The letter to police goes on to indicate that .223-caliber rounds, used in assault rifles such as the M-16, are backlogged until the end of 2007 or early 2008 for both training rounds and ammunition carried on duty.

Huntington police officer Dale Osborn has served as the department\ufffds firearms instructor for the past decade. He said the .45-caliber is the hardest round to obtain, the only backlog for his department\ufffds supplier, Precision Cartridge Inc. in Hobart.

Officials at Precision told Huntington that some suppliers were slower because of an increase in the military\ufffds need for bullets, Osborn said.

Not only has some ammunition taken longer to obtain, it is also much more expensive.

In its warning to area police departments, Kiesler officials said that while the production of ammunition has almost doubled since two years ago, and prices have increased 20 to 30 percent, shortages are worse today than last year, according to the letter.