Don't Panic-buy ammo!! (at least not yet....)
A lot of the ammo shortage has to do with end of year inventory. Many places have orders placed for after the EYI. The shortage happened due to an unexpected event, so many places have sold completely out, waiting on new inventory to replace it. Manufacturers did a lot of the same, so they are just now gearing up to make more. The DOD ammo plant at McAlester, OK, is shipping a LOT of De-mil ammo as I type this. They've had an enormous demand and are tickeled to send it out. They don't have to pay for EYI, but thier employees are not there for the holidays, so they're just now getting the gears turning. For Federal and Lake Cities ammo. 308 and . 223 ammo, this is good news!! Also, Wichester, Remington, and Federal's civilian plants are gearing up and getting going, but they're just now recieving their first batches of brass, bullets, and powder, so don't expect any shipments from them for a week or so, yet, and they'll be slow until the big distributors get their orders filled first, and the product works it's way out to the shelf. Many imported ammos are at dock warehouses, but the distributors are just now taking delivery, so as not to pay on EYI. In a week, you'll see a few places get a trickle of ammo, then you'll see a big surge around the middle of Feb. after all the paperwork gets filed and it goes out to retailers. It's SOP, every year, but this year is memorable due to the panic buying. Supply is limited but demand is through the roof. It will come back, just give it a few weeks. Wholesale orders are off the charts, as you can guess. Then, they'll have an overage, most likely, and by the end of summer, you'll see a lot of it on sale and coming back down to where it was two months ago. Don't panic!! Ammo is not the topic the grabbers are going after!! It's the high cap mags you need to get your hands on. There's a risk there, that they won't be available in a few months. But again, there's also HUGE orders in for those, so look for them at major retailers in the coming weeks. They'll be resonably priced, but don't wait, if that's what you want. Same for the rifles themselves... ...
Well, after re-reading that, I retract the comment about rifles... . they're going to be going off the shelves until at least the end of March, mostly depending on legislation going on the block... . If you see one reasonably priced, somewhere near $1000 or less for the basic models, you'd better not hesitate too much. You might get hurt $2-300 dollars in the long run, but you may also never get one. That's your gamble.
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
