Where I am in TN it seems the gun buying madness has subsided (I’ve had an M4 for sale for the past 6 weeks with no takers at $1500 and two PMAGS), but ammo is none existent.
What is the situation with production from the various ammo companies? What other factors are causing this shortage aside from the super-hyper demand? And for the love of God when will things go back to normal?
This has severely cut into my practice time, and I’m worried as shooting is a perishable skill. I have been doing everything I can as far as dry firing, but it feel enough for me. Last outing I did saw piss poor performance. Last year about this time I had already gone through 2,000 rounds from different calibers. Now I have barley gone past 500 rounds.
And where the hell is all this ammo going? I don’t see people training hard enough to justify it. Are people really that afraid that they are stock piling so much? My guitar instructor at my college told me he has never seen .22lr out of stock. Ever. He fears people are arming and stockpiling for a civil war. Hell, Aurora didn’t cause this much panic. Even after Obama said he was for an AWB during the election and after the election their was no panic. I understand Sandy Hook has been the crux of all of this, but the AWB the Feinswine put out has no forward momentum currently with a House under Republican control, and with many states kicking AWB in the butt. I know I posted a thread that we are losing (and I still believe we are, but that tide is shifting), but things should have either leveled out or have began to see a rebound. It has gotten a lot worse.
What are the true factors driving this? There has to be more than just a AWB proposal and a sudden increase of demand.
Media hysteria…local news stations are really saturating this, every time two thugs/junkies get shot in a public place over a bad drug deal it’s declared a “mass shooting” and they run a two hour special on gun control/violence, it’s discussed every night at prime time, and every gun show sees a half dozen reporters now.
we actually had a report that a range that helps with local law enforcement training was pleading with the government and the media to back off because their customers and and officers cannot find ammo to train with. Wish the media and the likes would take the damn hint. What, is the demand for bad news that high?
Ammo manufacturers produce enough ammo to meet the normal demand. This keeps ammo on shelves and it is nearly always available.
A hysteria come along (2008 election, 2012 election/Sandy Hook), people begin to stock up ammunition [which is stupid for a variety of reasons]. A lot of these people are the ones who barely buy 100 rounds a year, but are suddenly buying hundreds per month. A much higher demand is created.
Ammo manufacters ramp up manufacturing as much as they can. (most of them)
- During the post-buying crisis, because ammo is just now coming back into stock, everyone buys it as soon as it comes back in. That in turn heavily slows the rate at which retailers can get ammo in stock, because everyone buys it as soon as they find it. That makes it appear that there is not a lot of ammo.
I recall reading a WSJ article back in 2008 about a bunch of Wall Street types buying up shitloads of ammo anticipating a major gun control initiative from the newly-elected Obama administration and huge runups in ammunition prices. Well, as most recall, there was a period of panic buying but then the dust settled and prices stabilized. I’m guessing most of the ammo speculators that time around ended up holding their own dick.
I suspect we’ll see a similar scenario play out in a couple of months when the AWB fails to clear the Senate and the House never even lets it in the door.
People that think stocking up on ammo is stupid are what we call the “have-not’s”. If those people had stocked up they’d have ammo now and wouldn’t be saying silly things on internet forums and blaming everybody else for the fact that they don’t have ammo.
What’s the old saying about Noah building the ark BEFORE the flood? Everybody talks a big game about training, but training is about one thing, and that’s preparation. If you didn’t see this coming you weren’t paying attention (or worse) and all the preparation in the world won’t save you if you don’t see the threat approaching. The last 5 years have seen the largest increase in civilian firearms sales in the history of this nation. On top of that millions of people are panic buying anything they see left on the shelves. And smart gun store owner’s aren’t putting everything they’ve got out on the shelves.
Pretending that other people that you don’t even know are going to leave some ammo on the shelf for you just because it would be thoughtful of them to leave some for others is insane. Certified batshit-level crazy! People don’t think like that even when things are calm.
If the rest of the year goes perfectly for gun owner’s, all the gun grabbing bills in every state fail, and there’s not one single case of a rampage shooter slaughtering dozens of innocents, and some of the buying panic begins to subside, there will STILL be major ammo shortages when 2014 arrives. And how likely do you think it is that all those bills will fail, nobody will attempt another Newtown or Virginia Tech this year, gun sales will slow down, and buying panic will subside?
If your needs aren’t being met then you better do a reality check or drop some of your needs. You think it’s bad now? These are the good old days! Wait till you see what’s coming.
Im pretty sure there will be a time in the next year or so when ammo gets real cheap. All the 100 round a year guys who bought 5000 rounds are not going to be buying for years.
Perhaps the worst is behind us, I was in my LGS yesterday and he had .223, .308, 9mm, 45acp, and even… gasp 500rd bricks of .22lr. Prices were slightly above normal but not bad all things considered.
You only need a few guns, you can never have too much ammo.
I saw this coming, and anyone who owned a gun in 2008 and posts on this board should have too. I stocked up on thousands of rounds in 2011-early 2012, and I bought it cheap.
I shoot as I please, I can train for about 12-18 months and have some self defense ammo left.
I doubt prices will be back to where I want in less than 12 months. But when it does I will buy up thousands of rounds again, and not worry again. At this point I have 5 ARs and 5 Glocks, so I’m good on guns. The future for me is all about buying good ammo in bulk when I see good deals. Basically I would like to always have 5-10k rounds each of 9mm and 5.56. Hopefully over the next year I won’t fall under that 5k level.
I had no illusions. I have a good stock, but I am still rationing my major calibers because I do not know how long this crap is going to last. What is bad is that I have gotten into .22lr and plinking training and hunting, and my stock is almost dried up. A shortage of .22lr was something I did not fathom.
I’ve been training with my SIRT pistol. That way I can retain the muscle memory, and run some Bill Drills while I’m still here in CA, and at home without having to burn ammo.