Apologies to the guy in the wheelchair...
OK, So I'm at my local Farm and Fleet store... Perusing for various stuff, making the obligatory swing through the few empty ammo aisles... Of course, they're still empty (I even exchange a solemn knowing glance with another dejected shooter in the empty ammo aisle)... After snagging a few extra mags and some pepper spray (on sale), I am milling around aimlessly bored (not sure why I'm not heading to the checkout)...
Then I see it... my senses tell me something is happening, I need to investigate... I see some old guy on a mobility scooter talking with a sales clerk (IN THE AMMO AISLE)... So who cares, right? ...but then I notice the sales clerk is pushing a full cart full of boxes... Could this be? My senses reach out, and I overhear the old dude asking if they have pistol ammo, and they sales clerk says "yup"... In an instant I'm there... I'm now standing next to the clerk, and I ask if he happens to have any 5.56 (even a small box or two), and the clerk says yup! I'm like a cheetah, pouncing... I ask for it, and ask if there's a two box maximum, which the clerk confirms. As the clerk is unboxing a case marked "Winchester 5.56", As he opens the cardboard box, it reveals TWO boxes of 500rd Winchester 5.56 62gr ammo. I ask the price, and he scans a box, and says "two hundre... I exclaim I'll take my two box max, and I can hardly believe my luck.. I think the clerk as said $299 (or roughly $.60/rd), which is a steal! The clerk hands me one box, and is standing there about to get the second 500rd box for me...
However, enter the old man wheelchair guy... He zips up and exclaims he'd like the second box ...and out of fairness, I can see why the clerk would not want to allow one dude to snag all 1000rds of 5.56 (which probably only show up about once per month)... The old guy continues to look on, his eyes saying "give me the other box"... However, I shoot him a glance that says "bro, I will effing sparta kick your ass out of that chair"... And I calmly explain I need all 1000 rds for a rifle course I plan to attend in the near future (not 100% untrue). I explain that I'm sorry, but I expressed dibs.
It actually got kinda tense for a minute, and the clerk broke the tension by offering wheelchair dude 10% off his entire purchase for missing out on the ammo... After a minute, the guy zoomed off in his scooter, possibly in tears...
So I claim my spoils of war, place the ammo into the cart, and now I notice they have 9mm (Winchester white box) for $13/box... This also has a two box limit, so I snag two boxes of that... The old guy asks about .22LR and the clerk indicates he has some of that too... I ask how much, and the clerk says a decent supply (I later find out he's grossly underexaggerating his stock).. The 2nd clerk brings out a case of 2000rds of .22 (in 250rd boxes), I ask if there's a limit, and the clerk says not on the .22... I snag 1000rds (4 boxes), and I head to cash out... On the way, I text my posse, who all rush to the store to snag their limits on 9mm and more .22. I didn't push the issue on the .22 since I was feeling mildly guilty about the 5.56... But when my buddies started arriving and snagging .22 by the 1000's... I was informed they had entire pallets of the stuff, so one of my buddies grabbed me 2k more rounds.
The best part of the story is that when I checked out, I realized I misheard the original clerk, and the 5.56 was only $220/box, or $.46/round after tax.
So my final haul today:
1000rds 5.56 62gr @ $0.46/rd
100rds 9mm @ $0.26/rd
3000rds of .22 @ $0.06/rd
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