It has begun. Many, if not most dealers are getting real thin on 5.56x45 and 7.62x39 and other calibers too, along with magazines.
Aim Surplus: "I am out of Wolf .223, Federal .223, PMC .223, PMC ss109, i had 4 SKUs of 7.62x39 last month, only 1 from here on out. Things are already tough"
Cope's Distributing: "19 Skids of 54r. in 2 1/2 Days last week. All of our Federal .223/556 is gone. 7.62x39 Bulgarian gone in 2 days... Yes they are buying in huge qtys. Hell we are seeing it in AR15 magazines. We are averaging 2000 plus every 2 1/2 weeks.. We have now upped our order to 2000 per week on ar15 magazines. We have been out of AK-47 Magazines for 4 weeks. Just got 1000 in today and will probably be out by the end of the week. Korean Beta Mags are being bought up 50 at a time and AK Drums the same way. Just a take on what we are seeing."
I have personally been watching the bulk ammo prices since Thanksgiving, and prices have been steadily climbing to the point where most is 10-20% higher now, if you can find it in stock. Shipping costs are also being bumped up with the rising fuel costs(not just for shipping to you, but getting it to the retailer as well). I don't reload, yet(yeah, I'm a dummy
) but I hear component prices are going up pretty fast too.
So, just an FYI folks... I don't want to sound like Chicken Little here, but if you are thinking about stocking up on your favorite caliber of ammo, and it's a few other's favorite caliber too, you may just want to get some.
NOW! Anyone remember 1k round cases of Wolf going for $300+ back in early 2009? How about the $175 stripped AR lowers? It will probably get that bad, or worse.
If it doesn't... well... stored properly, most modern ammo will be good for 20+ years and your grandkids can shoot it.