Is lack of ammo starting to hurt participation?

[MikeBurgess]

biggest difference locally has been matches take a day or two to sell out not minutes, some of this is I'm sure covid related also the fact that every major match is happening right now and shooters are out of town. I haven't dug deep in the numbers but it seems we are seeing as many new shooters as normal.

[Silver_Surfer]

Not at our matches but practicing yeah!

[Steppenwolf]

Yesterday I was in a local Scheels that had over 250 100-round boxes of .223 as well as 100 20-round boxes of .223. There were a few 9mm, lots of .45, and some .40. One box per customer (two boxes of 20-round .223 per customer). I stopped this morning and by 11:30 a.m. over 25 people were in line to purchase guns and all the .223, 9mm, .40, and .45 were gone. The inventory of magazines (Glock, Sig, AR, etc.) were being depleted.

 

Ammo ordering manager told me that the ammo drought will not end any time soon from what he is being told.

 

I stopped in a local Bomgaars (similar to Fleet Farms) for dog food, etc. I saw a 275-round box of 22 LR left and bought it. The two women at the service counter told me that they had between the two of them received over 200 phone calls about ammunition availability as of noon today (Saturday) from when the store opened in the morning.

 

 

Edited November 7, 2020 by Steppenwolf

[rowdyb]

When I get down to 2k small pistol primers I will stop competing and all live fire practice totally. I'll only resume when I can but them again at will.

[RangerTrace]

49 minutes ago, rowdyb said:

When I get down to 2k small pistol primers I will stop competing and all live fire practice totally. I'll only resume when I can but them again at will.

Thats the one good thing about IDPA......low round count matches.  I've got around 5K of my match loads, and enough components to to load another 3k.  I don't practice enough to matter these days, so I should be able to easily shoot IDPA matches for a year.  Hopefully by then, we will be seeing some things on the shelf.

[mvmojo]

Shot a 7 stage Steel Challenge match today.  Total of 59 shooters, 47 of them (80%) shooting rimfire and only 12 shooting centerfire.  We saw this shift starting 2 months ago and it has continued to escalate.  

[zzt]

More and more SCSA shooters are shooting rimfire to save primers.  My last match I shot Open And RFRO.  The match before was RFPO and RFRO.  I'll be shooting at least one rimfire Division going forward.  I have enough loaded 9mm and enough primers to load 6000 more 9 major.  That will take me to Oct-Nov of next year if I don't practice.  I'll have enough primers left over to load about 2000 minor for either Open or PCC.  Normally that would last me until Feb, but I'll space it out and shoot a lot more rimfire.  I have enough rimfire on hand to shoot SCSA for two years.

 

My dilemma right now is whether to quit USPSA practice all together so I can shoot more matches, or practice and eliminate matches I don't like as much.  If MDs start dropping round counts to save ammo, that will make the decision for me.  I'm not going to gear up and drive a bunch just to go to a 60-70 round match.

[mvmojo]

I shoot action steel matches and to save primers have just switched to rimfire with a CP33 pistol w/red dot.  Maybe not quite as much fun or challenging as shooting my open gun, but trigger time is still trigger time!

[Archer]

If the current situation with the election prevails, our future access to ammo may be severely affected- not to mention gun parts.  That is a real concern.

[ima45dv8]

**I know that a lot of folks on here are concerned about possible changes that could be proposed due to the recent election news, but political discussions are off-limits on this forum. 

 

From the Forum Guidelines:

 

Quote

Restricted Content
Politics
Policy and political discussions or debates of any kind - even if you consider your opinions to be "facts" - are not welcome anywhere in the forum.
Specifically including (but not limited to):
• USPSA vs IPSC
• IPSC vs IDPA
• STI vs SVI
• Limited 10 vs Limited Division
• This Division vs That Division
• This Government vs That Government
• Gun Control Issues

This is not a free speech issue. As a privately funded and collectively ran "information exchange," we have found that the emotional nature of political discussions weakens the informative impact of the Forum.

 

Thanks in advance for your restraint.

[zzt]

Well, I'm now certain that is the case.  At the USPSA match on Sat there were only 40 shooters (65 slots).  On Sun there were 50 (80 slots).  Both days were warm and bright with temps in the 70s.  Both always have a wait list, except on Mother's Day.  The MDs at Sunday's match were asking opinions on shooting this Winter.  They hold matches all Winter unless there is snow and ice on the ground, or the wind chill is at 25 or below.  Pasters don't stick when it is that cold.  

 

I said I'd shoot no matter what.  I also noted it may not be worth the trouble to set up elaborate stages if only 30-40 shooters are going to show up.   Most of the stages are designed by GMs and Ms and are the high round count, technical, lot of movement stages they prefer.  They take quite a while to set up and tear down.

[ltdmstr]

Match here yesterday was 81 shooters with 6 stages and typical round count.  Most people I know have been through this before and are set for at least a year at current ammo consumption.  And many of those for much longer.

[davsco]

On 11/7/2020 at 7:48 PM, zzt said:

  If MDs start dropping round counts to save ammo, that will make the decision for me.  I'm not going to gear up and drive a bunch just to go to a 60-70 round match.

Yep if it's not 2-3 boxes, I'm not interested. 

[AzShooter]

I have seen a decline in our Steel Challenge matches.

 

Last Sunday's match, while talking to shooters many said they were giving up on their centerfires and concentrating on .22s because they could find ammo for them.

 

PCC shooters are now shooting the 10/22s etc.

[RJH]

I just decided to be done for a while. I have a couple of matches i really want to shoot next year and the only way I can guarantee that I will be able to is to pretty much stop now.  So i will probably just shoot a match every couple of months or so, and find a different hobby for a while 

[shred]

Even 9mm shooters are picking brass after the match.

 

This time of year is a good time to take a break anyway.  Holidays, weather, season is over, etc.

 

 

[nasty618]

Noticed a somewhat promising trend. Target Sports USA usually sells out within minutes, if not seconds. Now they show items still in stock hours after they first become available.  Now they're not quite the Cheaper Than Dirt  caliber of d-bags, but they seem to be getting close, charging 29.95 for the formerly 7.99 - 9.99 box of ammo. 

 

Maybe they're getting more stuff in stock, indicating the manufactures are starting to catch up with the demand... or perhaps people are pushing back and the ridiculous prices are meeting market resistance - either way, I like the trend.

[ltdmstr]

36 minutes ago, nasty618 said:

Noticed a somewhat promising trend. Target Sports USA usually sells out within minutes, if not seconds. Now they show items still in stock hours after they first become available.  Now they're not quite the Cheaper Than Dirt  caliber of d-bags, but they seem to be getting close, charging 29.95 for the formerly 7.99 - 9.99 box of ammo. 

 

Maybe they're getting more stuff in stock, indicating the manufactures are starting to catch up with the demand... or perhaps people are pushing back and the ridiculous prices are meeting market resistance - either way, I like the trend.

 

Election is over.  Things didn't turn out as bad as expected.  People will calm down unless the crazy talk and riots start up again.

Edited November 11, 2020 by ltdmstr

[nasty618]

8 minutes ago, ltdmstr said:

Election is over

 

This trend started about a week or two ago... I think it's a combination of manufactures starting to catch up a bit AND people getting fed up with ultra high prices, but that's just an opinion. 

[JoeSoop]

In MA, matches have been full all year,  but we are also running at 50% capacity due to state regulations from COVID.

[pskys2]

On 8/5/2020 at 7:59 AM, rowdyb said:

Just listening to other shooters who I see on and off, they are competitors who get all their ammo commercially rather than reloading. I had not yet heard a competitor who reloads say they are slowing their match participation.

Wonder if the practice schedules get lighter though?

[rowdyb]

Just now, pskys2 said:

Wonder if the practice schedules get lighter though?

Now versus August when I wrote that, yes totally. 

[SGT_Schultz]

On 11/10/2020 at 8:39 PM, ltdmstr said:

 

Election is over.  Things didn't turn out as bad as expected.

 

That remains to be seen

[SGT_Schultz]

On 11/10/2020 at 8:11 PM, nasty618 said:

Noticed a somewhat promising trend. Target Sports USA usually sells out within minutes, if not seconds. Now they show items still in stock hours after they first become available.  Now they're not quite the Cheaper Than Dirt  caliber of d-bags, but they seem to be getting close, charging 29.95 for the formerly 7.99 - 9.99 box of ammo. 

 

Maybe they're getting more stuff in stock, indicating the manufactures are starting to catch up with the demand... or perhaps people are pushing back and the ridiculous prices are meeting market resistance - either way, I like the trend.

 

Unless you know how the ammunition wholesale business works (or any business for that matter), it's better that you refrain from calling people d-bags because of how they price their products.

 

I don't have the time or inclination to try to educate you on how a business needs to set prices in order to assure future viability, but rest assured it's not how you seem to think it is.

 

 

[oddjob]

It seems the "hardcore" shooters/matches are having a slight decline.  I do shoot a USPSA match that is known locally as a "fun" or "beginners" match.  This has dropped from around 120 to about 75 shooters or so.