Two days ago, I posted about shortages. To be honest, thanks to ammo shortages, I had not set foot in my LGS for about three weeks. I got called by some new shooters who wanted to take me up on my offer of a free shooting session, so we went. In return, they took us to dinner.
We started off with some .22 through a S&W M&P22. Then we moved to a suppressed 9mm, then unsuppressed. In all, I used up 100 rounds of 9mm, 50 rounds of .380, and 100 rounds of .22. I need to get some decent priced 9mm soon, or range trips in the near future will be made with .22.
Before we went shooting, they had to fill out the waivers, so I used that time to look over the gun shop.
The place was packed. Far busier than normal. There are 40 lanes, and most of them were full. Members went right in, there was a wait for non-members. We saw a large number of customers in the store who were looking for their first gun. A Florida CCW class had just let out, and there were a few students still hanging out, looking at various handguns. In all, if you include the range, there were about 200 customers in the store. The place was packed.
The training schedule for July and August was up. There were 18 courses on the schedule for the rest of the month of July, and every one of them was booked. The schedule looks like this:
4 classes of "Intro to Handguns" and 2 classes of "Ladies Only Intro to Handguns" all full
6 classes of "First Shots" all full
5 classes of Florida CCW all full
1 "Youth Intro to Firearms" also full
It seems that the new shooters aren't just buying- they are buying and getting educated. Awesome. I welcome all new shooters into the culture. I mean ALL. The more popular shooting is, the harder it is to ban guns.
Guns are back in stock. The gun cabinets were well stocked, and to the credit of the LGS, the prices were pretty close to normal. Ammo is a bit hit or miss. Limits on most ammo were still one box per person, with a few exceptions:
5.56mm is back in stock in a big way. They were selling it by the box or by the case. Same with shotgun, except slugs, which are still limited.
The hunting calibers seemed to be well stocked, as was revolver ammo. There was plenty of .38, .44, and .357 magnum. For handguns, it was hit or miss. Oddly enough, there was plenty of .45ACP. There was some .40 S&W, but there were only 5 or 6 boxes of expensive 9mm.
The ammo situation is improving, but I don't see us getting back to normal levels for months.
1 comment:
I've been to 4 different gun shops in the past month. Very hit or miss. Academy was completely empty except for a few revolvers and a single shot rifle. Carter's was pretty well picked over, with a handful of rifles and a few Glocks. 2 others, which are more antique and cowboy/surplus seemed to be reasonably stocked. Ammo was very hit or miss, too. Again, Academy was out and the other places picked over.
I've got enough defensive ammo, but practice stuff is getting slim. Keeping my eyes open for more, but not going to overpay. Also, reloading components are selling out, for what that's worth.
That's all here in South Texas.
Post a Comment