Thread: Ammunition shortage

Just curious really.

I’m finding it more and more difficult to find my factory 708 rounds. Is there anyone in the business that can shed a light on if that is going to be an ongoing (years) problem? What would be the recommended other calibers out there? I am considering selling my setup to something I can reliably find ammo for in the years to come.

I’m thinking .243, 6.5cm or good old .308.

There should be plenty of .243 and .308 available, and the yanks are big into the 6.5cm so that should see a decent supply coming in. Appreciate your thoughts.

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....08-ammo-85288/

I found a random 3 boxes of cci 22mag locally the other day and snapped that up immediately and in speaking to the shop guy about ammo availability he told me as far as he has heard it may possibly be YEARS before the next import of CCI or Federal ammo into the country .
I for one am buying any I can get my hands on in my chosen calibres that the rifle likes . I recently picked up 200 odd rounds of 308 from Belmont ammunition which added to my other stash hopefully should be a lifetimes worth of hunting ammo for that rifle if I avoid the range ....
It doesn't sound like things are going to improve anytime soon if he is to be believed .

I think the calibres that the 'yanks are big on' are going to be the hardest to find as the yanks are buying it all and leaving none for export .
Apparently there are more and more places in the states where even 22lr they are limiting to 1 box per customer due to stock shortages - 22lr for crying out loud .

Not to mention with prices going up like they are probably best for people to get as much as they can now anyway before it's unaffordable .
For example I priced a box of 338 federal I use - last box I bought $120 , latest price (if I can find any) $180 ... %50 increase in a year !!!

308 all day errrr day

Looking at the Guncity website, they have 36 types of 308 ammo in stock.
Only 1 type of 6.5 CM.
'Nuff said!

Originally Posted by Delphus

Just curious really.

I’m finding it more and more difficult to find my factory 708 rounds. Is there anyone in the business that can shed a light on if that is going to be an ongoing (years) problem? What would be the recommended other calibers out there? I am considering selling my setup to something I can reliably find ammo for in the years to come.

I’m thinking .243, 6.5cm or good old .308.

There should be plenty of .243 and .308 available, and the yanks are big into the 6.5cm so that should see a decent supply coming in. Appreciate your thoughts.

So back story but i have 3 different retail shops and none of them and hunting or shooting related but i know they are in the same boat.

Basically the covid disruptions are on going and they cant keep up,
Noone can make enough of anything, not enough ships to move it, ports are all clogged up with containers, trucks cant move it fast enough to keep up let alone catch back up.
its getting worse before it gets better.

I have lost 40 odd wholesale suppliers who just can't get enough stock to keep in business and that puts further demands on thos who have stock. Many of my suppliers and wholesalers now dont have warehousing as they cant get enough stock to need a warehouse and are just getting containers dropped off and shipping out the goods as it gets unpacked.

Going to be 3 - 5 years at least, hard to make money when what people want is unavailable more and more businesses will be going under.

Yep I saw that. My question wasn’t around the longevity of the caliber as a whole, more wondering if the caliber would be available for purchase over the next few years

Well it wont get any better with that silly Pelosi mare ( read conniving war mongering bitch ) stopping off at Taiwan. So transparent, stir it up with China then go back to Congress and push for US military aid to Taiwan and as well sell a whole bunch of weaponry to Taiwan as well.
No doubt she will be telling her husband which companies have the contracts and where to invest. Another insider trading windfall Nancy, to go with last years $5.3 million

Well with the very limited supply of 7mm projectiles reloading is somewhat tricky.


As I've stated before regarding Winchester. We in NZ get supplied from Winchester AUS, so intern 7mm08 isn't a big thing over there by comparison to say 308,270 or 3006. That's one example and I really truly hate to admit it(Ryan relish in what is about to be said) but there's honestly never been a better time to be a 270 owner. Components are available and factory ammo is available plus rifles to boot.

Hope this info helps

Plenty of .270 ammo about monkey pox will extend how fucked shit is already most likely

Been following this conversation and others and am in two minds about it all. For new shooters and reloaders it sucks and ammunition availability is now a very large consideration when choosing your first rifle.
As for the rest of us, you’d have to be living under a rock not to notice the supply/availability issues that have been transpiring over the last couple of years. This is also not the first time this has occurred either, arguably the worst though.
High round count users such as pest controllers etc aside, we should all have a general idea what our usage per year is and have allowed for it, to a degree, when buying your stash.
Patience, planning, and willingness to consider alternatives meant that right now I have a reasonable stock of reloading components to see out this current fucked up situation we all find ourselves in. Did I make a mistake in not taking the 1000 BR2’s I’d ordered instead just buying a hundred lot and leaving the rest for others, probably, but unfortunately as time drags on and no real end in sight, the difference between hoarding and having a reasonable amount for your needs is getting thinner by the day.

On the other hand, if you take the time to dig into it a bit, across a wider range of businesses, it’s increasingly becoming apparent that this is not going away for quite sometime.
I’m very thankful that I sold up and retired at just the right time and yes, a wee bit smug and giving the finger to those that mock me for being a bit of a prepper but for most it’s not unreasonable to be caught short. We should have been rolling out of it by now but instead we have a lot of different components coming together to create a situation that is worse than it should have been.
It’s a shit sandwich for some right now, but I would rather lock up my gun cabinet and walk away than pay the vermin on TM $200 for a pound of 2209 or even worse for a box of 143 ELDX’s. I know and understand the arguments both ways but it feels like screwing over family and I just won’t have a bar of it.
At this stage I think all we can do is duck and weave, continue to support each other as much as we can and above all else just go out enjoy and appreciate the hell out of whatever part of this you participate in. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best and continue to live is my motto and I’m sticking to it. A good stiff whiskey occasionally doesn’t hurt either!!!
Have a great one out there everyone.
Cheers, Sidetrack

Forgot to mention that its a great excuse to get a new rifle one in each Cal should do, Least ull find some ammo somewere hahaha

Just as an indicator,

This from Rivers to Ranges

"Ammo update
We have just received another top up
And have stock of the following ammo

22 Hornet - light
222 - light
223 - good
22-250 - very good
243 - very good
25/06 - light
6.5 Creedmoor - very good
6.5 PRC - limited
6.5x55 - light
270 - very good
270 WSM - good
7mm - good
280 AI - light
7mm 08 - extremely low. More due any day
7mm RM - good
308 - very good
30/06 very good
30/30 - good
300 Blk out - good
300wsm - very good
300 Win Mag - very good
300 PRC - good
44 Mag - good

We have also Good stock of rimfire of all calibers"

Originally Posted by 199p

Forgot to mention that its a great excuse to get a new rifle one in each Cal should do, Least ull find some ammo somewere hahaha

Except when your new rifle is a 7mm08 haha

I asked my sports shop owner this week what he has in the way of 7mm 08?
Nothing, and hasn’t been able to get any for 18 months
Roughly 4 times a week he’s asked for it
So iv got some cases and dies on the way


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This is why I went back to 308, ammo is everywhere.

Bergara extreme hunter 18" is hard to beat for anyone wanting a replacement rifle in 308 that's already shortened and threaded.

Gun City has some ELDX Winchester and Winchester Deer Season 7mm08 in stock - though I've been watching the stock levels go down quickly on their website over the last few days.

Not the cheapest stuff but if you don't want to change calibres and your rifle shoots ok with it might pay to get some.

I've heard from someone in the industry the 7mm08 shortage is looking to last two years....