Small Police Depts Feeling Squeeze Of Skyrocketing Ammo Prices
02-24-2021, 01:36 PM
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A record demand for guns because of the pandemic is leading to an incredible demand for ammo. And it’s not just individual gun owners searching high and low.

“Record number. Like 8 million guns were sold in the last year since COVID-19 started,” said Oscar Suarez.

And they go hand in hand or, you know, bullet to barrel.

The shelves at Bill Boyd’s Tackle, Gunshop & Range in Fort Lauderdale are almost bare of ammunition.

Suarez said gun owners have made a run on ammunition, creating a supply and demand issue.

And if you can find rounds, it’ll cost you.

“It’s tripled in price, maybe quadrupled in price. Last year the price of 50 round box of 9mm was only $14. Now, it’s up to a dollar a round, 50 bucks for 50-rounds,” Suarez said.

Few might think about it, but the trickle down has hit local police departments, which are outfitted with pistols, long guns and ammunition as a part of daily operations.

Getting ammo is like putting together a puzzle.

“For some of the heavy weight departments, the big guys, it’s not that big of deal budget wise,” said El Portal Police Department Chief David Magnusson. “But for someone in the bantam weight department, such as us, it is a big deal.”

Chief Magnusson has to be creative in finding and ordering ammo, because the wait on an order can be 6-7 months.

The expense has tripled, and there’s been some shady occurrences when ordering ammo.

One order never made it El Portal.

“They rushed out the next shipment. And when I say rushed, they did rush it out. Within the next month, here comes the other one. It’s missing boxes inside. Nothing to do with us, but from point A to Point B it’s a hot commodity,” he said.

With the challenges of getting the ammo his department needs, it sheds light on another problem.

No ammo means no state mandated range training.

“If you figure out how many magazines to keep it filled and go to the range and fire a course, even if you fire cold without really training before, just fire out there to pass the state course, you’re talking for everyone in this department, and it’s a small department, a lot of money,” he said.

Chief Magnusson says his officers are fully supplied to work the streets, but it’s the future of unknowns that worries him. Especially if absence of ammo reaches a critical level.

“When cost starts getting in the way and people start taking shortcuts, it’s not a good thing,” he said.


The chief believes, and gun shop owners around the country would agree, it’s going to be a long time before supply outweighs the demand. It could be over a year before there’s any relief.
Small Police Departments Feeling Squeeze Of Skyrocketing Ammo Prices, If They Can Find Some – CBS Miami
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A record demand for guns because of the pandemic is leading to an incredible demand for ammo. And it's not just individual gun owners searching high and low.

With the current criminal-in-charge wanting to waylay gun and ammunition manufacturers by opening the door to lawsuits for merely making and selling, it will likely get worse before it gets better.

When I first joined the Bureau of Prisons, I was assigned to the security shop prior to annual training to help reload 38 Specials for out Police Positives. But it's been a while.

I teach part-time at a local academy. We're actually sweating whether we'll have sufficient handgun ammo to train/qualify the classes in progress.

Don't get me started on "day job" ammo issues...

This is why smart departments buy and keep a five year ammo supply. My former dept had a former soldier in charge of the range and qualification. First thing he did was buy five years worth of ammo. Each year forward from there he purchased one year worth of ammo. To keep the stockpile alive.

It’s pretty easy to figure out. 120 officers times 100 rounds equals 12000 rounds needed annually at a minimum....there’s always people who have to shoot twice and you have to figure in new people and then there’s other than qualification training.

I remember a decade or so ago one of the staff suggested we go to a one round qualification-somewhere in Florida was doing it. Uses a steel plate the size of a IPSIC/USPSA target, five yards, one round from the holster in three seconds. When I heard him I laughed. And reminded him of all the people that couldn’t pass the standard test w/o days of dry firing etc...

(Their certification gets put on hold if you fail to qual twice in one week)...

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
a former soldier in charge of the range and qualification.

Sometimes that works out.

Hire the military veteran.

At my agency, the individual deputies have to buy most of their own equipment, including firearms and ammo. If I want training ammo, I now have to pay more than I'm used to paying for duty ammo. And that's assuming I can even find it. I was told yesterday of some steel case 9mm, for $17 a box. I might get some, just to see how my FN pistols like it.

quote:

Originally posted by Plugugly:
At my agency, the individual deputies have to buy most of their own equipment ....

Wow; that's tough. An example of one more thing that most people don't recognize about those hired to enforce their laws and what they are sometimes required to put up with.

quote:

Originally posted by Plugugly:
At my agency, the individual deputies have to buy most of their own equipment, including firearms and ammo. If I want training ammo, I now have to pay more than I'm used to paying for duty ammo. And that's assuming I can even find it. I was told yesterday of some steel case 9mm, for $17 a box. I might get some, just to see how my FN pistols like it.

Steel case for any caliber is between $0.50-$1 per round in most places I’ve looked. Even though I stocked up a good bit the last few years I’m still hesitant to shoot. Never know if/when prices might return to sane levels.

I have been wondering how hard it would be for somoene to start an ammo manufacturing business.

Making cases, pretty easy. Primers a little harder. Powder, probably not too bad. How many millions in investment would it take to build a new ammo factory?

Same story different day. Remember this after Sandy Hook as well.

But hey it’s not a problem because we don’t need PD’s anymore and social workers should be able to do most of the heavy lifting.

This too shall pass, unfortunately like a kidney stone but it will pass.

Lest we forget, Sandy Hook didn’t result in the first significant ammunition shortage. There was one during the second Bush administration that was blamed on the huge increase in demand by the military. And as I vaguely recall, there was a shortage of primers for some reason some years before. Those experiences taught me some lessons that I didn’t have to wait until the events of the past year to learn. Unfortunately for many people, though, they were either before their time or they weren’t affected by them. Even now some people evidently don’t know what’s happening with not only ammunition but many other things gun-related, or believe that somehow 2021 will evolve to be like 2017 was.

I can see this really hurting gun ranges too as the people with a precious stockpile hold on to it and ration it and the shelves remain empty.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
I can see this really hurting gun ranges too as the people with a precious stockpile hold on to it and ration it and the shelves remain empty.

True, I've cut my range time to darn near zero, renewal letter just came in and I have until April to re-up for the year, considering not renewing.

Have plenty of ammo, but replacing shot rounds is absurd in this market, not paying a buck a round for 9mm....

Unlike previous shortage(s) I haven’t seen any discussion of how this one is affecting commercial firearms trainers. At least once before we saw posts here about how training companies were reducing their ammunition requirements for people attending their courses or were making efforts to find sources of supply for prospective students. I wonder if the dual punches of the ammo shortages and the COVID-19 restrictions has caused many outfits to just close up shop, at least temporarily.

I was hanging around in my dealer’s shop last summer, in what used to be the country but now is the edge of the country. We were discussing a planned BLM protest happening in the town between my home and this shop, wondering why such a protest would head this far out of civilization when a couple of cops from said town walked in. For some perspective, this town went from country sheriff department coverage to three officers to currently 7 officers in the past 15 years. The officers were looking to buy ammo for their carbines as they department had zero as did most of the officers. Of course the shop had none but myself and the owner offered to supply them from our personal stash, which they politely declined. I was in a reloading shop last fall when a police department called the reloading shop to inquire out reloading in order to have ammo for officers to train. They were severely disappointed to hear reloading components were nonexistent too.

Small rural departments are truly in a struggle right now. Firearms training companies, ranges, and retail gun stores are all hurting. One of the largest ranges in Nashville with multiple stores/ranges has quietly shopped for a buyer. The range is full always which is somewhat surprising and they sold pallets full of 9mm for $700 per 1k like it was a food drop in Somalia. With little inventory and limited ammo to sell, who’d want to buy it?

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
This is why smart departments buy and keep a five year ammo supply. My former dept had a former soldier in charge of the range and qualification. First thing he did was buy five years worth of ammo. Each year forward from there he purchased one year worth of ammo. To keep the stockpile alive.

Its solid logic but its difficult to implement. How do you ask for a 500% increase in a budget line item to a mayor or counsel who does not understand potential problems years in advance.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:

Its solid logic but its difficult to implement. How do you ask for a 500% increase in a budget line item to a mayor or counsel who does not understand potential problems years in advance.

Yeah, I get it, it’s really easy...you can pay for say three years of buffer versus paying the increased pricing in the future...and at a dollar a round, I imagine the conversation would be fairly easy to explain to some knucklehead councilman.

The $12,000 expenditure is nothing for a 120 officer department...shit they spend that much in copy paper annually....or waste that much for higher up staff to go to “training” for a week in Myrtle Beach to study how hiring soft,noodley, inclusive, college kids who have never been punched in the face can help your department....trust me..I’d throw the staff under the bus to get training for the actual cops.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:
Unlike previous shortage(s) I haven’t seen any discussion of how this one is affecting commercial firearms trainers. At least once before we saw posts here about how training companies were reducing their ammunition requirements for people attending their courses or were making efforts to find sources of supply for prospective students. I wonder if the dual punches of the ammo shortages and the COVID-19 restrictions has caused many outfits to just close up shop, at least temporarily.

I have good friends at Ray O'Herrons and Kieslers police supply. O'Herrons takes care of a lot of northern Illinois. Kieslers- HQ in Indiana, but service the Midwest. They've all said the same...
No ammo. Their store policy is larger departments with the larger orders take priority, then on to the smaller department, then individual officer sales.

A few of my friends cancelled classes due to ammo shortages. I called the other day to cancel one out in AZ that a friend had an extra seat for... He said that I wasn't the only one.
I'm sure there's more and more trainers that have dwindling numbers because of the shortage. I'm willing to bet jljones will probably be along soon and let us know from his position.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:

Its solid logic but its difficult to implement. How do you ask for a 500% increase in a budget line item to a mayor or counsel who does not understand potential problems years in advance.

Yeah, I get it, it’s really easy...you can pay for say three years of buffer versus paying the increased pricing in the future...and at a dollar a round, I imagine the conversation would be fairly easy to explain to some knucklehead councilman.

The $12,000 expenditure is nothing for a 120 officer department...shit they spend that much in copy paper annually....or waste that much for higher up staff to go to “training” for a week in Myrtle Beach to study how hiring soft,noodley, inclusive, college kids who have never been punched in the face can help your department....trust me..I’d throw the staff under the bus to get training for the actual cops.

A few years ago (10-ish) we went through a budget crunch. The Supt told the exempt ranks (commands and above) to cut the fat, and to show him where the fat was...
Commander Mike "Piglet" (not his real last name, but it's close enough) cut our ammo budget nearly IN HALF!
Each individual officer got 100 rds to practice with per year- GONE
Extra rounds for struggling recruits at the Academy- GONE
Department rounds to qualify with your secondary/back-up weapons- GONE
Extra rounds for training- GONE (you want to go through the low light course, bring your own)

We were slowly able to increase some of that ammunition budget, but no where near where it was. Meanwhile, piglet sachets around wearing his woman's jacket proud that he "accomplished something".

3, 5, 7, years from now, someone is going to be standing in front of the City Council, trying to get past the question "Well, you survived on X amount in 2021,2022.... Why do you need more now?"
Questions like that are sometimes difficult to get past when dealing with bean counters.