.380 ACP ammo, where has it all gone?

I have a couple .380's and I have been looking for some beans for them. I have looked at all local suppliers; Wal-Mart, Gander Mountain, all the local sporting goods stores/gun shops, all out, not one .380 bullet in the store. I have even looked at every online outlet I know of. All have "OUT OF STOCK" plastered across the link to buy the product. I can still find 9mm, and several of the rifle calibers I own in decent supply, even though stocks look to be running lower than usual, but you can still get your hands on a few rounds. However I can't lay a finger on a single round of .380 from anywhere. I didn't think it was that popular a caliber. I thought 9mm was far more proliferative, yet I can get 9mm no problem. Anybody have an idea what's going on other than the well known guns, and ammo snatch, and grab? Better yet anbody know where to get some .380 ammo? And, NO I will not pay exorbitant prices for it, I have other guns, and will simply sell the .380's if this continues to be the case. I can still get everything else I need at sane prices. I had a guy tell me last week he would sell me .380 at $1 a round!! Yeah right! I grab my ankles for no one.

dude i went to four differnet stores yesterday and all 12ga. 223. 22. 9mm .45 and 5.67 were all gone. ive never seen anything like it

Well how much do you want to pay?
60 cents a round?
www.sportsmansguide.com...
www.budsgunshop.com...

I hate to point out the obvious, but it's called enforced disarmament. If they can't take your guns by law, they just take the ammo. At the end of the day it has the same outcome. Martial Law here we come!

Here in happy hunting arizona... ammo is a very very hard commodity to buy. I noticed this in january at my local walmart and it has become a sport for me to even find ammo. Now as of friday there is a "2 box of ammo per person" sign at the sporting goods check out. No powder or primers at Bass sporting goods store, cabelas, and most sporting good places. I went to a gun show in January and could not believe the mass buying of powder and ammo at the supplier tables.

i have a bad feeling something huge is comming

No Problems in Kansas. At least not earlier this week.

I don't know about 380, but picked up some 9mm, .40 and .22 along with
a couple of cases of 12 guage.

One has to wonder if a certain percentage of the "citizens" who were buying up all the ammo and weapons in record numbers were actually government agents?

Peace

Just my point. The 2 links you supplied I have already tried before posting. They have no, zero, zilch, null set. No .380 ammo. You can still get other calibers in sort of limited supply, but it's there, and .60 a round is still rediculous for .380. I can still get 9mm for about .20 a round. Hell I have an Argentine Mauser, and I can get rounds for it easy now, and for only slightly more than 9mm. I'll sell the .380s and buy up 9mm, and 7.65x53 for the argentine. Why would I pay big bucks for a small bang? When I can get, and afford the bigger stuff. I just wonder if it's more a hording problem, or an intentional supply problem. Most likely both. It just doesn't make sense to drive the price up, and the availability down of a little plinky round while the bigger more effective rounds are still somewhat available, and at a reasonable price. Would the PTB rather get plugged with a 9mm, or SKS over a .380?

Supply and demand, my friends! At this point, the FED GOV has not restricted ammo sales. Its a topic Im sure they're thinking about, but nothing concrete yet.

Your problem is that there are probably alot of people around your area that decided they wanted a gun due to the hard times America is facing right now. Is a cheap gun, and cheap to shoot, therefore desireable to people who either dont know about guns, or cant afford the bigger calibers.

Those people are buying up all the cheap ammo, and leaving all the bigger caliber ammo in it's wake. As far as the store having a sign saying only two boxes per customer, thats the stores BS, not the FED GOV.....Yet.

I frequently check on guns and ammo prices in my own area, (mainly going around drooling on the guns I want!) and have noticed that some stores seem to be out of some popular calibers frequently, but then I just go to a couple different stores, and can find anything I need. I think the answer to your question is supply and demand.

I just got back from a gun show here. I think you're right about supply, and demand. I talked to a dealer with some friends with ammo manufacturer connections. He said the deal is that all the manufacturers are making rounds flat out fast as they can. Some are even paying major overtime to keep up. They can still only put out X number of rounds in X amount of time. So they rely on historical sales figures to guide them in how much time/materials to spend making a certain round. The .380 historically isn't a gang buster sales item, until now. With the swift rise in popularity of the Bursa Thunder, and the super affordable Hi-Point models, people are scarfing up ammo for them, at much higher rates than in the past. The manufacturer is still concentrating on the old historical sales giants like 9mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP, etc... He said the market should correct in a month or so, and all the goobers that spent $30-$50 on a box of scalped .380 ammo are going to feel real dumb, and light in the wallet. The good news is that in the long run, barring the Feds getting restless, and passing some nazi BS restrictions, the price for .380 should actually go down below what it was before the rush.

Around central Arkansas, there is very little 7.62X39 anywhere. Even online, most places have it on back order. 700rd tins were going for about $160 a couple of weeks ago. I have heard that they are going for even more now. The same goes for the guns that use them, pretty much impossible to find unless your willing to pay an arm and a leg. Never thought I would see that day that a Norinco SKS would go for $400.... Glad I picked up a few before the hysteria.

On a related note, try getting your hands on the ruger LCP .380. local shops here have a waiting list a mile long. Everybody wants one for the lady in their life. Seems the recall hasn't affected the popularity at all. May has a little something to do with the ammo shortage.

Quote from the local Walmart, "I start putting my ammo shipments out at 7:00 AM and I am sold out by 7:15." Quote from the local Gander Mountain salesman when I asked if he had .380 in stock, "No, and I don't know where to send you. Finding .380 is like digging for gold these days."

one factor that's has not been addressed is that 380's are the choice criminal gun. any revolver for that matter. firsthand i have seen felons stockpile and pay absorbent amounts for .380 ammo and that's in 2 different large cities. maybe the fact that its easily concealable, effective, and found on many criminals is why we are now seeing less ammo.; everything's connected isn't it?

Think about it.

How many new .380 "pocket guns" have hit the market in the last year? The Ruger LCP started the craze, and now everyone wants a .380... It hasn't been a historically high selling round, so manufacturers still aren't producing much of it.

The shortage is entirely consumer driven off of the mass hysteria of "Obama is going to tax ammunition @ $1 per round!" and the like... get a grip folks, and while you're at it, get a respectable round!

reply to post by Anonymous ATS


I'm not sure there is such a thing as a revolver firing .380 acp.

Do you mean .38? If so .38 is very different from .380.

.38 is like .357 "lite" and .380 is a "9mm short" or 9mm kurtz.

It's Wolf but it's $210 for 1,000.

www.wideners.com...|829|835

More ammo:

gun-deals.com...

im from north carolina and have the same problem
my walmart shelves were empty all the hunting gear ammo and even paintball stuff. the man at the counter said the law men were buying all the .380 9mm .223 and 12 guage buck shot

To the Anonynous poster talking about .380 revolver "criminal guns". Dude or dudette, try to have a small bit of knowledge before speaking on a subject. Your attempt at villafying a certain type of gun as "criminal belies, your liberal, socialist ignorance. I do not believe a .380 is ever made as a revolver hence the term .380 ACP which stands for Automatic Colt Pistol a ammunition standard used in John Browning's cartridges for Colt and FN pistols. It was used for .25 .380 .38 and .45 calibers, .38 ACP is obsolete. It's this kind of backward thinking that gets terribly written, and even more badly implemented gun laws. .380s usually are small, and easily concealable. Nice for your wife/girlfriend etc... to keep in her purse to ward off the unthinkable. If a criminal uses one to commit a crime they need to prosecute the offender HARSHLY, not wag a finger, and say naughty, naughty, at an inanimate object: the gun. If I bashed a innocent persons head in with a crowbar does it now become a "criminal crowbar"? I say we ban "assaultmobiles" and everyone walk to work because cars kill more people than guns by an order of magnitude. Physicians kill more people than guns, let's ban them too! I just need to think up a evil sounding term for them, manipulate some statistics, and put an illogical, yet emotionally charged media blitz out about it a viola! Dr. control legislation frenzy! Wake up, their is no such thing as a "criminal gun" It's a tool, it's function is defined by the user. Make laws that punish criminals, not responsible law abiding gun owners.