Ammo Shortage is Finally Coming to an End
It's looking like the ammo shortage is finally coming to an end, at least locally anyway. If like myself you've been on the look out for ammo and haven't had much luck, things are starting to improve and we're now seeing shelves fully stocked, or close to it. Over the past year or so its been incredibly difficult to find ammo in any caliber. You were lucky to find anything at all and more often than not ended up purchasing ammo from manufacturers and brands that aren't familiar, or of the quality and quantity you wanted.
The pandemic combined with stockpiling created one of the worse ammo shortages we've seen in years. Supplies were limited and flying off store shelves as soon as they got it. People stood in long lines and went to the stores hours before opening to line up for the chance at getting ammo. Limits were also placed on customers and most places had a one or two box maximum. Luckily for us the manufactures are running at full steam and shipping out as fast as possible to restock stores and sites.
I ran by Academy Sports earlier today for lunch and they had quite a bit of ammo available. There's still a limit, but it's increased to 4 boxes of ammo per customer per day. They had plenty of 556, 223, 308, 30-06 and other rifle calibers. For handguns there was 380, 9mm, 40, 45acp and a few boxes of 38, 357 and 44mag on the shelf. The good news is they were stocked with both range and self defense rounds. There were also boxes of various 410, 20 and 12 gauge ammo including slugs and several shot choices.
Maybe now we can finally get back to the range and shooting more regularly. It's still difficult to find larger caliber handgun ammo like 10mm and 44mag. I've been looking for what seems like forever for 180 gain 44mag with zero luck. I've found a few boxes of 240 gain but prefer the 180 Remington if I can get it.
The other good news is that the prices are starting to level off and lower, at least in some places. It's still more expensive than a just a year ago, but the ridiculous prices we were paying in the middle of the pandemic can be easily avoided now. Don't pay 2 or 3 times what it's worth when you can find ammo elsewhere at normal and honest prices. Do some price checking and avoid getting ripped off.
In Lawton the best places to find ammo are: Academy Sports, Ares State Armory and Atwoods. There's a few other places that also carry ammo but in limited calibers and quantities. Recently I've been able to find most of what I want and need at the stores listed above. It's time to restock and hit the range!