[fred cook]

One way to beat the gougers is to roll your own ammo. When popular gauges/calibers got hard or impossible to find I broke out my old single stage press and started reloading. Fortunately, I've got a good stash of primers, cartridge cases, powder but somewhat short on bullets. If you are loading lead, cast bullets are still fairly easy to find. The jacketed ones have gotten to be somewhat pricey but not as bad as loaded ammo. I just received a 500 piece box of 9mm plated bullets that are next up to be assembled into useable rounds. One thing that I found is that old stashes of ammo you can no longer use/need can be swapped for something useful. If you are willing to invest some time and energy, the ammo shortage will go away for you!