What's there more ammo of, .45 ACP, .40 S&W or 9mm out there?

Well, here's the thing. Not only do you have to think about what caliber has the most ammo out there, but the number of those guns in each caliber that are out there.

I think the 9 and the 45 are the most popular in both quantity of ammo AND number of guns that use them.

And in the recent ammo shortages, 9mm and .45 have been practically non-existent, but I was able to find .40 fairly frequently. I attribute this to the .40's fairly brief existence as guns compared to the other two.

The words after the caliber designation of American cartridges are the patent holders or originator on the caliber, not the manufacturer Examples .45 ACP -Automatic Colt Pistol same as 45 auto 40 S&W -Smith &Wesson. Most peole just say 40 454 Casull- Dick Casull the originator of the 454 Casull 45 Colt - Colt used in revolvers sometimes called Long Colt by us old timers even though we know we are wrong It's the Euro stuff that's a mess Same round 9mm Luger -George Luger the inventor of the round parabellum- The intended use of the round (For war) 9 x 19 then there's 9mm Kurz, 9mm Largo. 9 Makarov All different rounds The military confuses things a little more 5.56 almost a .223 but not quite 7.62 x 51 almost a Winchester 308 but not quite

Well 9mm. I say that as that is the current situation. .45ACP is essentially non-existant in the civilian markey right now. A few months ago all you could find was .40 but everyone realiazed it and the haters all went out and bought .40 handguns compounded with these production contracts which were 6 months old at the time .40 is a pain to get. 9mm has always been popular and had massive contracts so you see it more often and in larger quanities.

I Run the sporting goods at my Wal Mart. We get and sell TONS of ammo

.45 Hard to come by. Not to say we don't get it but it comes in the least after .380

.40S&W We get and have some most of the time out from time to time

9mm Luger We get tons but we sell it as soon as it hits the sheves. It is one of the most common pistols around. So its around but out alot

If your looking to buy a piston Sig makes a 9mm luger that comes with another barrel that is a .40 S&W I would get a 40S&W that is what I have as well as a .380 for CCW.

Stay away from .380, .45's 38 Special, 357 and 357 Sig thouse are that hardest ammo to get in that order.

9mm, 45 then 40.

Of course, I live in a area dominated by military bases, so it may affect things.

I see a lot of 9mm lately. I've even got a case of it at the flea markets. Must have 'fallen off a truck'. Also, since there are also a lot of retired military, they almost universally carry and shoot .45s.

On store shelves, 9 and 40 have been seen, the stores tell me the 45 is usually gone in hours.

Yesterday I went to Cabela's here where I live just south of Austin, Texas and they didn't have a single round of 9mm in the whole store! There were a few boxes of .45ACP and .40 caliber but the selection and variety was very poor.

I see plenty of all those...but,the price is high.

In your worst case ?

I would go for a odd ball cartridge that not many people use.....if your thinking that scenario. The military and everybody will be using and hoarding the 9mm,40,45 cause that's the top 3 pistol calibers. Go oddball if you want to find ammo or have reloading supplies on hand....which is scarce now.

Impossible to answer accurately. Depends on location and what dealers are able to get from wholesalers. One store may be out of one caliber, and another store a few miles ways may have a thousand rounds in that very same caliber. You just have to look around.

I'm finding 9mm everywhere, .40 some places, and very little .45.

Given that 9mm is a current military issue cartridge and that .45ACP isn't, there's going to be more 9mm. Even though its popular with some police departments, 40S&W isn't that common at all.