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From Brian Miller at Ammo.com:

March 11th, 2022: On February 24, the Russian Federation launched air attacks on military installations and airports across the nation of Ukraine. This occurred shortly after the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, declared the separatist states of Donbas and Lugansk independent from Ukrainian control and sent his army in to “keep the peace” the day before.

Here at Ammo.com, sales have surged for the last two weeks, starting with the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th:

  • 166% increase in revenue
  • 110% increase in transactions
  • 59% increase in site traffic
  • 31% increase in conversion rate
  • 27% increase in average order value

State-by-State Breakdown of Ammo Sale Increases Due to Russia-Ukrainian War

The table below lists the top 10 states by total sales volume from February 24th until March 10th, and their corresponding percentage increase in sales volume when compared to the previous time period.

  • State Ranking by Sales Volume displays the total sales volume (how much was ordered in United States dollars) on a state-by-state basis in column one. Column two shows how much sales have increased percentage-wise to that particular state since February 24th. Only states to which we sell are shown.
  • Most Popular Caliber by Sales Volume displays the most popular caliber based on sales volume in that state in column three, as well as the increase for that caliber by state since February 24th. Columns five and seven display the second and third most popular calibers based on sales volume in that state; columns six and eight display how much the sale of those particular calibers has increased on a percentage basis.

Scroll down for a comprehensive breakdown of the effect Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had on our recent sales from February 24th until March 10th.

State Ranking by Sales Volume Most Popular Caliber by Sales Volume 2nd 3rd
State % Increase % Increase % Increase % Increase
1. Texas +154% 9mm Ammo +93% 5.56×45 Ammo +711% 223 Ammo +1,364%
2. Florida +88% 9mm Ammo -2% 5.56×45 Ammo +65% 223 Ammo +331%
3. Washington +240% 9mm Ammo +250% 5.56×45 Ammo +221% 7.62×39 Ammo +120%
4. Georgia +174% 9mm Ammo +58% 5.56×45 Ammo +95% 357 Magnum Ammo +604%
5. Arizona +168% 9mm Ammo +171% 5.56×45 Ammo +328% 223 Ammo +10%
6. Pennsylvania +132% 9mm Ammo -43% 5.56×45 Ammo +645% 12 Gauge Shotgun Shells +718%
7. Michigan +239% 5.56×45 Ammo +261% 9mm Ammo +100% 7.62×39 Ammo +217%
8. Illinois +192% 9mm Ammo +12% 5.56×45 Ammo +10% 7.62×39 Ammo +311%
9. North Carolina +199% 5.56×45 Ammo +844% 9mm Ammo -20% 7.62×39 Ammo +448%
10. Ohio +227% 9mm Ammo +124% 5.56×45 Ammo +∞% 223 Ammo +1,233%

Note: Due to city and state laws, Ammo.com does not ship ammunition to AlaskaHawaiiMassachusettsCalifornia, Washington, D.C., New York City, or Chicago. These jurisdictions, along with a handful of other states, have been excluded from the table above.

What’s Driving The Increase In Ammo Sales?

American gun owners are watching visceral, daily reminders of one reason why an armed populace is important: To defend against enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Weary following 2 years of a pandemic, protests, and the Biden presidency, the recent spike in sales indicates they are again worried about their capacity to buy ammo when they need it.

This could be caused by a fear that the Biden administration could use the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a clever means by which to “temporarily” ban private ammo sales by executive fiat in order to ostensibly send those rounds to NATO members and/or Ukraine in order to “support the war effort.”

After all, who knew before the pandemic that the CDC could unilaterally put a nationwide moratorium on evictions, eviscerating private property rights and contracts for over 18 months, until the Supreme Court finally curbed their previously-unknown power because Congress was gridlocked, per usual?

At a macroeconomic level, this worry about ammo availability could be caused by global supply chain shortages, which all Americans see daily reminders of when shopping or filling up. Or this could be caused by inflation pressures, which are silently devaluing their hard-earned dollars after the Fed increased the money supply by ~25% and Congress increased the federal debt by ~20% to combat COVID.

American gun owners are well aware of the candid political calculation made famous by Rahm Emanuel, Pres. Obama’s Chief-of-Staff, who said “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

It does not take a particularly active imagination to envision what those in Washington, who notoriously take advantage of tragedies to pass irrational laws when emotions are at their highest, might do to demonstrate “their solidarity” with Ukraine.

By now, the average American gun owner has cumulatively witnessed thousands of instances whereby those in charge of our federal institutions demonstrate an incredible ability to accumulate and exercise power for their own enrichment. And are seemingly never held to account for their abuses of power, no matter how egregious or widespread. Hence why public trust in government continues to poll near historic lows.

Given the past 2 years and the current state of affairs, both domestically and now internationally with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, you can begin to understand why the average American gun owner wants to stock up on ammo while they can.

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65 COMMENTS

  1. Some might see trends. I can only speak to my own. I buy what I can when I can based on what I need and want. The Russia/Ukraine thing has absolutely no bearing on that.

    I wonder though if ammo manufacturers filling the shelves now might have something to do with all this? Certainly 9mm is easier to get these days.

    • I suspect that the long dry spell of pandemic shortages has created some pent up demand that’s now being felt as availability and slightly decreasing prices is starting to happen again, especially with the Biden economic stimulus payments that people held on to and tax refunds coming in.

    • Russia has no bearing on me buying ammo. I did buy 100 rounds of 556 & 100 rounds of 9mm after the invasion because I got a deal at my LGS. Just as the last 2 years I have to get a relatively ok deal…NATO rounds seem much more plentiful.

  2. I helped. Bought another 1.5k rounds of 5.56 in several small purchases last month. Continuing to build inventory when prices and budget align.

    • People who were without ammo are making sure they do not wind up in the same shape again. And of course everytime there is a dumbbell Gun Control democRat at the helm guns and ammo sale like hotcakes. Take a bow Jim Crow Gun Control joe.

  3. If a couple bucks a gallon already has people stabbing through your gas tank and causing $2,000 in damage to steal $50 worth of gas imagine what they’ll be stabbing through to get at food in the not too distant future.

    Media reports on this inflation like we’re already deep into it but it appears like we’ve got a looong way to get yet.

    Arm up, train up. The Road isn’t too far off now.

    • Shire-man for the win!

      The populace does not understand the tsunami that is coming at us. The recent numbers (8% inflation and gasoline up something like 60%) are that strange ocean outflow (leaving fish flopping on wet sand that was under 10 feet of ocean water several seconds earlier) right before the actual tsunami hits.

      Here is a dirty little secret: fertilizer prices are already something like double what they were before–and they are likely to continue to increase significantly. That means food production is going to be significantly lower than normal ON TOP OF THE FOOD SHORTAGE THAT WILL RESULT FROM RUSSIA AND UKRAINE FAILING TO PRODUCE/SELL THEIR 30% WORLD SHARE OF WHEAT AND 20% WORLD SHARE OF CORN. Combined, there could easily be a 50% reduction in world wheat and corn supplies. That will make food prices astronomical, when there is actually food on store shelves.

      And we have not even considered if Russia gets really angry at the U.S. for supporting Ukraine and starts sabotaging our nation’s electrical grid, gas/petroleum pipelines, and refineries via cyber attacks and potentially even on-site physical attacks. If that happens to any significant extent, we may find ourselves approaching the same environment that the people endured in Bosnia in the early-middle 1990s.

      If the above comes to pass–and there is a very good probability that it does–you are going to want several firearms and a LOT of ammunition for yourself, your family, and your neighbors (assuming that your neighbors band together for mutual defense and security).

  4. There are many of us that say, you can’t ever have enough ammo. Last I heard having ammunition is not a crime. At least not yet.

      • In your head, rent free! 🤣

        Now you dance WITHOUT me commanding it.

        Mommy is proud. 🦍
        S/h/it should be along shortly with your 🍌 little 🐒🤡 troll.

        • avatar Geoff "A day without an obsessed, obviously brain-damaged and mentally-ill demented troll (who deserves to live in New Jersey) PR

          Isn’t living rent-free in a moron’s (tiny) head the best thing *EVER*?

          And he’s too stupid to realize it! 🙂

          Dance, troll, I order you to dance!

      • avatar Geoff "A day without an obsessed, obviously brain-damaged and mentally-ill demented troll (who deserves to live in New Jersey) PR

        “If you are swimming or on fire you can definitely have too much ammo.”

        Let’s test it, I have a gas can in the garage and a case of 115 gr 9mm you can hold while you burn… 🙂

        • If 🐒🤡 troll passes that test, I live on a lake that’s over 10ft deep.
          It’s welcome to duct tape several 1k rd cases on, then attempt to swim across. 🤣

  5. Mike Adams (aka ‘The Health Ranger’) has been warning his fans to buy ammo in preparation for the impending breakdown of society. Several other escatologists (wry smile) raising that same alarm. For them, it is more about the collapse of the global financial system, global food shortages, the crippling of our policing and justice system, rabid inflation, and the need for a nation-wide sock-matching service. Most of the apoplectic apocalyptic announcers I read see the Ukraine as tinder in a much wider and hotter conflagration. It is not the impetus for stocking up on guns and ammo.

  6. More right wing panic and pure stupidity. Just when the ammo supply was beginning to come back to the shelves these morons ran out and bought ammo they never even needed and probably will never use at least not for decades to come.

    Don’t look for primers to be back for another year at least and even then not at reasonable prices.

    The Ukraine uses Russian small arms calibers such as the 9mm Markov and the 5.45x39mm and 7.62x39mm, not the 5.56×45 or 9×19.

    • bought ammo they never even needed and probably will never use at least not for decades to come

      What is the shelf life on ammo?

      Even if I never use my ammo, it’s there for my kids when I’m gone. What are you leaving behind when you check out? Dirty socks and underwear?

    • FYI Ukraine does use a M4 variant where they replace the upper to swap between 7.62×39 and 5.56. They use the old stuff in training.

    • “More right wing panic and pure stupidity.”

      Part 1

      I’m glad some Libertarians and some people on the Left, are finally starting to acknowledge the Democrat Party has just restarted the Cold War.

      “Joe Biden is Now Officially the Worst US President” video 10 min long

      • Part 2

        The Libertarians Liberals and the Left will finally get their wish. The “American Empire” will fall very soon. And $10 (+) a gallon gas is coming to you. You get the weak leader you wanted. Instead of the strong man Trump.

        “Biden FAILED On Every Front, Even Liberals Now Defend Trump, Democrats Are BURNING US To The Ground” video 33 min long

    • LOTS of AR and M4/16 in use in Ukraine.

      “probably will never use” – IF we’re very fortunate, you moron. No one is stocking multiple thousand rounds of 5.56 with the hope to “use it”.

  7. i’m beginning to think there’s some price gouging going on here. there’s no way demand can STILL be outstripping demand after 2 years of ramped up production. yet the prices are the same as day 1 of the pandemic. i smell a rat…

    • Same. How is it that no stores seem to have decent stock (although much better than a year ago)? Nobody has primers, very little powder, etc. Nobody is buying it because it isn’t there to buy, at least not for a price most will pay. Where does it all go? Something fishy is going on.

    • Prices didn’t peak in Jan-Mar2020.

      Good supply on shelves at in my area (except 20ga). Not “sale priees’.

    • A lot of people purchased ammo for years at the lower prices and stockpiled it.

      My brother and I bought ammo in lot sales straight from the factory at a few cents per round for years prior the pandemic. Several 12×12 storage units full floor to ceiling back to front. Back then years ago it was nothing to get, say,, several thousand rounds of 5.56 in a lot buy at the factory for less than $150.00 if they had production over runs or their supply wasn’t picked up by commercial stores and you were on their list of bulk purchasers. They just wanted to be rid of it and not have to mess with storing it. Had to go pick it up and ship/transport it ourselves but it was worth it to have ammo when we wanted it.

  8. As per their website:
    “Prvi Partizan 357 Magnum Ammo – 50 Rounds of 158 Grain JHP Ammunition”
    64 in stock (at the time of this post)

    That’s not much at all but its 64 more than anyone around me currently has. I’ve never bought from them and usually buy locally. IF I bought all 64, would that be reflected with any meaning?

      • Well, yeah. Blue staters have recently bought their first firearms. They now understand the need to stock up. They’re just now understanding that a box of 20 is nothing – you blow two boxes or more with every trip to the range!

  9. GOD BLESS AMERICA AND OUR CONSTITUTION .
    BUYING ABOUT SAME AMOUNT AMMO AS ALWAYS , TRY TO KEEP SUPPLY ON HAND .
    AMMO ON SHELVES AND ONLINE , YES PRICE IS UP , DARN IT ALL .

  10. What does all this mean for Wolf Ammo? Is it sanctioned? What will I feed my…. Wait. I don’t shoot that shit. Never mind. I don’t care.

      • I online purchased three 1k rd cases of Prvi Partisan back in Nov of 2020, paid .32 c per round including delivery. Shot a bunch of it during a two week visit to Iowa. 👍

        Saw it jump to $2 per round (plus tax/shipping) in mid 2021. 😯

        Should have bought all seven cases the seller had available, instead of just the three.

  11. If I run across what I would consider a reasonable price on Ammo, I buy what I can. Currently looking for .45LC and a couple more obsolescent rifle calibers. Yes, it’s available, but not at a price I’m going to pay. Will just reload what cases I have. Although at some point I will have to replenish my stocks of powder and bullets.
    Seems that in the last few years, every time some government official or the leaders of countries we don’t really care about breaks wind or throws a tantrum, ammo gets scarce, and prices get ridiculous. Russia, even under false pretext, going after what used to be a Russian Provence, should not be a concern for the average firearms owner here in the US.
    As for the doomsday types, being prepared for what could happen is good. Having 100 times more than you can transport if you have to run is not. Nor is bunkering up and becoming a target for the ravening hoards. Out here, we just call being prepared and knowing what to do in almost any situation just life on the farm. If the worst happens, we will assess the situation and decide what we need to do. Depending on exactly what is going on. While I may not like it, we could go without the few things we don’t produce on the farm. And could barter for the majority of those things. Same as most of our ancestors did a couple generations ago.

    • oldmaninAl,

      Having 100 times more than you can transport if you have to run is not. Nor is bunkering up and becoming a target for the ravening hoards.

      Both of your points are valid. There is not a very good answer. The best that I can see is having a LOT of neighbors coming together for mutual security and defense to repel ravening hoards. Outside of that, secret/hidden supply caches would be a reason to have way more than you can transport. (If you do have to evacuate and leave your current supplies behind, it would be wonderful–obviously–to have more supplies available at one or more alternate locations.)

    • “Having 100 times more than you can transport if you have to run is not. Nor is bunkering up and becoming a target for the ravening hoards.”

      First off, the correct term is “hordes”. Ahem.

      Second, why do you or anyone else care if I have more than you think I should have? If you prepared adequately for your own needs, then I salute you. However, if I store adequately for my own needs (e.g., I train regularly and don’t want to be forced to stop honing this perishable skill by a lack of ammo), then I’ve taken care of my own corner of the world.

      TEHO.

    • Unless you can predict the future, you can’t pooh-pooh the idea of having 100 x the ammunition you can cart with you. When SHTF, where is it going to hit? Who is going to sling the sh1t, and who is going to catch it? Maybe people are going to bug out in your direction, and hope you can help them with supplies. I mean, you can’t know anything, until it happens. Maybe your brother, or your cousin, or your little sister is hit first, and he/she runs to you for help. Or, their kids, or grandkids. Are you going to have extra ammo to outfit them with? That’s your decision, of course.

      It’s always better to have too much, than too little.

  12. Unbelievably, I saw abundant cci 22lr in wallyworld (Maine). Also, plenty of .308 & 7.62×51.

    Hadn’t seen that in years.

  13. I restocked before Vladimir Puto attacked Ukraine. If I bought any more ammo, I would need to reinforce my floor joists.

    • Ralph,

      If I bought any more ammo, I would need to reinforce my floor joists.

      Basements. The concrete floor in my basement can support a LOT of ammunition.

      Of course the flip side: basements can and do flood. (Mine has). That requires keeping your ammunition in waterproof containers or on shelves above the floor. The good news about those shelves: I can beef them up as much as necessary.

      • avatar Geoff "A day without an obsessed, obviously brain-damaged and mentally-ill demented troll (who deserves to live in New Jersey) PR

        {Wet basements}

        “That requires keeping your ammunition in waterproof containers or on shelves above the floor.”

        It may be off the floor, but the humidity is high, and that kills ammo. 🙁

        Even in the climate-controlled area where my ammo is stored, it’s all in sealed ammo cans, elevated off the floors…

    • I had so many bricks of .223 55g projectiles (each brick is 1000 projectiles) the bottom of ammunition storage locker collapsed.

      I’ve since moved the bricks to the bottom of my powder safe.

    • Doesn’t need to be political, it just so happens that the authors benefit greatly financially if everyone actually believes this and keeps trying to buy any ammo they can at hoarder prices

  14. I’m worried that Trudeau, emboldened by his good friend Putin, might invade the US soon. Better safe than sorry.

    • Indeed. It is no coincidence that 90% of Canadians live within 100 miles of the U.S. border. The northern hordes could overrun our outposts in under two hours.

      They called me mad at the Frunze and West Point, but I know the *truth* of the threat to the north.

      • Maybe that’s why Minnesota saw a 750+% increase in sales, those sneaky bastard canuks are coming for OUR maple syrup.

    • A curious situation since he, like Obama, hasn’t actually gotten any gun control done

      Less gun control between the two of them than what Trump managed to get through with bump stocks

      • avatar Geoff "A day without an obsessed, obviously brain-damaged and mentally-ill demented troll (who deserves to live in New Jersey) PR

        “A curious situation since he, like Obama, hasn’t actually gotten any gun control done”

        Excuse me? The BATF rulings on 80 percent builds and braces will be here in a few months.

        You don’t call that gun control?

  15. “This could be caused by a fear that the Biden administration could use the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a clever means by which to “temporarily” ban private ammo…”

    I’m shocked, SHOCKED that “ammo.com” would publish such alarmist claptrap. It’s almost as if they love the hoarding economy and want to make sure it continues.

  16. Utter nonsense. The Tsar of Russia having invaded his neighbor has ZERO to do with Americans buying ammunition. Making that claim that a faraway war makes Americans buy ammo is nothing more than sellers of greatly over-priced ammo trying to cover their shame for having soaked their fellow citizens for years now with inexcusably high prices.

    If people bought more lately it is because they are finally running out of what they had stocked up on before the latest greed driven price increases.

  17. Or it could be that, for the first time in a quite a while, the possibility of a real World War is hanging over our collective heads. People see the Ukrainians fighting in their own streets against an Russian invasion, and wonder if they might end up doing the same at some point, maybe sooner than they’re thinking about it.

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