No Shortage of Ammo in Canada

17th Sep 2020

America is currently experiencing one of the worst ammo shortages in living memory. You could literally trade someone their kidney for a box of 50-rounds of steel cased 9mm. It’s that ridiculous.

I decided to see if Canada was also experiencing an ammo shortage. On August 5, 2020, I visited two Canadian stores that sell ammo in Brockville, Ontario, Canada. The first was a Canadian Tire, which is basically the Canadian equivalent of Walmart.

The ammo case at Canadian Tire in Brockville, Ontario. (Photo: Ben Philippi / Guns.com)

The ammo case there stood approximately 12-feet high, and was well stocked. I only saw a few boxes of .223 Remington, but lots of 9mm, .308 Winchester, 7.62x39mm, and plenty of all the hunting ammo you could dream of.

I then headed down the street to a Walmart Supercenter. There, as well, I found a well-stocked ammo case -- albeit smaller than at Canadian Tire. There wasn’t any 9mm, but there were plenty of other calibers.

The ammo case at the Walmart in Brockville, Ontario. Photo: Ben Philippi / Guns.com)

How is it that Canada doesn't have an ammo shortage? I decided to dig a little deeper by calling one of Canada’s biggest gun stores Firearms outlet canada, located in Ajax, Ontario, to find out if they were experiencing any shortages.

“We’re doing just fine for ammo. Plenty of 9mm and .223 Rem, and all the necessary calibers," a friendly employee named Morgan explained, saying the store had hundreds of thousands of rounds available for Canadian consumers. “Mostly 9mm, but all of the other calibers we are stocked up on as well.”

Morgan said there was a surge of ammo buying in March when COVID-19 hit. Like Americans, Canadians stocked up on ammo, as well as toilet paper. But he said things have leveled out and are relatively calm now up north, with less social upheaval than the U.S. The store does expect an uptick in ammo sales, though, with the coming U.S. presidential election.

“Every time there’s a U.S. election, it boosts sales,” he said.

Lastly, I asked him if there was any way Americans could order ammo from Canada and have it shipped south of the border since the States are seeing a significant shortage of ammo.

“Sadly, no,” Morgan said with a laugh. “We don’t work with any exporters. We simply focus on selling ammunition and firearms to Canadian consumers with valid licensing.”

Reference:

Guns.com