Why is there an ammo shortage?

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The people whining really are getting out of control.

I listed a bunch of match grade ammo for sale, at this summer's prices, in local pages and people sent me nasty mail saying I was price gouging, I should burn in hell, etc. And they never bothered to look up the ammo in question (federal premium gold medal match 69 gr Sierra Matchking BTHP - super expensive premium grade ammo). I was actually listing it at the price I paid for it new ($29 a box). I figured in the current environment I could at least sell it without taking a loss on it. Is that wrong, or somehow dishonest?

:banghead:

The people whining about the so-called price gouging truly suck; in my case they were totally clueless, way off base, and it really boiled down to them wanting me to sell expensive ammo at prices they could go plinking with.
 
The people whining really are getting out of control.

I listed a bunch of match grade ammo for sale, at this summer's prices, in local pages and people sent me nasty mail saying I was price gouging, I should burn in hell, etc. And they never bothered to look up the ammo in question (federal premium gold medal match 69 gr Sierra Matchking BTHP - super expensive premium grade ammo). I was actually listing it at the price I paid for it new ($29 a box). I figured in the current environment I could at least sell it without taking a loss on it. Is that wrong, or somehow dishonest?

:banghead:

The people whining about the so-called price gouging truly suck; in my case they were totally clueless, way off base, and it really boiled down to them wanting me to sell expensive ammo at prices they could go plinking with.

No, THAT is not price gouging. Not in the least. Even if you had marked it up somewhat to account for your personal storage and handling plus marketing efforts, that would not be price gouging.

Match grade ammo always goes for higher prices and expecting to get it at the same prices as lower grade ammunition is not reasonable.
 
Geez, why do folks think that market forces at work making their hobby more expensive is gouging. If you WILLINGLY pay the asking price, it is called supply and demand.
Quit whining about high prices and focus your efforts on contacting your elected representatives. Ammo does not fall into the category about gouging
 
Markets and the patient buyer are two different dogs.
Last week I bought 250 rounds of S&B 380 Auto for $12.79 a box.
I decided to buy more the next day but alas the other online searchers bought out the existing stock,no doubt with all wack job politico types going on about internet ammo sales blah blah blah.....
Program two...Head over to GunBroker where everyone lately is carping about gouging etc.
However today I found a dealer willing to part with 1000 round case of PMC 380 fmj,an ammo that runs great in my LCP's, for a starting bid of $280 and after some other person bidding on it I win the bid for a total of $290.60 which averages to $14.53 a box.
Oh sure I had to pay $35 for shipping but then again IF I found 1000 rounds of this same ammo in good old Houston Texas for the very same price including the states 8.25% sales tax the differences is roughly a whole....$11.
Be patient brothers and sisters and shop smartly with your money.
 
There are some deals on gunbroker if you are patient and look at a ton of ads on page 2,3,4 etc. My neighbor found wolf .223 in 1,000 box for $455 shipped. That was Tuesday. Patients is the key...
 
There are some deals on gunbroker if you are patient and look at a ton of ads on page 2,3,4 etc. My neighbor found wolf .223 in 1,000 box for $455 shipped. That was Tuesday. Patients is the key...

I don't consider steel case Russian .223 at $.455 per round to be a deal. That's around twice what it used to cost, which is basically in line with the market right now.

Now, the IMI 5.56x45 M193 my dad ordered for $.48 per round, shipped ($552/1,200 + shipping), from Wideners a few days ago...that's what I consider a deal.
 
Just noticed blank is also on backorder at sportsmansguide...
What's the problem with people buying up all the blank??? ***...
 
My concern isn't why but when do you think stocked ammo will become adbuntant again?
Hard question to answer. I've heard that the major calibers will be the first to start showing up. My guess is if you dont have a 2 year supply of ammo you will run out.

The real worry is there may be fewer LGS around by the time this mess is straightend out. If they have nothing to sell they will go out of business. Many jobs will be lost.
 
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Hard question to answer. I've heard that the major calibers will be the first to start showing up. My guess is if you dont have a 2 year supply of ammo you will run out.

The real worry is there may be fewer LGS around by the time this mess is straightend out. If they have nothing to sell they will go out of business. Many jobs will be lost.

I don't think they will have nothing to sell. Manufacturers are still producing. It's just that now the stores are selling everything they can get almost before they get it. This is not a bad thing.

Sure, they may not have much to sell right now...because they already sold it, which should put them ahead of hte game, no?
 
technically its profiteering.. as gouging is supposed to be things that you can't live without, like air, water, food medical care, etc. But since everybody understands gouging I guess it semantics. I dont have a problem with prices going up somewhat. like 20-30 percent over retail. But 100 pmags/ 139 colt mags at Cheaper than dirt is disgusting to me.

back to the ammo shortage. People are scared. A tax increase on ammo could double the cost. Inflation is ever increasing. As people have noted. Ammo contnues to go up, even pre-panic. There was talk of banning imported ammunition. What do you think will happen if Wolf, Prvi Partizan, Fiochi, Tula, PMC, etc are all banned from import? ammo shortages for years if not decades. Unless more ammo companies open in the US it would be long term shortages.

A lot of good having a firearm is if you dont have anything to shoot out of it!
 
technically its profiteering.. as gouging is supposed to be things that you can't live without, like air, water, food medical care, etc. But since everybody understands gouging I guess it semantics. I dont have a problem with prices going up somewhat. like 20-30 percent over retail. But 100 pmags/ 139 colt mags at Cheaper than dirt is disgusting to me.

back to the ammo shortage. People are scared. A tax increase on ammo could double the cost. Inflation is ever increasing. As people have noted. Ammo contnues to go up, even pre-panic. There was talk of banning imported ammunition. What do you think will happen if Wolf, Prvi Partizan, Fiochi, Tula, PMC, etc are all banned from import? ammo shortages for years if not decades. Unless more ammo companies open in the US it would be long term shortages.

A lot of good having a firearm is if you dont have anything to shoot out of it!
If people pay for $100 pmags at CTD when they are less than half that price on gunbroker then they deserve to be parted with their money. That is how capitalism works.
 
If people pay for $100 pmags at CTD when they are less than half that price on gunbroker then they deserve to be parted with their money. That is how capitalism works.

Bunbroker prices vary. They have been near/at $100 at times.

But, yes...capitalism/free market
 
Fortunately the federal government has plenty of hollow point ammo with which to attack the public while forcibly taking our firearms. The national socialist party is alive and well in America. Good luck comrades.
 
Fortunately the federal government has plenty of hollow point ammo with which to attack the public while forcibly taking our firearms. The national socialist party is alive and well in America. Good luck comrades.

I don't think they actually have all that much. When you do the math on how many enforcement officers they have, how much ammo is used for training, how many rounds it takes to qualify, how often they probably or do qualify...somebody did the match on another forum and it put things into perspective.
 
technically its profiteering.. as gouging is supposed to be things that you can't live without, like air, water, food medical care, etc. But since everybody understands gouging I guess it semantics. I dont have a problem with prices going up somewhat. like 20-30 percent over retail. But 100 pmags/ 139 colt mags at Cheaper than dirt is disgusting to me.

back to the ammo shortage. People are scared. A tax increase on ammo could double the cost. Inflation is ever increasing. As people have noted. Ammo contnues to go up, even pre-panic. There was talk of banning imported ammunition. What do you think will happen if Wolf, Prvi Partizan, Fiochi, Tula, PMC, etc are all banned from import? ammo shortages for years if not decades. Unless more ammo companies open in the US it would be long term shortages.

A lot of good having a firearm is if you dont have anything to shoot out of it!
Even if internet sale bans go nowhere, ticked off Dems and anti 2nd amendment folks could push for massive tax increases on ammo. That and given ammo prices, like pretty much everything, only go up over time and might take a LONG time to come down, and will likely never go back to pre-Newtown massacre prices, folks are trying to buy whatever they can. And they are willing to pay (sometimes much) more than they would have mid-December, because they fear paying 50% more for ammo now is a lot better than paying 100% more a few months down the line.

I have to admit, I'm buying a lot of ammo (45, 9mm, and 22LR) when I can find it for close (up to 25% more or) to pre-2013 prices. My logic is: if I buy $1k in ammo in a year, why not up to to 1.5k and get it all now or in the near future? Worst case: I keep it for many years, or I can always sell it, likely for a profit. But that said, I refuse to buy it for crazy prices, but the price of crazy keeps going up...

At the rate I shoot, I have about a 1 year supply of 45acp, 2 years of 9mm and 30 carbine, and 3 years of 22LR.
 
Hhmmm....Why is there an ammo shortage?

Why are some folks attributing the ammunition shortage to private citizens buying/hoarding ammunition? Supply & demand determines price, suffice to say. One is a capitalist & believes in a free-market or not. I'm not certain that anything else need be said about the prices of any goods/

Citizens hoarding ammunition and causing a retail shortage....I don't think so. In the past year agencies/departments of the Federal government purchased over 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition in various flavors, and this over-&-above their usual purchase amounts. Homeland Security, the EPA, and even the Social Security Administration were among the many Federal agencies & departments that purchased ammunition far in excess of their usual needs.

Your guess is as good as mine why the Federal government would be stockpiling to such a degree. Some nation states' standing military don't buy-up/hoard ammunition in such quantities.

I'm thinking it's a serious error in judgement to blame one's neighbor for the ammunition shortage, much less the price of ammunition.--Patrice
 
The Feds have pleanty of ammo. Back in the 70's 80's and 90's Customs used to take their excess ammo (what was left after they pilfered (stole) what they wanted) by the carload to the local dump where it was "destroyed". This was in a medium size port and much of that time only the special agents were armed. The inspectors were issued revolvers in the mid 80's, but the agents had the ammo, and qualified with wadcutters and saved the hollow points for the bad guys.
 
Hhmmm.... In the past year agencies/departments of the Federal government purchased over 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition in various flavors, and this over-&-above their usual purchase amounts.

At least some of those stories are overblown. When people heard of the big homeland security order they imagine black trucks backing up to factories and driving off in the night with 1.5 billion rounds of ammo.

If you look over it closely the order is for over for 5 years, (12 months for phase one only) and the 1.5 Billion figure is just a MAXIMUM (a minimum of 1,000 rounds to awardees). In certain government contracts they tend to put huge numbers down in this area just in case other agencies ever need to piggy back on the contracts. For example when the Parole agency I worked for went to Glock 40's, they did not go create a new ammo contract, but simply piggy backed on the Highway Patrol Contract. That was 100,000 rounds they did not expect to order, but because they had written in huge possible numbers, it was no problem ans saved money for everyone.

What you are seeing no doubt is some panic buying by large and small agencies, affraid that qualifications scheduals could be disrupted by supply shortages, which is kind of a big deal to them of course. They panic buy, so we panic buy, so they panic buy.... geez I'm gonna take up golf for 18 months :banghead:
 
Local WalMart here in Virginia still had some ammo in stock at reasonable prices; (45 ACP 230 gr. FMJ for under $21 for 50 rounds, Federal or Remington). Limit of three boxes per day to hold down the hoarders.... Fancy JHP was a lot more expensive....
 
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