.223 rumor

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Shawnee

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Hey Y'All...

Was talking long distance with a fellow trigger jerk and he mentioned he had been thinking about buying a .223 "tactical" rifle but backed away because he heard there was, or soon would be, a major shortage of .223 ammo -he speculated the reason being the protracted "war".

Anybody heard or know anything about that ? :confused:

Thanks All !
 
I am not sure I would believe that. 5.56 and 223 are not the same round. I have not seen much of a loss here local. I doubt I would let that advice influence me on a rifle purchase.
 
There IS a shortage. That shortage hasn't affected availability yet, but it HAS affected price. .223 has probably doubled in the last few years.
 
I'd say it's more then a rumor. Have you tried to buy any lately? Prices have more then doubled, if you can find a dealer who has some in stock.

Jeff
 
Its the same as gas prices. The anytime a manufactuer can raise prices they will. Around here gun shops have plenty of .223 on the shelves with three price stickers stacked on each other.

Every time someone tells me that all the ammo is being shipped overseas to Iraq I want to strangle them. In Iraq, all of our ammo was Lake City production. Not PMC, Wolf, S&B, etc. I will grant you that military suppliers are draining away powder, primers and bullets, but not ammo that has been sitting in the back of a gun shop for seven years!

You hear about Congress wanting to take excessive profits from oil companys, maybe if they threatened ammo manufacturers they would lower their prices?:)
 
You hear about Congress wanting to take excessive profits from oil companys, maybe if they threatened ammo manufacturers they would lower their prices?

Huh? How would they do that - put a Windfall Profits Tax on it? And adding a tax on top is somehow going to help consumers? If you add more tax it's the consumers who eventually pay the tax, and that tax is an additional cost to the sellers. Additional costs don't generally result in lower prices.
 
I am heavily invested in the 5.56 round and it is just fine and always will be for the foreseeable future (in terms of ammunition).

Prices have climbed, demand is high. As long as there is a demand, they will get it to consumers.
 
MMcfpd: It's a joke. A sence of humor as scarce as .223?

Sorry, man, some times it's hard to tell in this medium.


There is ammo to be had - for the 5.56 connoisseur there's been Q3131 and M855 available at several vendors' - it's just running $430-600/K.
 
I feel like an oldtimer reminising about when a case of 5.56 was $200.

I'll never make fun of my grandma again when she talks about 5cent cokes.
 
Go to Walmart. Buy as much as you want for $7 a box. That is twice as much as it was three years ago. Now cross reference that to the price of metals three years ago and you will see you are getting a bargain. It is as the Fed Chairman said: inflation won't really effect anything but "imports"... "food".... "petroleum and by products"... "commodities"... errr is that everything there is?
 
Coming from a manufacturing background, I've seen the huge increase in domestic metals. All lead is being shipped to China to be used in the booming foundry businesses there.

In speaking with friends who have connections with the iron ranges here in MN, they confirm that Chinese companies have bought out domestic mining companies and are tearing the ore out of the ground at alarming rates, sparing no expense on new equipment.
 
It's just the growing industrial nations of the world we live in. Gun makers, ammunition manufacturers, oil companies, etc. are not screwing over anybody, rising material costs are hard on everyone.
 
The price increase has nothing to do with the war

WRONG.

The WOT has very much affected supply, LE agencies now tasked with Homeland Security are chewing through the training ammo, as is the military. Federal/ATK is struggling to keep up with war time demands, and there are precious few factories making .223.

The cost of raw materials is affecting things, but it's not the only factor.

These problems are well documented in the trade publications, btw.
 
The price increase has nothing to do with the war and/or a rumored manufacturing shortage.

If that were the case it would be that we are simply paying MORE for ammo.

The fact is however is that there IS NO ammo to buy in many cases, regardless of price.
 
Thats because demand has increased as well. More and more people are buying ARs and other .223/5.56 firearms. The 5.56 is drying up because there is little to no Surplus left. People bought it all. We will get more when we get out of Iraq and Afghanistan though.
 
The cost has sure been prohibitive around here, cant get anything but dirty Green box at Dicks or Wally for less than $8. I havent even seen that russian steel core stuff, either. The truth is the government cant make enough at there production center so they are buying up the civilian supply. I think it was something like they are making 3 billion rds / yr and shooting 4.2 billion rds. Not to mention restocking the ammo bunkers that where depleted to peace time levels, no telling how bad that was. We may not see descent prices again for quite some time until after the conflict ends (if ever).
 
Something seems to be affecting 7.62x54r too. I heard the ATF wasn't approving any importation of new stuff, but whatever it is, it is getting ridiculous. I just paid $50 for 300 rounds of Bulgarian shipped. Considering a few years back it was $15 for 250 this is crazy. That and no local place carries .311 bullets for reloading.
 
Thats because demand has increased as well. More and more people are buying ARs and other .223/5.56 firearms. The 5.56 is drying up because there is little to no Surplus left. People bought it all.

This is true. AR sales are through the roof, what do you think these guys are shooting? It sure as hell ain't 6.8SPC ( :p ).
 
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