My local Walmart is selling existing stock, but has been told that no further orders will be processed until further notice.

Nashville, TN

Wow...it's like the Corleone's. You don't let our guy star in your movie... you might have some union trouble.

That's too bad. I used to get my 12ga. Target loads there. They had 100 round packs for $22

All part of a grande scheme no doubt.

Actually, we may be too hard on Walmart. The paranoia down in US is drying up supplies too fast and driving up prices speculatively. Walmart probably realizes that it's wholesale purchase prices are becoming temporarily out of sight. Would not be good business for them to buy into large stocks of ammunition at this point realizing that the stores could likely wind up getting stuck with stocks purchased at wholesale prices for which they very soon could not hope to sell profitably at retail when the panic subsides. Also, by then the public will have sated its desire for purchases for some time to come. I think this has nothing to do with "waiting to see what the President is going to do about 2nd Amendment" as some have alleged. It's a sound business decision to bail out of this silly paranoid run on ammunition. Walmart probably got burned last time when Obama was first elected and decided not to play that game this time. They're a lot smarter than the gullible gun owning public down there. By the way, I was in my Walmart today shopping in the sporting goods section while I was waiting my turn for a haircut. They were VERY well stocked and prices were extremely cheap (3" mag 12 ga goose loads were $4/box cheaper than anyplace else in town!). I was glad to see a good variety of waterfowl loads - much better than they have ever had before at this store. Does not appear to be any panic buying up here but I'm sure our prices will be going way up shortly thanks to what the market is doing down there. But I also expect prices will fall through the floor by next hunting season. I'm banking on it and not buying anything now!

Okay, now it looks like it's working again. Sarge, what did you expect Walmart to say? That they're going to hold off picking up any more ammo because they don't want to get stuck with inventory they'll have to sell at a loss once the paranoia ends? That would go over like a lead balloon. Much easier to blame the government. It's the American way!

Hi...

What a bunch of spineless wimps.

Then, just do business through the catalog companies (Sportsman's Guide, for example). They have lots to sell.

Honker, I sincerely hope you're right. Buddy of mine in a local gun shop says they're hearing from their distributors of 6 month lead times and price increases on ammo and components.

mdezort, Walmart doesn't pick their ammo off trees! They have to buy it from wholesale distributors who are faced with short supplies and manufacturers that can't keep up. Manufacturers have to buy their raw materials from folks who are also in short supply. The market is there but the supplies aren't. The result is a bidding war for what can be had. Walmart has decided it's not good business sense to get caught up in a temporary speculative bubble. Why should they be criticized for that? Perhaps by doing so they are actually helping to keep prices down. I imagine they must be considering they're one of the largest if not the largest wholesale buyer in US. Give them a medal, not criticism.

This is basic capitalist economics. Forget about any conspiracy theories. It's our wonderful democratic capitalist American way in action. The system doesn't always work perfectly but still the best in the world ... supposedly.

Walmart is selling what stock they have as evidenced by our three Walmarts in town. Two of them are stores they recently opened when they took over the Zellers (like a Canadian K-Mart) that closed. Walmart is wisely not buying any new stock till the panic subsides. Consequently, the newly opened Walmarts here have NO ammo on the shelves although the price tags are there on empty shelves. The old Walmart still has an ample supply of ammo on its shelves and, as I said in another post, some of the .223 boxes are quite dusty! The ammo is still there because no one is making a run on the stuff up here. Walmart still has to buy from American wholesalers. Management simply does not want to get gouged to restock the shelves now and then be forced to unload them at a loss later when the mania subsides. So they're not buying any new stock which is why the shelves of the new stores are empty. REMEMBER, WALLMART NEVER SAID THEY WERE GOING TO PULL THEIR AMMO OFF THE SHELVES (TO HOARD AND DRIVE THE PRICES UP. THEY STATED QUITE SIMPLY THAT THEY WERE NOT GOING BE DOING ANY WHOLESALE PURCHASES TO RESTOCK UNTIL THE SPECULATION RUNS ITS COURSE. Again, we should applaud them for doing so because it's almost certainly helped immensely to keep your prices down.

I'm not going to play this game. I have a few shells left from last season and if by some completely insane turn of events no ammo is available next fall, I simply won't hunt. Oh well, not the end of the world. I'm a little behind on my cross-stitch projects anyway. But I expect there's a greater probability that a Martian space ship will fall on my house than no ammo. I am almost certain by next fall there'll be an abundant supply of shells and they will be cheaper than they have been for years! I believe Walmart knows what they're doing and I'll wisely follow their lead.

BTW, I have not noticed a run on nor price increases on waterfowl loads since last summer.

Dan, read the above posts. Walmart is trying to help keep your prices (and their losses) down by not getting involved in all the speculation. Just because some radical on here made an unverified claim that Walmart was somehow doing this to step in line with the President doesn't mean it's true. Really, I don't think you're ever going to find a company founder or corporate ethic that could be any more conservative than Walmart! The very idea that it could be construed as liberal is patently absurd. Only goes to show how blindly rabid these 2nd Amendment types are getting. They bite themselves even.

Guess I'm not shoppin at the Walmart any more. Walmart y'all can go F&ck yourselves

Better Walmart than Target!

armedliberal,
Thank you.

Armed lib- walmart was founded in 62'. As of January 2013 there were 4005 walmart stores in the US, I would tend to say that not every person that buys from walmart is on the fast track to work there. and although you may not think we can rally around a way of life, a lot of us rally around Pro Life. And I'm positive that is more than you can say.

Typical liberals bashing big american companies. The only difference between how Wal-Mart runs their business vs. how their competitors run theirs is that Wal-Mart is more successful executing their plan.

daisy, while most everyone is welcome here...how about being a little more imaginative with your screen name huh?

Wal-Mart is still selling ammo; in fact in my part of the country they have a big poster in the sporting goods section stating that fact.

By the way, all these folks that swarm Wal-Mart to buy their limit (just to take them to flea markets and sell them at inflated prices or separate them into smaller quantities to sell on ebay) are as bad as the speculators that drive our oil prices up. :(

This is a real shame. Walmart is my last resort to ammunition. Ron Peterson's had to cut the amount of boxes you could buy to 2.

I conducted some local research to find out why our local Wal-Mart, BassPro, etc…couldn’t keep ammo on the shelf. The answers were surprising and a little aggravating to say the least.

I asked a large local outlet,
Do you get much ammo anymore?
Oh yeah, three to four shipments a week…nothing has changed.
Wow, ok…so what happens when ammo arrives?
Well, I hate to say it, but the local Gun & Pawn Shop owners, their employees, and some other “regulars” are always here, first in line, waiting for us to shelve it. They’re here everyday it seems, even when nothing comes in….I asked why the buy so much and they tell me that they sell it all online…it’s a shame they won’t let it sit so regular folks can buy some.

Ok, I’m starting to get the picture…so I head over to one of our local Gun/Pawn shops and ask the owner about it. He says, Damn right, I got plenty of ammo…just spent 25 thousand dollars on retail ammo and am reselling it here and online.... If I can keep it off the shelves at Wal-Mart, folks have to buy it from me... Just keeping the shelves empty scares the hell outta folks and keeps’em scrambling over here for more. I can get 60 bucks for 100 rounds of 22lr here at the store and there’s no telling how long I can keep doing it with the ban scare and all.

So maybe it’s not the government or the manufacturer’s as much as it may be a bit of our own fault… I concluded that since the initial demand for ammo, many small businesses and even more “regular Joe’s” realized that WE'LL PAY DAMN NEAR ANYTHING FOR AMMO. So with that in mind, and little to no regulation on the sale or shipment of ammo, guess what….an endless supply of "online" and "mom/pop" resellers have emerged to cash in on inflated ammo sales… so where does the average Joe go to buy affordable ammo to resell at 10 times the price???? You got it….Wal-Mart, Bass Pro, Dicks, etc… It seems these giant outlets are now the "middle-men" and we are at the mercy of those who have nothing better to do but campout Walmart in order to make a buck on ammo.

So, as long as you're willing to pay for it, I believe these folks will be motivated to stand in line and keep the shelves at Wal-Mart empty so that you have yet another source for overpriced ammo. When someone can make 500% on an item in demand, you can bet your last dollar they will do what they can to keep it in demand....and why not, ammo’s an easy buck, right now almost anyone can get away with buying/selling & shipping it…

Simple solution….we want to buy ammo at Wal-Mart; we need to stop buying it somewhere else.