I purchased a new clays gun 2 months ago and have yet to shoot it... While I don't look daily I do check my usual local ammo retailers and since I bought my new gun have yet to find ANY shotshell ammo. Assuming everyone is in the same boat - any tips one where to buy/order a flat of shells?

Keep looking, Natchez Supply at times will have shells. You can also go to your local range. Most are selling shells there but only what you will be shooting.
Also I heard that recently that Academy Sports are stocking their shells at the service desk due to shoplifting.
Good luck and good hunting

I'm starting to see AA's and some Rems on the shelf at our local Walmart(only place that carries ammo for 60 miles). 12 and 20 ga target loads but they disappear pretty fast. I think they will start to stay soon as no one is shooting them, the boxes of clay's still out number shotshells.

Ever get the feeling that ammo makers are laughing at us right now? They can sell anything they make, for full price, without any problem. Even odd cartridges or odd loads will be quickly scooped up by panic hoarders. I am told and accept that they are running at full capacity and I do trust that is the case with the only limitation being the difficulty in hiring new labor. Face it right now a lot of people just do not want a job. Until that changes I do not see supply increasing by much.

How long will people panic buy and hoard is the question to me? Supplies will remain short as long as demand is well above real needs. But you see shortages or insane prices in all kinds of things right now. Have you priced a 2 X 4 lately? Locally they are running $9.00 each. Just as insane as $30.00 a box for .410's. Welcome to the the new Biden world. High prices, shortages of basic things and inflation soon to follow.

as to inflation, I am a printer, my paper merchants are telling me to expect a 6% price increase on paper across the board by July. Energy is up too. Its probably going to look like Jimmy Carter times soon.

Cabela's/Bass Pro/Sportsmen's Warehouse (they are all owned by Bass Pro) is probably your best bet. They have not jacked up the prices like other retailers or internet sources. They are getting ammo, the trick is timing it so you go on a day when there is ammo on the shelves. Walmart may be another option, the Walmart near me had some 20 gauge target loads, but no 12 gauge.

Here is a link: https://ammoseek.com/ammo/12-gauge

I found some 100-round packs of winchester field loads today at Walmart.
$23.00 for 100 rounds of 12 or 20.

Just anti-gun Democrats passing the torch... Don't blame me. I voted for Trump, and there is a good reason we still see lot's of Trump yard signs months after the sham election.

https://www.silive.com/news/2021/06...still-making-waves-on-staten-island.html



is lacroix sugar free

Amarillo Gun Club will sell participants a box of ammo for each round of trap, skeet or sporting clays bought.
Mike

No ammo here in Ohio. Lucked out on a case of RST 20 gauge a couple weeks ago. Field and stream and cabela’s has zero target loads as of last Friday. However, both had bismuth loads and a few boxes of T and BB loads in steal

Not sure where in Indiana you are but at Back Forty Sporting in Bourbon, Ryan will sell you shells to be shot there. I believe he has all the gauges as well. It is a nice course to shoot and friendly people

I wonder how much ammo is floating offshore because there aren’t dock workers to unload it.

Guys, this isn’t hard. We are running out of excuses on ammo. Go to www.ammoseek.com. There is plenty of ammo in every gauge and variety available. It may not be at the price we like, but that’s just life. Also, keep checking Walmart and Bass Pro/Cabelas. I’ve purchased plenty of 12 and 20 200-round packs from Walmart at $23 per pack. That’s a great deal. The only gauge that is a challenge is 16 gauge. Today, Walmart had a few boxes of Federal Game Loads in 16 gauge, so I bought them. I also ordered a flat from Federal and a flat from a company I found on ammoseek. The other day I stopped at a Sportsman’s Wharehouse in Mississippi. They had a huge aisle of shotgun shells. The only catch, two boxes per day. No big deal. Sadly, I don’t live near a Sportsman’s Warehouse. But for those who do, you can buy 14 boxes of literally anything for want per week. There is plenty available. You just need to look.

I doubt they will sell fast, but the only shell on the shelf were all the 12 Ga. slugs one could ever need!

If you've got nothing better to do, and live close enough to the store, than to drive to a SW to buy 2 boxes of shells everyday, seven days a week.

Whenever I want to go and shoot a round of sporting clays I can buy 5 boxes to shoot 100 targets. Very generous, IMO.

I will be buying flats of shells for dove season as the right load becomes available. And, it will, eventually.

I was getting fitted for a gun today at the Dallas Gun Club and there was a huge competitive event going on there with loads of people all around shooting like there was no tomorrow. Many of them had their motor homes and such parked around like they were going to have fun and stay a while. Looking into it, I see that it was the Paxton Arms Texas State Skeet Championship. No sign of any sort of shortage there.

I am surprised that we are not seeing imported shot shells from Europe and Latin America in large quantities. Does anyone know why this is not happening?

The supply chain has been disrupted world wide, Italy is a major producer of shotgun shells and it has been under lockdown for much of the past year. Everything is slowed down and backed up regarding shipping, cargo ships are queued up waiting to be unloaded and the cost of shipping is currently crazy high. As things begin to open up again supply should increase but when it catches up to demand and we see product regularly in stock is anyone's guess.

Box stores not so much. Federal is selling direct on line now and usually has a good supply of Top Guns in stock. Free shipping when you spend more than $149 which isn't hard to do when you pay full retail of $11 a box just for promo 12 ga.

Couple of weeks ago at Caribou Gun Club they were out of 12 ga. Said he had orders in for several months but nothing delivered. While he has hosted the FITASC world championships and U.S. Open Sporting Clays championships in the past he seemed more worried about getting shells in for corporate shoots. Then again likely makes a lot more money on corporate shoots and weddings which seems to be the focus anymore. Did have some 16 ga. on the shelf at $10 a box. But I still have ~14 flats of Herters 16 ga. that I got at $4.99 a box and 4 flats of Federal 16 ga. bought when they were on sale for $6-$7 a box. Just couldn't bring myself to do it.

Last week shot at Horse and Hunt and they had signs up all over that they were out of 12 ga. ammunition. They did have 20 ga. ammo for $11 a box, hard pass on that. Friend and I paid for 200 rounds each they gave us 480 rounds on the punch card and we shoot our lookers. Can only buy as many boxes as you shoot but that would still be close to a flat each. Came in for lunch and they were unloading a truck full of 12 ga. Fiocchi 1 oz. loads. Asked how much and they said $12 a box. Another hard pass.

In another year more like 2 years when I run out of existing flats and reloading components may have to pay those prices. But not yet.

Like i and Skb have written; there are cargo ships at anchor that can’t unload for lack of dock workers.

On a 2-day round trip to Iowa and back, I scored 16 boxes of Herter's 20ga target loads (7/8 oz 7 1/2) at 2 different Cabela's. Stopped at the Owatonna MN store on the way down. Sign said limit of 8 boxes per customer, but the Herters were by the flat, so I got 10 boxes. Hit the Prairie du Chien store on the way home. They had 6 more boxes of the same 20ga loads. Basically $7.50/box, which is OK given today's prices. Better yet, I had almost enough points on my Cabela's credit card that I didn't have to cough up any additional $ for them.

Also hit Monsoor's in La Crosse on the way home. They're on a slow but steady closing out sale, only open Mon-Weds. I didn't see any 16ga wads, so I asked. They came up with a full box of them. I just took 2 bags. Already had some, and I'd picked up almost 3 bags of the Down Range DR-16 wads (which I prefer to reload in the old Herters 1 oz 16's Cabela's used to sell). Productive trip for both ammo and components.

Dock workers? Shotshell shipping is done now in containers, by container ships. One overhead crane operator unloads the containers off the ship. Then another loads the container onto a trailer behind a semi which hits the road immediately. Savannah is one of the two biggest container ports in the USA. I was on 1-16 today and saw no shortage of loaded containers headed west, and an equal amount of empties headed east towards Savannah. I must be missing something here, but I fail to see how "dock worker" shortage is hurting the supply of imported shot shells. I have a really good friend that operates one of the huge overhead container cranes in Savannah. With his pay grade he is certainly not enticed to "lay out" and draw unemployment. He wants to work, a much as he can.


There are a bunch of people here a lot smarter than me. Maybe someone can help me understand this.

I was Just in savannah, and yes, the port is going around the clock with huge truck traffic in and out.
That apparently isn’t the case everywhere.
I talked to a retailer and range operator who is in contact with multiple foreign suppliers, and the retailer has heard the same story about ships waiting to be unloaded from all of them.

The labor shortages are on the left coast. Erh from San Diego up through Long Beach and North. For Asian products and demand. From Europe they land on the East Coast. But from the source they are in short supply. COVID is a world wide problem. It isn't just the US.

Have done harbor protection on all of them. Both Coasts. Just my opinion but think- the source and distribution.

John at Pacific Firearms' has had a 32" 16 ga. with grade IV wood for me on order for more than a year. I Crush targets with my 12 GA. Plantation Sporting and ISIS recoil reducer. But crush them with 7/8 oz. 20 ga. loads too. Give me a 6 bird handicap with the 20 on a 88 bird course don't ask me twice LOL.

We are not the only ones suffering with COVID and disturbition. Around the World. But it is getting better. Left coast delivery is from Asia and China where the demand is. And has been for a long time. East coast and EU reop is better. Much better. But there are internal restrictions that slow down distribution also.

I have known Roger for a long time. Trap shooters are a fickle bunch. Talk about sniffing paper hulls but before Roger cut down on hours he ordered a lot of Federal Papers due to what the trap shooters said. Could not give the damn things away at his cost which was close to $100 a flat.



Used to shoot against Wi. in the Blizzard league before the cold hurt my bones. Roger was one of first to bring the Blazer into the US back then. After we shot for our respective States I squadded with Roger and several other AA shooters. Hardly have time to reload before it is your time to shoot, Trap is such a brain dead sport.

Realized we were going to hit 500 when my brain woke up. Roger was to my right and I missed. Because I thought and wasn't brain dead.

He missed and so did the next 3 to fill out. He turned to me and said you son of a beach LOL.

Army used to allow a 600 SAT score as ROTC entrance requirements. Navy not so much.

First met you at a Flatwater shoot. Many for some reason mistook me for you and I smoke cigars, you a pipe. Was kind of honored and also pissed that most mixed us up...

Real world chit - out of Pope AF base I can fill you in from the "compound" activities at Delta Force. If you have clearance. Well been long enough now in theory I could anyhow.

Your first SxS was in Rota Spain. You were lucky to be there considering you were a green weenie. And sometimes your justifications are so far out in Left field it makes me shake my head. But I think your heart is in the right place. Even if your logic is not. You are on the right track most times but your emotions get in the way of logic often, well used to. Not so much lately.

Back in the day if you were good with English and grammar you were considered light in the loafers. Just saying. There are some that actually contribute to the scientific principle.



Want to talk about getting Wet? No can't do it. But even though I retired 25 years ago think about it almost every night as I try to go to sleep. Not so much the scientific principle but what came out of Pope AF base at the compound. Among other places.

Not to knock on you Larry actually we agree on many things, likely most things. I was active the whole time, and it does make a difference.

Then again you smoke pipe as you pull out of shoots, you don't hang around long, and don't smoke a Cigar. :-)

First met you at a Flatwater shoot. Many for some reason mistook me for you and I smoke cigars, you a pipe. Was kind of honored and also pissed that most mixed us up...

Real world chit - out of Pope AF base I can fill you in from the "compound" activities at Delta Force. If you have clearance. Well been long enough now in theory I could anyhow.

Your first SxS was in Rota Spain. You were lucky to be there considering you were a green weenie. And sometimes your justifications are so far out in Left field it makes me shake my head. But I think your heart is in the right place. Even if your logic is not. You are on the right track most times but your emotions get in the way of logic often, well used to. Not so much lately.

Back in the day if you were good with English and grammar you were considered light in the loafers. Just saying. There are some that actually contribute to the scientific principle.



Want to talk about getting Wet? No can't do it. But even though I retired 25 years ago think about it almost every night as I try to go to sleep. Not so much the scientific principle but what came out of Pope AF base at the compound. Among other places.

Not to knock on you Larry actually we agree on many things, likely most things. I was active the whole time, and it does make a difference.

Then again you smoke pipe as you pull out of shoots, you don't hang around long, and don't smoke a Cigar. :-)[/quote]

Entirely possible we met at Flatwater, but you're mixing up some details. I've never smoked a pipe. I used to travel to Flatwater with another Larry who did (Navy vet, although he didn't stick around for 20), and I think he was smoking a pipe back then. But it's been a long time, so not surprised everything isn't crystal clear. It isn't for me either.

You're correct about my first sxs . . . Ithaca SKB 150 12ga. The reason I was in Rota, however, had nothing to do with the service. (At least not the uniformed service.) I'd completed my initial obligation with the National Guard when the CIA hired me. I was working out of the embassy in Morocco when I flew up to Rota, expressly to buy a shotgun. Our Air Force guys flew up to both Rota and Torrejon fairly frequently. Hopped their C-47 reconfigured into more of a VIP aircraft (although I was certainly no VIP.)

Much of my "logic" about the Muslim world comes from my time in Morocco. All of us old CIA hands chuckled when Obama's CIA Director, John Brennan, said we didn't steal secrets. But in fact, we didn't. Most of the time, we hired locals who had access and were willing to cooperate with us. We couldn't have done our jobs without them. Sort of like the Afghan "terps", who served with our military there. Their knowledge of the language(s) and the culture saved a lot of lives. Muslim terrorists? Kill them all. But the fact remains, most of them are being killed by our boots on the ground Muslim allies, whether they're Afghans or Arabs or Kurds. If we're going to continue fighting those wars--and better we fight them there rather than waiting for them to bring it here (like 9/11)--we can get by with relatively small numbers of American troops (mostly Special Operations types, supported by air power) as long as we're working with friendly locals. That's how my logic works, in a nutshell.

Got back in the Guard and then the Army Reserve post-CIA. I'd initially been Infantry, but it made a helluva lot more sense for me to stick around once I found a Military Intelligence unit. They even saw fit to wave a magic wand, instantly turning a SSG into a CPT. Worked for me. After that, I stuck around in the Army Reserve, ultimately retiring about the same time you did.

Put down Rota, Edzel, Scotland and 1st Radio Bn Hawaii on my dream sheet out of A school. Fuhks sent me to Adak.
I pissed off a lot of people in Pensacola. Joke was on them ‘cause I had a blast in Adak.


___________________________
Sex, drugs* and Rock & Roll. The Adak Way.
*alchohol & nicotine

This forum is primarily devoted to vintage guns. I shoot vintage guns almost exclusively. I live in Canada where selection for any product is usually quite a bit less than what you are used to in the US. Function of market size. I don’t shoot a lot of clays so I’m not buying volumes for that. But having started shooting vintage about 15 years ago, I got tired of not being able to find what I wanted. Long winded preamble to say that as a hunter of upland, I have enough shotshell inventory for the next 15 years in both 12 gage and 16 gauge.

However…….

I’ve just expanded into 20 gauge and 28 gauge. Called up the only legal importer/distributor of RST in Canada this past week. His total supply of RST consisted of 2 boxes of 28 gauge 2 1/2” and 8 boxes of 28 gauge 2 3/4”. Boxes, not flats.

Talked to Kent Gamebore. A little better. Got a flat of Gamebore Pure Gold 2 1/2” in 28 gauge and a flat of Gamebore Regal 20 gauge in 2 1/2”. $25 a box. They told me they have zero stock of any Kent lead product. All gone.

$25 a box!! That's a dollar a shell, for us slow guys. And that's "a little better". Dang!

My condolences, James. I won't pay that.

Stopped by a decent size gun shop today. Most times he has fifty flats or more of ammo. Zero. No primers of course. Did have about 15 pounds of Claydot in singles and two eight pounders of some alliant light powder for 12. Rifle and pistol powders were 5-6# but not very good ones. Zero primers. Most shocking was his normal 5-6 tons of shot was all gone. Did not know if he would get any before dive season. Sad looking at empty shelves. Worse if they were mine. Still has some long guns and pistols but no bullets. Hoarding is killing everybody.

Stan, we are used to paying more for everything. Cars, houses, groceries, ammo. Two quarts of milk costs $4.50. A dozen large eggs, $3.00. If the specialty ammo was under $18 I’d have thought it a steal.

A Stanley Cup, priceless.


__________________________
Fahk Mont…l.

Dang, James. That'd be a helluva paradigm shift for me. You've got to be 110% committed to the sport to do that. I admire you.

You would.

I’ll catch you with your head down, c-back. Count on it.


_______________________________
Learnd the game on the ponds of Sault Ste. Marie, On, with
My hillbilly, woodchopin’ cousins. Your dead.

(just posted this over on the 16ga site as well)

Was in my local Wally World yesterday and went to the back corner just to check on ammo availability. The shot shell shelves were still pretty bare but there were a dozen or so boxes of 12's, a couple of boxes of 20 and one box of 28. The surprising thing was this.



These are the first 16's I've seen in probably a year - three boxes of 7.5's and two boxes of 6's. And I didn't think the prices were too bad considering.
Maybe we're starting to come out of this.

People are acting crazy. Buddy of mine put a message on social media today that, if you're wanting some 9mm pistol rounds, there are three boxes hiding behind the jet ski covers at Academy Sports in Augusta. Apparently, someone was "stashing" some where they hoped they could come back and get them later. Crazy.

I saw more powder for sale at a big seller this weekend than I have seen in a very long time, probably 40 different types by at least 3 manufacturers. It does seem to be getting better.

- The WALMART in Sparta, IL had a pallet of Federal 12 and 20 gauge "4-packs" (100 rounds) at $23.50 this weekend. Limit of 6 packs per customer.
Local gun shop received a shipment of Browning shot shells, and selling at $90/flat (250 rounds).