I thought I would share my experiences with finding ammo at my local WM's. I have around 15 WMs within 30 min driving time of me. I also have one a mile down the road (that sucks). Everytime I pass a WM, I run in and see what they have. I have gotten on good terms with some of the sales people at my local one. WalMart usually gets a truck in everyday in the late afternoon to early evening. If you call down there, they will tell you if they have any that came in that day. You can also go into one and ask them to scan the barcode for whatever ammo you want with the "Telex" and it will tell you what is available at nearby WMs. You need to call that WM first as the Telex is not always accurate. As they have a six box limit, you need to take someone with you to come in right behind you and buy another six boxes. I take my wife. Another way to get around the six box limit is to have a change of clothes in the car. The trick with the change of clothes is to have it be two opposite sets. Think one white collar set and one blue collar set. Me personally, I keep a set of medical scrubs and my business suit in the car. I wear the scrubs with a hat, then go out and change into my business suit in the car and go back in 20 mins later and get my other six boxes. I also make sure I pay cash for at least one so they don't remember my name on the debit card. Somehow, I can't convince my wife to change clothes in the car so I am usually limited to 18 boxes per WM.
I am currently finding a good bit of Federal ammo at my local WM's. Federal now has a 100 rd .223 box of 55gr fmjbt for 39.97. I have also recently found the 550 boxes of .22 and the 325 Fed automatch there. CCI always seems to be available and there is even some Remington from time to time.
Also, I have run into at three of my WMs that fact that they only put one box of the high volume stuff on the shelf and you have to ask if they have any more behind the counter. Today the clerk said "we're really just trying to sell one box (Federal 550) to each customer" My response was I understand completely, now please give me the other five boxes.
Fortune favors the bold.
My local wmarts have a 6 box policy--2 boxes of any given type with a max of 6 boxes total. So you cannot buy 6 boxes of 22lr bulk, only 2, and it is supposed to be per day. Mine have had no 22bulk in stock for a couple months, though they do have the odd box of .223 or 7.62x39 pretty regularly, and today was a bonanza of 9mm and 40sw blazer brass ammo. I was able to snag a pair of Rem Golden bulk boxes at Academy a few weeks back which was nice. They'd have sold me all I wanted, but I was really only looking for Fed bulk, so I only took 2.
While my Wally World experiences mirror yours, I have had decidedly better luck elsewhere. My local W/M hasn't had any, and has implemented the 6 boxes per person per day routine. Haven't had them say anything about only two of any one type. But of course that is because they haven't had any.
Where I found a small gold mine was my local feed store. Yup, I'm a hick who lives in the country. When I went into the feed store and shot the breeze with the ammo guy, I found out they had $8 million stashed in ammo. They were selling Federal Champion ammo for $15/brick. I bought a case. I work on a ship, so I get a three week vacation every three weeks, and when I get home on Wednesday, I'll go back for another case Thursday. I called Saturday afternoon when we were in range of cell service, and was told they had a thousand boxes of 22 ammo left.
So, you might be better served looking to some of the less than customary sources for ammo. It works for me.
What is this wally-world?
I say this because here in Irvine, California we have NO Wally-Worlds.
We do have them in the other cities BUT not here is the wonderful city of Irvine, Ca.
Man do I hate Target (Target doesn't sell any firearms stuff).
The only place I know of that sells firearms and related equipment is Big five.
I seem to be able to hit the jack pot about once every two weeks, and I stop by about 3 times a week just to look. I haven't had any luck with store-hopping, but it's good to know about the telex system.
I ran over after church this AM and my praying must have helped - 4 boxes of Federal valuepak in my possession... (on the otherhand, had I skipped church and gone earlier I might have been able to fill my 6 box quota - there were only 4 left when I got there.)
What's funny is that if I buy the .22LR at Walmart they ask me if it's for rifle or pistol. If I tell them pistol they ask to see my pistol permit, but if I tell them it's rifle, they don't ask. So guess what? it's always for rifle!
I stumbled on 9mm blazer 2 weeks ago and figured I'd buy some for my carbine. For 9mm they require I show my pistol permit even though I don't use it for a pistol and don't even own a 9mm handgun (and they could tell that by looking on the back of my permit.)
Now Walmart - that's intelligence worthy of government...
You folks must do A LOT of shooting...3300 rounds a day! 3300rdsX3sec=9900sec...2 hours and 45 min :~. Not including NPOA shifts, mag changes, loading mags, target posting, and hopefully breaks. Crazy.
Well, at the Harvard, MA April 19th Appleseed, I went through four of the Federal 550 bulk boxes of ammo on Sunday, and didn't even fire a shot. I guess folks don't take seriously the recommendation to bring four hundred rounds a day for the weekend shoot. Of course the political reality of the state of Massachusetts does play some part in that, but that is a whine for another day.
I haven't really had any problems getting ammo from Wal-Marts. When I want ammo I typically go between 10 pm and 1 am and I will buy the max limit of whatever I want (or whatever I can afford) depending on what they just received. There's a Wal-Mart nearby that until a few weeks ago either had no limits or wasn't enforcing any limits, as I recently bought 15 boxes of 9mm Blazer Brass there and then the next day I bought 18 boxes, at the same time.
Not meaning to slag on you city folk, again, but I just got back from the afore mentioned feed store. I bought three cases of ammo, two of them Federal Champion 510 loads, and one the 36 grain copper plated 525 load. Sure their price is a little higher than Wally World charges, but what good is a few dollars saved if you can't find any to buy? The bonus of the 525 load is its bulk box, so for the same price as the 510 I get 250 extra rounds.
A quick survey of the 10 Walmart stores within 100 miles of me turned up zero available ammo. The feed store has another 9 cases of the 510, and 8 cases of the 525. And I was surprised, pleasantly, to see he is stocked in small rifle primers.
And here I am embarrassing myself. The 525 is actually the Federal 745 load. And the 510 is, well the 510. My bad.
CetmeManNH... you're making me envious...
And where abouts is this feed store?
I can't find a SR primer within 150 miles of Syracuse, but I could dispatch my offspring (currently in NH) to obtain her father a suitable Fathers day present (I'll even pay for it.)
Primers beat the snot out of a tie - what could be a better Fathers day present?
(Maybe getting my kids on a firing line with the old-man... but I still want the small rifles...)
Quote from: gunville on May 25, 2009, 02:24:20 AMWhat's funny is that if I buy the .22LR at Walmart they ask me if it's for rifle or pistol. If I tell them pistol they ask to see my pistol permit, but if I tell them it's rifle, they don't ask. So guess what? it's always for rifle!.......Now Walmart - that's intelligence worthy of government...
Sounds like that's some sort of goofy state/local gun-law requirement thing going on with that question. Do other places ask? Sounds goofy...I've never been asked that question in Nevada, or in Texas. Those are the only two places I can recall having ever bought ammo, aside from air-pellets when I was a kid in Oklahoma, where, at that time, and in that situation, there were also no questions asked.
Quote from: gunville on May 28, 2009, 11:06:43 PM
CetmeManNH... you're making me envious...
And where abouts is this feed store?
I can't find a SR primer within 150 miles of Syracuse, but I could dispatch my offspring (currently in NH) to obtain her father a suitable Fathers day present (I'll even pay for it.)
Primers beat the snot out of a tie - what could be a better Fathers day present?
(Maybe getting my kids on a firing line with the old-man... but I still want the small rifles...)
Gunville, dispatch your offspring to Riley's in Hooksett. As of Friday they have SR and SP primers; CCIs; lots of 'em. I bought some. purchases are limited to 1000 of each type.
CetmeMan - I asked for primers for Fathers day and got Red Sox tickets instead.
I think the primer situation is getting better - In the last 2 weeks I've found both LR and SR online/in-stock - just got the SR's.
I now have 5K of LR and SR each, so I guess I'm one of those nasty hoarders. I may use some for trade.
Quote from: Geddys Uncle on June 23, 2009, 12:07:40 PM
Quote from: gunville on May 25, 2009, 02:24:20 AMWhat's funny is that if I buy the .22LR at Walmart they ask me if it's for rifle or pistol. If I tell them pistol they ask to see my pistol permit, but if I tell them it's rifle, they don't ask. So guess what? it's always for rifle!.......Now Walmart - that's intelligence worthy of government...
Sounds like that's some sort of goofy state/local gun-law requirement thing going on with that question. Do other places ask? Sounds goofy...I've never been asked that question in Nevada, or in Texas. Those are the only two places I can recall having ever bought ammo, aside from air-pellets when I was a kid in Oklahoma, where, at that time, and in that situation, there were also no questions asked.
They ask in Ohio. The reason is you have to be 18 for rifle and shotgun and 21 for pistol. I had my son in law with me when I was getting some 9MM. He was 20 at the time. I bought my limit and when he tried to buy a limit they gave us trouble. We finally got them to sell it when we convinced them it was for a Hi Point 9MM carbine, which is sold as a rifle.
The Walmart here doesn't budge - I told them it was for a Hipoint but still had to produce my permit.
It's a Walmart thing because NY law is 18 to purchase ammo - even though handguns are 21. Dicks, Herbs, etc. don't ask. It actually comes up on the register.
Interesting.
At least I haven't been asked the "pistol or rifle" Q for a while. Then again, one of the local W-Ms has always been "dry" when I was there (guess I never get the truck run). Had to cut back on some expenses somewhat anyway.
Quote from: gunville on June 24, 2009, 01:11:52 AMI now have 5K of LR and SR each, so I guess I'm one of those nasty hoarders. I may use some for trade.
Only 5k each - hardly worth the Hazmat fee ;D
Permit to buy handgun ammo? - Not even here in California (yet)
Actually Wideners.com has had primers recently and you can get email alerts from Midwayusa.com. Midway is limiting sales to 5k per type (as they sell out in seconds that means 5k per hazmat fee - ooof!)
Cheers
whatever works