Ammunition shortage?

M1911.org ^ | 19 Aug 06 | DanP

[saganite]

I just received a new catalog from "Cheaper Than Dirt!". On page five is posted the following notice:

"WORLDWIDE AMMUNITION SHORTAGE

Dear valued customer;

Due to world events, concerns over Iran, Avian Flu, and general global instability, ammunition is in short supply. Foreign and domestic suppliers have drastically increased prices and they cannot supply the quantity of ammunition necessary to meet consumer demand. Calibers that are ordinarily widely available have become uncommonly scarce. Currently, we do have .223 in stock, but even these supplies are nearly exhausted. We appreciate your patience and understanding in this unstable market.

Respectfully Yours, The Owners and Managers of Cheaper Than Dirt!"

[saganite]

I take Cheaper Than Dirt but haven't received my copy yet. I wondered if anyone else could verify this. Any trouble buying ammo recently?

[Chewbacca]

Probably has something to do with the shortage of copper used to manufacture the brass casings.
Either that or it is the shortage of nickel.

[Stonewall Jackson]

I went over to Walmart a few weeks ago to pick up a couple bricks of .22's for plinking. It wasn't until I got home that I realized that they have cut the size of the boxes to 375 rounds instead of 500, but the price was the same. I don't know if this is related, but it was rather irritating.

[Marius3188]

Saganite

Another reason might be the prices of lead and copper. I know copper has pretty much tripled over a short span.

Has the your ammo prices gone up lately? In the local markets?

[saganite]

I saw an article this morning that the largest copper mine in the world in Chile was closed because of a labor dispute but this info would predate that. Reloading supplies just went up about 30% also.

[karnage]

.308 has gotten hard to find and very expensive.

[tcostell]

There has been a worldwide shortage on 7.62x39mm ammunition for over a year. (7.62x39 you may recall is the bullet for the old model AK47 and still in wide use by the Iraqi army and "the bad guys") Prices went from a low of about $65 per 1,000 to a high of about $200 per 1,000. For the longest time, you couldn't get any at all. Right now I think the price is hovering in the 120 to 150 per 1,000 range.

It makes sense to me that we would begin to run short of 223 as well.

[Spktyr]

375's have been around for several years, so that's not new.

[Centurion2000]

Glad I have ammo stocked already ... I don't want to think about what 454 rounds are doing right now.

[DuncanWaring]

...the largest copper mine in the world in Chile was closed...

Here's that story, with a lot of associated info on commodity prices.

[Bogey78O]

I made sure I had 1800 rounds in sealed battle pack and another 2500 hanging around loose.

[wita]

Maybe the UN is buying it up in their efforts to curb small arms sales world wide.

[eastforker]

try midwayUSA. about 50 cents a round for made in USA ammo for your .308.

[Chewbacca]

Did you know if you only had $30 million you could corner the nickel market?

[George Smiley]

Oil for Rounds?

[tcostell]

I don't have quite that much, but I have maybe 800 or so lying around to practice with occasionally, and 1 spam can buried in case of an emergency.

But if you see it really cheap somewhere (under $100) ping me.

[Chewbacca]

On Friday LME-monitored nickel stocks rose 36 tonnes to 6,156, but the amount of nickel available to the market on uncancelled warrants dropped to 870 tonnes or six hours of world consumption, from 1,248 tonnes on Thursday.

http://za.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2006-08-18T104312Z_01_BAN838577_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-MARKETS-METALS-20060818.XML

[DuncanWaring]

All I need to do is scare up about another $29.995 million...

[looscnnn]

What does Avian Flu have to do with ammo shortages, I could see maybe shotgun ammo but not metallic cartridges.

[Brilliant]

Probably because the Venezuelans, Cubans and Iranians are buying it all up.