Is Wal-Mart's Shortage of Ammunition for Real? (A Personal Investigation)

Me ^ | 1/19/09 | OB1kNOb

[Badeye]

Thanks, I’ll check it out.

[P8riot]

Just bought some more shotgun ammo (500rds) from my local W-W at lunch. Seems they’ve still got a bunch of Federal 12GA 7-1/2 and 8 shot on the shelf. I bought out all their 22LR last week (250 bucks worth), and they haven’t restocked it yet. They HAD 6 boxes of UMC .223 55gr there for 9.47/box and I got those too. Most of what is left are hunting rifle rounds. No 9mm, .45ACP, .38/.357, or .40SW, or .308 at all. I’ve never seen the shelves look so empty. Good thing I handload everything I shoot but rimfire.

[pabianice]

Walmart is pure anti-gun. The one where I live has gone from selling a full line of rifles and black-powder pistols to just ammo to now having a few skanky-looking boxes of ammo in a locked case to which no employee has the key. Screw them.

[OB1kNOb]

Walmart is pure anti-gun. The one where I live has gone from selling a full line of rifles and black-powder pistols to just ammo to now having a few skanky-looking boxes of ammo in a locked case to which no employee has the key.

Not from what I see down here in the South. All the WM's I've seen carry shotguns, 22's, deer rifles, and muzzleloaders along with a basic compliment of ammunition (until lately). They may be having to play by a different set of local political rules up your way. My condolences.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

This is a long boring post on the joys of modern retail logistics from someone who has seen it peripherally from the IT department for years.

What you are seeing is the benefit of Just-In-Time inventory practices in the retail industry.

My guess is that retailers, who start stocking for “Holiday” in about August, don’t consider ammo to be a big “Holiday” seller. Space at distribution centers (DCs) is limited, especially around the holidays. DCs have to make sure they have enough of the right stuff to stock their stores and nothing that doesn’t move. I’ve worked for organizations who’ve actually rented 40 foot ocean freight containers and stacked merchandise that wasn’t moving in there temporarily - eliminating employee parking in the dead of winter in the process.

So starting in early November customers start cleaning out ammo from store shelves. Stores make frantic calls their DCs, the DCs probably have a limited stock and NO orders in the pipeline. Everything goes on hold until after the After Christmas Sales. My guess is that merchants for big retailers, like Walmart, are just now placing panic orders to their vendors for ammo. What you probably got was 100 rounds of the first after holiday pallet that just trickled in to some Walmart DC in your area. Over the next few weeks the problem may (may) abate somewhat as the supply chain gets refilled.

The problem is, the manufacturers don’t want inventory in their warehouses anymore that the retailers do. Inventory is treated as an expense. Therefore, this time of year manufacturers probably slow down production until Spring so they probably don’t have a lot of product in stock to refill the retailers pipeline.

Now comes the tricky part. The merchants for the retailers don’t want to get stuck with a lot of ammo that people won’t buy for months if the panic abates and they don’t want to get stuck with a lot of ammo they can never sell if the Dems do some of the reactionary stuff they say they are going to do. So should the merchants load up their DCs and restock the store shelves or should they hang fire and let the clerks, at the bottom of the retail food chain, listen to the customers complain? This is the part that gets merchandising executives big bonuses or termination orders as the case may be.

As for the manufacturers, they’ve probably been caught flat footed too. Should they start churning out ammo, knowing that if the Dems do nothing there is going to be a glut of ammo on the market and they will have to discount their inventory in order to clear it - just as their organizations are getting use to the new fat margins? Or should they restrain production in order to save labor, warehousing, transportation and materiel costs and not build up any inventory just in case the Dems DO enact some reactionary laws like microstamping that could leave them with a lot of product they can never legally sell in the US and probably can’t export? And oh yea, there’s a recession going on.

My guess is that unless some brave entrepreneur starts bringing in (literally) boat loads of ammo from overseas and cutting into market share, Olin and CCI won’t be putting on any additional shifts and we won’t be seeing full shelves in retailer’s sporting goods departments anytime soon.

Because their supply chain is simpler the problem will probably effect online retailers and your local gun shop less than major chains.

[girlscout]

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[ColdSteelTalon]

something is wrong if they asked you for your ID.

[Oatka]

W-M in Mesquite, NV was pretty much cleaned out - NO pistol ammo and just a few rifle boxes.

Same in St. George, UT as well as Sportsman’s Warehouse.

[OB1kNOb]

That’s great insight. Thanks for posting. It helps me see both sides of the picture. IMO, the Just-In-Time cycle will end up doing us a world of harm in national emergencies and crisis.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

All we ever did to Japan was burn down a few cities and drop a couple of atomic bombs.

They gave us Just-In-Time inventory and Karaoke.

There is no justice. :o)

[BooBoo1000]

The reason there is no ammunition available is none of the above. I talked to a friend way up in Wally World,, and they are waiting to see what OBozo and friends are going to do in regards to guns and ammo. There is a lot of talk in Demo groups about marking all ammo, and giving it some kind of registration number. No one wants to order and have a warehouse full of ammo that is not legal because of some restrictive law passed by the Democrats in their first days in office.

[Red in Blue PA]

I think all pens should be registered so that the govt knows who is writing what. After all, some words, put together can cause riots. Let’s register all pens.

I will say it before and will say it again: Anyone elected to office should have to take a course on the Constitution, or at least read it ina supervised setting.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

But isn’t that what I said?

[El Laton Caliente]

I like these guys:

http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/

Here are some others. Sometimes closer is cheaper because of freight charges.

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/section/sl.aspx?s=6781&gif=Y&rp=section
http://www.jgsales.com/
http://www.outdoormarksman.com/
http://ammoman.com/

[PowderMonkey]

Just returned from a trip to my local Walmart. One 50rd. box of Winchester 9mm target ammo is all they had left. I’ve got what I need (I hope) to tide me over for now, so I left it there thinking some poor newbie with a brand new Glock but no ammo will need it more than me. Then, I proceeded to the range where I encountered many new faces. Mostly fathers and daughters. In some cases, both were learning new skills toghether. To do that, you need ammo. I welcome new shooters to the community. So should you all. Lots of young women out there with newly acquired snubbies who’ll need that ammo for protection if things break bad. If you’re already sitting on several hundred rounds, lighten up and leave something for the new folks. Kinda’ like casting bread upon the water. Some dreary Saturday morning you may come running into that store desperately looking for one...just one 25rd. box of Hornady TAP, or anything ‘cause you’ve got nothing, and find someone left one on the shelf for you. Think about it.

[Mr Inviso]

“Walmart is pure anti-gun. The one where I live has gone from selling a full line of rifles and black-powder pistols to just ammo to now having a few skanky-looking boxes of ammo in a locked case to which no employee has the key. Screw them”

The WM’s here in CA lost their state firearms dealer license, and hence CANT carry firearms. They got caught doing some no-no and selling improperly to an undercover agent, and whoops, there went the license. They still sell ammo, when they have it.

[smokingfrog]

You're probably right. Increase in gun sales is automatically going to cause an increase in ammunition sales, but they are not likely to change the amount of ammo they keep in the warehouse just based upon a few months of increased sales. Plus, their orders from the suppliers are probably delayed as well.

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I've noticed the same thing at the WalMart stores near where I live. Most of the pistol ammo and also the 5.56/.223 & 7.62 rifle ammo is gone or very low. The better hollow point/self-defense ammo is getting harder to find everywhere.

[steve86]

Our local WalMarts no longer stock much if any ammo for other reasons anyway.

Because this thread was scaring me (more), I went out earlier today to the closest store that sells ammo (a local hardware store).

In the calibers I need there was no problem finding cartons on the shelf. I had four brands of 9mm Luger to choose from, many 22lr blocks and cartons, and my trusty Wolf 7.62x54r (for Mosin-Nagant).

There definitely were empty spaces on the shelves, but I couldn't read most of the designations leaning over the counter. I did notice there was plenty of 45 Auto available -- even the 250 blocks.

[steve86]

There was also plenty of .223 sitting right on the counter but I don’t know much about AR-15 ammo. It is possible that in another week this will be all gone.

[steve86]

If you’re already sitting on several hundred rounds, lighten up and leave something for the new folks.

I generally agree with that, just so it doesn't get left there for the brown shirts to confiscate.