I’m trying to stock up on things while the going is good. 30rd Mags are <$9ea, cases of 5.56mm are $300 delivered, Colt 6920s at $850.
I’ve bought all of those and a few Glocks, but I wasn’t really shopping during the last panic because A) I already had everything I needed because Obama is in office and you’re an idiot if you didn’t and B) Prices were stupid high and nothing was in stock.
So I really don’t know what was unavailable at the time or what really commanded a premium. I’m not really looking at firearms (even though I did get a Colt and Glocks, those were for me because they’re steals) because I don’t want to ruffle feathers regarding not having an FFL and the ATF.
So ammo, magazines, accessories, etc are what I’m looking for.
If you are looking for what is cheap now and was nonexistent during the last panic look no further than stripped upper and lower receivers. Stripped upper receivers even blems were going 200+ and stripped lowers were 300+. However the lowers fall into the firearm category you mentioned you would like to avoid due to the obvious.
I’m a little confused. You said you had everything you needed during the last panic so you didn’t buy anything. Now apparently you don’t have everything you need but you’re also not sure what it is exactly that you need?
MK pretty much covered it all so if there’s anything in his post that you’re not sure if you need it, you better make sure to get it now while you can. You’d hate to wonder if you needed something that you’re not sure if you can’t get in the near future.
It seems to change some with each new “panic” so buying what was short the last time probably won’t help you much next time around. I would focus on whatever is short in your current personal collection. After that I think ammo and quality AR pistols (like the Daniel Defense Mk18 pistol) are likely to be the most sought-after but limited supply items. And I may well be wrong. I never in a million years thought that ordinary .22 rimfire ammo would still be in short supply now and selling at 3-5x what it used to sell for, roughly 2 years after the last panic cycle started.
If memory serves, the drought moved in stages. First complete rifles, then complete uppers and lowers and lastly all the components to build. Ammo went the same way. Complete ammo was gone first then reloading tools and components.
Ultimately everything was hit and became unavailable. Just not all at the same time.
If you want to buy low and sell high, mags and ammo.
Last panic? .22LR, 5.56, mags, BCG, lowers, and anything that anyone thought could be banned or that the stupid people thought were going to cause issues.
That said, I can’t tell you what is going to be the hot item for the next panic. While some think I am clairvoyant I am not. I have no idea what is going to jump 300%+ in price because stupid people are afraid. Just like people didn’t see .22lr going from $18-20 a brick up to $250+ a brick because people were total ****ing idiots. Anything cheap I would buy now, ARs, mags, ammo, and other guns, ect.
I have everything I need now. Including money. Hence my ability and desire to buy more. I only want to buy things that may get more expensive in the future. I want to profit off the gun industry’s tendencies of low in stock availability and demand increasing as prices increase.
At the risk of being simple-minded, those of us who are not Hindu gods can only use so many guns at one time, and usable ammo has some limits as well. Times the number of dependable people around you, if you work in “supply”. Beyond that, all that stuff is just barter material.
Quality BCGs were really rare, and of course stripped lowers and uppers. LPKs were still available, but not the best ones. Mainly quality BCGs, but even cheapo BCGs. I saw BCM BCGs being sold for $400. Everything just got more expensive. You can’t go wrong with ammo either.
Like you I already had all my stuff.
Buy the $325 M855 because they may take another run at that. I just bought 1000 rounds of Danish m855, 1000 Magtech CBC 5.56 77gr OTM, and 1000 Wolf Gold free shipping in an ammo can. I don’t think practice ammo is going to get a whole lot cheaper than it is now. I just keep adding to my stash.
I mean Federal M80 at $10.99 a box free shipping? Who can pass up practice ammo at those prices.
Just buy some cheapo PSA uppers too. Probably triple your money on NIB uppers with cheap bolts. For lowers people will carve their own out of 80% lowers, you might think about those with the jigs. 80% lowers were and are big in CA.
There is so much that wasn’t available, that’s a little hard to narrow it down. If your goal is also to make money consider this.
A BCG is going to cost you 145.00-ish right now. You can probably double that money during the next craze.
Magazine are dirt cheap. 145.00 will buy you at least 10-12 mags. During the panic, mags sold from 30.00 dollars. So in that regard you would make more money from your 145.00 investment of mags over the BCG.
Lowers can be bought for as low as 50.00 each. But, that presents it’s own set of problems that we won’t address here.
Ammo is the same way, you can only make so much from it, and the amount of it needed to see a real return would be pretty high.
For future panics, invest in high quality lowers (Colt, Noveske, LMT, DD, BCM, etc.), BCGs, magazines, and LPKs. The aforementioned provided the best return.
During the panic, I saw completed lowers from Aero and others selling for as much as the “brand names” are now. The difference is that the cost of the Colt,. LMT, BCM, etc… ones isn’t at a level where you can buy a 6 pack and stick them in the fridge.
The thing is that if you are buying to sell, I matters little how good the quality. I personally have trouble buying anything I wouldn’t want to own, but during a panic people will happily buy anything they’ve heard of. And they will buy anything they’ve heard of from their friends too, including PSA.
If they come after m855 again that stuff will go WAY up again too
