Especially on the training side of the business, we’re hearing some real horror stories about students who aren’t able to procure enough ammo for a class or regular practice. Without getting into political discussions, we’d like to hear how the ammo situation is affecting you.
If you’ve cut down on your practice routine, what are you doing differently now? How are you compensating for less live fire practice?
Train hard & stay safe! ToddG
Your last class wiped me out, and I’m having trouble finding 9mm to stock up on if we do another class this year.
– Cut down on “fun” match attendance, cut down on less serious practice.
– Got an Airsoft duplicate of my main sidearm for “dry fire” practice: still forces sight reacquisition, allows me to maintain grip and stance for multiple shots (no recocking), etc.
– Keeping a sharp eye out for a bargain on .22LR conversions for AR and sidearm.
More time to Google for ammo deals online. 😉
Seriously tho, I’d say more dry fire practice. Also when you do live fire practice, you can use it as an opportunity to ensure every shot counts. Every shot should count but certainly we don’t always think of it that way when we practice. This can give us additional incentive to ensure every shot we fire in practice matters more.
purchased an airsoft replica of the M&P.
shooting the 22 a lot more.
I reload my “fun” ammo, I have powder, brass and bullets, but I am quickly running low on primers.
Generally, I’ve found live-fire training to be over-emphasized. There’s no doubt that you need to shoot to get better at shooting, but I am convinced that good shooters arrive through disciplined dry-practice, so methinks.
I have always reserved live-fire to confirm marksmanship, and reload skills. But its greatest value is in mastering recoil and ingraining physical cues for mental reactions. Otherwise, with a solid base, judicious dry-practice can make a huge difference with a handgun.
I have never been a voluminous shooter, as compared to many of my peers.
Still, ammo availability and price just downright sucks right now, and it is impinging on my relatively lean live-fire lifestyle.
Tim
I don’t think its politics at all! If it weren’t for all those gosh darned internet writers, who start their own websites with 60k count “test fires”…
Certainly now when a company comes out with their newest blaster, it must surely surpass the height of the bar that the P-T torture test has set.
Therefore, its is all because of Tagi. Durn you Tagi!
I usually order CCI/Blazer from Natchez, but they are OUT.
I’m currently looking for some ammo – I saw 1,000 rounds of Wolf for $200 something… there’s NO WAY I’m paying that. Lots more DRY FIRE for me!
Man I live in east TN and good luck finding 9mm AT ALL…
Such B.S. Even .22 is about gone! There are NO bulk .22 packs for sale at all and even the smaller more expensive .22 stuff is getting scarce. Strangely, there’s .40 Blazers available. Guess .40’s not too popular here. Been shooting that a bit and dry practice all the time but damn… I wanna shoot for real! All the popular ammo is pretty much gone here. No .223. No .45. No 9mm. No .357. No 7.62. No 12 gauge (except birdshot). Not much .22.
UGH!!!!!
I’m getting really good at drawing from concealment but I’m afraid I won’t be able do any follow up shots since I’m probably gonna be in shock from actually having recoil again after the first round. Hahahaha! That first round will be dead on though.
Hope things improve soon.
Dry Fire.
I’m tapping into my strategic reserves now, That bothers me.
I’ll be attending Todd’s “Aim Fast, Hit Fast” in May here and I can’t find any 9mm locally. I am calling in a few favors to get my hands on anything. You think if 15 students show up with no ammo, Todd will be like, “Ok, F.A.S.T. test time – dry fire! Honor system!” I swear I’ll set that record, lol.
airsoft in the garage and a ruger MKIII… i’m looking into a rubberband gun…
http://www.rubberbandguns.com
It’s strange the ammo supply in Canada isn’t too bad right now. But I’m hearing stories of it drying up in some places across the country. Luckily for me I reload, and so far, supplies for that aren’t hard to come by. Although we did have a run on powder not too long ago. Should things get tight I will be doing more dry fire (I should do more anyhow), and may even break out the .22. If someone came out with a .22 conversion for my competition gun or my M&P I’d be all over that.
Sportsman’s Guide seems to always have at least some in stock of the popular calibers. I just got 1k 9mm and 1k .233 with a delivery time of 5 days.
I am actually considering getting a Glock 19 just so I can get a .22 conversion. I really wish there was a conversion for the M&P.
In the meantime I have been cutting back on range sessions and those sessions I do get in, the round set down range are very deliberate.
Prior to my deployment in November 2007 I started stocking up on ammo for a different reason. Wasn’t worried about the elections, but the anticipated rise in costs of ammo based on the soaring prices of the materials used. That allowed me to stash away about 8k rounds of 9mm (the round I shoot the most) and probably about the same in 5.56. What I did not anticipate was the shortage in .45acp and that is an issue that is now directly affecting me. I thought for sure I could get 1k rounds at the Chantilly gun show this past weekend, but that was a pipe dream.
1. Continue dry-fire with Crimson Trace LaserGrips on M&P 45fs and LaserGuard on LCP 2-3 times per week each to maintain trigger discipline.
2. Reduce range trips from 3-4 times per month to 1-2 times per month. May go lower.
3. Eliminate competitive shooting.
4. Shoot AR-7 (22 cal) to remember what a bang sounds like and a recoil feels like, even if it is a 22 rifle. Rearranged basement (even though I said I never would) to get 45 feet distance.
5. Reread Pistol-Training.com drills archive for other dry-fire drills to keep dry-fire practice varied and interesting. More drills from Todd wouldn’t hurt.
At this point I’m hoarding ammo. At this point it looks like I’ll only do one more course this year, the Vickers 1911 course…hopefully the PT course in Va. if we can get that together. Finding enough .45 ACP to let me take the 1911 course was a bear…and I ended up paying 150 bucks for 300 rounds.
At this point my live fire practice is nil. I’m not pulling the trigger on a live round unless I have to. The price isn’t so much the problem as the complete inability to get anything.
Due to having to be at work on Saturday from time to time, I only had about an hour at the range anyway, so my shooting partners and myself had to have a plan going in as to what we were gonna do so as not to waste time. The idea became “get the most out of every round that can be had”. It’s an attempt to have perfect practice, not just practice to make perfect. Dry fire practice has increased as well.
HA! None to be found. Really f-ing up my training regimen. Strangely, I can get 5.56 with some ease but no .45.
I’m an LEO in NJ. We are being quoted 6 to 9 months on most ammo orders (Federal). 5.56 may take even longer. We have 9mm HST 124 gn back ordered since last fall. State contract price:
9mm 124 gn ball $145
.45 230 gn ball $190
5.56 XM193 $140 per 500.
Great prices for ammo that you can’t get!
At the basic pistol courses I’ve taken over the past few months, when the instructor says four or six hits on a specific target I shoot 2 or 4 just to conserve ammo, have also ordered in bulk in past (prior to election) so have enough for a few more training courses; and am ‘backordered’ on several online ammo sites so in July/Sept/Dec should be receiving new training ammo. I hope !
It’s a freakin’ frenzy out there. Part of the problem is that when there is ammo out there, people buy it all up because they think they won’t see it again!
The old man decided he wants to get into shooting, and have a handgun around for Home Defense, and/or emergency purposes.
After sending him my M&P 9mm, he cannot find ammo reasonably priced enough to attend courses offered in his area, nor can he find even a couple of boxes in the local stores to practice on his own.
Frustrating for sure. A relatively new handgun shooter who is trying to do the right thing, get proper training, have ammo on hand to practice between training sessions, yet he cannot get ammunition because the sheeple have flocked into panic mode and buy it up as soon as it hits the shelves, and retailers and private parties are using this shortage to fatten their own greedy pockets while screwing over the average Joe who just wants to shoot.
By default gun control that we as the shooting community are doing to ourselves…..and each other.
It can be found with a little work. As much as I don’t like Walmart they are the only source I found that has not raised the price. I just go in a couple times a week and buy up to 5 boxes if it is in stock.
It is not just the supply but price gouging. Have you looked at the prices lately. They canclled the”club” to offer better prices to all as I was told. The only problem was that everything I bought was higher priced. A better neme is sleazier than dirt.
Still the same in my area, if you can find any ammo at all in any caliber, the prices make you want to puke. I paid almost $400 for 1000 rnds of White box. I wanted to barf, but I had to get some ammo. Now they wont even allow you to buy 1000rnd at a time, and have limited people to X number of boxes each.
This sh$t is really way out of control…
The practice session at NRA cleaned me out. I’m down to my defensive minimum (and below what I’d like for even that).
The behavior it’s caused is that I’ve stopped signing up for IDPA, IPSC and classes. The impact is that I’m not practicing what I’ve learned and I’m not retaining what I know.
The side-effect is that I’m getting more into dry fire.
$25USD/box, times four to six boxes per class, plus ~$100/class fee = one session every few months if I’m lucky.