The current ammo shortage has effected shooters of all types. Even the small .22 LR has been difficult to acquire. It goes without saying that the challenge of finding ammo has detracted from shooters’ abilities to engage in their sport and develop their skills. However, there is ammo out there, and this article will focus on a couple of tips for how to find it.
I know my local Wal-Mart’s shelves have been barren of late, so I asked the management about it. I was told that the same four people have been coming in every day between 06:00 and 07:00 every morning for the last two months. And when these hoarders come in, they buy the limit of what Wal-Mart will sell them. So, after two months of this behavior, they’ve racked up quite a personal stock. What’s unfortunate for shooters like myself is that this handful of individuals has contributed greatly to perpetuating the ammo situation in my region. And while the manager at my local Wal-Mart had that unhappy bit of news, he did have a helpful piece of information for me. He told me that ammo is being delivered to Wal-Mart on a daily basis and is put on the shelves every morning to sell at 07:00.
Following the tip of the Wal-Mart manager, I got up early and was waiting in line at Wal-Mart’s ammo counter by 06:30. There were six people ahead of me, and a couple behind me. When the employees loaded up the shelves with that day’s stock, each person in front of me bought their 3 boxes (the limit at that store), and the two people behind me did the same. After the group of us had made our purchases, the ammunition was depleted. So, that means that my local Wal-Mart had 30 boxes delivered to them that morning, and we few shoppers cleared them out within half an hour of them putting it on the shelves.
I gleaned two pieces of advice from this experience.
1) Find out when your local stores are expecting shipments of ammunition. For my local Wal-Mart, it’s every day at 07:00. For my local Gander Mountain, though, it’s only Wednesdays starting at 09:00.
2) Come in to make your purchase at least an hour before the store opens sales for their ammo.
The YouTube video included in this post, an upload by sootch00, has some excellent additional advice for how to find ammo during this shortage. He recommends the two points just mentioned and expands to include advice such as:
a) Start reloading. Components have been difficult to come by as well as factory ammunition, but reloading can make the ammo you do find stretch a little further.
b) Establish yourself at local gun shops. Having friends behind the counter of your local shooting shops can be helpful in getting you info on ammo shipments, and having people hold on to ammo, guns, accessories, or other supplies you may want to purchase until you can come and pick it up.
c) Get on a back order. Make your purchases at places, such as MidwayUSA, and wait for it to come in. After all, you’re already waiting to find ammo, so having your order secured at least puts you in a better position.
d) There are some sites where, even if the item you want to purchase is “out of stock” you can ask to be notified once it is in stock. Getting that notification can allow you to log in and make your purchase quickly while it is available.
e) Build your personal ammo supplies incrementally. If you see a good buy somewhere, whether online or in store, pick up a couple of boxes and work at building up your stock little by little. After a while, it’ll start to add up.
There is still ammo out there, so hopefully this article helps you to find a little of it for yourself.
