223/556 Ammo Shortage. Can You Buy Ammo Where You Live?

[taliv]

i'm kinda surprised 22lr is so easy to come by these days. pretty much the opposite of last banic.

i'm in pretty good shape, but i'd like a LOT more of course.

about the only problem i have is while I have a ridiculous amount of 9mm components, it was all bought for pistols and is 115g blasting ammo or expensive factory SD ammo (mostly hornady critical duty). but... i recently fell in love with a suppressed 9mm cz scorpion and now i need 147g, which i bought 12000 of today lol but still.


i found a local store that had a bunch of cool 7.62x39 guns. a super cool bren from cz and galil pistols, and a couple AKs, but since they're rounds i've never shot and i figured i had little chance of finding cheap russian surplus ammo in stock anywhere, i passed

[militarymoron]

I always thought that a 'stockpile' or 'stash' amount should be enough to support training/plinking/range trips for a while before it reaches uncomfortably low 'reserve' levels. Just out of curiosity, and hypothetically if ammo supplies dried up, what would be the bare minimum amount of ammo you would keep, and not dip into for anything other than an emergency? That answer is going to be different for everyone, I'm guessing. I'd feel very uncomfortable if I had less than 5k each of .223 and 9mm to last through the apocalypse. That's a pretty low number by many standards.

[taliv]

I always thought that a 'stockpile' or 'stash' amount should be enough to support training/plinking/range trips for a while before it reaches uncomfortably low 'reserve' levels. Just out of curiosity, and hypothetically if ammo supplies dried up, what would be the bare minimum amount of ammo you would keep, and not dip into for anything other than an emergency? That answer is going to be different for everyone, I'm guessing. I'd feel very uncomfortable if I had less than 5k each of .223 and 9mm to last through the apocalypse. That's a pretty low number by many standards.

when it comes to bare minimum for emergencies only, i'd say about 1000. that's 10 mags of 30 in each of 3 different locations. plus a few to check zero

maybe more, if you're the sort who is going to pass out ammo to every neighbor and relative who show up when the shooting starts asking to borrow a gun

seems like a stack of 5k in one spot might be good for barter if we go cashless, but it seems highly unlikely you could shoot that many in an apocalypse unless no one is shooting back.

[VIP3R 237]

Locally i can’t find .22lr, 9mm is available but nothing under $10 a box. 5.56 is hard to find but .223 is plentiful.

[Glenn54]

I found 300 rounds of 556 brass for $170.09 about a week ago. Local FFL.

[Alpha-17]

Ammo is available if scarce. Best places locally to buy are not the big box stores, but small local shops, who still have it in spades.

[ST911]

There's a difference between not being able to find ammo, and not being able to find the ammo you want and/or at the price you want. If you're out or nearly so, there are options online and scattered in local retailers to maintain some subsistence. I just checked several online vendors and found various quantities of several popular calibers. There is no excuse to have nothing.

[3ACR_Scout]

Ammo was incredibly cheap and plentiful for all of 2018 and 2019.

Who needs ammo now and why?

The Army has moved us four times in the last four years - TX to VA to PA to MI. It's no fun moving thousands of rounds of ammo cross country, since the movers can't ship it. I've had to limit myself to a few thousand rounds each of 5.56 and 9mm, plus a few other calibers. I've been trying to maintain an adequate stock of HD ammo while buying enough for a year of range use each time I've moved. This past spring, I was looking at ammo prices going up and wanted to order more, but with the impending move, I had hoped that prices wouldn't get too crazy before June. Unfortunately, they've really spiked in the past two months, so I'm stuck with the likelihood of paying about 60% more than I would have back in March. I just ordered a case of 7.62x39, which is at least still around the $.30/round price range after tax and shipping.

[robbins290]

Ammo was incredibly cheap and plentiful for all of 2018 and 2019.

Who needs ammo now and why?

For some of us that shoot a couple thousand rounds a month. Does not take long to deplete the stock pile. I am close to half of what i had a year ago. and not knowing how long it will last.

[TonyAngel]

Until just recently, I’ve been doing well just hitting the Academy stores. I travel a radius of about 150 miles for work so I hit the stores when i can.

Until two weeks ago, I was getting brass 5.56/.223 for about .34 a round, steel monarch for .25 a round and brass 124gr 9mm for .19 a round.

It is dry now and their online prices are reflecting an increase.