“We’re making ammunition around the clock,” said a Federal Ammunition employee. You can thank demand and COVID-ravaged supply chains worldwide for that. Today, that same box will likely have a price tag of more than $30-sometimes, quite a bit more … if you can find it. Before the current ammo shortage, a 50-round box of 9mm cartridges could’ve been found for less than $10. So, Where Are We Now?Īmmunition quickly became more expensive-almost overnight. Add in a couple of headlines with the phrases “gun control” and “assault weapons ban,” and panic buying of ammunition became the norm. In most years, those ammo shortages are brief and largely go unnoticed.įollowing an incredibly messy election, and for a public already battle-weary from all 2020 had thrown at us, many gun owners became much more focused on finding ammunition than toilet paper. In addition, gun and ammunition sales historically spike in the months following a general election that leads to a Democratic administration entering the Whitehouse. That’s 8 million additional people looking for ammunition supplies already strained.Ī few large companies, such as Minnesota’s Federal Ammunition, were deemed essential because of their government contracts and continued to produce ammo, but many small ammo manufacturers were forced to board doors during the early government-imposed shutdowns.Īnd then, two months later, the world became intimately familiar with the name “George Floyd.” Unrest and uncertainty of that magnitude drove ammunition demand even higher overnight, and the ammo shortage became even more severe. During the first 6 months of the pandemic, gun sales skyrocketed more than 90 percent-that’s north of 15 million new guns in need of ammunition, which included roughly 8 million new gun owners during that same time period. And so, the current ammo shortage began.īut COVID-19 cut with the wrath of a double-edged sword. No one had ever experienced a nationwide shutdown … and gun owners began stocking up on ammunition while so many others scrounged for toilet paper. The government was scrambling and people began panicking. In those early days, no one knew whether to call it “Coronavirus” or “COVID-19,” much less fully comprehend what the virus was capable of … or what the full societal fallout would be. The American public was largely caught off guard by the time Coronavirus started making domestic news. 22 LR cartridges in 2013?) ammo shortage, with seemingly little light at the end of the tunnel. So here we are, deep into yet another (remember trying to find a box of. The handguns went first of course, followed by defensive shotguns and ARs, hunting rifles and so on down the line until those shelves, too, were bare. Somewhere during all that, guns shelves began being emptied faster than they could be restocked, too. For a while, a few boxes of 12-gauge slugs and a handful of obscure rifle cartridges remained, lonely and forgotten.Īnd then, just like that … everything was gone. Handgun cartridges almost always go first. In most gun shops, the cheaper range ammo went first, followed closely by personal defense rounds. It started with an ammo shortage on 9mm of any and all configurations. Anyone-not just Stock & Barrel members-can purchase up to three boxes daily (that’s 150 rounds) of 9mm ammunition.ĭo you know anywhere else right now where you can purchase one box-much less three? How Did We Get Here? Let’s cut right to the action: Stock & Barrel was way ahead of the learning curve preparing for this ammo shortage. Struggling with the ammo shortage? Stock and Barrel has ammo and a Lot of it!
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