Is ammo availability gonna affect your hunting season?

[Glendon Mullins]

I got enough hunting ammo loaded for several seasons etc. kinda like @robby denning said though, I may limit my preseason practice more, which sucks considering I have new gun on layaway

 

[Blackstorm]

Going to hammer me hard on dog training and field trials, as I shoot a lot of the cheap stuff for training I don't reload this type of ammo but I shoot thru cases of it every year. The same for Field Trials as a club we don't stock ammo and in the Socalist republic of NY we are required to shoot steel. For my SoDak trips I have a case or so of Lead and my heavy steel for waterfowl. I have plenty of reloads for deer and Elk but I have to work up a Moose load for next year's trip but I might have enough components.

 

[wapitibob]

Every primer needs a bullet, that's where I'm seeing the shortage.

 

[FLAK]

I'm good. But I'm gonna be very conservative with my range time.

 

[5MilesBack]

Even when I was only a rifle hunter I rarely ever shot much. In fact, just the other day I noticed that my 7 mag still had 3 of the 4 cartridges in the magazine from my last rifle hunt.......a late season meat hunt in 2016. The missing cartridge was used on a WT. And I'm confident that the rifle will still hit exactly where it would back then. So if I have any rifle hunts for later seasons, it's good to go and I have 3 cartridges for three animals.

 

[Ridge Ghost]

As others have stated, it will mostly just affect how many rounds I practice with before the season

 

[Rich M]

Ordered 2 cases of 1-1/8 oz 7.5 shot on the company dime - $260 shipped or about $0.50 per shell. That was as cheap as I could find it and was just looking for 7.5 shot as opposed to 8 or 9.

Looked at 243 while I was on there and folks were trying to sell federal blue box for $45-$55 per 20 round box. Crazy.

 

[WCB]

Nope, have at minimum of 200rds for every caliber I have...some much much more. I have 8 cases of waterfowl loads, 10 cases of trap loads, 5 cases of upland loads just for 12 gauge. Tons of 20 gauge and 4 cases of .410.

Guys that are going to be hurt the worst are new guys or the typical weekend warrior that never has more than a couple boxes on hand.

Now will I burn through ammo like I did this summer...probably not, but if your guns are dialed in you should be able to confirm your dope in half a box or less. Should really be a non issue.

 

[stdeb11]

It'll definitely limit preseason practice. However did impulse buy a few boxes at a ridiculous price when I found some online the other day...debating on doing more 22 shooting to make up for it

 

[tstith]

@Rich M there is a guy in NW Denver who is selling cases of target 12ga ammo for $100/case. I linked it below. I am in the area if you need a local intermediary. DM me if this helps you.

12 gauge target ammo

Herter's Target Loads 12 gauge, 2 3/4", 1 1/8 oz., #8 shot. $100 per case (10 boxes of 25 shells), 17 cases available.<br /><br />Estate Target Loads, 2 3/4", 1 oz., #7 1/2 shot. $100 per case (10 boxes of 25 shells), 9 cases available.<br /><br />Sold as cases only, cash only and local only...

www.armslist.com

 

[Rich M]

Thanks, @tstith

I'll keep you in mind - very kind of you!

 

[7layerburrito]

While I'm not worried about ammo shortages for the reasons mentioned above, I have worked up a nice dry-fire routine that if you have the space and an old iPad, might be of use to some folks on the forums.

I have a 15 yard corridor on my first floor from my office down through the family room. On the far counter I have an old iPad stand and on that iPad I keep a photo slideshow of sheep, deer and elk all at various sizes. From the opposite end of the corridor, through my scope on its lowest power (3x), those animals appear at varying angles and display sizes. I set the slideshow to play (on the slowest setting) and spend about 30 minutes a day rotating through shooting positions focusing 100% on the routine of breathing and steady trigger pull, and watching my crosshair (hopefully not) move. I've been at it for a few months now and it's vastly improved my shooting when I do decide to go burn a box of rounds.

I'd love to find some sort of accelerometer/dry-fire device that worked nicely with a bolt-action rifle to start keeping data but all of the videos I've seen of the Mantis-X and things like it just don't seem to perform great with a traditional hunting rifle (I shoot a Sako .270 and a Kimber .300WM). Anyway, the system I put together is great as-is (and free).

Before I started using the iPad, I was just using pictures of animals in books,trying to find some that scaled to the in-scope size of an animal at 100, 200, 300 and beyond and then pinning them to a corkboard. But with the iPad I can bring those pictures into Photoshop and scale them to whatever I want as long as the resolution of the original is good. I did some research on animal size at distance given scope power and have cooked up a few dozen approximations that the slideshow runs through while I'm doing the drill.

 

[rodney482]

Nope

 

[5MilesBack]

Nope View attachment 265282

Amateur.

 

[rodney482]

Amateur.

Just enough to fill a lifetime of tags.

 

[wyojdubya]

While I hope supply chains catch up before the start of the 2021 season, my waterfowl ammo is running low. I thus bit the proverbial bullet yesterday on an overpriced case of bismuth to ensure my 390 is loaded through the season. Perhaps a panic buy. But....

The ammo stampede has also hosed my efforts to develop a load for my new, finicky 270 mountain rifle. I've got all kinds of cool stuff to trade for RL16 for anyone who has it.

 

[Rob5589]

Nope

 

[Khasburgh]

I have enough ammo to get through season if it were to start tomorrow, but I am keeping my eye out to add what I need to have for practice rounds prior to season.

 

[calico pig]

If season were to start tomorrow I would probably be screwed. I bought a rifle and scope during the middle of the pandemic and have struggled to find ammo since I bought the gun. Good thing season is still aways out so I should be able to find some by then.

Me too. Have a sweet 7Saum rifle sitting here with no ammo. Back to my old Tikka which I have a few boxes of '06 left. Just ordered a hunting rifle today in 6.5 creedmoor because I was on optics planet and somehow got 12 boxes of Berger 135 gr classic hunters. I thought it was a mistake but they showed up. I guess I'll hope they shoot minute of axis buck.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I'm a relatively novice hunter who's exclusively bowhunted so far.

I thought long and hard about trying my hand at rifle or muzzleloader this year, but am more than likely avoiding it because I'm not sure how much I'd be able to practice and get comfortable behind the gun.

In theory, it shouldn't be too hard to hit a paper plate sized target at various ranges. In practice, I've found I need to be 100% confident in my equipment and my ability when the moment of truth comes.