Ammo and components shortage Down Under
3962
30
Well, it’s bitten.
Powder is virtually unobtainable. My pistol shooting mates tell me they are in desperate straits. Shotgun is no better. Powder is gone, shotgun primers are following close behind.
Shot is available but expensive, or so I am told.
Ammo is starting to dry up. “Trust” brand (imported by Beretta) is listed as “unknown” if anyone asks when it’s coming in. Kemen have long since disappeared. Champion (Aussie made) closed down last year, never to reopen. B&P, Bornaghi, Clever are on the “they’ll get here when they get here” list.
I don’t use Winchester, so I have no information on their shells.
At the last comp a bunch of guys were saying they were flying north for a State carnival in June. Although that’s our winter, they’re going to Darwin where it’ll be sunny and warm (inside the Tropics).
However.....the host club has no shells for sale, and our rules only allow 5 kilos (about 4 packets) in luggage. That won’t get most people past the practise trap.
last I heard they were trying to find someone who was driving. I was asked, but I’m not making a 3050km (1900 mile) drive!! It’s a solid 4 days, or 3 if you do 11 hours actual driving each day.
So just to keep up with the 5 boxes I used last weekend I’m picking up 3 slabs this weekend. Seems fair. 28g 1290 @ 105 Aussie dollars.
Powder is virtually unobtainable. My pistol shooting mates tell me they are in desperate straits. Shotgun is no better. Powder is gone, shotgun primers are following close behind.
Shot is available but expensive, or so I am told.
Ammo is starting to dry up. “Trust” brand (imported by Beretta) is listed as “unknown” if anyone asks when it’s coming in. Kemen have long since disappeared. Champion (Aussie made) closed down last year, never to reopen. B&P, Bornaghi, Clever are on the “they’ll get here when they get here” list.
I don’t use Winchester, so I have no information on their shells.
At the last comp a bunch of guys were saying they were flying north for a State carnival in June. Although that’s our winter, they’re going to Darwin where it’ll be sunny and warm (inside the Tropics).
However.....the host club has no shells for sale, and our rules only allow 5 kilos (about 4 packets) in luggage. That won’t get most people past the practise trap.
last I heard they were trying to find someone who was driving. I was asked, but I’m not making a 3050km (1900 mile) drive!! It’s a solid 4 days, or 3 if you do 11 hours actual driving each day.
So just to keep up with the 5 boxes I used last weekend I’m picking up 3 slabs this weekend. Seems fair. 28g 1290 @ 105 Aussie dollars.
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Depends on definitions. I’m well stocked but Lisa and I shoot a lot with 2 big comps in the next 5 months- and I mean 500-1000 target comps before shoot offs. But because we must store ammo locked away not many people would have 40 slabs or more.
As for gouging, I haven’t heard about that. My suppliers haven’t jacked up their prices, nor has the club. $100-125/slab for most variants.
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12,996 Posts
Though some people say it will get better soon , I am not so optimistic . The big guys in the Ammo business tell us that even if the panic buying and hoarding stop NOW ,it would take at least a YEAR just to catch up. They say they are ONE BILLION DOLLARS behind in orders at this point. Fueling the fire is the fact that so may people are paying these CRAZY prices for AMMO.
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Pre China flu, I would say $100 is pretty expensive. I am assuming that is top shelf Olympic stuff. I'm more of a promo $52 a flat type of guy.
Everyone once in a while the stars align and I can get STS or AAs for about $60-70. These are all in australian dollars.
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That one billion figure is somewhat dated. I also think that was just Federal, wasn't it? I'm curious if it is even more now. Especially since I'm sure Remington is flooded with backorders and new orders too.
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12,996 Posts
I think it was all ammo BUT it is probably outdated since the the panic buying and hoarding has gotten much worse since then. I will take Remington a LONG while to catch up since they were shut down so long.
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I was told by a person I trust that has some inside contacts in the shooting world that we would start seeing ammo on the shelves in April.
That has not happened and now I’m told June is a more likely scenario.
We will see how it all plays out, target ammo in excess of $10 a box will stop or slow down a lot of shooters.
That has not happened and now I’m told June is a more likely scenario.
We will see how it all plays out, target ammo in excess of $10 a box will stop or slow down a lot of shooters.
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5,326 Posts
No one regards $100 AUD as expensive down here. We have to factor in freight from overseas plus freight internally. It’s a BIG country and ammo is “dangerous goods” so the trucking prices are astronomical. In addition ammo dealers must have secure lock-up storage.
It all adds to the cost.
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Shipping should be free or included in cost. We used to have free shipping from Academy with $25 or more in ammo. Cabela's was free shipping (at least for cardholders) at $50 or more. I'm sure other stores had deals too.
I miss Gun Clubs at $50usd a flat and free shipping from Gander Outdoors (before I learned about the crap the CEO said). Sadly, these days have gone by.
Do you at least have any WalMarts you can speed waddle to?
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5,326 Posts
No ammo sales other than IN PERSON. Large department stores stopped selling gun-related items in the 70s. Now it's only specialist firearms retailers, clubs and ammo resale licence holders who can sell commercial quantities of ammo.
As an example, most stuff (like 99%) of freight comes to the Eastern Seaboard. It's 5000 km (3100 miles) to Perth. Equally, if some freight does come to Fremantle in the west, it's the same distance back to Sydney or Melbourne, our two largest cities. Perth to Brisbane is even further.
Add that to idiotically high fuel costs, massive Government charges such as registration and insurance, and our prices are normally around $100/slab, up to $140 for the super premium Euro trench/bunker shells.
Bear in mind clubs are charging $8-$12 for 25 targets in practice.
Hey, at least we can BUY ammo.....for now!
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2,714 Posts
This makes me cry.
It's going to make people mad but I've been adding at least a "slab" a week just for fun. Not even overpaying. Though I kinda want to try that too. That's not the orders that need my forklift. That's just seeing how the poors live.
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3,168 Posts
Be thankful for the most part.
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5,326 Posts
Yeah but we don't have Biden.
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Your Biden came years ago and made himself comfortable. Wasn't it 1996 when Australia died? Don't worry, the USA will probably be worse than Australia. I'm sure Biden's Chinese handlers have big plans for their investment.
The entire world has gone down the crapper. Can't fight the inevitable. Bible says it's gonna suck so it's gonna suck.
I'm still shooting some power point ammo from the winchester plant in Australia. It's AWESOME. Bought what I thought at the time almost to much it shot so well. I was using it in a 10 22 built up ruger and it shot better than any state side ammo winchester here made including what they termed "Match ammo". It shot groups at 100 yards that some high dollar 22 ammo had trouble keeping up with. Wish we could still get it!
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