Could AR popularity and sales getting low

[nathan]

I was browsing in budsgunshop website and under under rifles and rock river arms, it has a note, MAKE AN OFFER. If you look back to last year craze buying , the prices were astronomical and hitting the roof. Now they re probably not selling because of the high cost of ammo and AR platform is getting too overhyped. Even finding 22 LR ammo is too difficult and costly nowadays. People rather go where their pockets can afford.

 

[robMaine]

They seem to be doing that on lots of items, not just AR's,

http://www.budsgunshop.com/catalog/index.php/cPath/36_758/Rifles/Mossberg

 

[chicharrones]

Wow. Someone has some inventory to clear out.

 

[gotigers]

Most that wanted an AR bought one last year thinking they were beating the gun ban. The manufacturers ramped up production. Now the market has dried up. Thus prices are falling.

Prices will keep falling on lowers and complete AR. Lowers will get to $40 and lower end ARs will get to $500. The local gun show had ARs for $550 last weekend and no one was buying.

 

[matrem]

Supply is catching demand.
That's exactly how the free enterprise system should work.

 

[Fremmer]

That's a marketing/sales scheme. Buds is betting your offer (which will be lower than the msrp or whatever price point they now use) will still be higher than what they used to charge (or otherwise would list as a price) for the gun.

 

[Mike1234567]

Bud's has more than 3,100 "make offer" listings of many different firearms. I don't know if it's a new thing but I've never noticed it before.

 

[W.E.G.]

Its apparent that among the gun-owners community, most members have all the guns they have room to store and/or the ability to feed.

The "collectible" guns are still selling well enough.

Meat-and-potatoes guns are like Andy Griffith in that episode where he has to eat his third spaghetti dinner in one evening.

 

[barnbwt]

Didn't this happen last time?

1) Demand spikes, ARs disappear
2) Demand for secondary stuff like parts and lowers spikes as buyers shift to assembling guns piecemeal as they find components
3) Production on rifles/parts ramps up, but elevated demand on parts makes completed rifles hard for manufacturers to produce in quantity
4) Demand eventually tapers, and component demand falls more quickly than rifles
5) Components manufacturers start losing their shirts and dump their inventory
6) Assemblers buying discounted components crank out artificially cheap completed rifles, causing rifle manufacturers to lose their shirts and drop their prices

And somehow, someway, someone wins a Ferrari . Note the lack of "fools who bought expensive ARs lose their shirts and sell" because I don't think that actually happens as much as we like to pretend it does. Most people who buy an AR keep it in the closet or go shooting occasionally

TCB

 

[USAF_Vet]

Note the lack of "fools who bought expensive ARs lose their shirts and sell" because I don't think that actually happens as much as we like to pretend it does. Most people who buy an AR keep it in the closet or go shooting occasionally

No, they are out there. The problem is they aren't willing to lose their shirts. They bought a middle of the road AR for $2k, and aren't willing to sell it at used market value, around $5-600. That's why it sits in the closet and gets shot occasionally.

Thus doesn't apply in every case, but based on Armslist ads for the past several months, they are certainly out there.

 

[torqem]

I had $600 in a plane Jane Colt AR, 35 years ago, when gas was 1/3rd the cost of today. There's better guns than the Colt for sale for the same money today, and they are a bargain.

 

[788Ham]

HA ! Gun rich and house payment poor !! I wonder how many wives have put their old man in the predicament of , "Sell it now, or I'm gone !" Like the ammo scarcity we're all seeing, bricks upon bricks of .22's piled in the basement, too highly priced to sell any of it. Glad I don't own any AR rifles.

 

[justice06rr]

Now they re probably not selling because of the high cost of ammo and AR platform is getting too overhyped.

Ammo is back to normal price. And its always been "over-hyped" to begin with.

The reason why its not selling as fast is because demand has decreased and supply is back to normal, with a glut of many AR's in the market again.

That is always a good thing. Supply > demand means lower prices.

 

[smithman 10]

Market saturation

Everyone who wanted an AR has one by now.

I remember during the crazy times I sold my Smith and Wesson Sport (I had a Colt AR so decided I didn't need 2 black rifles) back to the gun shop where I bought it for $300 more than I paid for it. Dude standing next to me bought it on the spot for another $300 add-on.

In other words, he paid more than twice for that used gun than what he could buy a new in the box one for today! I always wonder where that Sport is today. And what that fellow thinks about what he paid for it.

Crazy when you think about it. All the gun control mania drove thousands of folks out to buy guns they would never have bought if the gun control fanatics had kept their mouths shut.

End result, more firearms in the hands of citizens than ever before.

 

[jeff-10]

If gun companies want to stay a float they need to start offering innovative products. You can only sell so many AR-15s, 1911s and polymer pistols. IMO they are all highly saturated products but the AR-15 is getting ridiculous. Even at my local Wal-Mart, half the guns for sale are AR-15s. These are products that basically last multiple lifetimes so it is not like they are going to wear out. Plus I have my serious doubts that the majority of them even get shot on a regular basis.

 

[nathan]

The AR craze somewhat slowed down as its so common like the lever action .30 30 of the past. Cost of ammo,too, have kept people from dropping money into it,

But everytime theres a mass shooting using an AR, this urges people to buy one. And when politicians and media focus on it ,the more opposite effect happens. Maybe the politicians and media learned their lessons.

Up to now the effects of Sandy Hook lingers as we still have a hard time finding cheap .22 LR ammo. Whats the hold up ?

 

[Sam1911]

Up to now the effects of Sandy Hook lingers as we still have a hard time finding cheap .22 LR ammo. Whats the hold up ?

There is a HUGE thread (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=742390) that was just closed yesterday which explains "what's the hold up" in pretty great detail. Let's not get into it again here.

 

[atomd]

If you wanted an AR during the really high demand times and had the money, you bought one. If you wanted one and didn't have the money, you waited until that passed and then bought one.

Now if you are still AR shopping, you're probably more likely to be a shooter with more specific wants than the guy grabbing any AR off the rack and plunking down the cash just because he thinks he won't be able to tomorrow.

 

[eastbank]

a year ago walmart was selling colt wmle 6920 m-4,s for 1067.00 and wmle 6920mp-fde,s for 1167.00 and today they are just about the same price(not 30.00 more). i bought two and don,t regret it. eastbank.

 

[chicharrones]

"make an offer"

That's a marketing/sales scheme. Buds is betting your offer (which will be lower than the msrp or whatever price point they now use) will still be higher than what they used to charge (or otherwise would list as a price) for the gun.

You're probably right.

I remember one way dealers get around Minimum Advertised Pricing (set by manufacturers) was to have "priced to low to show" and request you email for "your personal" quote.

"Make an Offer" looks to be the same thing with a different label.

 

[aka108]

Seems everyone, young guys and old coots, are shooting AR style rifles, except me. At the gunshows, large sporting goods stores and the smaller gun shops have plenty of AR types in their racks. Prices seem to have edged a bit downwards. AK's seem in still short supply and prices are still up. Like the Yugos in excess of 800 bucks. Way too much.

 

[rgwalt]

No, they are out there. The problem is they aren't willing to lose their shirts. They bought a middle of the road AR for $2k, and aren't willing to sell it at used market value, around $5-600. That's why it sits in the closet and gets shot occasionally.

Thus doesn't apply in every case, but based on Armslist ads for the past several months, they are certainly out there.

I am seeing the same thing on Armslist and other on-line sites. I also get a table at local gun shows, and see the same thing from guys walking around. There is one old man who "builds ARs". When I've looked at his rifles, they are all built using the low-end parts you find from the cheesy guys at the gun show selling stuff made in china for airsoft guns. He is asking $1400 for his custom built AR that is worth $600 tops, but there is no reasoning with him.

Prices are all over the map, and it seems that people want new money for their AR "package deals" where they sell the gun, ammo, mags, optics, bag, case, and do-dads all in one go, likely because they are getting out of the AR game. Again, there is no reasoning with them because they are "already taking a loss at that price". They want new money for their used stuff that "has less than 50 rounds through it". When I try to explain gun depreciation, and explain that optics and accessories are worth about 50%-75% (tops) of their new price, it simply doesn't register. Then I see the same ad for the same gun get relisted at the same time every day or two for the next month. So far, I haven't seen any desperate fire-sale pricing yet.

I'd love to see quality lowers get down to $40 each. At that price, I'll buy one per week and stack them in a foot locker. I'll either have a treasure trove (if more regs pass) or I'll hand them out as party favors at my 40th.

 

[jrdolall]

How many people that you know, who might have any interest in owning an AR, don't already have one? The mad rush we saw early in 2013 on anything that even looked like an AR is over. Walmart has been selling DPMS Oracle AR's for $619. since last summer. Sure it's a low end rifle but it is probably priced where it SHOULD be. A basic, bottom end AR just should not cost $750.

Around here I can walk in ANY store that sells guns and they have ARs stacked deep and wide. From the low end DPMS to the high end Colt and I don't even see anyone asking about them. I have a few. including the Oracle, and don't really want any more. I like the platform and enjoy shooting them but I don't really want another. Now if I can pick up a higher quality one at an exceptional price then I may jump in the game.

I think this is true about most of the firearms out there. Sales have flattened and will probably continue to fall as expendable income dries up. Other than Kel Tec and their "wonder guns" like the PMR 30 you can walk into just about any gun shop and walk out with what you are looking for.

 

[henschman]

PSA is still almost always out of stock on most of their uppers, especially the ones that are in real demand now, like midlengths. BCM sells comparable uppers for a couple hundred more, and they are mostly in stock. I'd say the AR market is still plenty alive and well... the prices are just way down, and people have become more bargain conscious again.

 

[anothernewb]

In addition to the economics of the situation, the dreaded "B" word just didn't materalize. And the panic wore off. CO and a few other places enacted a magazine ban, and are paying the price now as many owners and a few firearm manufactures are leaving the area.