S&W reports sales drop to pre-pandemic/riot/election levels

I think it was Ruger who had already reported a decline but not by that much.

The only thing that would matter to me in a "return to normal" would be primers so I could load and shoot more economically. There is no gun or major accessory that I think would improve my shooting.

Good, hopefully the ammunition makers are seeing the same thing and soon will not be needing so many primers. The primer drought has been worse than post sandy hook 22lr.

Primers for a lot less than 10 cents.

I take that data to indicate that, at least in part, the Covid helicopter money is drying up. Still a lot of it that has not been spent, but I'm seeing inventories rising on guns, some reloading supplies, off road vehicles, etc.

Bad news for them , but good news for the consumer . I would just like to see reloading supplies back at my LGS and at a reasonable price , so I can shoot again .

Well, if the Dems don’t take a bath in November, they will pick back up.

Or they will have to wait until another Republican, POTUS, Controlled House and possibly Senate does nothing and the Dems subsequent return to control, for things to pick back up…

Just like Obama, just like Clinton…

They could diversify and probably move some primers and powder…

You can only sell so much fear, Joe Biden administration can't get any scarier.

Maybe this will mean return of products that aren't just poly, striker, or AR related.

I have on my list to buy a revolver, my grail gun would be a S&W 686-4 Plus with a 4” barrel. When I assembled “The List” to try to maintain focus, direction and priorities, the budget for that gun on Gunbroker or when they came up on another forum was $750. It’s still on my list, but lower priority because I don’t think the value is there for me at current prices. Probably will go with a new dash 6 when funds are in the bank and prices drop.

I bet Georgia Pacific and Boise Cascade all reported toilet paper pulp-wood sales are at pre-pandemic levels, too.

But that news don’t make the press.

My gun-related buying is holding fairly steady.

Stay safe.

If’n only they would remove a certain hole, perhaps they could sell more revolving shooters?

westernrover said:

Before I repost news I didn't generate, I try to look for an existing thread but didn't see one for this.

S&W reported a 69.3% drop in sales versus the same quarter last year. Their stock is down over 6% from yesterday on a day when the rest of the market rallied. What S&W themselves are saying about this is that it marks the end of the surge in demand seen in recent years.

I certainly haven't seen inventory levels on shelves or online returning to previous norms, and while I have seen some decline in prices from peaks, they generally remain well above 2019 levels.

Here's what Mark Smith had to say: "As expected, our first quarter results reflected a return to a normal demand pattern at the retail counter for firearms combined with temporary headwinds from inventory corrections within the channel,” “Despite a challenging quarter from a top-line perspective, the team delivered impressive profitability, which far exceeded the pre-pandemic comparable quarter in fiscal 2020"

The way I read that is, the sales boom has fizzled but they're still able to sell for high prices, the profit from which they've managed to pocket instead of passing it on to workers and suppliers. This is his attempt to tell investors some things they want to hear while having to break the news of something they don't want to hear.

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Makes sense as things stabilize. I hope this means ammo continues to become more available and fall in price.

I am hoping that holster, training, and gunsmiths services increase revenue and keep that consistently, and at least proportional, to the increase in sales. And that those revenues, would not drop off when the sales stabilize.

As I noted in another post, we (the non-LE / non-MIL market segment) lack meaningful, self-regulating, industry-to-consumer bridge.
A bridge that would facilitate the industry participants to learn about consumer needs/preferences/ideas/etc, and, may be, purchasing power (at least in some segments).

Instead, the major manufactures frame their research and development (and marketing) in terms of 'agency qualification scores' or something like that.

I would also like to see a way for smaller manufacture to pool their resources conduct surveys/consumer-interest-groups testing, ideation-with-consumers framework. Pool-resources for testing labs (Including for reloading components), situational simulators (not video games), etc.

I would like to see training methodologies and frameworks with better standardization for various situations + people-skill + people-abilities combinations.

I would like to see text-books (with exercises at the end of each chapter) covering mathematics, physics and chemistry of the firearms and bullet components. Same for physical training aspects relating to self-defense with lethal and non-lethal tools. Same for legal theory development and application.

I would, to be honest, like to see some part of under-grad standardized curriculum developed around those books, and may be something that can be included as part of AA degrees.

We are not all LE officers, we need to respect and learn from the LE / MIL skills and experiences, but we should also work with the industry to embrace the way we apply and enjoy the gift of the 2nd amendment.

KY DAN said:

You can only sell so much fear, Joe Biden administration can't get any scarier.

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Biden is still giving speeches on banning assault weapons, which he did last night. So Creepy Joe is still spreading fear about his administration without help from anyone else.

Glockpride said:

If’n only they would remove a certain hole, perhaps they could sell more revolving shooters?

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Indeed. Perhaps re-introduce the barrel pin?

Good post. Your interpretation of his statement is similar to mine. I am definitely seeing more firearms and at more reasonable prices. I hope that the midterms prove favorable for firearms enthusiasts.

Well we are about to have more elections, possibly peaceful riots and maybe more pandemic.

I don't think prices will fall much farther. Maybe a little, but with the way inflation has been going the bottom isn't going to be what it was in 2019. Common caliber ammunition has been readily available for a year now and prices aren't really falling anymore.

Got an email earlier today from S&W. They are dropping the msrp of the Shield Plus by $100.

Bennj said:

Got an email earlier today from S&W. They are dropping the msrp of the Shield Plus by $100.

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I wonder if they will drop the wholesale price a hundred bucks for the dealers along with it?
Or rebate the ones that are sitting on store shelves?

Maybe it’s time to reduce the margins a bit. I just checked, and a Model 29 with the 6.5” barrel is $1070 or so. Yikes.