Another twist to the ammo shortages..

[Texas CTD]

Store shelves are pretty much full down here. .22LR is what leaves the shelves the fastest, but every time I'm in Academy there's a couple boxes of .22LR there. Plenty of .223, 7.62x39, 7.62x51, and don't forget your spam cans of 5.45x39 and 7.62x54R.I reload for my 9mm and .308, so I'm good to go there. I don't plan on changing calibers, just buying more guns chambered in 9mm and .308. If I ever go bigger than .308, it'll be a .300 RUM.

[Mopar1973Man]

I got smart and talked to a neighbor down the way from me and her son lives in Oregon and he picked up my 9mm ammo for cheap at WalMart. What weird is he said his WalMart has a good stock on ammo and rarely sold out.

[War Eagle]

I am here in Kalispel Montana now and went to the new Cabelas store that just opened on November 7th. No shortage of Ammo in this store. They stock the shelves with far more pistol ammo than rifle ammo. The 22 caliber stuff is stocked in the morning and it is cleaned out in less than one hour in each of the last two mornings. They are allowing only one brick (500) or one bucket (1400) person. All the rest of the ammo remains on the shelves. Lots of 9mm stuff. There are some good sale prices on 9mm and 223.

[flagmanruss]

Local WM has mostly empty shelves... & what they have is unusual calibers though someone might want it once hunting season opens up. I have to check the local gun shops to see if they have any. These days, it's probably unwise to carry handloads. Fortunately for me, when I did that no one caught on. I have some original SuperVels in 38 & 357. My house gun, 4"HB M66 has my PD issued ammo... Silvertips. I have a decent supply of 22LR... that's what I use the most of these days. & black powder for blank cannon cartridges (They're made up in aluminum foil over a form, in case you've never done it.)

[kicker212]

in NE ohio .22LR, 9MM and .223 are all hard to come by these days

[06redcummins]

Recycled tire weights make great bullets.

[Killer223]

Recycled tire weights make great bullets.

Only if mixed with softer lead, as wheel weights are to hard of lead.

[06redcummins]

Too hard as in will reduce barrel life? Plenty of people as my local shooting club do it and I have never seen or heard of anyone mixing. Although it is for comp/practice only

[Killer223]

Too hard as in will reduce barrel life? Plenty of people as my local shooting club do it and I have never seen or heard of anyone mixing. Although it is for comp/practice only

I've melted down 100's of lb of lead for shooting, it'll score the barrels. i use ti in my 54cal. muzzle loader and 45's 38's and 9mm. it's not very clean either. make sure to get it hot enough to clean the impurities from it. as i'm sure you do. look at metallurgy hardness of normal lead from say a store bought ammo. then do the same for your wheel weights and you'll see how bad it is. i know i mix mine in one lb ingots 40 wheel wight / 60 soft lead. but to each their own.

[LiveOak]

Too hard as in will reduce barrel life? Plenty of people as my local shooting club do it and I have never seen or heard of anyone mixing. Although it is for comp/practice only

Actually tire weights make pretty decent rifle bullets. If fired as a cast lead bullet in any barrel they will leave a lead residue. This can be reduced by using gas checks or in my opinion the best method is swage the lead bullet into a copper jacket. The copper jacket will leave copper residue but a jacketed bullet can be driven at MUCH higher velocities which can make even the hardest lead alloys mushroom. A popular lead alloy bullet making is 92% lead, 6% antimony, 2% tin. For pistol bullets a softer lead alloy is more desirable to obtain better bullet performance.

[Killer223]

I AGREE!!

[hex0rz]

Me and the father in law were just running this idea around the other day. Are there any reloading manufacturers out there still that make just the copper jackets?

[flagmanruss]

Actually lead wheel weights make decent target bullets for pistol. I had a commercial bullet casting business with Magma machines. http://www.magmaengineering.com/ I made Lyman #2 alloy by adding a small amount of tin & antimony to wheel weight scrap. Rifle caliber bullets should be harder because they are faster. Proper lubrication of cast bullets is essential. Some guys swear by blue lube, others red... both are wax based blends of paraffin & bees wax. Magma used a 50/50 blend in the hot lube machine. Primitive Muzzleloaders commonly used patched bound balls. I am a reenactor. The patch is usually lubed with grease of some kind... animal fat seems to work best. The patch should be between the ball & the bore... so lead never touches metal except in speed shooting & buck & ball loads. If you are doing this, you are advanced & have no need of this discussion. Civil war era you get into hollow base mini-balls & modern projectiles which need to be lubed (messy). I don't shoot inlines & have no knowledge of their loadings.

[98whitelightnin]

I have been checking the shelves at walmart and every other place I have been in since june and they are always empty. I went to walmart last sunday and just for fun, checked the shelf, there were 6 boxes of 550 count setting right there. The guy behind the counter said they just arrived an hr before and the limit was 3 boxes, I skipped all the way out to the truck with my limit. They went up about $5 since last year before the "Shortage".

[rancherman]

I have been checking the shelves at walmart and every other place I have been in since june and they are always empty. I went to walmart last sunday and just for fun, checked the shelf, there were 6 boxes of 550 count setting right there. The guy behind the counter said they just arrived an hr before and the limit was 3 boxes, I skipped all the way out to the truck with my limit. They went up about $5 since last year before the "Shortage".

it helps to befriend your local wally world sport shop manager!! Although he has been tempted to 'set-aside' for a few extra bucks 'under the table'.... He doesn't want to get caught and fired! He did give me when delivery trucks arrive, and when ammo usually is set out for sale. I live about 80 miles away from 2 different wally marts, and I just can't get there in time. He did say however, when his store sets out ammo, there are about 8-10 guys who are ALWAYS there snatching up all they are allowed. I just about bet they are the ones who have ammo '4 sale' on sites such as gunlist.com (for about double of what they paid) Those kind of guys, alone, can sway the market, just by keeping it off the shelves. And from what I've read online, they are not very welcomed with shooters!

I just got 2 batches of .223 and 9mm from cheaperthandirt bulk reloads, 500 round boxes, for .40 and .45/ round. I had to wait on the 9mm about a week, but I got a email alert saying it was in-stock. you don't want to wait too long to order!

Add tv shows, such as doomday survivor, to the list of of reasons why ammo is short!

not 'gunlist.com' but armslist.com

- - - Updated - - -

The EPA is closing the last running U.S. lead smelter, wonder what effect this will have on ammo?

http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2013/10/end-of-an-era-last-us-lead-smelter-to-close-in-december.aspx

Same with most small foundries.. especially cast iron, the ones that made small batches/runs are gone forever to mexico/china/wherever. They couldn't afford the half billion dollar scrubber smokestack the epa demanded.

Can anyone explain to me, how moving these 'dirty' processes to a country (who doesn't abide by clean air laws) is good for US? Or is climate change 'selective' ONLY to the area that is being 'violated'?

I'll bet the lead pit in Missouri will be shipping raw ore to china as fast as they can reload the 'rubber dog crap' freighters for the return trip.

I just hope the newly pressed bullets coming back to our shores will be in boxes, rather than flying through the air!