I wondered if the government purchase of all that ammo is causing the shortage/price inflation we're seeing, so I googled some numbers and applied my calculator. About 6 Billion rounds are made in the US alone (the world number is 14 Billion) annually. The government is purchasing about 1.2 Billion over five years, or 240 Million per year. That means the government is buying about 4% of the supply. (Less actually because we import a lot.)
That's hardly "cornering the market." But it's still worrisome in the context of their making themselves enemies of the rest of us.
Where is all the ammo going? To the millions of people who know that if Obama and the rest of the Rats get their way we won't have any at all. What we are seeing right now is the granddaddy of all market distortions, courtesy of the US Government. Once the saturation level is reached (and it will be reached), the supply and prices will settle down.
They are issuing contract to buy up to an amount that they probably won't buy. By issuing the contracts to more than one company they can tie up the supply.