How scarce was ammo during the 94 ban?
- Thread starter radiotom
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I was mainly only buying reloading components in 94 and they were being bought in large quantities and hoarded. Factory ammo was still available but the prices went up some. Prices at gun shows got stupid for a couple of months. From reports I have seen it's already worse now than it was in 94. People are buying everything and dealers can't get any more stock or very little.
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
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Ammo was never affected during the 94 ban that I know off.
The biggest shortage of reloading components I can recall was the time during the Clinton administration, probably about '94.
Some SOB started a rumor about the government was going to make all manufactures use lead-free primers and ticking clock "taggerts" in ammo with a shelf life of one year.
That was so people couldn't stock-pile ammo according to the rumor.
You couldn't buy a primer for a long time there, but it didn't have anything to do with the Crime Control Act.
rc
Ammo was never affected during the 94 ban that I know off.
The biggest shortage of reloading components I can recall was the time during the Clinton administration, probably about '94.
Some SOB started a rumor about the government was going to make all manufactures use lead-free primers and ticking clock "taggerts" in ammo with a shelf life of one year.
That was so people couldn't stock-pile ammo according to the rumor.
You couldn't buy a primer for a long time there, but it didn't have anything to do with the Crime Control Act.
rc
My memory is similar to others.
I never buy much factory ammunition so there could have been a shortage and I would not see it.
I remember primers became difficult to buy on occasions in the 90s but never flat out unavailable. Around that time I changed my practices of buying a few hundred primers at a time to buying them by the brick of 1000. It would get me over any shortages without me really noticing them.
There are always some spot shortages from time to time with components that might have seasonal runs at the factories.
I never buy much factory ammunition so there could have been a shortage and I would not see it.
I remember primers became difficult to buy on occasions in the 90s but never flat out unavailable. Around that time I changed my practices of buying a few hundred primers at a time to buying them by the brick of 1000. It would get me over any shortages without me really noticing them.
There are always some spot shortages from time to time with components that might have seasonal runs at the factories.
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I was shooting USPSA Limited at the time, and I remember changing my buying habits on primers, picking up a thousand (or more) at a match or gun show when I could afford them or they were available instead of the hundreds I used to buy at the LGS. I remember shooting a lot of really crappily cast bullets! LOL!
Michael B
Michael B
CapnMac
Member
Ammo was never much an issue back then--but, in some fairness, DoD was not buying 1500 million rounds a year, either; DHS did not then exist, with their purchases furhter depleting production, too.
Lake City Match ammo went from 25-50¢ per round to 60-75¢ ($1 each for Cal..30 173gr FMJBT Match at the very end of that decade).
$5 magazines went to $15 pretty quickly. Then, to $25, $30, and $40-50, depending upon the type and time.
It was a stupid time in many ways. It was far easier to get those clunky 27-30 round Glock mags than to get 17-19 round standard capacity ones. Drop-free reduced capacity Glock mags were as hard (or expensive) to find as standard-cap ones.
AROTC changed their inventory, so it was a buyer's market for good Mossberg M-44s, but not for the (unbanned) magazines for those (which are still around $49.95 even today).
Oddest scarcity was in links for M-60 MGs. BATF amd Sarco went back and forth for 5 years on how to make compliant "ammunition feeding devices" whihc pretty much put production on hold for a while. This was very odd.
Lake City Match ammo went from 25-50¢ per round to 60-75¢ ($1 each for Cal..30 173gr FMJBT Match at the very end of that decade).
$5 magazines went to $15 pretty quickly. Then, to $25, $30, and $40-50, depending upon the type and time.
It was a stupid time in many ways. It was far easier to get those clunky 27-30 round Glock mags than to get 17-19 round standard capacity ones. Drop-free reduced capacity Glock mags were as hard (or expensive) to find as standard-cap ones.
AROTC changed their inventory, so it was a buyer's market for good Mossberg M-44s, but not for the (unbanned) magazines for those (which are still around $49.95 even today).
Oddest scarcity was in links for M-60 MGs. BATF amd Sarco went back and forth for 5 years on how to make compliant "ammunition feeding devices" whihc pretty much put production on hold for a while. This was very odd.
SilentScream
Member
Yeah I remember mostly the cost of magazines being the real killer. Ammo always seemed to be available, as well as reloading components. The funny thing to me is I remember thinking to myself that AR/M16 mags would never get as cheap as the AK mags were back then; between $6 & $15 (this was the '97 thru '04) after the ban sunset it pretty well did a 180* flip on me.
The Lone Haranguer
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I never had any trouble finding ammo.
6.5x55swedish
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94 was pre-internet sales. From what I see, most of the shortages now are not due to hoarding, but due to people buying in bulk and re-selling at higher prices...
HorseSoldier
Member
As far as ammo goes, the AWB was a happy time (unrelated to the ban itself) -- my overly rosy memories are that the market was so glutted that local gun stores would practically pay you to haul South African battle packs of 7.62x51 off their property and other NATO or Warsaw Pact mil-surp calibers were equally plentiful. The only ammo scarcity I recall from the second half of the 90s was for a .380 PPK I had for a while, which was harder to find and spendier compared to the mil-surp calibers, but that's still true today.
Oh man I miss those South African 200 round battle packs of 7.62!!!! Man I miss the days of 15c/shot in 308.
This shortage has me going through old boxes and taking inventory. I just found an old ammo can in the garage from circa 1997. I'd bought several thousand lake city 308 cal 168gr blemishes for .2c each. The can was filled with them! I'll have some cheap shooting 308 for awhile now. I'll have a whopping 17 cents a round wrapped up in next summer's ammo for my 308's.
Man I miss those days. You could blow through a case of 7.62 in a weekend and pay what it cost to shoot a couple of MAGS at today's prices.
What really irks me is the metal prices have not gone up THAT damn much since then. Lead is still the same as it was.
Copper is at, essentially, the SAME price as it was in 2008 right now, and the LME warehouse levels are almost 2x as high (sitting at 320,000 tons right no).
Yet ammo is 3x as high.
You can NOT blame the retention of high prices post 2007-8, on the metals.
We're getting scalped, somewhere.
This shortage has me going through old boxes and taking inventory. I just found an old ammo can in the garage from circa 1997. I'd bought several thousand lake city 308 cal 168gr blemishes for .2c each. The can was filled with them! I'll have some cheap shooting 308 for awhile now. I'll have a whopping 17 cents a round wrapped up in next summer's ammo for my 308's.
Man I miss those days. You could blow through a case of 7.62 in a weekend and pay what it cost to shoot a couple of MAGS at today's prices.
What really irks me is the metal prices have not gone up THAT damn much since then. Lead is still the same as it was.
Copper is at, essentially, the SAME price as it was in 2008 right now, and the LME warehouse levels are almost 2x as high (sitting at 320,000 tons right no).
Yet ammo is 3x as high.
You can NOT blame the retention of high prices post 2007-8, on the metals.
We're getting scalped, somewhere.
I concur -- ammo was not "scarce" or supply interrupted by end user hoarding after '94.
Post 2012 general election/Sandy Hook is worst in my lifetime, IMO. Second worst was months following 2008 general election.
I think Internet, social media, change in electorate are drivers for market reaction this time, not to mention certain political demand for restrictive federal gun control measures and media obsession with the same.
Post 2012 general election/Sandy Hook is worst in my lifetime, IMO. Second worst was months following 2008 general election.
I think Internet, social media, change in electorate are drivers for market reaction this time, not to mention certain political demand for restrictive federal gun control measures and media obsession with the same.
Yeah, I agree Charlie.
I walked my wife through some of the stuff I bought and set aside last weekend.
After going through some of the stuff, what I'd bought 15 years ago or so, and what it's selling for now... I said "You say I'm a hoarder; I agree; but it's justified."
She agreed.
I walked my wife through some of the stuff I bought and set aside last weekend.
After going through some of the stuff, what I'd bought 15 years ago or so, and what it's selling for now... I said "You say I'm a hoarder; I agree; but it's justified."
She agreed.
1911 guy
Member
There were no shortages, except in my wallet after buying cases of ammo.
.22LR was around 99 cents for a box of 50
7.62X39 was around 200 bucks for a case of 1,000
5.56 was even cheaper, if you found the right sale going on.
.45ACP was stupid cheap, by todays standards. About 8 bucks for 50FMJ, IIRC
Shotgun ammunition, however (and interestingly) has come down in price over the last twenty or so years.
.22LR was around 99 cents for a box of 50
7.62X39 was around 200 bucks for a case of 1,000
5.56 was even cheaper, if you found the right sale going on.
.45ACP was stupid cheap, by todays standards. About 8 bucks for 50FMJ, IIRC
Shotgun ammunition, however (and interestingly) has come down in price over the last twenty or so years.
Rollis R. Karvellis
Member
The ammo wasn't hard to find like others have said surplus was cheap, and plentiful. But finding some powders were a chore for a while, and I, paid the outrageous sum of $50.00, for a sleeve of primers.
Even though internet sales was just starting, shotgun news had been around for a long time selling ammo.
Even though internet sales was just starting, shotgun news had been around for a long time selling ammo.
1911 guy
Member
Curse you, Trent!
I had just gotten over pining away for those 200rd packs of .308.
I had just gotten over pining away for those 200rd packs of .308.
TheCracker
Member
I started buying guns during the AWB. I don't remember ever not being able to get ammo.
I remember a box of 20, 55 grain UMC, 223 was $2.96 at Wal mart
550 round box of 22lr was $5.96!
Gas was under $1 a gallon.
I made less money back then but didn't have sky high insurance and fuel bills not to mention food.
That money went much further and I was defiantly better off financially during those days. Inflation is killing us all.
I remember a box of 20, 55 grain UMC, 223 was $2.96 at Wal mart
550 round box of 22lr was $5.96!
Gas was under $1 a gallon.
I made less money back then but didn't have sky high insurance and fuel bills not to mention food.
That money went much further and I was defiantly better off financially during those days. Inflation is killing us all.
ccsniper
member
one thing I want to know is why in the world is .22 being bought up so much! I know of a little girl that got a .22 for Christmas and the only way she got to shoot it was because I gave her a 50 round box of Federal. I can't find a single box of .22 LR in my area!
danez71
Member
I lived in So CA. at the time and I dont remeber ANY shortage at the time. At most a small price increase. I remember Turners having stacks and stacks on tables & displays. More then, than now.
Different time though.... in 94, zombies were pretty rare and despite the new AWB/mag ban, far fewer pieces of sky were falling and generally a lot less panic hoarding.
Different time though.... in 94, zombies were pretty rare and despite the new AWB/mag ban, far fewer pieces of sky were falling and generally a lot less panic hoarding.
lionking
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Ah the mid 90's where does time go? Ammo was never a problem but most people bought as they needed to shoot, most people I knew didn't keep cases upon cases of ammo around and most people with even a AR didn't go bam bam bam bam with 400 rounds a range trip either.
Never thought back then I'd see the day Colt and Winchester would become rare....
Back then, a Colt Cobra was $350 new
A Colt Anaconda $550 new
A Winchester 30-30 $300 or less new
A Ruger Mini 14 $350 to $400 new
Beretta m92 $450 new
Marlin 60 $100 new
Romanian AK SAR 1 $300 new
French MAS new in wrap $100
Glock $350 to $400 new
Ruger Blackhawk $250 to $300 new
Ruger MK2 $200 new
S&W 686 .357 $350 new
And if you want to go back to 1988 lol.. Norinco AK $300 new, H&K 91 $750 new, Colt 1911a1 series 80 $475 new
Now these days a Winchester or Colt is over a $1000 in many cases
Never thought back then I'd see the day Colt and Winchester would become rare....
Back then, a Colt Cobra was $350 new
A Colt Anaconda $550 new
A Winchester 30-30 $300 or less new
A Ruger Mini 14 $350 to $400 new
Beretta m92 $450 new
Marlin 60 $100 new
Romanian AK SAR 1 $300 new
French MAS new in wrap $100
Glock $350 to $400 new
Ruger Blackhawk $250 to $300 new
Ruger MK2 $200 new
S&W 686 .357 $350 new
And if you want to go back to 1988 lol.. Norinco AK $300 new, H&K 91 $750 new, Colt 1911a1 series 80 $475 new
Now these days a Winchester or Colt is over a $1000 in many cases
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