At Mark’s Guns on Dixie Highway in Florence, it's a simple case of supply and demand.
Joe Beck, general manager of Mark’s Guns, says the same box of ammo that used to cost about $25 a box now costs $74.
In the fall of 2008, the fear of higher taxes on guns and ammo linked to the November elections caused a buying spree at gun stores nationwide. Nearly a year later, it's still hard to find ammo.
Beck says they are aren't price gouging.
"It's the same percentage as it was two years ago or three years ago. We're making the same percentage, we're just selling lots more when we do have it in stock," says Beck.
According to the National Rifle Association, every year Americans buy about seven billion rounds of ammo. Last year that number jumped to about nine billion.
Some gun owners are trading in models that take expensive ammunition like the 50 caliber Desert Eagle and opting 22 caliber pistols, which take less expensive rounds.
Beck says their gun range is taking a hit.
"Nobody can afford to go out there and shoot how they used to,” said Beck.
Tony Buckingham, of Lawrenceburg, Ind., was at the range Thursday. He shoots the hardest ammo to find – 380s.
Buckingham says he has all the local gun dealers on speed dial and even knows the delivery schedule.
"Basically I call them everyday, I mean it's just like a part of my day,” said Buckingham.I “Get up and eat breakfast and I think about who I'm going to call that day to get ammo."
Buckingham says his strategy saves money.
"Every now and then I get lucky and I find some, more often I don't,” he said. “But when I do, I come here and I blow it out the end of that gun and have a good time."
