Caribou Gear

Ammo shortage causing hunting problem?

I haven't had an issue but I do a lot of looking when I am out and I usually have plenty of handloads for my others. For turkey I use the same load every year and no scope, so usually just one shot for practice.
 
I moved two years ago and last weekend I happened to stumble on a box I have been looking for since I moved. The box contained lots of brass, two boxes of 7mm08 and two boxes of .243 ammo. On top of that my son found a box of 30-30 rounds in his car and handed them over to me, that covers 3 out of 4 of my hunting rifles. I do have one box of rounds for my 280 and have everything I need to load for that rifle.
 
midwesthunter said:
I haven't had an issue but I do a lot of looking when I am out and I usually have plenty of handloads for my others. For turkey I use the same load every year and no scope, so usually just one shot for practice.
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Turkey ammo seems to be plentiful around here. Not cheap tho.
 
Only place I'm really screwed is for powder. have enough to get me through hunting season if I hunt this year, but not enough to play with. Primer's? Last count I have 30,000 primers! Plenty of bullets in 24,25,26 and 30 cal and if I was to run short I have a lot of 30cal 180gr cast and about a ton of lead to make more with. Powder though is a sore subject with me! This won't happen again, same thing I said last time!
 
Redman said:
Went turkey hunting this morning but unlike previous years I usually check the pattern of my gun and practice a bit before season rolls around. I also use my bow if I know the area has a good population of birds where I would have multiple encounters. Well I could not find turkey loads any where and this area was slim pickings on birds. I had two birds working this morning but they would not commit. I decided to go to them. I got as close as I could and gave a couple soft yelps and brought one in at about 45 yds. Try as a may he wouldn't come closer and he was getting edgey. 45 yds has not been an issue before but I always made sure the gun was in check. Well let him have it he rolled and stood up. I automatically pump in another round but it failed to eject and my gun jammed. I take off running after the bird to keep an eye on where he was heading. With the jammed gun and me pulling off the face mask to see better I lost sight of the bird. Didn't hear him fly no clue as to where he ran. Anyway things happen but had fresh ammo and practice time in I would have taken it a bit better. That feeling of doubt sinks in because I was unable to do my normal routine.
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Too bad you couldn't get someone with a bird dog to find that cripple. I'm guessing you clipped a jugular and he was able to run a ways and die. I have seen geese shot in the head with BB shot and one eye bulging out that got back up in the air again (for a ways anyway). Vividly remember one honker like that forty years ago fighting my Lab for ten minutes. Back in 1970 opening day I shot a hen mallard in the head. She did the usual routine trying to fly straight up and up and up before gently drifting to ground. Appeared dead when Cocoa brought it to me. At home when I pulled all the birds from my game bag to divvy them with my hunting partner, the damn thing came to life and flew down the road with dog in hot pursuit. Cocoa came back with it about five minutes later. Whew. I was afraid she'd chase it across Hwy 2 a quarter mile away. Ironically she was run over at the intersection seven years later. Anyway, shooting birds in the head isn't as lethal as we think. They can still get away. It happens.

What kind of gun? My old 870 Wingmaster has a propensity to not quite kick empties out the port but it's pretty much worn out. Needs the ejector replaced but I rarely use it any more except on very nasty days. I'm guessing you're using an 870 Express and a shell hung up in the chamber? If it is an Express, some time at a gunsmith would be more productive than the range. Get the chamber polished. Or better yet, send it to the used gun rack at your local store and spend a few more $$$ on something that's not junk.
 
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My African hunting buddy found me an ancient carton of Federal shotgun primers and a fella from the club sold me a thousand wads yesterday so I have enough stuff to load shells for range season ... if it even opens this year. I am short on goose loads though. Hopefully supplies will pick up by October. If not I'll just stick to grouse hunting. Trap reloads will work fine for them.
 
OntarioHunter said:
Too bad you couldn't get someone with a bird dog to find that cripple. I'm guessing you clipped a jugular and he was able to run a ways and die. I have seen geese shot in the head with BB shot and one eye bulging out that got back up in the air again (for a ways anyway). Vividly remember one honker like that forty years ago fighting my Lab for ten minutes. Back in 1970 opening day I shot a hen mallard in the head. She did the usual routine trying to fly straight up and up and up before gently drifting to ground. Appeared dead when Cocoa brought it to me. At home when I pulled all the birds from my game bag to divvy them with my hunting partner, the damn thing came to life and flew down the road with dog in hot pursuit. Cocoa came back with it about five minutes later. Whew. I was afraid she'd chase it across Hwy 2 a quarter mile away. Ironically she was run over at the intersection seven years later. Anyway, shooting birds in the head isn't as lethal as we think. They can still get away. It happens.

What kind of gun? My old 870 Wingmaster has a propensity to not quite kick empties out the port but it's pretty much worn out. Needs the ejector replaced but I rarely use it any more except on very nasty days. I'm guessing you're using an 870 Express and a shell hung up in the chamber? If it is an Express, some time at a gunsmith would be more productive than the range. Get the chamber polished. Or better yet, send it to the used gun rack at your local store and spend a few more $$$ on something that's not junk.
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I have shot them with a bow and watched them run off and burrow into the biggest brush pile they could find. Had I not watched them I would have never found them. Nobody around here has bird dogs anymore not good bird hunting here these days due to loss of habitat.
I use my Mossberg 500 with a Undertaker Turkey Choke. That gun is over 30 years old and I just recently replaced the magazine tube because it wore through from years of use. I have killed more critters with that gun than all my guns combined and I have a lot of guns! I don't reload shotgun shells but may start after this experience.
 
A couple/three/four yrs ago I was putting in some hard overtime at the same time SPS had my Fav 7mm & 338's in stock. I bought a big butt load during that time ! Ammo shortages are like the tides, they come and they go. No shortages in the Gunner household...... :)
 
Redman said:
I have shot them with a bow and watched them run off and burrow into the biggest brush pile they could find. Had I not watched them I would have never found them. Nobody around here has bird dogs anymore not good bird hunting here these days due to loss of habitat.
I use my Mossberg 500 with a Undertaker Turkey Choke. That gun is over 30 years old and I just recently replaced the magazine tube because it wore through from years of use. I have killed more critters with that gun than all my guns combined and I have a lot of guns! I don't reload shotgun shells but may start after this experience.
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Sounds more like a problem with the gun than ammo. What exactly happened? Reloading shotgun ammo often results in more problems than it solves ... and this from a guy who reloads a lot of shotgun ammo. Mossberg 500 doesn't have a perfect reputation but not known for ejection problems, that I've heard of anyway. Yours may simply have a worn out ejector like my old Wingmaster. Would not be surprising if you've put enough ammo through it to wear out the magazine tube. A gun with that much history deserves to be fixed.

Get in touch with a local Ducks Unlimited chapter. Those guys are everywhere. They'll put you in touch with someone who would gladly bring out a retreiver to clean up the odd crippled turkey. As a typical chicken family bird, I'm sure turkeys are loaded with exciting scent that will get any hunting dog, whether upland pointer or waterfowl retreiver, worked up. I'd love to let my dogs go after one. Not sure either of them would drag a big turkey back to me (I'm sure my little 38 lb Fr Britt would not), but they would sure find one. Any of my other Labs would have been thrilled to tackle a big tom. A few years back I hunted pheasants on a place in the Milk River valley that had a flock of turkeys hanging around. They were often in the lower hayfield next to the thick stuff along the river. One morning I came out to hunt and they were still feeding so I worked the dogs above the ranch house. Owner said they roosted on adjacent posted property. I shot two roosters and returned to hunt the lower field in the heat of the day after turkeys were gone. As we worked the cottonwood timber next to the river the dogs got birdy. Then I heard a commotion. Big birds were running everywhere. I didn't have a tag so I whistled to the dogs. No sense riling those turkeys up if other people could hunt them. Just as the three dogs came running back a huge long-beard tom floated overhead maybe fifteen yards high. It was quite the sight. Not often one has an opportunity for a pass shot at a turkey! Oh well. I'll never forget the look on old Pearl's face. "What the HELL was that?!"
 
I was going to buy a few extra boxes of Nosler 165 AB's a couple years ago. Wish I had.
I did find 2 boxes under some papers yesterday,cool. No practice shooting this year,except with the pistol.

I hate horders. I hope they choke.
I'll wait to find some later.
 
OntarioHunter said:
Sounds more like a problem with the gun than ammo. What exactly happened? Reloading shotgun ammo often results in more problems than it solves ... and this from a guy who reloads a lot of shotgun ammo. Mossberg 500 doesn't have a perfect reputation but not known for ejection problems, that I've heard of anyway. Yours may simply have a worn out ejector like my old Wingmaster. Would not be surprising if you've put enough ammo through it to wear out the magazine tube.

Get in touch with a local Ducks Unlimited chapter. Those guys are everywhere. They'll put you in touch with someone who would gladly bring out a retreiver to clean up the odd crippled turkey. As a typical chicken family bird, I'm sure turkeys are loaded with exciting scent that will get any hunting dog, whether upland pointer or waterfowl retreiver, worked up. I'd love to let my dogs go after one. Not sure either of them would drag a big turkey back to me (I'm sure my little 38 lb Fr Britt would not), but they would sure find one. Any of my other Labs would have been thrilled to tackle a big tom. A few years back I hunted pheasants on a place in the Milk River valley that had a flock of turkeys hanging around. They were often in the lower hayfield next to the thick stuff along the river. One morning I came out to hunt and they were still feeding so I worked the dogs above the ranch house. Owner said they roosted on adjacent posted property. I shot two roosters and returned to hunt the lower field in the heat of the day after turkeys were gone. As we worked the cottonwood timber next to the river the dogs got birdy. Then I heard a commotion. Big birds were running everywhere. I didn't have a tag so I whistled to the dogs. No sense riling those turkeys up if other people could hunt them. Just as the three dogs came running back a huge long-beard tom floated overhead maybe fifteen yards high. It was quite the sight. Not often one has an opportunity for a pass shot at a turkey! Oh well. I'll never forget the look on old Pearl's face. "What the HELL was that?!"
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Not a gun issue. Like I said I have had this gun for over 30 years and can take it apart blindfolded. Actually people bring guns to me to solve issues with. My OP is to focus on how an ammo/component shortage is going to cause people not to practice enough and eliminate possible issues with equipment and shooting form.
 
Well, okay. I don't think reloading is an answer for you. Apparently you like to shoot specialty turkey loads? Are you shooting 3" shells? Finding any kind of wads right now is a big problem. Finding 3" wads is tough in the best of times, even for generic stuff. I had to advertise for unwanted trap load wads and lucky to find a couple of bags. All primers and some kinds of powder are harder to find than ammo right now. And very expensive. Shot is also scarce. People are hoarding components just like ammo and manufacturers had to cut or stop production during the pandemic. The only reloading components that are cheap and abundant right now are the loaders. I can get a used single stage shotshell loader anytime I want and usually for nothing ... literally. The reason is guys are getting rid of them because it's usually cheaper to buy most shotgun ammo than loading it, especially if buying bulk.

I strongly doubt you could load shells that would shoot the same as specialty turkey loads. The wads the companies use are typically proprietary technology and usually not available for reloading.
 
A friend ordered some ammo from Federal about 10 weeks ago (at the time their website said 2-4 week delay) and it still says pending. We're hoping it shows up in the next couple weeks otherwise I may have to mess with a few leftovers of things I have here to get loads put together they can get to the range
 
I ordered a 300 wsm rifle last month but couldn’t find ANY ammo for it, so I canceled the order. I ordered the same rifle from another vendor but went with 300 win mag instead. No problem finding ammo for that caliber now. I was hoping to get 200 gr but settled for 180 gr accubonds instead. I was also able to get a cheap box for breaking in the barrel and getting the scope on paper. They are limiting the purchase to 3 to 5 boxes of rifle ammo to prevent hoarding.
 
I'm set on 7mm bullets for hunting. Thanks in large part to purchases from private people.
I have 20 turkey loads for the 20ga. & plenty of 7-1/2 shot for small game.

What seems nonexistant is 25 caliber Nosler Ballistic Tips. Both 100 & 115gr.
I can use the 115gr Berger VLD, but the BTs are more forgiving on quartering shots.

Side note.
The 100gr BT are NOT forgiving on hides for coyote. :rolleyes:
 
All set here. For the 2 rifles that I bought this year (Winchester Model 70 Super Grade SS .264 Win. mag, Model 70 featherweight .308), I bought 2 boxes of factory ammo for each. Nosler Accubond 130 gr. for the .264, Federal Non Typical 150 gr. for the .308. Ammo was purchased from Gun Broker for not cheap, but reasonable prices. Reasonably priced ammo sells out fast! My other rifles, shotguns, and hand guns are set too. Even have 2 bottles of BH 209, plenty of Hornady .50 SST 250 gr. sabots, and CCI magnum 209 primers for the muzzleloader(s).
 
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Bought several boxes of 140 Gr accubonds loaded by Winchester for my .270 a couple of years ago and several boxes of 140 gr Hornady Interlocks also. Glad I did. This year sucks bad for ammo availability.
 
Redman said:
Went turkey hunting this morning but unlike previous years I usually check the pattern of my gun and practice a bit before season rolls around. I also use my bow if I know the area has a good population of birds where I would have multiple encounters. Well I could not find turkey loads any where and this area was slim pickings on birds. I had two birds working this morning but they would not commit. I decided to go to them. I got as close as I could and gave a couple soft yelps and brought one in at about 45 yds. Try as a may he wouldn't come closer and he was getting edgey. 45 yds has not been an issue before but I always made sure the gun was in check. Well let him have it he rolled and stood up. I automatically pump in another round but it failed to eject and my gun jammed. I take off running after the bird to keep an eye on where he was heading. With the jammed gun and me pulling off the face mask to see better I lost sight of the bird. Didn't hear him fly no clue as to where he ran. Anyway things happen but had fresh ammo and practice time in I would have taken it a bit better. That feeling of doubt sinks in because I was unable to do my normal routine.
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I had the same thing happen this year right down to the call in and him holding up and getting nervous at about 45 yards. My bird never rolled he just took off 😂 I actually couldn’t find my normal turkey shells to buy and used some old stuff I found around the house. I got a couple Tom’s the next day but told myself I wouldn’t shoot over 20-25 yards and I didn’t. The difference in good turkey loads and not so good seems pretty significant to me. I also normally pattern my gun but didn’t because I had so few shells. The hoarding is the problem there is a lot of ammo being produced. It’s kind of frustrating. I’m not sure why someone would hoard turkey shells. I have quite a bit of hunting ammo for my favorite rifles but definitely need some additional reloading stuff before fall
 
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