That's probably going to be a very tough thing to find. Typically the only new stuff would be PPU. It would come in big batches and there would be lots of it, but then long dry spells when you couldn't find any.
This is because factory ammo is
not made like home-loaded ammo. Even BIG ammo factories have only a limited number of machines, and they must be kept busy. So they calculate (based on last year's demand) how much they can sell. With a lot of calibers, that adds up to only a small percentage of the machine's annual production time. For most calibers, that might be something like only 300-400 hours. So when they set up the machine to load that caliber, they only run the machine a limited time. Even the total annual sales for a popular cartridge, like 380Auto, can be finished in weeks.
So an
entire year's production is made in a single run of (say) 300 hours. Then the product is placed in a warehouse and offered to distributors. Once that's gone, then that's all the ammo that's going to be made until that date rolls around again the following year.
Several things can happen...
- What if the factory sold 200 cases of 7.62x25 last year, but then an importer brings in a one-time buy of 600 cases from South Africa. Sales of the American made ammo would suffer. The factory would then say, "We've been selling 200 cases for the last 10 years, but last year we only sold 100. Sales must be dropping off. Let's only make 80 cases this year." So in the following year with zero imports, there is even less ammo produced.
- The ammo factory sees that next year is an election year. Everyone expects the incumbent to win. Ammo sales will be brisk, but there will be enough. Then, the
triple whammy hits: national media demands everyone stay home with a mask (unless you want to riot), people need to guard their toilet paper hoard,
AND the incumbent looses. All 200 cases of 7.62x25 sell out within hours. The machine that normally makes your caliber is re-assigned to produce 9mm Luger
indefinitely.
Bottom Line: You are at the mercy of bullet and cartridge factories that are currently ignoring any off-beat caliber. And now with mass ammo hysteria in force, even the foreign factories are only making what they know they can sell 30 seconds after it rolls off the production line. Namely: 9mm Luger and 223.
One path to assurance was to take up handloading...
3 years ago. Now that we're deep into the
triple whammy, even that avenue has dried up. You might as well frame that handgun and hang it on the den wall. There won't be any new ammo, bullets or brass for that gun for at least 4 more years.
Brother, I'm not picking on you or 7.62x25 specifically. There are 2-3 dozen "popular" cartridges in the exact same boat. The good news is that the pendulum will swing the other way one day when the deer population bursts its boundaries and the in-town vegans start to loose their entire gardens. Then the progressives will take up hunting (at least from their back windows) and the system will right itself.
Just my 2 cents.
