We’re not sure why, although we can offer a couple of solid guesses, but the Lake City Army Ammunition plant has cancelled civilian contracts to sell excess 5.56mm ammo production. Why should you care? Well, Lake City ammo typically makes up about 30% of American civilian ammunition.
Take away 30% of supplies when supplies are barely treading water (at least until Hamas attacked Israel… now the great Ammo Run of 2023 is in full swing), that makes supplies tight and drives up prices. Chop off 30% when shelves are quickly becoming empty? Expect $1 per round to become the new norm again.
Where’s it going? If I had to guess, government contracts for Ukraine, domestic law enforcement and maybe Israel.
From Staples Defense:
According to multiple news sources, the Lake City ammo plant has cancelled all of its commercial contracts.
This means that stores will no longer be able to purchase ammo from Lake City, which currently supplies 30% of the civilian market for 5.56 ammunition.
The Lake City ammo plant is owned by the US Government, but operated by Olin Winchester. Winchester produces ammo and sells it to the government.
When the facility is able to produce more ammo than the government requires, they sell it either to consumers or distributors.
I have several boxes of 7.62x51mm made by Federal (American Eagle) that have all rusty cases