LGS Price Difference

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Axis II

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Please dont turn this into a something that its not meant to be. I reload so dont buy factory ammo but I visited a couple stores the last few weeks looking for shotgun shells and 45-70 factory ammo seeing how thats what my rifle likes best. Out of 3 stores ammo prices were all over the place. $35 for a box of Winchester 9mm, $35-45 for a box of Hornady LeverEvolution 45-70, $6-10 for a box of Federal Top gun 12ga. $30 for cheap, target 350 Legend ammo. They even had primers but at $15-18-100. Are the manufactures, suppliers or stores jacking the prices up or what? I have shopped one store for a lot of years and even take the 30min-1hr drive to support them but I am second guessing shopping there now after seeing they are the highest out of 3 stores within an hour or each other. I guess I am too new to the whole ammo thing that I dont know if this is normal or not.
 
Everyone buying online to get the best deals from folks that don’t have the small business/relatively large overhead for the income generated, causes high prices that get jacked up even higher once people finally come in because they can’t get them online anymore.

This generally causes an animosity toward said business so then the person that didn’t do business with them before now thinks to themselves they will be sure to not do business with them in the future.

So they are back to the online places they have been doing business with anyway or forced to pay the tax of being on the wrong side of the supply/demand curve, because they can either do without or get what they can get.


Brick and mortar business that do this seem to fold up around here. Seems better to be sold out of everything that have remaining stock at scalper prices. At least from a not loosing customers future business, aspect.
 
Replacement cost normally drives retail prices along with demand.

Each company all along the supply chain is dealing with different demand/replacement cost pressures and those are reflected in pricing. Large retailers get both better pricing on volume and earlier/larger volume than a mom and pop single shop. Same for any product. Add any other factors like anticipating replacement price increases to profit and you end up with highly variable pricing on the exact same SKU. That's just "apples to apples". If you start comparing "Honda to Ferrari" or "Civic to NSX" then you're completely outside the supply chain issues.
 
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Everyone buying online to get the best deals from folks that don’t have the small business/relatively large overhead for the income generated, causes high prices that get jacked up even higher once people finally come in because they can’t get them online anymore.

This generally causes an animosity toward said business so then the person that didn’t do business with them before now thinks to themselves they will be sure to not do business with them in the future.

So they are back to the online places they have been doing business with anyway or forced to pay the tax of being on the wrong side of the supply/demand curve, because they can either do without or get what they can get.


Brick and mortar business that do this seem to fold up around here. Seems better to be sold out of everything that have remaining stock at scalper prices. At least from a not loosing customers future business, aspect.
That makes sense. Even Midway and others are higher than before. I tried purchasing a case of 12ga bird shot from Midway and it was $95 for Federal.
 
When do you draw the line at not supporting a shop because their $500 AR went to $900/1000 along with every other gun going up $200? I told my girlfriend I was probably done shopping there when I heard them tell a guy $900 was a good deal on an M&P AR.
 
I've been watching the gun prices in a local shop here that I've bought from years ago.

Prices during the fall of 2020 were up about 30% above MSRP for all guns.

Prices in February 2021 are up as much as 100% above MSRP for "black rifles" no matter the cartridge they fire.
 
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Replacement cost normally drives retail prices along with demand.

Each company all along the supply chain is dealing with different demand/replacement cost pressures and those are reflected in pricing. Add any other factors like anticipating replacement price increases to profit and you end up with highly variable pricing.
And many are fearing some political rulings that could severely impact these businesses, especially those who rely on internet sales.
 
It's supply & demand + gouging. You are lucky to have any ammo to buy. Around here all ammo is gone. I lucked into some at my local gun shop & for his last box I had to pay $58 for cheap 9mm HP to go in my carry gun.
 
I tried purchasing a case of 12ga bird shot from Midway and it was $95 for Federal.

You have to watch doing an “apples to apples” comparison using just a brand name.

You could walk into a Ford dealership and say they jacked up the prices because the last Ford you looked at was a Festiva and the F350, your looking at today is way more expensive.

Winchester Super X is cheaper than Winchester AA’s and the cheap stuff is what the folks in a panic clean out first.
 
I'm just wondering when this will end, we're approaching a year now, do we have another year of this? Who knows, I wish I was closer to an LGS that sold reloading supplies, the nearest one is 45 miles away.
 
You have to watch doing an “apples to apples” comparison using just a brand name.

You could walk into a Ford dealership and say they jacked up the prices because the last Ford you looked at was a Festiva and the F350, your looking at today is way more expensive.

Winchester Super X is cheaper than Winchester AA’s and the cheap stuff is what the folks in a panic clean out first.
Sorry, it was both Federal Top gun 8 shot. I ended up getting a case at cabelas for about $7 box.
 
When do you draw the line at not supporting a shop because their $500 AR went to $900/1000 along with every other gun going up $200? I told my girlfriend I was probably done shopping there when I heard them tell a guy $900 was a good deal on an M&P AR.

I'm not going to argue that an M&P Sport should be $900, but at the same time we were spoiled for the last 4 years being able to pick them up for $500 because there was more supply than there was demand. Some amount of increase isn't out of line to get back to a "normal" price though, I think $600-700 is more fair for those budget M&P's and Ruger AR556's.
 
Since supplies are limited and sporadic, I would guess stores are up charging off what they had to pay to get stuff. If they paid normal prices, great, hopefully you benefit.

If they had to pay inflated prices just to have something on the shelves to sell, their selling prices are going to reflect this. You can't buy high and sell low, obviously.

I think at this point we have to cut them some slack.
 
Hi...
I am not in a mood to cut some price gouging shop any slack.
I stopped at a shop in Elk County, Pa on Saturday and he wanted $15.99 for one hundred primers.
He just lost a customer for life...no excuse for that kind of greed.

Another shop in the same area wanted $179.99 for a brick of Federal .22LR.
He will never see me in his shop again either.
Despicable...
 
Hi...
I am not in a mood to cut some price gouging shop any slack.
I stopped at a shop in Elk County, Pa on Saturday and he wanted $15.99 for one hundred primers.
He just lost a customer for life...no excuse for that kind of greed.

Another shop in the same area wanted $179.99 for a brick of Federal .22LR.
He will never see me in his shop again either.
Despicable...
Have you considered that he may have paid 100+ dollars for that brick just to have primers to sell?
 
Have you considered that he may have paid 100+ dollars for that brick just to have primers to sell?
Exactly; folks whining about things when they do not know the entire story. That might be all he can get for a while; or maybe he needs to make some money to keep the doors open and lights on; so for all of you saying you won't shop there again, remember that when he's gone out of business and Uncle Joe has prohibited you from making any gun-related purchases online and now you have ZERO ways to buy what you want.
 
I'm betting summer once the panic subsides and buying fatigue sets in (IOW, people refuse to pay a buck+ a round for common calibers).

I always figured it just took a couple months of a maxed out credit card(s) with increasing balance but no new purchases to put a damper on superfluous spending.

My slanted view of the people that decide they need something not when it is cheap and plentiful but when it is at the highest price and demand.
 
Considering we added over 8 million new gun owners AFTER this all started, and they all need some ammo, it isn't hard to see why things are in short supply; of all of those 8 million owners just bought a mere 2 boxes, that's 16 million rounds; a tad more than an hour's production...................o_O
 
Southern suburb in Minneapolis area. Two LGS within ten minutes of my home. One is locally owned and for the last five days has had Blazer 22's on the floor for $4.99/bx. Three weeks ago it took him four days to sell our of his 10,000 9mm at $21.00/bx.
Across the highway is a Scheels that has some handgun ammo on the floor every time I have gone in there. Last month I bought 800/bx of
Federal 22lr for 6¢ ea. Last week a hundred boxes of 380 at $24.99/bx Yesterday .357mag at $35/bx, 44Mag at $44/bx, 357Sig at $55/bx, lots of 45Colt (I did not catch the price), three pallets of 150 count M855 at $114.95/bx.
Not everything appears at once. It seems like you would have to check daily and get lucky
Throughout this period Scheels has had virtually every shotshell ga. you could imagine. They are currently out of primers but less than 60 days ago I paid $3.49/hundred for CCI SPP and most common powders were less than $25/lb.
Both of my dealers have a good supply of pistols and I have yet to see a huge upswing in prices. This weekend used Glock Gen3 9mm $450, old marlin 30/30 in the mid $300 range, I bought a Ruger SP101 in 22 for $500.
What I am getting at is the fact some LGS are doing what they can to retain their customers when/if this "shortage" ends, others are taking a different approach.
 
You can complain or look at it as it is. They are selling at a higher price to make up for no guarantee of resupply so they can have enough to keep the dpors open. Also the larger cost keeps some from buying all the product up so someone that is willing to pay will get at least some. Most of us that have been at shooting/reloading for a while should have been prepared for a supply problem. That said, the vendors that on day one go to 10X normal prices (cough cough CTD) do not deserve my patronage or money.
 
I'm betting summer once the panic subsides and buying fatigue sets in (IOW, people refuse to pay a buck+ a round for common calibers).

With the "leadership" now entrenched in Washington and having made their desires and intentions clear with regards to Second Amendment rights, it is questionable IF the panic will end.
 
I always support my local LGS, whenever we go we pay range fees and get a couple of boxes each. This is about 1/2 to 1/4 of the ammo we shoot, the rest is bought online. I always try to get guns through the local LGS first event though it usually means paying an extra 10% or so. Of the 6 (that were) in my general area, half have folded in the last 10 years.
 
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