How has the ammo/component shortage affected your Shooting

[Mike of the Mountain]

Harold, we have been able to procure 12g shells for our inventory on a regular basis. We have plenty in stock. Right now we have Fiocchi and Federal. 20g is hard to come by. We will only sell our shells for use here on our range. If you buy 100, you shoot 100. Members get a price break of $2/box. As for reloading components, I have been buying primers, wads, shot and powder for years. I even got my Spolar cranked up to load 7/8 oz 12g. I am good for years. When they said PB and 7625 were being discontinued I loaded up with 60 lbs of each. Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance!! Heck, I even ordered 5K of the Rio primers from PR and have them for sale in the lodge. At $85/1000 I'm only making maybe $4 on each box of 1000. Sold 2K on the first day. If the rest don't sell I'll just add them to my component stash. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy.

[Mike of the Mountain]

BTW, haven't shot a clay target since September. Time to start up again as the Southern is only 3 1/2 months away.

[Kevin McCormack]

I reloaded for years, mostly 12, 20, and 28 ga. In the heyday of my bunker shooting career, I was into loading between 10 and 12,000 rounds per year in 12 ga., almost a necessity for practice. Synchronizing the availability and variety of components needed was always a problem in some form or another. When ammunition became unbelievably cheap (Bass Pro held sales twice a year; 12 or 20 ga. Remington or Winchester target ammo was $2.39 a box with NO LIMIT on purchases per person!), I re-evaluated my needs for having large volumes of ammo on hand; this coincided with my quitting bunker competition in the late 1990s.

I finally came to the decision that if my time was worth anything at all, I wanted to spend it breaking clays instead of standing in front of a loading press. I packed up all my components and presses and took the whole lot to our local gun show and sold it. My experiences reloading reminded me of the old cliche of owning a boat: "Two of the happiest days of my life were the day I bought it and the day I sold it!"

Now of course things are totally different: the fits and starts of ammo manufacturing, transport and delivery, the impact of the pandemic on labor, and the devil-may-care attitude of many retailers, some of whom may rightfully be labeled 'gougers' on ammo prices, have all combined to produce an opportunistic "seek and you shall find" impetus for those in search of shotshell ammo. Much like water, pricing seeks its own level under these conditions: one of the larger ammo purveyors at our local gun show offers 12 ga. target ammo at a relatively steady $90 per flat. He usually has a good stock but it goes quickly at those prices; by mid-afternoon of the second day of the show he is usually down to partial flats only. My personal approach has been to buy as much of it as I can afford when and where I find it, which so far has worked well.

Our small shooting group (6-8 guys) who meet weekly put in a large order with a major ammo wholesaler about a year before the pandemic really took hold. Under a minimum purchase limit, we were able to buy standard target ammo at roughly $45 per flat for 12 and 20 ga. and a little more for 28 and .410. When we tried to put in a second order, the effects of the COVID plague made assembling any kind of volume selections in gauge, shot size, etc. impossible. I don't think we will ever see $45 a flat ammo prices again but who am I to say. I would trade an increase in price within reason for availability and selection anytime. Given the economy of scale in ammunition production, sooner or later the combination of availability of components, labor requirements, production, shipping and transport will slowly reach equilibrium and let us buy what we want where and when we want it.

[Mike of the Mountain]

Kevin, some of my contacts that are retailers are saying probably not much change in availability of components until sometime over the summer, and even then we may only see dribs and drabs coming in.

[Pa. Parker Pal]

here in eastern Pa. Shotgun ammo came in drips and drabs this year. I was fortunate to have a pretty good stockpile of shells in all gauges but only in standard loads which I do not like to shoot in my Parkers. When I did find shells the price was usually inflated especially at the so-called flea markets and even at regular store outlets. Idid have some RST's from last year and was able to get some more this year. I do hope RST stays solvent.

[Big D]

I have 5 or 6 flats of reloads on hand, and a reasonable amount of components. My problem is that I sent my PW 800+ in for a tuneup about 4 months ago. It is still not scheduled. Haven't asked what the problem is, and they have not offered

[Harold Pickens]

It is an hour and a half for me to get to any sporting clays ranges, I dont shoot trap except for my friends wobble trap. I do hunt alot, but I bet I have a lifetime supply if that was all I did. I do love the SXS venues, esp Hausmann's to shoot with friends I have made thru this forum. I have about 10 cases of factory 16's in 1 oz loads, and an equal amount of 20's. Also a mixed case of 1 1/8 oz of 4's, 5, and 6's--so I should be good for ever for pheasant. The garage is filled with 3/4 oz 20's and 3/4 and 7/8 oz 16's. Ive got a Mec 600 jr in 12, 16, and 20--would like to find a 28. You might think that the unavailability of ammo might hurt gun prices, but certainly isnt the case.

[Phil Yearout]

I have plenty of hunting loads but almost no target loads. A guy at my club kept me supplied last year; hope he can do the same this year or I probably won't be shooting. I was in the local Cabela's a few weeks ago and they had Herters target loads in stock - the first I'd seen in some time. They were $90 a flat; the last ones I bought were under $60. I didn't buy any. Last week they were all gone.

[Craig Larter]

So far I have been able to cover my ammo needs without any need to cut back on my shooting. I shoot about 150 bismuth shells per year and I have 600 Boss on hand. I reload target rounds in 8,10,12 and 20ga. I shoot about 3000 targets per year. I have been able to buy components mostly from BP and my local guy Pete's. I have 15000 primers and enough powder to last a couple of years. I have not had any issue getting shot or wads. I do hope Remington does not stop producing SP10 and SP8 wads.

[Kevin McCormack]

Originally Posted by Phil Yearout

I have plenty of hunting loads but almost no target loads. A guy at my club kept me supplied last year; hope he can do the same this year or I probably won't be shooting. I was in the local Cabela's a few weeks ago and they had Herters target loads in stock - the first I'd seen in some time. They were $90 a flat; the last one's I bought were under $60. I didn't buy any. Last week they were all gone.

Same story here - the Gainesville VA Cabela's store got a large ammo shipment (mostly metallic; .223, 9MM, 380, .45 auto etc.) 3 days before Christmas and had I would judge c. 40 flats of Herter's target ammo out. When word got out they went fast - I bought 2 flats as they were stocking the shelves then came back 2 days later (Fri.) for 2 more - I would say just over half of it was gone then. Christmas was Saturday and the following day I went back and they were completely out. $84.99 plus tax put it a few pennies over $90. First target ammo they'd had in months.