Any timelines on when the .223/5.56 Panic hit and how it went down?

[bushmaster1313]

Quite curious as to when the .223/5.56 panic buying and tight market hit, how buyers heard about it, and how long it took till everything was cleaned out, especially online.

Personally, I was stunned when I saw that the lead free tree hugging stuff was cleaned out at over $23 per box of 20.

http://www.ableammo.com/catalog/winchester-super-centerfire-rifle-ammunition-x223rt-remington-lead-free-3050-rdbx-p-111648.html

Midway had Stoner 10 round 5.56 magazines Sat night December 16.

This thread reported panic buying as early as Tuesday December 18:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=689840

I saw that Able, Midway and TargetSportUSA were cleaned out by 11:30 PM Eastern Time on Sat. December 22, but that was probably well after it happened:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=690877

 

[JohnBiltz]

Midway still had PMAGs as of Monday the 17th because that was when I bought two of them.

 

[GlockFan]

I put a order in at Brownells last Monday night, 17th, for the 10 PMAGs for $125 deal. They we SHOWN as in stock. Then Wednesday i got an email that they were now back ordered. I felt the surge happening over the weekend and then read on here what people were seeing in the shops.

 

[rcmodel]

Brownell's sold a 3 1/2 year inventory of AR-15 magazines in 3 days.

Here is a statement from them:
http://www.guns.com/2012/12/20/brownells-sells-3-5-years-worth-of-magazines-in-36-hours/

rc

 

[bushmaster1313]

3 1/2 year inventory of AR-15 magazines

3 1/2 years of magazines is a lot of reading material

 

[Isaac-1]

From watching the local stores, and following it online it seems things started ramping up on Saturday the 15th, I was in my local Academy store that evening and there were 4 or 5 people doing paperwork and the ammo aisle was so crowded it was hard to get to anything, lots of non gun people there too, one guy asked me if 380 and 38 were the same thing, also heard a woman as I was leaving ask a store employee what kind of ammo would fit her boyfriends Glock 45 (The employee asked if the Glock as a revolver or semi auto). There were similar reports nationally on the various message boards.

At least one normally well stocked LGS was doing above average business Monday, but not to all out panic buying yet, I was back in there Tuesday and the selection of AR's on their wall had visibly dropped, I bought their last two PMAGs for about $18 each, lots of people waiting on NICS paperwork, and others actively shopping, drove by it on Thursday, but the parkinglot was packed so did not stop, did hear from my newphew though that their AR selection was looking thin on Thursday morning and they were out of 223 and 7.62x39. I went back in there Friday morning and all AR's and AK's were gone except 2 which were marked Display Only, the boxes of used USGI magazines that had been priced at $9-$15 on Tuesday were much emptier and were then marked $49.99. Still plenty of bolt action guns, and even a few off brand cheaper evil looking black guns, most of the people there seemed to be buying high capacity hand guns at this point.

Following things online it seemed the national pace was similar, maybe a day or two ahead in some places. Online discounters were hit hard and fast, by Monday the 17th it seemed many if not most online ammo suppliers were out of bulk 223, but in general still had 7.62x39 and other popular cabilers, by Thursday or Friday many were out of all the popular calibers.

By Wednesday the 19th there were reports of mostly AR platform guns, ammo and magazines selling for 2x-3x normal prices on Gunbroker (maybe as much as 10x in some isolated cases). This trend continued and very well may be still continuing.

 

[coloradokevin]

I'd say that the panic around here set in between the Saturday and Sunday following the shooting. I was at the local Sportsman's Warehouse on Saturday, and they were doing a healthy amount of business, but still well-stocked. My buddy was there on Sunday and said it was an absolute mad house.

I went there around Tuesday/Wednesday again, and all things that are currently scarce were pretty well gone.