Could oil prices lower ammo prices?

[RetiredUSNChief]

It seems that when oil prices used to rise, it raised the cost of everything else because oil (and gasoline) are needed to mine the materials, manufacture the materials into things, and then transport the things to market. So how about ammo, which keeps rising in price? Mining of copper and lead should be cheaper now, along with getting it to stores. So should we be seeing a big price reduction soon if the price of oil keeps dropping?

I suppose it could. But it's not going to be a quick event.

First of all, there are already issues to be dealt with financially with materials that were produced, stocked, and purchased during times when oil prices were higher. Thus I wouldn't expect to see prices suddenly drop over night. Raw materials that went into the mining, making, shipping, stockpiling of the metals for cartridges and bullets, for example, came from earlier times under higher oil prices. That stock isn't going to be sold off at dramatically lower prices because the companies providing these resources still have capital invested in them that need to be recovered.

I rather suspect that any price drops would be relatively minor in the short term and due solely to lower final shipping costs.

 

[AlaskaErik]

If anything, ammo prices will go up for those calibers that are already in short supply. Lower gas prices means more money in consumer's pockets. Some people will use that money to buy even more .22 ammo, since demand still exceeds supply and now people have a little more money.