Bulk up on ammo purchases, while you still can.

The current state of politics, and, perhaps even worse, the future political environment concerning guns and ammo demands attention by all who want to continue feeding their favorite firearms. Here are some thoughts on ammunition for many contingencies a gun owner could face.

As a current firearms instructor in both civilian and law enforcement venues, it never ceases to amaze me as to how little thought is given to ammo and its availability. In many instances students often arrive to train, reporting they have limited ammo for that day’s range work because they could not find it at the local retailer. Likewise, ammo cost and supply are a constant discussion in the law enforcement arena.

With increasing frequency, ammo is becoming the focus of control efforts by political and governmental entities that view guns and all associated with them as evil.

The following are just a few of the challenges we are facing when it comes to ammunition acquisition—

Taxation:

Ongoing discussion or current taxation on every round of ammunition in states such as California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, and of course the recent tax of guns and ammo in Seattle, Washington…just to mention a few!

A Fingerprint or License Required:

Lots of discussion about these control efforts in states such as California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts and others.

Environmental:

This claim does not seem to ever go away as it rears its ugly head from time to time. In a nutshell, the shaky theory is that lead based projectiles will compromise certain wildlife species and the human race if ingested or physical exposure occurs. The end result is lead based ammo being restricted or illegal in certain areas or states.

Public Safety:

Recent attempts to eliminate .556 green tip or other “ballistic tip” ammo because it could penetrate all law enforcement body armor. Any high velocity rifle round has this capability…it’s just political posturing.

Quantity restrictions:

There are already many restrictions on purchases of large quantities of ammo via the internet in some states. In addition, some retailers restrict how much of certain calibers one may purchase at any given time. This is still commonplace for .22 ammo.

Import restrictions:

There is a lot of continuous discussion on limiting or banning importation of foreign made ammo in such highly used cartridges as 7.62×39 and 5.45×39.

Non-availability:

Ammo manufactures may limit how often they produce certain calibers based on the market demand. This means you better have laid in a good supply of all necessary reloading components if you need a particular, less common caliber. Two that I have personally encountered difficulty in finding factory ammo are: 218 Bee and 348 Winchester. To my knowledge, neither are currently in production. And one that’s around but darn hard to find, is .22 magnum!

How do we combat purchasing difficulty?

Determine what your needs and use for ammo are. And, how much is enough. For example, uses and needs in my world encompass the following:

Hunting, shooting sports/competition, training, defensive, bartering/investment and leaving something for kids/grandkids when they find ammunition even harder, costlier and perhaps commercially unavailable to obtain in the future.

Some Thoughts on Storage:

Many methods exist for long term storage. Two key elements to remember, is to keep them cool and dry! Also consider not storing all of your ammo in one location; spread it out. This provides some degree of insurance against fire, theft, or some other catastrophic event.

Bottom line, if you want to have ammunition available to you and yours at all times, you best have a continuous plan for acquiring and replacing it. Just remember only 4 to 5 years ago, it wasn’t only rimfire ammo that became scarce…most pistol and rifle calibers were also hard to find!

Too much ammo? That is for you to decide.

As a side note, have you had a chance to check out the American Gun Association yet? If not, it may be worth your while.