Has anyone else noticed that 9 mm ammo seems to be more expensive than 40cal, or 10 mm...curious times we live in...
Has anyone else noticed that 9 mm ammo seems to be more expensive than 40cal, or 10 mm...curious times we live in...
All I know, is that about a month ago when SG still had ammo, the same stuff I normally buy, was ~$70 more (for a 1K case of 124 FMJ)...now, they have nothing.
Well, at least you can still buy CCI 9mm shotshells, so there is that. SG Ammo still had .40 & .357 SIG JHP ammo as of a day or so ago.
The first indication a bad guy should have that I'm dangerous is when his
disembodied soul is looking down at his own corpse wondering what happened.
Out on lake for 4th - America! - couple of guys talking about hard to find ammo. They know I shoot “a little” and ask where I am buying ammo. I told them I buy ammo way before the shortages and load my own practice and competition ammo.
After Sandy Hook, I noted that .40 S&W and .45 GAP were still available whereas 9x19 and rimfire ammo was unobtanium. I decided to add .40 versions of my carry pistols for practice as well as stock up on ammo at prices where it made sense. As such, I acquired a G23.3 and a P30 in .40 S&W for peanuts as no one wanted .40 pistols not that long ago. When ammo supplies dwindled and prices rose, I pulled the .40 pistols from the safe for practice. I still have a decent amount of 9x19 carry ammo, but my practice ammo has been depleted (not exhausted -- yet). As such, my limited practicing is with .40.
Next stage, should it be needed, will be a return to the 1911 as I still load .45 ACP and 9x23 Winchester.
Yeah, supply and demand is a thing. More people have bought guns over the last month or two than at any other time in American history, so of course the supply of the most popular self defense/practice caliber is going to dry up, even at elevated prices.
Definitely glad that I'm sitting on a decent quantity of loaded ammo and roughly a 2 year supply of bullets and primers, plus close to a year worth of powder at my normal consumption rate.
COVID-19 has kept me from going to any matches yet this spring/summer. First they were outright canceled, and then I was exercising an abundance of caution. I signed up for my first one for this coming week, but my wife says it's supposed to rain that day, so I guess we'll see how that goes. Given the lack of matches, I haven't really been consuming ammo lately, so my normal expectations about when/how much I'm going to need to restock are going to be off a bit from normal, but you won't find me complaining about having "too much" on hand, especially going into an election in one of the more screwed up years in recent memory.
Just a couple months ago, Inox PX4 full size were somewhere on the nets at $320 brand new. I dearly wanted one for just that reason. Now a .40 PX4 is pretty much impossible to find. I'm still good on 9x19 for a while, but I'd rather not deplete stocks too far until after the election because it seems it might get even worse.
To the OP: Econ 101
It seems that instead of buying a 7.65 Para and support gear and ammo or some other obscure caliber in the hopes of finding ammo one might be best served by stocking up on say 9mm. Another gun and sights and holsters and ammo would probably buy 5 cases of 9 in times of non panic. Yes I know it is not sexy to buy ammo....until you can't find any and you have a safe full of it.
If you wast a new blaster just because, that is a whole different deal.
It has been instructive. I bought a LNIB .40 P30S V3 for $305 OTD late last year. DA/SA pistols locally do not sell. HK pistols, especially, do not sell; a VP9 sat on the shelf for a year. 40 pistols locally do not sell. All of that was true until COVID-19. I was in my LGS this morning to say hi to the owners, and the shelves are bare of most everything that is a weapon and not a toy. Lots of single-action revolvers (I saw a Bisley Single-Six I now want), lots of .22 pistols, but not much in modern polymer.
I've still got plenty of 9mm stocked up but I have been cutting back it's use... Been shooting more .22 along with revolver and .45 ACP. In fact, I have a two day class coming up later this month and I'm planning on running 1911's.... Haven't done that in several years ....
"So strong is this propensity of mankind, to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions, and excite their most violent conflicts." - James Madison, Federalist No 10