Sufficient ammunition is available for hunters and shooters

Created: 05/22/2022, 06:00

By: Peter Borchers

No bottleneck: Hunters and shooters do not have to suffer from delivery problems.

One reason: the industry leader is based in Bavaria, the distances are short.

© Daniel Karmann

There seems to be at least one area without delivery bottlenecks: hunters and shooters are currently still getting enough ammunition.

Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen

– We see every day at the petrol station and in the supermarket that fuel and butter have become more expensive – also that some things are difficult to get due to supply bottlenecks against the background of the pandemic and war.

Most of us don't even notice other price increases because they affect small target groups.

This includes hunters and shooters.

They have one thing in common: They need ammunition.

Ammunition has been conserved in the pandemic

Markus Lehner does not like to talk about general delivery problems.

Fortunately, a large part of the ammunition used by hunters and marksmen in this country is produced in Germany: RUAG Ammotec is the European market leader for hunting and sporting ammunition based in Fürth.

As a result, the delivery routes are short.

"There is currently enough normal hunting ammunition for hunters," emphasizes the owner of the "Tölzer Waffen Stüberl".

If someone wants something special, it could take a few weeks.

"It's like buying a car.

If I want special extras, I usually have to wait longer than if I take the model with the basic equipment.”

Lehner also does not want to generalize that ammunition has become more expensive.

"That depends on the components used in the respective ammunition." If cartridges contain more expensive ingredients, "the price increase can be as much as 10 to 13 percent".

So far, Lehner has not heard any calls for help from the shooting clubs.

Many stocked up, says the expert.

Because here, too, the purchase quantity determines the price.

In addition, adds the Tölzer, who has been in this shop for twelve years, “hardly any shots were fired during the pandemic and accordingly less ammunition was used”.

Ammo will not be “knocked out”

"That's exactly how it is," confirms Alois Schwaiger.

It could be that ammunition has become more expensive, says the chairman of the mountain rifle company Beuerberg-Herrnhausen, "but we bought a larger quantity and still have supplies".

And: "We don't blindly knock out the ammunition, because of course it costs money." The Beuerbergers don't have any firecrackers in their ranks.

For their sport, they only use air pistols and rifles as well as indoor air rifles.

They are loaded with diabolos or round balls.

"Our inventory is sufficient," says Schwaiger, "so we're relaxed."

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Josef Hesslinger, hunter and spokesman for the district hunting association, is similarly relaxed.

He gets the ammunition he needs with no difficulty - and he hasn't heard anything to the contrary from colleagues.

The Tölzer estimates that the cartridges "have become two to five percent more expensive", "actually the usual annual price increase".

And this is of little consequence, “since our purchase quantities are rather small”.

How many shots a hunter needs also depends on the size of his territory.

Hesslinger himself has ammunition for two hunting seasons in his safe, around 50 shots.

Of course he doesn't shoot that much game, but "you also need ammunition to practice at the shooting range or to readjust your rifle".

And it is not uncommon for a hunter to be called to rescue an animal that has been injured in a game accident.

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Jürgen Treske (left) refills his hunting and sports ammunition and has to reckon with delivery problems with individual components.

© Hans Lippert

Jürgen Treske has a slightly different view of the subject - and there is a reason for that: the new captain of the Königsdorf mountain riflemen and hunters loads his ammunition himself after additional training. To do this, he has to order primers, powder and bullets for the reusable cases - which is currently problematic can be: "It's damn difficult to get hold of hunting bullets.

The delivery times and the corresponding availability are terrible.” Even primers “are hard to come by at the moment”.

You can read all the news from Wolfratshausen here.

For hunting, the Schönrainer only needs around 20 shots per season, "because I only go along in the hunting ground".

As a "passionate marksman in the large caliber range" he fires around 1000 rounds of self-made hunting and sporting ammunition at a shooting range in Schongau.

There, a running boar, a 100-meter shot and a clay pigeon stand are available to the marksmen.

The latter, located directly on the Lech, "is becoming more and more regulated," says Treske.

Only the quieter subsonic ammunition may be used there.

“But this shooting has nothing to do with hunting.

I can't hunt a duck, a hare or a fox with subsonic ammunition because it lacks the energy", the "kill certainty" is therefore not given.

From next year, the ammunition must also be free of lead - for Treske "a contradiction in terms".

No manufacturer is currently producing ammunition in the subsonic/lead-free combination, “because you definitely can’t get the energy on a steel bullet.

That doesn't work at the back and at the front."