insanity at local gun shop!

I went to a small little gunshop the other day and pmags were $50, gold dots were $70, and the ammo just got worse from there.


Its pretty normal right now. Sadly.

So, they are selling items at market price right now? What's wrong with that? They should sell them below market value so someone can come and buy them cheap and then resell them for a profit?

And when he does that, and he either can't get more inventory, or the wholesale cost has risen so he can't buy new inventory, then what? He then goes out of business.

This is not insanity. This is normal. Welcome to market fluctuation.

It's called free-market capitalism where prices are set by the forces of supply and demand.

Cashing in. May not be able to sell them next month.

I recall the panic of 1994. All guns and ammo flew off the shelves. Then the gun companies, ammo companies, and retailers had almost no business for the next two years as nobody wanted anything more at that point.

P-Mags for $40 and $50 wow that's cheap, the local shop here is over $70 for them, S&W sport $1800, AK variants over $1200. These shops must not be direct P-Mag distributers.

Actually the problem is that it isn't a free market. When outside pressure or controls are put on the market it is no longer "free" and therefore is is out of balance. I am not faulting the dealer or the buyers in this market. Just pointing out this is not a free market.

Vote with your dollars and shop with your feet.

Unless you want the power to force retailers to sell things at a price you're comfortable with.

3 choices:

Sell at normal price, be out of stock immediately.

Sell at increased price, customers can design if they need or just want it.

Sell at normal price, but limit the number. Works okay on ammo, less on firearms.

larry starling said:

Well on a whim I decided to venture to one of the more expensive gun stores in town. And low and behold plenty of pmags and AR's in stock. Unfortunately they seem to want to GOUGE way over MSRP for everything. Yep $40 Pmags and $1900 Bushmaster AR's.

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Quite an accusation there, without knowing all the facts. Do you know much THE STORE paid for the Pmags? How about the AR? If you don't, then why are you claiming they're gouging?

$40 for a Pmag seems like a pretty good deal right now, especially since most everyone is out of them.

The LGS here told me that their distributors cancelled existing orders and re-did them with higher prices. Something that they bought for $20 and sold for $30 was now costing them $35. They put a price tag of $45 on it (a lower percentage markup) and get accused of gouging by uninformed people who post it on the Internet.

One of my LGS is still selling at normal prices. The shelves are bare and you're free to jump on the waiting list though. You can do that or pay more for product that's in stock elsewhere. Your choice!

The best price in town on anything is always with the seller that doesn't have any in stock....

Yep. LGS by me has steel GI style mags with green followers for $20. That's all I used before the current panic and never had any issues. I can't justify the extra cost of the pmag personally.

I picked up Okay Industries USGI tan follower mags for $8 ea. I thought I was getting the older green follower mags too so it was a pleasant surprise. Source is dry now but not everyone is raising prices.

That's all I used before the current panic and never had any issues.

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Same here. Have lots of GI issue mags that were free and have never had any malfunctions. What is the big draw with pmags? I guess I need to get one and see what it's all about.

Didn't PMAG put all their distributers on notice about jacking up the price of their mags, if they did they would loose their distribution privileges.

Same here. Have lots of GI issue mags that were free and have never had any malfunctions. What is the big draw with pmags? I guess I need to get one and see what it's all about.

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i have a slightly used 1 for you for only $150.00 plus shipping and paypal fee

Quite an accusation there, without knowing all the facts. Do you know much THE STORE paid for the Pmags? How about the AR? If you don't, then why are you claiming they're gouging?

$40 for a Pmag seems like a pretty good deal right now, especially since most everyone is out of them.

The LGS here told me that their distributors cancelled existing orders and re-did them with higher prices. Something that they bought for $20 and sold for $30 was now costing them $35. They put a price tag of $45 on it (a lower percentage markup) and get accused of gouging by uninformed people who post it on the Internet.

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Hmmm... kind of odd that every single thing Ive purchased over the last few weeks. Guns, Mags, Ammo and AR parts were at the same prices pre- Dec 15th.

I constantly hear BS justifications from dealers who want to triple their investment and blame someone else. Its pretty simple and certainly nothing new. Decide what your priorities are and where your principles and loyalties lie. If you are so impatient that you are willing to support this type of business practice then its just like politics, you reap what you sow. Good luck.

tarosean said:

Hmmm... kind of odd that every single thing Ive purchased over the last few weeks. Guns, Mags, Ammo and AR parts were at the same prices pre- Dec 15th.

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same here , just picked up some 380auto ammo the other day for $15 per 50 "brass reloadable" (was to lazy to load my own and was on my way to the range and I was low on 380auto) a few weeks ago I picked up 4 P-mags with dust covers for $15.00 each out in Montana, Mills Fleet Farm has 7.62X54 tuna cans for $109.00 same as last summer

radar1972 said:

It's called free-market capitalism where prices are set by the forces of supply and demand.

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This.

After seeing what XM855 was selling for on Gunbroker, I decided to put 500 rounds up for auction and set the starting bid at exactly what I paid 12 months earlier with no reserve and see what happened. It sold for nearly $500.

There's nothing ethically wrong with that, nothing at all.