Quote:19 Jul 2020
Explaining The Ammunition Shortage
BY Herschel Smith
1 day, 18 hours ago

Readers have no doubt encountered a severe ammunition shortage, affecting no only local supplies but online supplies as well.  There are some good explanations for this, some of which I didn’t suspect.
Political climate.

Quote:“I can’t keep guns on the shelf,” Carr said. “And I can’t find the guns to replace the ones I’ve sold. It’s the same thing with ammo, especially for the pistols, like the 9s, 38s, 380s – they’re not there. Our vendors don’t have them either. We’ve been advised to order our hunting rounds because it’s not going to be there as they’re trying to fill the pistol ammo that they’re already behind on.”

We’ve actually learned something else besides the affect of political climate.  First time gun buyers are purchasing primarily pistols.  In order to use them, they need ammunition.  Apparently, manufacturers are retooling to supply that ammunition.
So hunters needing 7mm magnum, 6.5 Creedmoor, .308 and 30-06, should go ahead and try to scrounge up those rounds now.  They won’t be available for long.  That also goes for AR-10 operators.
Next up, the logistics chain.

Quote:“As far as the ammo is concerned, the number one thing you have to have in order to make ammunition is raw materials, being lead and copper,” Kastner said. “So all of the lead mines in the United States are in the state of Missouri; Missouri shut them down the first of March. All of the copper mines are in South America; South America shut them down in April. … The lead mines are now open in Missouri, but getting copper for the casings is one of the choking points.”

When you tell workers to go home, production stops.  The next thing we learn in this same article is what happened when the manufacturers eventually did open back up.

Quote:“A lot of the manufacturers were closed for a few months, and then they opened up and had to social distance inside their plants, so maybe every other machine may work instead of all of them,” Latsha said. “So their capacity is down below half and demand is up 400% because there’s a huge shortage. … All the rioting and things going on … people are scared. And then when a shortage starts, anytime somebody thinks there’s not going to be any they all run out to get some.”

The manufacturers are not at full production capacity.
So when you combine intense demand, with choked logistics chains, on top of manufacturers operating at partial capacity, it leads to a problem.
Will this return to normal?  That remains to be seen.  I’m not a prophet.