How is the mania in your part of America?

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Around here it's not too bad. You can find ARs, Bushmasters and M&Ps for anywhere from 1300 to 2500 bucks, depending on config. No problem getting pistols & revolvers. Plenty of shotguns in tactical configuration, too. Ammo is getting harder to find, ditto on primers.

Although I always want "1 more gun..." I have enough to get the task done and the ammo will be fine, too (same for the reloading components).
 
My wife and I drove by a local gun shop this afternoon on our way to Wal-Mart.

The shop has front windows, we could see inside, and it was crowded.

It looked like the night before Christmas.
 
Gun buying has slowed down a lot. AR stripped lowers are shipping within 2 weeks from some manufactors, for as low as $100 again. ARs are stacking up on the shelves in North Carolina. Show last month had hundreds of ARs, the cheapest where $829 Bushmasters with sold pretty well, but there where plenty left. The same vendor had the same ones at both shows. I bought a spare Yugo Underfolder AK from them, for $649. Romanians were $489.

My two local small town dealers both have more than a dozen ARs on the shelves. One stocks mostly DPMS, I did not check prices when I was in this week, its usually just MSRP, which is very reasonable on DPMSs. The other dealer had bushmasters and they were $1149, probably 20 of them.

Another dealer in stat just had $869 Bushmasters and $700 DPMS "Sporticals", another $1049 DPMS version that was nice but don't remember now. I almost bought a $700 sportical, probably should have, called back and they where sold out.

I sold all of my ARs and Mini-14s, prices are too crazy. I would be buying AR stripped lowers and mags right now. If there is a ban, they will be only parts that will go up in price. Other components may all crash in price without demand if there is a ban. Even if there is not a ban we should see huge price drops on those parts. Everyone has ramped up production, if demand falls we could be seeing $499 ARs again, maybe $49 stripped lowers. I don't mind holding AKs now, parts sets are drying up anyways. New production will only increase in price as a AK is more expensive to make than a AR. Its rumored a AR costs a full component maker (like DPMS) roughly $350-400 to produce a entry level AR. I'm going to order some more mags and stripped lowers and sit and wait.
 
My observations

The gun stores here are full of all products, but prices are much, much higher: 10-30% greater now than what I saw in the fall. They will also no longer negotiate prices on used firearms. What is marked on the tag is what you pay. Period.

One gun store clerk was telling me their biggest sellers are anything in .380 & the SW 642. EBRs come second.

At a local range the rangemaster told me that while their CCW classes have been full, it is their introductory pistol class which has had its attendance skyrocket. In fact, they have had to hire a second instructor.

And that has been my experience.
 
My local FFL dealer is struggling to keep up. He's a one-man shop and is often too busy to field even a phone call. "Call me later," he says, knowing that he won't get the chance or have the chance to return the call himself. He told me the other day that he wanted to put up a photo of the current occupant of the White House and then write in magic marker under the picture: SALESMAN OF THE YEAR -- but he's been too busy even to do that.

Meanwhile, I just returned from yet another frustrating trip to WallyWorld, looking for 9mm Winchester White Box. For five weeks running, the answer is the same: nothing.
 
Grassman,

I actually bought it 9 days ago (10 day wait). The peoples republic of California is a great place to live if you like guns :cuss:. Not only do I get to wait 10 days to pick it up, I had to take a written test ($30), and when I pick it up I get to go through a "safe handling" demonstration with "dummy" ammo.

On the plus side I feel much better knowing that all of these safety actions are in place.
 
Gun shops around me havent had AR 15`s for a while and I was told by an employee at Cabelas that it will be aleast a 1 year wait for the "black rifles" but now they have about 12 of them on the rack.
 
Central Arkansas is looking pretty good. The gun store that I bought my AR from has 10 in stock, couple of AK's, a P-90, few M14's, an M-1 and a CX4 storm.
 
I went to a Gun store just out side K.C. last weekend and they had 4 AR's the cheapest was 800.00 the highest was 950.00. They had a CETME too, I think it was 650.00. The gun shop went from one extreme to the other I saw a S&W model 10 and they wanted 425 for it:eek: But at least I did get 2 boxes of .45 GAP ammo for $30.00:cool: They had plenty of handguns too...
 
I live in Reno, Nevada (a free State, for now anyway) and yes there has been a run but most of the shops still have some EBRs, however magazines for any rifle or pistol over 10 rd.s are a tad low. All military surplus ammo is low too. On business behind the 'Tofu Curtain' (S.F. Bay area / Silicon Valley) last week, the shops I visited were totally out of any Glocks, Colt .45, Kimbers, M-1 Carbines, M-1As, Ruger Mini-14's, sporting semi-autos and most riot type of shotguns. A friend who is selling some G.I. surplus gear at the Cow Palace gun show tomorrow (which is in S.F.) said they expect the largest show attendance in 16 years (last record size attendance was, you guessed it, comrade Clintons 2nd month in office.
 
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The only problem I have seen in TX is 380 which is a standard issue lately. 9mm, 40 and 45 have been no problem other than a little higher price lately.
 
supplies are a little tight here, but everything is available locally.

spent a good portion of the morning in a couple shops. the same colt ar-15 that has been there for the past month for $1200 was still there... the same smith m&p-15 that has been there for a couple weeks was still there w/ its $999 price tag... the dealer shelves aren't stacked plum full, but everything (except primers) is available. well, and sigs... sigs are awfully tough to get here right now for some reason.
 
Local Walmart... ammo shelves empty. Local pawn shop/ffl... best prices in tri-county... 2 phones to the ear, both computers jammed, business is good.
 
The past gunshow here in West palm Beach Florida was nothing compared to the Dec and Jan shows.

Yah, in Florida things don't seem as over the top as some of the stuff I read about on the board. Every store I walk into here has a lot of M-4 style ARs for sale. Usually in the $1200-$1600 range depending on make. Also the local Outdoor World still has a lot of ammo its just twice as expensive as it was 2 years ago. I guess we don't get too excited about 'bubbles' in the economy anymore as we are usually gound zero for them.
 
It was crazy here for a while in OK. but things seem to have settled down except for the prices. I have noticed a lot more gun shop commercials on the radio suggesting everyone get their ammo and guns purchases in now. I just wish I would have purchased some more AR's and AK's years ago when I had the money instead of buying so many darn Handguns. Hopefully, I will have time here in the next couple of months....Hopefully!
 
I think it is slowing a little, but the gun stores are still packed on the weekends. There are more guns on the shelves than there were in January, but the prices are higher than last summer. Wave one is (caused by the Dems taking over the government) about over.

Wave two of the gun frenzy will begin when it hits the news that new gun laws are being proposed.

Wave three will hit when the law is signed, but before it goes into effect.
 
Here is the situation in south Alabama[Dothan]. wallyworld has been out of almost all handgun ammo for weeks.no 9mm or .45,no .380 no .22cal. my local gun dealer has quit giving me a discount on any guns. before, i always got a discount because me and my sons have bought a lot of guns from them in the past 2 years.Not now .i recently bought two pistols on the same day and still paid their marked price.i bought a ruger p-95 in december. it was their last one and they still have not replaced it, backordered they say.mc
 
no .45 acp in connecticut. I'm getting my reloading equipment in today. Rumor has it (and i do mean rumor-not gospel) that theres stuff in the works to ban reloading in CT. Oh well they want my press they can come and get it:evil:
 
My dad snagged the only FN-AR that Sportsmans Warehouse had, on Tuesday, for $1500, pretty much the going rate. The guy at the counter told my dad that this one had just come in on the truck that morning, guy behind my dad was drooling, he knew it was gone if he didn't buy it, so he did. This thing is sweet, we've got a Weaver scope coming in for it on March 3rd, we'll be shooting it next weekend.:D
 
Things seem to be calming down a little. But I would say these are the good times to be in the gun shop business... or is it?

When I collected some more stuff recently the 4473's were still flying, but not as thick.

However, I have a feeling that unemployment and tax refunds have taken hold and when this washes out with the tide to sea it's all that until the next Stimulus check.
 
I went to 3 Wal Marts and 2 big box sporting goods stores today, NO .40 ammo. The .38 ammo was selling for twice the Dec. '08 price. I'm just lucky that I kept all my brass to give my buddy. I sure hope he doesnt mind reloading 2-300 rounds for a brother...

WTH is GOING on?!!
 
I'm pleased to report that the Saint Louis Cabelas had full stock of Bushmasters, Hi-points, Ruger Minis, and lots of other stuff that would make Sarah Brady blush yesterday, and a whole bunch of people waiting in line to get them. It was mid-afternoon and they still looked to have a pretty good stock of black rifles in spite of the huge crowd. I was just looking for a holster and wanted to try it in the gun it was for, so I had to get a number. The silly thing is I had the gun in my pocket, but I didn't dare pull it out to try it out.

Anyway, I ended up waiting at least 45 minutes, maybe a full hour until they called my number. It was like the perfect storm. Big sale + Saturday afternoon after Eric Holder shoots his mouth off + black rifles and ammo in stock = busy day at Cabelas. The only thing that could have made it worse was if it had been the day before deer season too.

They also had a whole truckload of 5.56/.223 in stock and a respectable stock of 7.62x39. So, the good news is, black rifles and the ammo for them appear to be coming back in stock finally. It was literally the most AR's and 5.56/.223 ammo I have seen in one place since before the election. Bad news (in some respects) is that demand seems to still be quite high (which is a good thing in other respects).
 
Plenty of guns down here, just short on pistol ammo. I went to Academy yesterday, and they were down to about 400rds of .22LR (all brands combined) and I got their last 3 boxes of Blazer 9mm...
 
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