Corona Virus Panic Buying

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General, generic preparedness for a 1 week or 2 week episode of ''XX'' whatever is not a bad idea on a good day. Such as having several gallons of water and an extra sack of groceries in the garage. Good day, meaning not a panic shop at the shoppe.

The government:scrutiny: actually runs PSAs on the radio about go bags, general preparedness, etc.

But ppl WILL panic buy whether bullets or sanitizer or TP (speaking of TP, most could benefit from a big flush-out:neener: IMO) (LoL)
 
I always like to have a month's worth of food, TP, toothpaste, shampoo, etc on hand. I hate running out of something. Especially since the nearest full-size grocery store is in the next town 15 miles away.

But when it comes to ammunition, how much of a supply you have depends on your usage of it.

If you go through 500 rounds a month practicing, then that is entirely up to you. If you had 1000 rounds on hand, it could either last you two months, or two years, or a decade if you simply stopped shooting so much.
 
In any emergency, priorities are 1: water, 2: food, 3: toilet paper.
Everyone stocks up on ammo, but when the S hits the F, everyone forgets just how much S there really is.

Anyway, it's nothing to freak out about. Wash your hands. Use sanitizer when needed. Treat contact with people that may have it like you would contact with someone sick and you're good to go. It's related to SARS; like another flu, the difference being that no one's worked up an immunity yet.
Don't bother with your basic masks. Those work to keep what you have in, they do almost nothing to keep anything else out.
I'm not worried about it. And I transport the deceased for a living.
 
Here is another article:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ammunition-sales-soar-response-coronavirus-133400231.html

The biggest take away I can gather from it is that the 40 S&W is far from dead. :)

When it comes to actual sales, Ammo.com's increase varied among calibers and brands. Calibers that saw the largest increase include:

 
Trey Veston said:
You may want to re-think your approach before you end up wiping your rear with your hand, or bark. The TP shortage is real. I'm not panicking. I'm being smart and making sure I have the things I need that other people are freaking out over.

I just found out a couple of hours ago that Italy just announced a quarantine of 16 provinces. My company has a small field office in one of those provinces, so I had to look at what the quarantine entails...

Health officials are urging residents to remain indoors. Other measures include:


  • Ban on entry to or exit from the affected area.

  • Suspension of demonstrations or gatherings of any type, and of public or private events of any type (including cultural, sporting, recreational, or religious events); suspension of discotheque and nightspot operations.

  • Closure of resorts, swimming pools, and gyms.

  • Closure of museums and other cultural sites.

  • Closure of all schools at all levels and suspension of classes and school activities, including professional and university courses, except distance learning classes and medical or healthcare training.
Yes, it is just a little bit nastier than the flu and not a big deal unless you are over 80 or have a compromised immune system. In fact, I'm pretty sure my girlfriend and I already had it after a trip to Arizona and traveled in the same airport terminal on the same day as the first reported case in Washington state. It was nasty and I missed a week of work and had an aching cough for two weeks.

I'm not the least bit worried of getting it.

I am worried about the actions of those that are terrified of getting it. I would rather like the option of being able to stay in my home and live off of what supplies I've got on hand rather than go out in public and deal with panicked and irrational people in fear for their lives.
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Must be in your area. In mine, their are probably 3 grocery stores and even more 7/11s, dollar stores, and the like that have selves full of tp, water, and other supplies. I'm just not feeding into all of this. It's being blown up to be 100x bigger than what it is. Like I previously posted, we've been here and done this before ad nauseam.
 
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jeff-10 said:
Here is another article:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ammunition-sales-soar-response-coronavirus-133400231.html

The biggest take away I can gather from it is that the 40 S&W is far from dead. :)

When it comes to actual sales, Ammo.com's increase varied among calibers and brands. Calibers that saw the largest increase include:

Click to expand...
How do they know that it's in response to the virus? Correlation does not equal causation. Hawaii is trying to implement CA like laws in the sale of ammo, the election is getting closer, and gun control is being pushed in my state of VA and others. Speaking for myself, I usually purchase my ammo from Wal-Mart. A ton of gun owners in my area area did as well. They generally had problems online prices in store. I NEVER purchased range ammo, and generally only purchased ammo online when there were rebates around Black Friday. Lately, I've been buying in bulk online instead of my usual stopping by a near but Wal-Mart just to buy a couple of boxes right before a range trip. I guess my recent purchases, the purchased of those just like me, the purchases of those who are worried about the outcome of the upcoming election, and the purchased of those who are under threat of gun control are all being attributed and included in the manufactured Corona Virus crap.


Heck, I've been been stocking up on "high capacity" mags as well as I plan on buying a bunch of lowers and other firearms I might want before the 12 gun a month law kicks in. I guess those sales are going to attributed to this virus as well.
 
Trey Veston said:
I am worried about the actions of those that are terrified of getting it. I would rather like the option of being able to stay in my home and live off of what supplies I've got on hand rather than go out in public and deal with panicked and irrational people in fear for their lives.
Click to expand...

This exactly... As with so many other things, what matters isn't "reality" but, rather, the mob mentality that can develop based on other's perception of reality...
 
I always try to keep a month or so of supplies in my basement, but I have to admit I went ahead and replaced any missing stock this week just in case. As far as ammunition goes, I’m still waiting for good sales although I may grab a few hundred of each caliber I shoot before the election just to be safe.
 
I’ve bought a bit of extra non perishable food and stashed it incase my employer wants me to stay home and I need to avoid grocery stores for a bit. Just general supplies.

Buying ammo isn’t a priority right now.

Panic buying is silly, for any reason. Slowly but when times are good and build up a supply.
 
I saw the original article and thought: I'm glad I insulated myself from ammo shortages and price spikes by getting into reloading.

My mom asked me the other day over the phone what I would do if they shut down the local school district where I work. I replied "I'll go fishing." She was flabbergasted. I told her "Mom, everyone will be trying to avoid people and staying home; I'll have the local fishing holes to myself."
 
Just received an online order..no problem..and just went to local Cabela's yesterday..no shortage of anything there.

223/556, 38Spec, 9mm, 380, 22LR..shotgun...
 
Questions.

Why buy Ammo? Everyone is going to be sick and feel like crap, so no one will feel like going out to shoot. Ammo is not needed.

Why buy water? It’s a virus, not a natural disaster. There will still be electricity, the well pump will still run. The city will still have water and heat and NetFlix.
It’s not like those things turn off and somebody’s got to turn them on every eight hours.

Why buy all the Ramen?
I would rather starve than eat Wal-Mart Ramen. Since the power won’t go out, because even a skeleton crue of American Men can run this country’s infrastructure, I would rather stock in some steaks and asparagus and fresh things for a week of recuperation. Wouldn’t that be healthier anyway?

Why is everyone running to congregate in a checkout lane with the unwashed masses and pass filthy bills back and forth with contaminated coins and press bacteria laden buttons while breathing the infested air?
If you hear bad news and have to go prepare for it, you are not prepared.

I am not prepared.
I have a months worth of groceries and expendable things because I hate shopping, not because I thought ahead.:D
I admit that I do live in Eden. There is not much to worry about here. In Michigan we don’t get snowed in, we just shovel and go to work a little late.

I do have an emergency water supply though.
I keep it in a storage device 90’ below surface.
It it huge. A veritable lifetimes supply!
And if the power goes out from an errant Car/Pole accident, I have a nifty manual retrieval system.
upload_2020-3-8_9-55-0.jpeg

:)
 
I went through an ammo buying phase over the last year when prices were at record lows. Plus re loading supplies so I’m good to go.

I agree with everyone who says don’t panic but this virus is not normal because it’s new, with no immunity and no vaccine and it’s being hyped by the MSM and doomsday media like Zerohedge. Because of this, panicked people who were unprepared in the first place, could make our lives a bit harder.

We don’t really know how bad this will get so a little extra preparation won’t hurt.

Most importantly, this virus is way harder on older people. What is the average age of THR members? o_O Didn’t someone recently do an age poll? Many of us here need to be extra cautious.
 
SARS had about a 28-30 percent mortality rate.

MERS had about a 40 percent mortality rate.

Assuming the numbers are somewhere in the realm of known reality, we're still hovering around 2-3 percent mortality with COVID-19. By the way, the rhinovirus strains, responsible for the common cold, are also coronaviruses, named after the crown-shaped structures.

Theories abound that this is being hyped up more because it happens to be an election year, but the common-sense advice to treat it as any other illness you don't want is all one really needs to entertain. Be safe, sensible, and responsible, and this, too, shall pass.

My opinion, anyway, and I work in healthcare.
 
None of my buddies are worried about it here in Idaho, including myself. In other news my local costco has been insane, with lines to the back of the store for a week and a half. The costco reddit forum has been funny to read.
 
Corvid-19 mortality rate appears to be similar to the 1918 flu, about 2-3%. Seasonal flu is about .1%. So the potential for economic crisis is real which can lead to shortages and disruption of public services.

Stocking up on ammo, if not already done, is not a bad idea
 
One thing I see different is I don't remember the financial markets having huge swings when there was the avian flu or SARS. I've seen satellite images in some news bits of all the air pollution plumes over China disappearing. Manufactured goods and energy demand may be what's short but really what's that honestly mean to the overall financial markets where everything's traded in digital electrons these days?

When the avian flu was thought to be a potential pandemic my former employer sent all us employees some Tamiflu like stuff and had all sorts of broadcasts internally on business continuity plans when typical home internet speeds were a fraction of today's. Of course the directives to take the meds never were issued. My wife still works for that firm and thus far only the business travel policies have been transmitted with some changes.

Those mortality rates might be more skewed to those with compromised immune systems and the elderly more so than the 1918 flu event. I haven't actually seen the data to compare but if so, such individuals are primarily no longer providing services or working to manufacture goods because they're in no shape to do so already, or have retired from providing services or manufacturing goods.
 
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I did notice a couple extra goofballs hanging around the ammo section at stock & field today. But it is Sunday morning. I grabbed a canister of trailboss (can never remember the weight) and a # of h110. Everything looks normal here in northern Illinois ( I think we've had 5-10 infected folks somewhat locally). I buy water, tp, paper towels , hand sanitizer and diapers in bulk always anyway, usually always have a 3-6 month supply on hand. Oh, and reloading supplies, a few years worth always on hand. There's only ever a panic if you're unprepared, I'd never panic buy ammo like I did back in '13. I wasn't reloading at the time and I stocked up at inflated prices and still have some of that left . mostly 22s.
 
Demi-human said:
Questions.
Why buy water? It’s a virus, not a natural disaster. There will still be electricity, the well pump will still run.
Click to expand...

Here in the middle of the Mid-West it's starting up storm season so I always lay/refresh in the usual supplies. Water is one because I am on county rural water and there is no water table to sink a well into where I live. "Flush" water is in the jerry cans an drinking water in the bottles.
Oh, forgot to add, I have ammo... ;)
 
I bet estate sales in 20 or 30 or 40 years show us where most ammo purchased over the last 15 years went. I have no doubt in my mind that buying will go up in the election years in the foreseeable future.

And a big HAH to everyone who laughed at me and my bidets when I built my house......we buy a big bulk pack when we hit Sam's club every so often but why everyone is buying more TP is beyond me. I saw people last week buying multiple big packs. The store brands were out at Sam's and walmart. Oddly the high-browed brands were still fully stocked right now. I guess preparedness only goes so far.....and laurel bushes are plentiful. Also the industrial rolls that go in the dispensers were still full. Of course notebook paper or sandpaper is about as nice to use. This is all odd to me because I live in the very conservative mountains where water is usually spring fed, and we get decent snows. Nobody is unprepared for a 2 week winter event other than buying extra milk and bread for some unknown reason. Maybe people just don't plan to poop during deep snows but do during a virus?? Milk and bread run out every time two feet of snow is forecast. When at the coast it was milk bread generators and plywood (although I never figured out why people didnt just save their old generator and plywood like some of us did...) but I've never seen a toilet paper panic though. One thing I never got used to when visiting my sister at the coast was not having working cold water with the power out. That's a bigger PIA than I imagined.


Before we blame the liberals for this panic and ignoring experts don't forget the conservatives caused a few too. Y2k anyone. It seemed like all I seen doing that panic was conservatives?

On a positive note I did find 12 guage 7.5 shot estate shotgun shells for 1.50 a box at walmart. Yep 1.50 for 25 rounds.....So I guess I can shoot at the Corona virus with a scattergun and forego the electron scopes. Others were pushing buggies full of TP and here I was with 50 bucks in groceries and a buggy full of 12 guage. Lol . Then the debit system was down so I got to bypass the 40 mile checkout line since only about 2 customers in the store actually had cash.

jeff-10 said:
The biggest take away I can gather from it is that the 40 S&W is far from dead.
Click to expand...

It's about all I shoot anymore. I picked up ranger ts for for 10 bucks a while back. I'm very surprised though that it tops the list. Maybe people are so stocked on 9mm, 223, 45, and 22 that they just moved on.
 
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crestoncowboy said:
It's about all I shoot anymore. I picked up ranger ts for for 10 bucks a while back. I'm very surprised though that it tops the list. Maybe people are so stocked on 9mm, 223, 45, and 22 that they just moved on.
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TBH, the list looks like a lot of people are updating their Y2K kit. All that 40 S&W and 7.62x39 screams 1999.

It is also what I seem to shoot most now, just picked up a new VP 40 and it is now my new favorite.
 
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