I know Swiss will probably gouge his eyes out at the mere mention of a gun-related post on the front page, but I'll at least promise not to get technical lest he need to learn to play TF2 blind.

As anyone in any way involved in the gun trade is aware, there's a MASSIVE ammunition shortage going on and finding ammo for anything (even .22 and 12-gauge shotgun shells) is getting increasingly more difficult.  The general line is "blame Iraq" because the military is indeed buying up millions of rounds of ammo from every major factory they can throw money at to fuel the war effort.  You would expect the major calibers our military uses to be in short supply, like .223 (5.56x45mm NATO but contractors often use civilian .223 Remington too) or 9x19 but why are hunting cartridges like the powerful .300 Winchester Magnum so scarce too?  Well, here's why...

The U.S. Army has ordered 38.4 million rounds of .300 Winchester magnum ammunition[...]

source: strategypage via thefirearmblog.com

Yeah, so when the military decides it wants to use a new caliber it means business.  I can't even fathom the sheer amount of ammo that thirty eight million rounds represents.  The article mentions that the military contracts are filled using minimum shipment orders of 56,160 rounds apiece, packed in 480-round crates.

Oh by the way, you want to know why America's Army 3 was so broken?  Probably because the Army is paying $1.30 per round for the new .300WM ammo.