Over the past half-decade, centerfire rifle ammo prices have skyrocketed, leaving even the most die-hard hunters grumbling at the checkout counter. But as the source text nails it, this pinch doesn’t hit the average Joe Schmoe hunter too hard—most folks are still slinging affordable 12-gauge birdshot or buckshot for ducks, deer, and everything in between. The real wallet weepers are those Fudds who splurge on trendy precision rifles in hot-rod cartridges like 6.5 Creedmoor or the latest PRC flavor of the month, only to blanch at $3-5 per pop. It’s classic Fudd irony: chasing magnum ballistics for that one ethical shot at 500 yards, while Grandpa’s old pump gun with Federal truckloads keeps putting venison on the table for pennies.

Now, cue the Fudd Friday alarm bells—is a shotgun ammo crackdown looming on the horizon? We’ve seen ATF fingers itching toward pistol braces, forced resets, and assault weapon registries, so why not the humble scattergun shell? Shotgun ammo has long been the sacred cow of hunting exemptions, grandfathered into sanity while rifle rounds get nickel-and-dimed by lead bans, polymer-cased exotics, and Biden-era scarcity tactics. But with centerfire costs normalizing (thanks to normalized production post-panic), regulators might eye the low-hanging fruit: cheap, ubiquitous 00 buck and #4 shot that arms everyone from upland birders to home defenders. Imagine green ammo mandates jacking birdshot to $1/shell or reclassifying slugs as DDs—Fudds would riot (or just switch to bows), but it’d be a stealth gut-punch to rural self-reliance.

For the 2A community, this is wake-up call wrapped in camouflage: shotgun ammo’s affordability is the great equalizer, bridging casual plinkers to SHTF preppers without the NFA hoops. If a crackdown drops, it’ll accelerate the black market for reloads, steel alternatives, and foreign imports—while priming Fudds for a rude awakening that unites them with AR owners against the real threat: bureaucratic creep. Stock up now, lobby hard, and keep those letters to Congress flying; because when even the duck hunter’s shells get regulated, the line in the sand turns to salt.