldn't panic just yet. If Hussein makes any type of announcement gun control wise, it will all start up again. I don't see that happening because he's losing democrats left and right because of this health care fiasco. Also, don't forget about the almost 80 democratic Congressmen who signed that letter after his inauguration stating if his intention was to cook up another AWB, they would not support it. Another thing to remember is it's warming up in the northern part of the country. A lot of people are heading for the range and shooting more than in the last few months. Things will catch up.   Bill T.

[crusader rabbit]

I haven't got into reloading, so I don't keep a close eye on the price of the various component parts.  But, I do buy from a nearby company that remanufactures ammo, and the guy who runs it will bend anyone's ear over shortages.  He seems to be fairly happy with life at the moment.

That said, I just picked up a nifty little Rossi .357 double action six-shooter in stainless, and I wanted to get some bang pills to feed it when I hit the range .  Local WalMart had just two boxes of .38 Spec JHP and no .357.   They seemed to be reasonably well-stocked on .223 and I also saw a good supply of .40 S&S and a couple boxes of .44 MAG.  9mm was overflowing.  .22 was in pretty good supply.  No .380,  but several boxes of .308.   They had plenty of shotgun shells in various configs.  Small amounts of several other calibers, but nothing I needed or wanted, so I didn't make any mental notes.   I'm going by another WallyWorld across town later today to check out their supply.  I do want to get some .357, just for the noise value.

Crusader

[billt]

The .380 shortage is based on 2 things. Just a few years back it was a relatively low demand cartridge that most ammunition makers didn't devote a lot of equipment to making. Then, with the explosive sales of the new Ruger LCP .380 pocket pistol, along with several others from Magnum Research and a host of others, ammo sales took off with more and more people carrying concealed. Add to it all of the panic surrounding Hussein's election, and supply is still well behind demand. I think the .380 will be the last caliber to catch up with overall demand. Stores like Cabela's that do have it in stock have it priced at twice what most 9 MM sells for. In spite of that it doesn't stay in stock very long.   Bill T.