Ammo Cost

[Double "D"]

This my first post on this or any gun forum. Forgive me if this has been addressed elsewhere on this forum. I did a search but was not able to find anything.

I just started (target) shooting in September of this year and I have a question regarding the price and availability of ammo. I have asked at several gun shops why ammo is so hard to find and the cost is so high. I have gotten the following responses.

1. Everyone is hoarding it because Obama is in office and the manufacturers cannot keep up with production.

2. The government is subsidizing the U.S. manufacturers to not produce ammo for the general public.

3. Some states are passing legislation to not allow rounds made of lead to sold in their states.

4. It is hunting season.

Is any of this true or what is the real reason?

(I am looking for inexpensive 9mm, .38 Spec., .30 Cal. Carbine and 30.06 for target shooting)

Double “D”

 

[TexasRifleman]

1 and 4 are somewhat true. More importantly there is a war on.

2 and 3 are BS for the most part. 3 has some bit of truth in it but it hasn't really impacted the market at all.

Mainly it is because of 1 and the military demand. This does impact calibers other than military because the component makers divert some of their manufacturing capacity to fill thee lucrative military orders.

There is a very very long ammo thread with all kinds of info in it.

In fact this thread will probably be moved to the end of that one shortly, the mods are keeping all of these in one place.

The online places seem to be getting stuff back in stock now, it's brick and mortar retailers that seem to still be a little short.

 

[freakshow10mm]

1. Everyone is hoarding it because Obama is in office and the manufacturers cannot keep up with production.

True. Supply and demand. Things seem to be settling down now but it will be about another 3-6 months before ammo and components are readily available.

2. The government is subsidizing the U.S. manufacturers to not produce ammo for the general public.

Absolutely false. If that is true, then the government needs to start paying my company a subsidy.

3. Some states are passing legislation to not allow rounds made of lead to sold in their states.

Partial truth. California has a lead ammo ban in condor areas of the state for hunting. They are thinking of applying it statewide so no hunting bullets can contain lead.

4. It is hunting season.

Usually doesn't apply to range type ammo. The hunters I know buy a box of 20 rounds, shoot 3-5 rounds out of it to confirm their scope setting and then go hunting. I doubt most hunters buy more than 100 rounds a year.

 

[bigfatdave]

-1- Manufacturers cannot keep up with demand, hoarding has been happening, but a LOT of people bought guns fearing some kind of obamatron ban, and a few of them seem to occasionally shoot them.
-2- Unlikely, although .mil demand may be tipping the scales a bit.
-3- That would make lead-containing ammo MORE available everywhere else, wouldn't it?
-4- That doesn't explain the lack of pistol and target ammo, now does it?

To put it simply, ammo production has a lot of bottlenecks (mining / primer manufacture / fixed supply lines / fixed warehouse capacities) and demand has been presictable for a long time, so this spike caught a lot of manufacturers flat-footed to some degree. Add in the ratchet effect on prices (they generally go up, and when they do come down, it is still higher than historic prices) and you get inflation.

Ranging further on an ammo hunt often gets me results, there are more places to pick up ammo than your local WallyWorld and that one gunshop in town. (and no, I don't mean the local cabella's/dick's/gander mtn ... those chains are gouging worse than the small shops!)

If you want cheap target shooting, move to .22 or some other rimfire chambering, reload, or diversify your calibers more to allow you to snap up a deal more often.
.22LR kills paper just as dead as any other caliber, and anyone who mocks your "little gun" will leave the range before you run out of ammo.
Reloading takes some serious investment, but you can buy/scavenge brass, buy/cast projectiles, stockpile powder, and just wait on primers to complete the kit ... the advantage is that you can get the components when they are cheap rather than paying for assembled ammo all at once.
Having more chamber sizes in the safe would mean passing by less ammo deals, I've been kicking myself for going all 9mm all through this silliness.

By the way, the guy working the ammo counter doesn't have a hotline to the ammo plant's assembly line, so his opinion is worth about half what you pay for it.