A while a go I made a long post that I accidentally deleted prior to publishing. I’m not gonna try to repeat it word by word (to much work and besides, my memory is starting to go). Basically it was just an update on ammo availability locally and on the Internet and some chosen comments in that regard.

Self-defense ammo seems to be in plentiful supply, but who can afford to practice with ammo well over a dollar pr/bang for any length of time? Plinking ammo still suffers from the shortage, although things are getting better.

Local independent gun shops are starting to get some stuff in here in the north-east. I shoot .380 ACP, 9mm, 38. Special, .357 Magnum and .22 LR with 9mm eating up most of my ammo budget. Of these calibers the only one I absolutely haven’t been able to find is .22 LR which sucks, because it was pennies/shot. The local shops around my neck of the woods will mostly (but not all) take advantage of the shortage and fuck the customer. When (if?) the situation returns to normal I will return the favor by taking my business elsewhere. I will gladly drive 50 miles to do business with a nice guy than with the dickhead down the road,

You can pretty much get anything you want on the Internet now (unless you live in NYC, Chicago and parts of  Massachusetts and California if I’m not mistaken). The AR/AK crowd doesn’t seem to have anything to worry about at the moment besides Dianne Feinstein and possibly price. I don’t have a long gun so I’m not paying attention, but I see ads everywhere. Is $400 + shipping for 1,000 rounds of TulAmmo steel cased .223 reasonable? Online I’ve had good experience with Lucky Gunner. The best price for factory new 9mm ammo I’ve been able to find as of writing this post is Blazer Brass at $360/1,000 rounds (plus a somewhat hefty shipping fee) which is considerably down from the peak, but still about $160 more than pre 12-14-12. They also sell factory reloads at a slightly lower price.

I’ve also shopped a lot at Natchez Shooters Supplies and have received very good service, prices and shipping considering the panic.

The cheapest way to get ammo is still at Wal-Mart (biggest retailer of ammo in America which really irks the fucking shit out of me because I think Wal-Mart and other mega chains built around the same business model are ruining the fabric of America). It’s the luck of the draw if they have anything on their shelves, however, but their prices are the same as they were before before Sandy Hook. Oh yeah, and they’ll only sell you three boxes per day. But that’s fair enough I guess, giving everybody a chance to get some. There are 5 WMs within reasonable driving distance from where I live, so if I hit the jackpot I can I can get 15 boxes (don’t matter if it’s 25 or 100 rounds/box; they count boxes, not rounds) on a road-trip, 30 if I bring along the wife. On the other hand I could also end up empty-handed. Such is life.

The moral of the story is if you’re out shopping anyway, whether it is at Wal-Mart or some other place that doesn’t steal the shirt off your back, buy a few boxes, even if you don’t need any at the moment,  that way you will always have a small stash for the next time the shit hits the fan. And it will

Also, support your local gun shop (if he isn’t a price gouging asshole). Drop by, have a chat, buy something even if you don’t need it, like some cleaning supplies or whatnot. It’s getting harder by the day for these guys to stay in business and we need them.