Is ammo availability gonna affect your hunting season?

[venus]

Okay - I'm supposed to go to a charity sporting clay shoot and can't find any 12 ga shotshells local.

The going price online is about $150/case of 250. Some guys are asking $50 for 25 round box of #6 shot. LOL! Also looked at other ammo and keep drawing a blank. Most stuff seems sold out or way overpriced and the fight for gun rights is about to get into full swing.

SO - is ammo availability gonna affect your season?

I'm actually wondering about the 2022 season and if I even want to buy another point for that this year.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

1 hour ago, venus said:

Okay - I'm supposed to go to a charity sporting clay shoot and can't find any 12 ga shotshells local.

The going price online is about $150/case of 250. Some guys are asking $50 for 25 round box of #6 shot. LOL! Also looked at other ammo and keep drawing a blank. Most stuff seems sold out or way overpriced and the fight for gun rights is about to get into full swing.

SO - is ammo availability gonna affect your season?

I'm actually wondering about the 2022 season and if I even want to buy another point for that this year.

My next gun purchase is going to be an "off caliber". When I am seeing ammo it seems to be in less popular chamberings. 

[Pygmy]

7 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

My next gun purchase is going to be an "off caliber". When I am seeing ammo it seems to be in less popular chamberings. 

I have a 9.3 x 62, Bob....A little excessive for whitetails, but if you ever decide to hunt elk, moose or grizzly bears, it's just the nuts...

[Daveboone]

I have been reloading for over forty years, and take my season way too seriously to consider getting caught short. I dont do much off season shooting and also have several different rifles in different, but capable deer hunting cartridges...30/30, 8x57, .308 and .270 ....before we even get to black powder. No worries. And for sure I dont burn ammo unnecessarily in a time when we know it is in short supply.

[Nomad]

Nope . I only shoot one or two deer a year , with a coyote thrown in here and there , so I’m good for a few thousand years I guess .

[Buckmaster7600]

My next gun purchase is going to be an "off caliber". When I am seeing ammo it seems to be in less popular chamberings. 

The odd stuff will dry up shortly. Retailers are telling suppliers to send what ever they have. Suppliers have the odd balls because no one buys them. Manufacturers aren’t making the odd balls now and won’t again until they can catch up on the popular stuff if they ever do.

If You’re going to buy an “off caliber” you should already be buying the ammo.


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[Bolt action]

I have enough in supply that should last me through the next election as long as I'm conservative with it, assuming I don't have a chance to restock prior to then. 

I mentioned in another thread that I was set to buy an "off" caliber recently. The store had boxes on the shelf for months, then I went to buy it and it was gone. I found a local guy selling a case of it on armslist, but he's asking about triple my budget. I'll try to sweeten the deal a bit by throwing in some ammo I have that I don't have a gun for. Either way, assuming I get some, this would be a seldom used (backup caliber / seldom used) firearm.

[Steuben Jerry]

It doesn't affect my hunting plans, but it certainly affects my recreational shooting which I have pretty much ceased. I wanted to swap a few scopes between rifles, and I haven't done that yet either.

I have a decent supply, but I want to keep it that way. Reloading will definitely be in my near future. 

Edited April 2, 2021 by Steuben Jerry

[Nomad]

32 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

The odd stuff will dry up shortly. Retailers are telling suppliers to send what ever they have. Suppliers have the odd balls because no one buys them. Manufacturers aren’t making the odd balls now and won’t again until they can catch up on the popular stuff if they ever do.

If You’re going to buy an “off caliber” you should already be buying the ammo.


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Correct.  One article I read awhile back said some calibers / weight bullets are only made every couple years as it is .

Those that refuse to pay the current market rate , I get it ,but if you don’t have any or it’s a real low amount ,I’d rethink that. We’re one large mass shooting away from the current shortage looking like the golden age ,I’m afraid.

 

[airedale]

3 hours ago, venus said:

SO - is ammo availability gonna affect your season?

It will not affect me, I handload all of my hunting ammo except for rimfire and I made sure I had a good supply a long time ago. The one good thing about the Obama era I learned a valuable lesson, it made me way better prepared especially with rimfire ammo, I could see this one coming about this time last year and got well stocked with components for the long haul.

Al

Edited April 2, 2021 by airedale

[rob-c]

Im good for some time. I few coworkers are realizing that they should have gotten into reloading before now. They  are finding reloading supply’s here and there , but as others have stated I’ve learned to buy over the years stocking up especially when there was a sale on projectiles etc . 

Edited April 2, 2021 by rob-c

[hunter]

No, fortunately I have a good supply for each gun. If it continues long term I might have to switch to a different gun but not the end of my hunting for quite some time. 

[ApexerER]

I am good for a while when it comes to hunting. I have done very little recreational shooting. Although i am looking forward to blowing some ammo at @Buckmaster7600 next weekend!

[wolc123]

I should be ok for at least the next 4 years with deer ammo.  I have been doing most of my target practice with a bb gun, since long before the current crisis anyhow.   My crossbows and ML's most likely take on a bit more of the meat gathering load. 

During gun season, I will probably alter some hunt plans to suit the guns that I have plenty of ammo for.  I am in good shape with 16 ga sluggers and it has been a couple years since I killed a deer with grandpas old Ithaca 37 deerslayer.  That might be my opening day gun this year.

For small game,  I will stretch my current .22 rimfire supply, by switching to a club for coons  trapped in dog-proofs, and a pellet gun for squirrel hunting.   I will still need the .22 with the box traps. 

 I started releasing possums caught in those last year, so they could eat ticks.  Prior to that, I had been dispatching them with 2 shots (one between the eyes and a second thru the lungs).  One between the eyes always gets the job done with coons.

I have buckets of old shotgun shells, some with worn plastic and paper cases.  That stuff works wonderful for dispatching skunks in box traps, from about 10 yards upwind.  None has ever sprayed after taking a 12 or 16 ga load of any shot size, to the head.

 

[Nomad]

38 minutes ago, airedale said:

learned a valuable lesson, it made me way better prepared especially with rimfire ammo

The beauty of .22 is one typically buys it in bricks of 500 , a few of those can be rationed over a long time if need be .

 

[Buckmaster7600]

The beauty of .22 is one typically buys it in bricks of 500 , a few of those can be rationed over a long time if need be .
 

The problem is they can also be gone through in half an hour!


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[BowmanMike]

Won't affect me,I have arrows and also muzzleloader bullets and powder. I generally only use a few bullets a year. 

[Steve D]

It may effect me because I was looking at purchasing a new rifle in a caliber I don't have. Been holding back because of the price of ammo and lack of reloading supplies.

 I can still do fine hunting with what I have and have used in the past but something new is not looking good.

[sbuff]

Not my hunting season but membership at gun range has fallen by 50% .

[Jeremy K]

My Turkey season was in question  I have 4 shells and a new choke to try out . I got a text message last week and scored 5 boxes of turkey loads. As far as deer season goes i would take the bow out during gun season before i stayed home with no bullets.

[grampy]

Good to go for hunting anything, with reloading and what I've stocked up. But it has curtailed my range shooting quite a bit. No where near the trigger time I used to enjoy so much.

[50calpeephole]

Ammo was extremely difficult to come by this season if you didn't have any. Where I was hunting in VT the local ammo shop didn't have anything in the popular calibers and hadn't for a while. 

 

My recommendation would be to keep what you need to sight in your rifle and survive through the season. I'll probably pick up 40 or so rounds throughout the summer, that'll tie me over for a new scope and hunting. If I wait and don't have any on hand I'm sure finding the bullet I want is going to become difficult.

 

[DDT]

I think it's going to effect the animals hunting season. Not many will practice and find out there sight's are off until the one they wounded hobbles away.

[wolc123]

2 hours ago, rob-c said:

Im good for some time. I few coworkers are realizing that they should have gotten into reloading before now. They  are finding reloading supply’s here and there , but as others have stated I’ve learned to buy over the years stocking up especially when there was a sale on projectiles etc . 

I think some of the reloaders are also realizing that they should have stocked up on more factory ammo, since reloading supplies are now getting hard to find.

I think this will mostly blow over by mid summer and ammo (for common centerfire chamberings), will be plentiful again and about 25 % more expensive than it was in 2018.  

Rimfire will take a bit longer to settle out (up to 4 years), because no manufacturers are willing to put up the capital needed to ramp up that production.

 

[phade]

I am mostly invested in 30-30 and 243 for deer. Problem is my stock piles are 1-2 boxes of different brands...for example, I have 140 rounds of 243 but no more than 40 of one brand/bullet style and weight. Annoying.