Share your "panic" stories

Local store here sold 180 AR's over the weekend. They have a waiting list. My wife bought one of those and I went in today and bought all the parts for a nice plane Solid stock AR.

Very busy and lots of doom and gloom talk. Speculation.

I voted with my wallet. I expect it will be a good investment.

igpoobah said:

Panic? What panic. Oh you must mean people who didn't buy when prices were cheap and supply was plentiful. LOL

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I'm right in the middle. I buy enough reloading components and supplies to be able to load 1000 rounds of any caliber I shoot. It happens that I just sized and primed 750 .45 before thanksgiving so I was down to only 100 primers on the shelf. I went to cabelas and had to confront a panic buyer who was buying a reloading kit and all of the LP primers and several jars of powder.

The moral of the story? Buy MORE than you need the next time, not just enough.

It being Christmas has a big effect on this too. Some of this increase of shopping is normal.


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I reckon this is as good a time as any to see if anyone's traded a nice pump-action or bolt-action in (or if I'm lucky, a Gen-3 S&W semi-auto) on an AR.

I really want to get a 9x19 for Christmas.

Heh. No. No panic buying from me. I've been done for about a year now. Serious. Lately, all I've been focusing on are bolt action 22LR's and other bolt action centerfires.

Does that mean I don't feel for the poor schmuck who's paying $200 for a complete polymer AR lower? Yes, I feel bad for them. However, rather than scrambling to get the last of the "assault weapon" goods, they should be using that energy to call, email, write, visit their representatives and talk to every freakin' person about the silliness of a AWB or anything remotely similar.

Traded two 13 round Sig 226 magazines for ammo at my local LGS.

I expect New Jersey to go from a 15 round limit to a 10 round limit, with no grandfathering.

Personally, I see no difference between 13 and 10 rounds, except for three round plus a dash of the freedom and liberty thing.

Seriously guys. We've had since 2004 to prepare for this. I turned 21 after the ban was in place and I've not let the last 9 years go to waste.

Beta c mags are going for 750 on gunbroker. LOL

Its been an eyeopener for me. Fresh off the boat from Cali to TX. Monday i bought a couple Beta 100 rd mags just "cause i could". Scored them for 169 each. Tuesday i thought hell, why not, and went to the CTD storefront that was close by. THAT PLACE was crazy... AR's were flying off the walls... line was out the door. 30rd P-mags were 30 bucks each! AND flying out the door.. people were grabbing handfuls... They had a couple higher (2000 and up) dollar rifles and no AK's , plenty of shotguns and handguns of course. No .223 ammo. It was kind of surreal, i've never seen so many grown men in such a genuine worry. People were buying stuff for people over the phone, calling eachother "nope they are out here too"

I was AMAZED to see that the 100rd mags were $499! and now reading $750... its really amazing.

I have enough stripped lowers and .223 to not bother me into a need of panic. Plan on going to a gun show early next year locally and maybe pick up some upper pieces here and there. I wonder if the prices of uppers and everything else will also skyrocket... January is going to be interesting.

If anything , its certainly an interesting social study. I wonder if anyone here can comment on what it was like during the last shortage/potential ban.. Would be interesting to gauge if this is worse, or not even half as bad?

Rocketmedic said:

I reckon this is as good a time as any to see if anyone's traded a nice pump-action or bolt-action in (or if I'm lucky, a Gen-3 S&W semi-auto) on an AR.

I really want to get a 9x19 for Christmas.

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One of my local places has a 3954 that just came in on trade, stickered at 325... I was on my way out after shooting my own 3953, so I just bit the inside of my cheek hard and put it down (after checking it out)...

Swilling said:

If anything , its certainly an interesting social study. I wonder if anyone here can comment on what it was like during the last shortage/potential ban.. Would be interesting to gauge if this is worse, or not even half as bad?

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Looks much the same to me. I've told this story here before, but at the onset of the Clinton-era experiment, I traded a Glock 19, 3 15-round mags and 500 rounds of 124 gr hydro-shok for

(wait for it)

three LE trade in S&W model 65s with 3" barrels and round butts. I still have one, and so does my dad. History looks back kindly on that deal.

The 3 stores I hit yesterday were all stripped bare of anything even vaguely resembling a black rifle or full cap mag, with 4473 papers laying around on every flat surface and shell-shocked buyers
waiting for hours for NICS to start answering the phones again.

Good times, good times.

Guilty as hell of panic buying (investment spending). I look at it as a good way to go out and add to the collection/supply every now and then.

Since the horrible event in Conn...

3 guns, 2 cans, 15 new mags (not including the 6 that came with the guns), and some ammo. Was going to put specifics in here, but thought better of it.

A guy at work today got real caught up in it, he bought an AR last night, but no Ammo.

Today, all he's been doing is looking around on websites and can't find anything. I kinda didnt believe him, so i looked myself. And wow... NOTHING all backordered. Its quite a surprise.

I can't even find AR-15's sans for online ads. And the prices are getting crazy. Not crazy as in "gouging", but crazy as in "$1800 for a Carbon-15".

I had been planning on building a 264 lbc for a while. After last week, I figured I better get my stuff before people start freaking out. Managed to get a lower for me and one for my mom. Also managed to get all the other parts. Did this on Friday night. Friends started asking me to find them lowers. Sunday night was easy to do that. I have spent two hours tonight looking for any lowers in stock on the net and no luck.

My buddy had an AR he was trying to sell for 800 and somebody bought it today for 1600. Another friend was in the process of actually buying a sig ar at wal-mart today and somebody else walk up and said it was theirs. Sure enough, the manager had promised it to the other guy the night before over the phone! My buddy ended up at wal mart for three hours because they told him they had another ar and then they couldn't find it. So then, he found a website that still had a few lowers in stock. He filled out all of the info to purchase one and then decided he wanted the other style available. He closed the window and saw that the other one became out of stock. So he went back to the one he was going to purchase to begin with, and it had sold out.

As for those who rushed out this week to buy an AR, did they Never anticipate that any tragedy involving several (or more) children in a school etc could lead to this?
Murphy's Law often works in the most terrible manner.

If they already had the cash months ago and chose Not to buy them, then they must not have wanted them.

napjerk said:

Someone on Gunbroker just paid $515 for FIVE pmags.

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Yeah, some dude paid 900 for 15, just haven't seem lancers climb that high yet. Actually prices at Arfcom seemed to dip a little tonight, just my luck if this is only short term...or everyone goes broke first. lol

I'm starting to feel a little left out here. I couldn't afford a new AR before the panic buying, and now I for sure won't be able to now. Not that I was really considering one, but now everyone on the block is gonna have one (or 6) but me!

And to really ice the cake you can still buy beta c mags off the beta website for 230 each ROFLMAO.

Yup same here, walked into my lgs because my roomate wants 30mm scope rings and I never pass up an opportunity to look at new guns! and the lot was full. This place is small, probably room for less than 20 people inside. The lady behind the counter could not get through for a background check, employees running around and everything in black rifle was gone as well as mags... They have a very nice collection of pre-lock S&W collecting dust though..

I did however find the holy grail of S&W 1st 2nd & 3rd gen mags!! I even found an evil 30 rounder for my 6906!!!

i went to one of my 15 LGS today in maryville and took a glance at the ammo shelf and was very surprised. no 9mm, no 45 acp, no 357, no 44 mag (other than hornady), a few 380's and a BUTT load of 40 s&w. at first i thought they had just put it out or it was over priced but no, been there 3 days and priced at 15.99 a box. guess there not much call for 40 in my area

It was a cold, windy night and I found myself looking through threads and threads of gun panic. I decided that I would take action, since I was low on ammo anyway, and order a few more rounds for each of my weapons. Not only my assault weapons though. I ordered just in the nick of time. Shortly after, they posted a delay on processing and shipping. I knew everything would be fine. Life was good.

i kinda got panicky, but i was saving up for a sr556 so i had to expedite it and buy it 2 months early, bought it tuesday. on top of that my LGS was in debt to me to the tune of 1200.00 for a m1a trade so he traded me out into a stag model 7 6.8 spc. one thing i have to say is that while 223/556 762x39/51 is flying off the shelf, i have found plenty of 6.8 spc and reloading supplies at no gouge prices. also i have put my 9mm and 45acp's back in the safe for a while and dug out my 629 and 686 and have resumed shooting my revolvers. while 9 and 45 (for some reason my area if flooded with 40) has dryed up 357/45lc/44mag is fracking everywhere!!!!!

No personal stories, as I'm only really currently in the market for some more magazines for my AR (and will buy those from the local police supply store when they're back in stock -- where I won't get gouged). But, my buddy tried to buy a gun here the other day and was told that the background check time had exceeded 18 hours (we run through CBI as an alternative to NICS, a state-level thing. Normally our wait times are less than an hour or two, but it wasn't so this week).

In KC Cabelas tonight. Only three high cap mags left in the place, all S&W 15-22s (lol). Not a single Beretta or Glock or XD mag left either, nor a 25 round 10/22 or 597 mag. They did have PMC 5.56 left at $7.99 limit 10/customer and 9mm Magtech for 11.99.

I stopped at a local big chain sports store to pick up some ammo, as I am going to the range today. I only wanted some 223, 22lr, and 12 gauge slugs.

There were no slugs, no 223/5.56, and not a single box of 22lr.

Come on, are you kidding me, no 22lr?

There was also no 9mm or 30/30.

Most other handgun and rifle calibers were in stock.

"As for those who rushed out this week to buy an AR, did they Never anticipate that any tragedy involving several (or more) children in a school etc could lead to this?
Murphy's Law often works in the most terrible manner.

If they already had the cash months ago and chose Not to buy them, then they must not have wanted them."

Honestly, I am cheap, and I don't need a semi auto rifle. I have been spending the last year struggling over whether I should buy a $199 1940's Mauser or a Savage Axis.

Now, listening to how many politicians are jumping on board the anti gun train, and seeing how "the people" just elected them, I am getting irritated. I voted on election day, I am voting with my wallet, I will join the demonstrations and i hope it doesn't go farther than that.

The gun stores around here have not yet jacked up there prices though they say that prices are sure to go up on new stock.

It sucks for guys like me because I buy stuff all year long. Not to stock pile, to use and to collect. It makes it difficult. All of you that have everything you need and just stock pile to weather the storm are ok... and truth be told I have more than I need... I just like to buy a gun every couple of months and I buy reloading supplies every couple of weeks.