Ammunition Supply in Ontario?

DogTazmania

DogTazmania

Regular
Super GunNutz
Rating - 100%
2   0   0
Location
Ontario
I'm just wondering if the retailers are experiencing ammo supply problems and what may be causing it? Commercial and individual members please reply to this post. The question is posed because I am sincerely wondering what predicament is causing my recent experience over the past five years or so. It is not judgmental. Is the supply/demand causing this because of various wars and most manufacturing for historical Canadian supply based in the USA? Is it the trade war with Trump? Is it the political ideology and posturing of our federal socialist global government? Please help me understand.

I do not load my own and use strictly factory new ammo for my own, legitimate reasons including the fact factory ammo doesn't void my firearms warranties, it is generally consistent and reliable, despite having had some QA problems with factory ammo in past, and the fact that some Jamoke's handloads ruined an heirloom handgun I owned many years ago with limited to no parts availability.

I prefer local retailers and tend to frequent them. I have very personal preferences for rifle, and shotgun hunting ammo and handgun ammo. I experiment with other stuff when time and budget permit. I go online and search retailers and compare prices when I can't get what I want or need at my preferred retailers.

I just spent a grueling month in search of very specific ammunition for my needs and spent many hours researching to source it. Finally, I had some success!

I hate finding listings using specific search parameters only to find the hits result in going to a retail website that lists stuff out of stock. I've dealt with a few retailers that was like pulling the teeth from a live shark to find out if they had or could get what I want, what the price is, and would they sell it to me? Some of my extended correspondence was like a mutt and jeff routine to try and get a straight answer. One seemed to be almost hostile because I dared ask them about something they didn't have in stock and wouldn't order unless I bought five cases. Can you imagine the cost of that?

In the end I did find one retailer who had a few boxes of what I wanted and just received delivery today. Unfortunately, the shipping cost about the same as this premium ammo. Not the retailer's fault because they are a little off the beaten path and I'm well aware of the restrictions on shipping "dangerous goods."

I found another retailer that listed a large enough quantity of the same ammo in stock for my needs and just ordered it about an hour ago. I have an order confirmation and will check back on this post once I have ammo in hand with my impressions of the experience.

Kudos to those two retailers that seem to be easy to deal with, honest and quick to reply with accurate information to a customer's needs. I’ll post details and my impressions following some feedback. If you're running an ammo supply business, the cost of a few cases may not be much to you, you'll likely be able to sell extra inventory to other customers, and buying cases of stuff all at once is not within my means. My needs aren't going away in the next few years, and you'll get return business and good reviews from me by making specific ammo available.

What is it that is causing my attempts to buy something from you so difficult and the hostile attitude and response about a polite, legitimate and valid product inquiry?

Are any other Nutz experiencing this? Thanks.
 
There's also the crazy volume of different loads.. let's just use 308 for example.. do they stock light/ varmint? Then deer/moose/bear loads.. lets simplify and say light medium and a heavy bullet. All the above in regualr cup and core.. and then premium.. and then all copper monos? And then target? People like different bullets for diff target sports. And FMJ/bulk. if they ordered 2 boxes of each.. that's thousands of dollars of stock.. and then you'd be upset when the 2 boxes you want are sold out.

Business exist to turn a profit. They stock common combinations. By your own admission it was very specific uncommon ammo. Thats paet of the fun.

Like Thunderhog said. Might be time to start reloading. Still a pain in the butt, but you can at least pretend you have some control.
 
Thunderhog said:
It's called Liberal Control, and it seems to be working for them........:(

You may want to start reloading your own, cause it's only going to get worse......:oops:

Seen the price of gas lately? Or groceries? It's all by design my friend.......:(
Click to expand...
Yes, I've been thinking a little too much about the libtard contrived control plans. You don't want people travelling cause they might share ideas and cause trouble. All the prices are through the roof so that everybody becomes solely dependent on the totalitarian government and we'll never be able to get rid of them.
 
Arcosdad said:
Hard to comment without knowing what caibers you're having a hard time finding. I live on Vancouver Island and between our LGSs, Cabela's, gun shows and the pawn shop I never have a problem finding anything.
Click to expand...
It's been several varieties of all of my calibers at one time or another in the past five years. 22 LR at one time so i hoarded it when it was half the price it is now. 30-06 specifically for hunting deer, bear and moose, some premium brands and others not premium priced but premium results. Various weights, but generally lighter rather than heavy for caliber. 165 Grain, 168 Grain, or 170 Grain or thereabouts. I have 180s for the moose. Nosler Partition, Barnes TTSX, not TSX seem to be hard to find. Now I'm trying Norma Oryx and Sako Powerhead Blade 170 Grain. That's discontinued to be replaced by 162 Grain, so if I like the 170s this fall, I'll track down the 162s when I need them. I can still get the Oryx and Sakos but its a departure from what I was using before. The latest is 12 Ga Dangerous Game slugs for under 50 yards in a smooth bore. Trying to find anything for hunting big bears with the name Brenneke on it has been a complete clown show. I think I found some. If it gets worse I might invest in some loading equipment and hard alloy lead/cast to make deep penetrating slugs myself. Some of the prob is definitely the idiots in Ottawa but are the retailers that frustrated that they take it out on customers? Bad for business for them and I'll just complain with my feet and go down the street to someone who actually wants to sell something instead of beating me up for asking. One I found listed as an authorized dealer still has the business website and went to the trouble of gleefully telling me by e-mail reply that they closed the store when they retired. Why would they keep their store website and address if they're out of business? Why would the Distributor still list them as an authorized dealer on their website? It seems like stupidity is beocming contagious.
 
Thanks Arcosdad. Retailers we have here and that I occasionally buy from if forced to (because they gouge on prices) include Cabelas, Bass Pro, Sail, etc. I prefer non-big box/franchise shops and frequent Al Flaherty, Tenda, FOC, G4C, Canada's Gun Store, Solely Outdoors, Canada's Gun Shop (occasionally) and a slew of others. I've been hitting the internet and have a whole list of places to seek out what I need because supply has been so inconsistent. I'd like to hear from some of the CGN Business members. One of those is also my go-to gunsmith when needed. I do a lot of my own routine maintenance and other required work like parts installs.
 
Last edited:
05RAV said:
Like Arcosad mentioned, what calibers are you talking about? All common calibers like 22LR, 223/5.56, 308 and a few others are plentiful in Ontario when you're buying online. IMHO Tenda Canada is the best for that purpose.
Click to expand...
I like the organizations you list. We have that in common except the PCs. I don't belong right now because they haven't committed like Sask and Alta to us Nutz. I do however write Doug and my local MPP frequently.
 
Also, I used to use Can Tire until they caught onto the price gouging game.

Sabot slugs in 12 Ga do the job but when they hit the .50 BMG cost a few years ago, and because I wasn't using ,my Sabot Slug 12 Ga, I unloaded the ammo and gun, with a Leupold slugger scope. Maybe I should have kept it. The smooth bore slugs are now hitting $5 a round, too. I took a hit on the gun considering what it was...a Mossberg 500 with a factory ported and cantilever 20" rifled slug barrel. I replaced the mag tube so it wouldn't rust up with a new one that could be unscrewed and removed for cleaning and spring replacement as needed. I had a nice Magpul stock on it. I sold it outright to the retailer who deals in consignment and used firearms because they had been fair in past and I'd been doing business with them for years. In hindsight I should have said, no instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt. They recognized the value of the Magpul but completely ignored the factory cantilever, ported barrel which is hard to get and the Leupold scope now out of production, with lifetime warranty. I gave them benefit of the doubt thinking they were a store I could rely on in good faith based on long term relationship. The straw that broke the camels back was when I went in with some surplus ammo I wanted to trade/sell for something that worked better for my rifles and shotguns....Federal 12 Ga 00 Buck 15 pellet, currently selling for about $15.00/box, plus and Federal 300 WM Terminal Ascent 200 Grain selling retail about and over $100.00 a box. The Bohunk behind the counter offered me 70% of the retail assessed price that he assessed as $5.00/box for the 12 Ga and $40-50 a box of the 300 WM. The boxes had the retail stickers on them for F sake. They must think we're really stupid. Relationship with said retailer from my perspective. DONE! DONE DONE! DONE DONE DONE!!!! I'd name them but they're such idiots it wouldn't phase them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: gmj
DogTazmania said:
Also, I used to use Can Tire until they caught onto the price gouging game.

Sabot slugs in 12 Ga do the job but when they hit the .50 BMG cost a few years ago, and because I wasn't using ,my Sabot Slug 12 Ga, I unloaded the ammo and gun, with a Leupold slugger scope. Maybe I should have kept it. The smooth bore slugs are now hitting $5 a round, too. I took a hit on the gun considering what it was...a Mossberg 500 with a factory ported and cantilever 20" rifled slug barrel. I replaced the mag tube so it wouldn't rust up with a new one that could be unscrewed and removed for cleaning and spring replacement as needed. I had a nice Magpul stock on it. I sold it outright to the retailer who deals in consignment and used firearms because they had been fair in past and I'd been doing business with them for years. In hindsight I should have said, no instead of giving them the benefit of the doubt. They recognized the value of the Magpul but completely ignored the factory cantilever, ported barrel which is hard to get and the Leupold scope now out of production, with lifetime warranty. I gave them benefit of the doubt thinking they were a store I could rely on in good faith based on long term relationship. The straw that broke the camels back was when I went in with some surplus ammo I wanted to trade/sell for something that worked better for my rifles and shotguns....Federal 12 Ga 00 Buck 15 pellet, currently selling for about $15.00/box, plus and Federal 300 WM Terminal Ascent 200 Grain selling retail about and over $100.00 a box. The Bohunk behind the counter offered me 70% of the retail assessed price that he assessed as $5.00/box for the 12 Ga and $40-50 a box of the 300 WM. The boxes had the retail stickers on them for F sake. They must think we're really stupid. Relationship with said retailer from my perspective. DONE! DONE DONE! DONE DONE DONE!!!! I'd name them but they're such idiots it wouldn't phase them.
Click to expand...
I went into CT today. 82$ for a brick of 22. I just bought 4000rds from Tenda for 300$

12ga, I turn bird shot into slugs with aid of some tooling.
 
After months of hard searching, a sight for sore eyes. Thank you Triggers and Bows and Accuracy Plus....loaded for bear!
 

Attachments

  • 1000047731.jpg
    1000047731.jpg
    125.9 KB · Views: 36
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom