Stop the damn panic ammo buying people!

[WillametteWill]

We have been in OR, AZ, UT, ID over the past few weeks. Low in most places but wife said Northern ID was not too bad as for guns and ammo. Guns at Sportsman's seem to be about a 1/3 or less of normal and many handgun ammos shelves are bare or very low.

The big thing I noticed in Salem this week is reloading components are getting very low (surprised they stayed up as long as they did). Only a few tins of power (tins...quick, look at the old guy, ) and a few thousand primers.
Online through my normal vendor, practice ammo in main calibers is wiped out and when something appears it is gone quickly. Not a surprise. When it is there about $15 for 9mm compared to about $8 for the same brand 6 months ago. Saw some Winchester 223 for $340 / 1,000, gone quickly at $6.80 a box. In AZ you could not find 9mm at all. Bought some at the range in UT for $15 while renting their guns, no complaints in this season but limit 4 boxes.

Have a friend who works part time in a CA gun store. Asked him about their stock...they had one, 5-shot .38. Nothing else left.

 

[Hueco]

Yep. Recently purchased a .357 and went to get ammo. Sportsman's off 185th had 4 boxes total of self-defense .357 and the local gun store near there had 2 boxes of 38. The worker at Sportsman's said that ammo deliveries are fairly random right now and gone within two or three days (max) of them stocking the shelves. :-(

 

[STacoS]

Big 5 has had exactly what I've needed the past couple trips.

 

[GWS]

Yep I'm running around. Trying to find 5.7x28
And paying for getting into that caliber at this point in time.
I saw the prices jump $5-$7 per box of 50 in a week.

 

[Certaindeaf]

We have been in OR, AZ, UT, ID over the past few weeks. Low in most places but wife said Northern ID was not too bad as for guns and ammo. Guns at Sportsman's seem to be about a 1/3 or less of normal and many handgun ammos shelves are bare or very low.

The big thing I noticed in Salem this week is reloading components are getting very low (surprised they stayed up as long as they did). Only a few tins of power (tins...quick, look at the old guy, ) and a few thousand primers.
Online through my normal vendor, practice ammo in main calibers is wiped out and when something appears it is gone quickly. Not a surprise. When it is there about $15 for 9mm compared to about $8 for the same brand 6 months ago. Saw some Winchester 223 for $340 / 1,000, gone quickly at $6.80 a box. In AZ you could not find 9mm at all. Bought some at the range in UT for $15 while renting their guns, no complaints in this season but limit 4 boxes.

Have a friend who works part time in a CA gun store. Asked him about their stock...they had one, 5-shot .38. Nothing else left.

I think NW Armory always has plinking ammo for a fair price.. with 100 rnd limit though which is understandable.

 

[Joe13]

Sure about that?

Man shot in the face with load of bird shot in Dover
Man Convicted Of Shooting Police Officer In Head With Birdshot
Don't Use Bird Shot for Self Defense
Albany man shot in head with birdshot
Seal survives 23 birdshot pellets to head in Northwest waters
Report: Man shoots adult son with birdshot from shotgun in Jacksonville

https://imgur.com/a/nYIHM

The headlines would read different at my place.

Im certainly not going to argue bird shot is the best load for defense.

I couldn't find any specific information on how far away the people in your linked articles were from the shooter but it's been my understanding that shot tends to average a spread of 1" per yard traveled which would indicate to me that you'd be pretty unhappy with a face full of pellets at closer (house sized) ranges.

There was a guy pictured that was shot in the back and the spread looked like it was a good 18" across his back. Lighter pellets will loose velocity much faster then heavier ones and 18 yards is quite a bit further then I can shoot in my house (YMMV).

At 7 yards (assuming your particular shotgun patterns about 1" per yard) your entire face will have pellets in it, including your eyes.

Keeping in mind you shoot to stop the threat and not necessarily to kill the threat, that seems like a very good fight stopper imo.

Another article said this:

"ALBANY — A 22-year-old man is hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back of the head late Sunday with bird shot."

Again no mention of how far away but even pointblank I'll concede there is a slim chance of penetrating a skull, but you probably aren't shooting someone in the back of the head f you are going to argue you thought your life was in danger (obviously there could be a case where you're shooting them in the back to save someone they are going after but in a HD situation I think that's an exception and not a rule).


Mostly my point was that something in the gun is better then nothing at all especially if You're not loading the gun because your preferred Ammo is not available to you anywhere.

I do not use bird shot in my HD guns.

I always advocate you pattern any shotgun before use to have a better understanding of what the spread is going to be at different distances.

 

[wired]

Sure about that?

Man shot in the face with load of bird shot in Dover
Man Convicted Of Shooting Police Officer In Head With Birdshot
Don't Use Bird Shot for Self Defense
Albany man shot in head with birdshot
Seal survives 23 birdshot pellets to head in Northwest waters
Report: Man shoots adult son with birdshot from shotgun in Jacksonville

https://imgur.com/a/nYIHM

The headlines would read different at my place.

The guy would still stop what he was doing. He just wouldnt be dead.

 

[arakboss]

Stopped by Cabelas today. Handgun ammo was 99% cleaned out.

Powder shelf was 100% empty.

 

[titsonritz]

The guy would still stop what he was doing. He just wouldnt be dead.

Sure about that? Plenty of people have taken lots of lead and continued to do evil things.

 

[wired]

Sure about that? Plenty of people have taken lots of lead and continued to do evil things.

Looks like he got shot in the back and the pattern is wide enough that he had to be at least 30 yards away. Face it thats not an actual home defense shot. Probably a Dick Cheney hunting trip photo op. Good thing about people who get shot in the back is they often fall down and you can shoot them over and over again.

 

[titsonritz]

Im certainly not going to argue bird shot is the best load for defense.

I couldn't find any specific information on how far away the people in your linked articles were from the shooter but it's been my understanding that shot tends to average a spread of 1" per yard traveled which would indicate to me that you'd be pretty unhappy with a face full of pellets at closer (house sized) ranges.

There was a guy pictured that was shot in the back and the spread looked like it was a good 18" across his back. Lighter pellets will loose velocity much faster then heavier ones and 18 yards is quite a bit further then I can shoot in my house (YMMV).

At 7 yards (assuming your particular shotgun patterns about 1" per yard) your entire face will have pellets in it, including your eyes.

Keeping in mind you shoot to stop the threat and not necessarily to kill the threat, that seems like a very good fight stopper imo.

Another article said this:

"ALBANY — A 22-year-old man is hospitalized in stable condition after being shot in the back of the head late Sunday with bird shot."

Again no mention of how far away but even pointblank I'll concede there is a slim chance of penetrating a skull, but you probably aren't shooting someone in the back of the head f you are going to argue you thought your life was in danger (obviously there could be a case where you're shooting them in the back to save someone they are going after but in a HD situation I think that's an exception and not a rule).


Mostly my point was that something in the gun is better then nothing at all especially if You're not loading the gun because your preferred Ammo is not available to you anywhere.

I do not use bird shot in my HD guns.

I always advocate you pattern any shotgun before use to have a better understanding of what the spread is going to be at different distances.

It's not about pattern, it about penetration. I wear Oakleys every day getting shot in the face with birdshot is not going to blind me it's going to make me want to kill the MF that shot me in the face.

 

[titsonritz]

Looks like he got shot in the back and the pattern is wide enough that he had to be at least 30 yards away. Face it thats not an actual home defense shot. Probably a Dick Cheney hunting trip photo op. Good thing about people who get shot in the back is they often fall down and you can shoot them over and over again.

A few of the links I post were within the confines of a house.
Be as it may, that same guy would not be posing for a photo op had 00 buck been used.

 

[wired]

A few of the links I post were within the confines of a house.
Be as it may, that same gut would not be posing for a photo op had 00 buck been used.

I dont really buy the theory , and it is a theory albeit widely disseminated , that you HAVE TO KILL a person if you shoot them. I know its trope that gets repeated over and over but that doesnt mean its true. You have to stop them from whatever heinous stuff they are doing and for most if not all people a face or chest full of #4 birdshot is going to make then reevaluate their plans quickly. Theres always another shot or 7 if the first one doesnt do the trick. Stop doesnt mean kill. How many of those home defense pictures resulted in the person who was shot continuing on their merry way? At <10 yards a load of birdshot is basically a powdered slug.

 

[titsonritz]

Theres always another shot or 7 if the first one doesnt do the trick. Stop doesnt mean kill. How many of those home defense pictures resulted in the person who was shot continuing on their merry way? At <10 yards a load of birdshot is basically a powdered slug.

And if they continue to shoot after that first shot? It does me no good to "win" a gun fight is I die doing so. I shoot someone in the face with a 12ga I expect it to be done not wait around for round # next.

 

[Alexx1401]

Stopped by Cabelas today. Handgun ammo was 99% cleaned out.

Powder shelf was 100% empty.

View attachment 715142

How many times have those who shoot seen this in the last decade or two? Yet how many act like this is the first time in their life they have seen it?

 

[titsonritz]

How many times have those who shoot seen this in the last decade or two? Yet how many act like this is the first time in their life they have seen it?

Say it isn't so.

 

[wired]

I'd like to buy 2000-3000 rounds of subsonic 9mm but I can't. I dont want to stock it up in my basement. I want to shoot it. Thats a few months worth of shooting for me but I can't do it because people who dont shoot their ammo are piling it deep. Im not too happy about that.

 

[Alexx1401]

I'd like to buy 2000-3000 rounds of subsonic 9mm but I can't. I dont want to stock it up in my basement. I want to shoot it. Thats a few months worth of shooting for me but I can't do it because people who dont shoot their ammo are piling it deep. Im not too happy about that.

<shrug> This too shall pass. One group has been working 24/7 to go back to total lockdown. Given how easy it was the first time does not look like it will be hard again. The response here is TP is flying out the door yet again. Stores had to put limits on it again. It is amazing to watch.

 

[Certaindeaf]

When the store is out of buckshot instead of birdshot try some moot points.

 

[MaxwellEdison]

Yeah, I'm not sure why ANYONE is surprised at the current shortages. If y'all have been gun owners for more than a hot minute, you should already know the rule:

ALWAYS assume that any and all guns/ammo will disappear tomorrow, and not be available for a long, long time afterwards. And stock up accordingly when times are good...like they have been for the past several years.

Between the virus, the economy, and an upcoming election, if you don't already have what you want or need...then you're way behind the 8-ball.

And I don't anticipate the current situation will get better anytime soon. As the election draws closer and it looks more and more like the GOP may face a brutal reckoning (the unfortunate price of engaging in the Faustian Bargain known as Trump), gun owners are only going to panic more and more. I anticipate that by late November, there will be almost NOTHING gun-related in the stores. It will all be sold out.

Thankfully I practice what I preach. I'm good. I'll just sit on the sidelines for the next several months and watch people panic and complain because they can't find a single box of ammo anywhere. I might even slightly lighten my own collection of guns and ammo if prices get stupid-high.