I once watched a video by Paul Harrell talking about why he didn't like "Boutique" (he used a different term) ammunition, that is ammunition made by smaller manufacturers to and often different standard than the big companies. Two of his big beefs were the high cost and limited availability of the ammo which kept people from training with it in practice or even checking its actual point of impact.
Well it isn't just that stuff. I had been searching for months for Speer 9mm +P Gold Dot hollow points. This is a very popular round and it wasn't until today that I found some at Ammo to Go (thank you Bruce) and I think I bought their last law enforcement box of 50. It was still available today if you want to buy a case. I also can't find any variation of the .38 Special +P Semi Wadcutter Hollow point, or any .357 Magnum 125 gr. semi jacketed hollow points and believe me when I'm in a store I check it out. None of this stuff is what Harrell was talking about. This is all pretty plain vanilla mostly old school ammo that is very, very popular. Any odd duck ammo is strictly catch as catch can.
I'm not saying the ammo mentioned above is totally unavailable, I am saying it may well take a dilligent search of several sources.
I suspect this situation for self defense ammo is going to continue for quite a spell if you're selective at all. Fortunately "blasting ammo" for training in the popular handgun calibers is still widely available and I still have a reserve of handgun self defense ammo, from now on though, if I'm in a store and I run into a box of, say Federal .38 Special +P SCWHP ammo I'm probably going to buy.
