Ammunition shortage in Europe

The new hunting year is just around the corner and, with the exception of wild boar which can be hunted all year round, all cloven-hoofed game is in closed season - the perfect time to tidy up the hunting grounds, repair equipment or stock up on ammunition. Unfortunately, many hunters have the problem that their ammunition is currently not available from their regular dealers, as well as from online dealers, or that they have to reckon with extremely long delivery times. Many hunters wonder if the war in Ukraine is the reason for the empty ammunition stocks. According to industry insiders, this is not the case; rather, supply chains and flows of goods have been disrupted for some time. Increased demand on the U.S. market is thus also having an impact on the European market - not only are products from American manufacturers such as Barnes or Federal Ammunition almost impossible to obtain, but European manufacturers such as S&B or RWS are also hard to come by.

Initially, the increased demand mainly affected internationally sought-after calibers such as .308 Win or .30-06 Spr, but now almost all calibers are affected by the ammunition bottleneck. The reason for this is that the components of the ammunition such as primers, powder and projectiles are affected by the shortage, and not exclusively the factory ammunition that can be used immediately. Therefore, reloaders are also affected by the shortage.

No relief is expected on the European market this year. It is therefore advisable to build up a certain stockpile if possible, provided that ammunition is available.

Where can I find ammunition now?

Ammunition, like weapons nowadays, is best found online and that of course via the Gunfinder search function. This is because Gunfinder not only displays offers that users have posted directly on Gunfinder, but also offers from all other vendors in the German-speaking world.

Unfortunately, many hunting stores and online retailers update their offers somewhat carelessly, which is why it is all the more important to set the checkmark to immediately available when filtering the search results. This can be seen very well on the following picture at the very bottom left.

User view on Gunfinder.de:

Caution: It is still possible that offers are displayed there that are no longer brand-new. However, this is due to the operators of the online stores. Gunfinder has the best search algorithm in the industry and the best results are displayed after just a few clicks.

We wish all hunters and sports search success in finding your favorite ammunition.