Will all of these new AR owners be able to afford the ammo?

Status
Not open for further replies.

evolve23

Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2009
Messages
17
I'm guessing not. and i'm guessing they're not willing to spend the extra $600 in order to procure necessary reloading components and the hundreds of hours needed to skillfully craft a quality handload.

Given this, I think we'll see a glut of ARs on the secondary market within several months to a year. Also, as others have said, many of these purchases have been on plastic, and buyers remorse will set in after months of the AR laying under the bed in the box unused.
 
The good news is, the ammo manufacturers are going to work overtime to get ammo on the shelves. Then when the rush is over, tehy wont scale back production fast enough. Then we'll have an ammo glut. Price will come down. Then there will be all those slightly used AR's. Going to be like christmas all over...:D

LNK
 
Who the hell said anything about reloading and/or handloads being the only thing one can or should shoot out of an ar? Since when is that even $600 except for right now during the panic spree?

Speaking of the panic spree... how many long time owners/shooters/reloaders got caught with their pants down or with less supplies than they'd like and cannot afford to shoot now, with the panic spree ammo shortage, price gouging and ammo component shortage as well?
 
I am still waiting for all of those 'cheap used ARs' from the 2008 hoarding spree to be on sale for cheap.

All I ever saw was people who paid too much trying to recoup that investment by selling them off for too much, too.
 
Given this, I think we'll see a glut of ARs on the secondary market within several months to a year.

Mostly wishful thinking IMHO, it didn't happen after the 2008 panic, and its even less likely to happen this time with actual bans being talked about and the MSM beating the anti-gun drums at every opportunity.

But I'd sure like to be wrong...
 
Speaking of the panic spree... how many long time owners/shooters/reloaders got caught with their pants down or with less supplies than they'd like and cannot afford to shoot now, with the panic spree ammo shortage, price gouging and ammo component shortage as well?

I certainly have upped my on-hand stock of ammo and components, having been caught flat-footed during the 2008 spree.

Since I have no idea what the duration or seriousness of the current hoarding is going to be, I'm sitting tight with almost everything except .22LR.
 
Speaking of the panic spree... how many long time owners/shooters/reloaders got caught with their pants down or with less supplies than they'd like and cannot afford to shoot now, with the panic spree ammo shortage, price gouging and ammo component shortage as well?

Please don't call it price gouging. We're not talking about basic needs of survival. It is only gouging if you absolutely need it (think water in desert). The price is only what the market will bear. Once demand dies down, the prices will come down. Buy low, sell high. Nothing wrong with that...

LNK
 
There really are not that many AR15s. I think there are about 3,000,000 in the country which leaves about one for every 100 people. Also most people I know have more than one and are not likely to sell then at any price, especially if there is a ban. As for gear I am all set, no panic buying here. I assumed things would go this way for a long time.

Merry Christmas!
 
LNK said:
Please don't call it price gouging. We're not talking about basic needs of survival. It is only gouging if you absolutely need it (think water in desert). The price is only what the market will bear. Once demand dies down, the prices will come down. Buy low, sell high. Nothing wrong with that...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging

Just because it's legal in this case, that sure doesn't make it respectable.
 
Last edited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_gouging

Just because it's legal, doesn't make it respectable.

Thanks for agreeing with me. If you read your own link you will see it refers to "essential goods or services". I have heard of $700 dollar AR's going for $1500. If the customer didn't grab it, the guy behind him would have. Have you ever sold something for more than you paid? Would that make you a gouger? Fair and reasonable is a very vague term. Who decides what is and isn't? I would not propose what is or isn't?

Just saying...

LNK
 
The gouging that is going on right now is despicable. Final answer…..

Not the final answer at all, actually. Perhaps what you personally think, but not what others think.

Alternately, the prices on firearms and ammunition currently are part of operating in a free-market capitalist economy.

Don't like it? Don't buy it. So long as there is someone willing to fork over money or goods for something, the price isn't "too high".

What do I think? C'est la capitalism! Viva la capitalism!
 
I agree with LNK. It's how the marketplace works. When prices for a good rise, you may call it gouging, but it discourages purchase by those with only a slight need for the item in question. When the unserious buyers go away, the prices drop back down to meet the reduced demand.

The laws of economics work just as automatically, and just as remorselessly as the laws of physics. You cannot change this, and well-intentioned attempts to get around it never work in the long term.
 
Or, alternately, part of operating in a free-market capitalist economy.

C'est la capitalism! Viva la capitalism!

99.99% of the time I would agree but this time we are a fairly small group of people some of who are taking of advantage of others based on the fear of losing our rights.

The other day I was in a gun shop and I grabbed the last 4 Tango Down magazines. A man and his wife went to get some right after me and were upset that they were all gone. I handed them two of them, they were very thankful. Yes you gougers are well within your rights and I do not think that right should be infringed either. I just choose to sleep well at night.
 
the extra $600 in order to procure necessary reloading components and the hundreds of hours needed to skillfully craft a quality handload.

1) It does not cost $600 to get into handloading for just one or two cartridges. It can be done with Lee eqiupment for well under $200

2) You do not need to spend "hundreds of hours carefully crafting handloads" for plinking ammo. I just did 2,000 rounds from start to finish in 14 hours on a single stage press, including initial tumbling and delubing/drying cases. With current 5.56mm prices, I was "working" for close to $100/hour.

There really are not that many AR15s. I think there are about 3,000,000 in the country

Seems like a completely arbitrary number......
 
Lets all calm down and wait a few weeks. See what happens. The waiting is the hardest part....

Merry Christmas
 
No. It's supply and demand. Business owners are not in business to cater to your idea of morality, they are in business to make a living, which they do by making a profit. They are charging what the market will bear, and there is nothing wrong with that!

If that inconveniences you because you can't by a rifle you probably simply want rather than absolutely need... Well, too bad. Life is hard, then you die.

You're not thinking this through. Remember what demand is right now: sky high. If the dealers all simply charged what they would have charged before, it wouldn't change a thing -- there still wouldn't be an AR left on any shelf in any gun store you went to. In fact, with the dealers charging higher prices right now, that makes it more likely that there will still be a few available when the demand dies down, and prices start to fall again. Then you can buy one if you like.

Read the relevant passage in the link you yourself provided:

In terms of fairness, anti-price gouging laws require producers to sell goods below their market-clearing price: the market clearing price is the amount at which quantity supplied is equal to quantity demanded. If goods are priced above their market-clearing price then there will be a surplus of goods and the converse leads to a shortage of goods. Under anti-price gouging laws, consumers are unable to buy the necessary goods which they desire in a time of need.

According to the neoliberal approach, anti-price gouging laws prevent allocative efficiency. Allocative efficiency refers to when prices function properly, markets tend to allocate resources to their most valued uses. In turn those who value the good the most will be willing to pay a higher price than those who do not value the good as much.[5] According to Friedrich Hayek in The Use of Knowledge in Society, prices can act to coordinate the separate actions of different people as they seek to satisfy their desires.[6] Prices fluctuate with changing desires and convey information to buyers and sellers about supply and demand of goods.

Many economists argue that laws against price increases serve only to restrict supplies of a good or service by reducing the incentive suppliers have to undertake any additional costs, hazards or inconvenience that may be required. They argue further saying that these price increases force consumers to ration goods thus increasing the longevity of certain resources in an emergency.

And with the current high demand and commensurate high prices, it gives manufacturers an incentive to ramp up production to meet that demand. Without the higher prices, they have no such incentive.
 
Fine, Profiteering then?

Only if you consider making a profit legally, unethical. I understand you are not happy with the current prices. It doesn't change the fact that we all do it. If I had a set of tires that suddenly became the thing to have, and I could sell them due to demand, at a much higher price than I paid for them. I would, and so would you. Kind of like ebay. Many things there sell for more than retail.

LNK
 
2) You do not need to spend "hundreds of hours carefully crafting handloads" for plinking ammo. I just did 2,000 rounds from start to finish in 14 hours on a single stage press, including initial tumbling and delubing/drying cases. With current 5.56mm prices, I was "working" for close to $100/hour.

Took me about 3 minutes to decide a load for my AR...2 hours to load 200 cases, and it was accurate enough on the first try. 2 inches at 50 yards with open sights is good enough for me
 
There are shops in my area that are gouging, and there are shops that are not. I know where I will be shopping for the next 20 years. Hows that for free market?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top