If you've spent much time in the shooting world buying ammo/reloading components in the last 30 years you would have learned to be stocked up by now and if you aren't then you've only yourself to blame.
Not counting the ammo shortages during WW2 we've been through all kinds of shortages starting with Bill Clinton in 1992. We had panic attacks and hoarding of primers in the early 90's because there was talk/rumors that the government was going to mandate that primer manufacturing be changed so that they had a shorter shelf life. We've gone through several .22lr shortages( panic buying). 2006-2007 we had a shortage of .380 acp ammo as well as .223 ammo. Most of the .223 shortage at that time was due to war efforts in Afghanistan. I had a handful of direct from the manufacturer Purchase orders that were written up in January/February at wholesalers shows with ship dates throughout the year. Most of those P.O.'s were cancelled because of shortages and increased pricing in metals which meant our stores had little to no ammo for sale
We had a huge shortage of hi-cap magazines for ten years thanks to the "Assault Weapons Ban". If you lived through that you remember the crazy prices. People would pay $80-$100 for a single glock mag if you could find someone willing to sale. Some harder to find mags sold for even more.
When I was twelve my Grandfather told me how hard it was to find enough ammo so he could hunt deer. 30-06 ammo was nowhere to be found and he claimed he scoured the state and wound up with half a dozen rounds that he had to make last for several years during the war. That story was the best thing he could have ever told me so that I could be prepared for times like these.
For years when people would come buy ammo I would always say if you plan to shoot one box then buy two. Whenever people would buy a new gun in the latest and greatest whizbang cartridge they would be advised to stock up on ammo/brass for that cartridge just in case it never took off or was abandoned by the manufacturer especially if it was a proprietary cartridge. How many new cartridges (last ten years) are nearly impossible to find now. Not a lot of people looked at the past to prepare for the future.
