At Wally World, Guns Unlimited and Cabela's...... 147gr .355"....... no dice ...... nor 124 gr, either. Cabela's had NO rifle or pistol primers. 31 bucks/ 1000 at GU....... Wally World had exactly ONE (1) box of .357 and ONE (1) box of .44 Mag....... and a half dozen boxes of .357 sig. None of the above businesses could tell me when they would get more: the distributors were not keeping any inventory on hand, because they did not want to pay taxes on it in this tight economy was one of the reasons given.....
GU pistol cabinet was as empty as I have ever seen it.
Cabela's gun counter was standing room only (middle of the afternoon) and I had to wait 20 minutes to get a salesguy to get me some Bluedot (In the forelorn hope that I might one day actually find some 147gr 9mm HPs to put in front of it....... grumblegrumble). Lotsa guns getting sold, judging by the amount of paperwork being filled out....... the elderly couple in line in front of me wanted to "buy a handgun, not sure what kind, never had one before".... the salesguy showed them a Glock and an XD in 9mm, and then figured out that they were from Minnesota, and explained that Cabela's would have to ship it to a FFL in their home state ($35+ whatever the recieving FFL charged for the transfer), and it might be better for them to buy it from a retailer back home....
When they turned around to leave, I told them, "I overheard that you were from Minnesota. The guy that gave my concealed carry class is from Minnesota- Paul Horvick- he gives handgun familiaization classes, and travels- you might look him up." I gave them his website..... they asked me, " We don't know anything about handguns, but wanted to get one before we can't get one.... what do YOU recomend? I asked them what they wanted it for-" its a tool- right tool for the right job..... if you want to saw down trees, you get a chainsaw, if you want to cut a piece of lumber, get a skillsaw".... home defense? CCW? They again asked me what I recomended...... I told them I carry a 9mm Springfield, but that would not mean that that is what they should get- they should try different guns, and keep in mind the purpose of the gun- a carry gun has to be small and light, a target gun has to be accurate, a plinking gun should be in a common caliber so ammo is cheap and plentiful......
...... they wrote down Paul's website and left......
"We don't know anything about handguns, but wanted to get one before we can't get one.... "
That right there is why the ammo is in such short supply. What I can't figure out is why the manufacturers/retailers are not ramping up to meet the demand.