Supply chain issues, high demand keep hunters scrambling to reload

Issues with lingering supply chain disruptions that started with the COVID-19 pandemic have put hunters and gun enthusiasts in a bind.

Though there are signs that ammunition shortages are on the decline, stores in Southeast - and nationwide - are still having trouble getting stocked up, leading shooters to go on the hunt for ammo or to create their own.

Last month, Mike White, manager of Sentry Hardware, was still waiting on a $75,000 ammo order he had placed in January. He said incoming stock is better than it was a year ago, yet orders are still trickling in. The display case had very little else other than boxes of 9 mm.

The same is true for other retailers in town, such as Angerman's, where owner Jeff Angerman said some calibers have been difficult to get for a couple of years. Before the pandemic, he would have large orders come in every spring and fall.

"Now, I've had ammo orders building for a couple years. I've seen very little," Angerman said. "I recently got some .22 long rifle. I got some .45-70. The .22 shells have been hard to get for a couple of years. That's starting to build up a little bit ... but now that it's hunting season, the main calibers that people like to use around here, I'm having trouble getting those."

Supply chain problems, including high demand for brass, import restrictions, labor shortages and other issues, have kept ammo manufacturers focusing on one caliber at a time, often churning out mass amounts of one, then switching focus to another.

Remington, a popular ammunition brand, also had pauses in production at the beginning of the pandemic related to the company filing bankruptcy. Vista Outdoor bought Remington after the bankruptcy and has aimed to pump up manufacturing.

High demand has also led to an increase in costs, with most shells priced at $2 or more each, Angerman said. Those costs have hunters budgeting and scaling back trips and shooting.

"Before, we could do lots of little hunting trips. Go to Zarembo, go to Prince of Wales ... all the places we like to hunt and a few random spots every year," said Nic Martin, owner of Nic's Pizza and an avid hunter since childhood. "Now, it's like $900 or $600 just in fuel, plus ammo, plus all the different amenities you want to take. ... Every time you squeeze the trigger, there's $2."

Martin said he is currently stocked up with the various calibers he uses, such as a 6.5 Creedmoor and .300 WinMag. But it's taken some doing to get there.

"I was down to half a box," he said. "There's not sighting your gun, playing around with it, getting comfortable with it. You always like to run a box of shells through your gun before every hunting season just to get a little practice and dial it back in. Shells are upwards of like $75 a box, which is absolutely insane."

During a recent road trip across the Lower 48, Martin stopped at as many sporting goods stores and pawnshops to find ammo. He's also had friends in different communities like Sitka and Craig keeping an eye out for the calibers he shoots with.

In Petersburg, at Hammer & Wikan, the cases appear well-stocked, but even with increased buying power, the store has had difficulty in obtaining more popular calibers.

"We are still struggling to get ammo," said Jim Floyd, general manager of Hammer & Wikan. "Currently, we have a little shotgun ammo, we have plenty of 9 mm, .556, .223 and .308. Anything else is hit or miss. We put significant orders in last year and it trickles in."

The department store belongs to a worldwide buying group which attends gun shows twice a year, Floyd said. At those shows, the group buys directly from manufacturers, but even then, he said they still have outstanding orders. "There has been a 100% increase in demand for guns and ammo," he said. "We are still a little store competing against larger corporate stores that get priority."

Ammunition shortages have led some, like Martin, to reload their own shells. That comes with its own set of challenges, as primers, plastic and powders are just as hard to come by as ammo.

"I talked to somebody the other day and gun range is cleaner than ever because everyone picks up their brass," White said.

Sentry currently limits the amount of ammo each customer can buy, which is typically the case for most stores, but Angerman's doesn't limit sales since it hasn't been an issue lately.

"Right now, I'm not (limiting sales)," Angerman said. "If you only get 10 boxes of a certain caliber that's a popular hunting caliber, and one guy comes in and buys it all, OK, I sold my ammo, but I didn't help satisfy my customers' needs."