Pandemic Month 6: What's available in your LGS?

[Dave DeLaurant]

I'm curious to learn what's still available for sale in your region, arms and ammo both.

I was at my favorite Central California LGS Thursday before last. The pistol case was populated with a batch of about 6-7 Beretta M1951-type (don't know the specific model) 9mm pistols and an old, rather beat up (1920s) Colt DA .38 revolver. The rifle rack held a pair of Egyptian Hakim rifles, a MAS 49/56 badly converted by Century to .308, a few bolt action sporters and old rimfires. They had a sign on the door saying Glocks were currently unavailable and they received two phone calls in the 10 minutes I was there about Glocks. Ammo was down to just a few boxes oddball chamberings. The clerk recognized me and was hopeful I had come to sell something (I hadn't).

The same day I visited a hardware store that has a large ammunition and reloading section. Pistol ammo was limited to 22 WMR, lead-free 22 LR and .38 Super. There were a few boxes of hunting rifle ammo in various chamberings, but anything you could run through a common autoloader was sold out. Plenty of reloading tools and supplies visible, so not many here seem to have explored that option.

BTW, I'm figuring this as month six because the gunshop panic buying seemed to gain traction around late February-early March. Feel free to disagree.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1107651/monthly-unit-sales-of-firearms-by-type-us/

 

[George P]

My small-town-only-open-on-the-weekend store has a decent display of handguns (including two of mine on consignment - G19 and CM-9) and the gun range I use has a full display case of Glocks, 1911s, and other brands of black plastic in their display case. Around here, most folks who want a gun already have them; it is the ammo side of things that can get touchy.

 

[Mars5l]

How much were the hakims? I so want one,but doubt I'll ever see one sitting in store

 

[Terry G]

Pretty bleak, and not only LGS, big box also. Only handguns I saw started at $700.00 and up, up, and away and there were only a few of those. Rugers and Kimbers only. I got the last two boxes of Federal .22 Auto-Match and was lucky to get that. No 9MM, .40, or .45ACP to be had. I'm talking Cabela's, Gander Outdoors, and Fleet Farm.

 

[.38 Special]

Here in Southern California, the big stores like Bass Pro are cleaned out. A few weeks ago there was a line out the door. I almost turned around and went home, but then discovered the line was not for "general admission" but rather for guns and ammo. If you weren't shopping for those items, you could go right in, but if you were, you had to wait in line, get a wristband, and then wait some more until you could go to the gun counter. Which was completely empty, so I didn't get the point at all.

The smaller shops are more variable. None have anything like their pre-Covid inventories, but some are better than others.

The pawnshops, oddly enough, seem to have the best stocks. I wonder if that says anything about who is and is not worried about Covid, riots, etc.?

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Most shops here have a few XDs, Taurii, and maybe an M&P or two for automatics.

Revolvers are pretty much limited to Wranglers, Heritage, and whatevers marked WAAAAAAYYYYYY up in the consignment cabinet.

Still a decent selection of bolt and lever guns, but then those are always slow sellers here in FL due to the lack of game and hunting land.

You might see one or two ARs on the shelf in the $800-1000 range. Havent seen an AK or SKS in these parts in awhile.

Interestingly, milsurps of all types are not to be found at the moment.

9mm and .223 are available again, but prices remain sky high. Most other chamberings are easy to get.

 

[WestKentucky]

Less of each type than normal, but there’s some of everything available locally, you just can’t be picky about what you want. Example, if you want to buy a pocket .380 then there will likely be one at the shop, but don’t get set on an LCP because they may not have one, or might be a Kahr or Kel-Tec. 38 snub, sure they have one, but don’t be so foolish to think your going to run grab a 442 because it’s probably going to be a Taurus 856 or a charter undercover.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

How much were the hakims? I so want one,but doubt I'll ever see one sitting in store

Don't recall the prices. Here's the store's FB page if you want to call them for more info: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Gun-Store/Uncle-Sams-Firearms-1395976700627045/

 

[herrwalther]

Last few times I have driven by my normal gun store, the line was wrapped around the building. I don't have the time to wait in line just to browse. And I would not want to buy a gun or box of ammo out of the hand of a first time buyer during these times.

Another store I just started visiting is stocked well on firearms but ammo is slim pickings. The only ammo they had to offer was reloads from a local, small manufacturer. Nothing from Federal or the other big names.

 

[someguy2800]

Lots of older style handguns on the shelf like 1911's and revolvers. Very few polymer frame 9mm or 380's. Almost no AR15's or AK's to be found. Lots of shotguns and bolt action rifles.

223 and 7.62x39 ammo is nonexistent. 9mm ammo is pretty hard to come across but other handgun ammo is still on the shelf. 22lr is mainly only available in small boxes. I was pretty well prepared for this so I'm not really shopping, except for one thing, primers!!!! I forgot to replenish my primers.

 

[Big_Al]

Local gun shops are pretty well stocked with firearms of all kinds, ammo is really scarce.

 

[HB]

Even the shops in BFE are packed.

Its a great time to consign and sell. I got $685 for a Chinese SKS-M and my shop listed my mini-14 for $795.

I think im going to enjoy the months leading up to November.

 

[Armybrat]

About a month ago GT Distributors in Austin had their display cases full of Glocks & Sigs, and the entire wall behind the counter was full of ARs & defensive shotguns. They also had scores of boxes each of the common calibers (both rifle & pistol) on a central display.

i was picking up a Ruger PC 9mm Carbine, so I added three 50 round boxes of Federal HST +p 124 grain for $25/box.

 

[Meeks36]

My small-town-only-open-on-the-weekend store has a decent display of handguns (including two of mine on consignment - G19 and CM-9) and the gun range I use has a full display case of Glocks, 1911s, and other brands of black plastic in their display case. Around here, most folks who want a gun already have them; it is the ammo side of things that can get touchy.

This wouldn't happen to be in north east GA would i

My small-town-only-open-on-the-weekend store has a decent display of handguns (including two of mine on consignment - G19 and CM-9) and the gun range I use has a full display case of Glocks, 1911s, and other brands of black plastic in their display case. Around here, most folks who want a gun already have them; it is the ammo side of things that can get touchy.

It wouldn't happen to be Deatons gunshop would it?

 

[Ignition Override]

Hasn't the exorbitant demand for 9mm (Luger) and other ammo chambering helped to reduce the demand for handguns where you all live?

The shops near here--a week ago, last visit--were full of handguns; New, not many lower-cost used guns.

Ammo has been the actual problem around Memphis for many weeks.
The shortage of ammo has seriously slowed handgun sales in some stores.

 

[Alaskan Ironworker]

No shortage of any type of guns here, but ar’s have gone up about $300 on average. A little short on ammo, 9mm,.40,.45, 5.56. Mostly cleaned out of reloading stuff. Our sportsmans warehouse is sold out of almost all hangun ammo, except there is mountains of 10mm ammo still on the shelf, not sure why; its the cheaper stuff. Still plent of .22 lr everywhere.

 

[BigBore44]

BTW, I'm figuring this as month six because the gunshop panic buying seemed to gain traction around late February-early March.

Ok. I disagree. But just because I can. SARS-CoV-2 has been here since as early as November/December. But didn’t reach “pandemic” level till March. Let that sink in.

Anyways....A few shops around here still have plenty of firearms. Glocks are a little hard to come by. But plenty of other brands. Ammo is somewhat scarce. But again, perks of reloading and of having a friend who works at a pawn shop. Just picked up 7 boxes of 35Rem LeverEvolution for $8/box that I paid for 8 months ago. It’s was like a little early Christmas.

I’m still amazed everyday that people don’t:
1. Stock up before hand.
2. Take up reloading.

Admittedly, some reloading supplies are getting thin as well. But, see #1. Its important regardless of whether you reload or not. Buy one box every 2 weeks. And don’t waste it.

 

[Mosin Bubba]

There's a surprising number of handguns on the shelves - no Glocks or other poly pistols, but several 1911s and 357s are still there. If I was panic buying a handgun for personal protection, I certainly wouldn't say no to either.

Pistol ammo is GONE - they had one lonely box of 41 Mag self defense loads on the endcap and that was it. 22s are available by the 40rd box only, but there's still a few; it's not 2014. ARs are gone, they had one M&P Sport left marked up to $850. Didn't pay attention to the shotguns.

 

[FL-NC]

Big stores like academy in Pensacola and Bass pro in Destin are pretty bare across the board, except for hunting stuff. The gun show last weekend in Andalusia was well stocked with everything- guns were reasonable but not great. ammo was very expensive. There is one indy gun shop nearby that has a good stock of everything, but most ammo is very expensive, except 7.62 x 39 at $6 /20 rounds.

 

[JFrank]

I suspect moderators will be along shortly to shut this thread down.

 

[Danw791]

Ammo shelves at a local big box retailer

 

[Speedo66]

I haven't been to a LGS, but I get emails from AIM Surplus frequently. Eight months ago they had 10-12 police trade ins every week. Glocks, Sigs, Berettas, S&W semi's and revolvers. Plus ammo for all of them.

This week's ad had one gun, a trade in S&W M&P in .40. Ammo? Don't be ridiculous. lol

Credit to AIM, the gun was only $279.95, no gouging from them.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...
Local gun shops don't have much stock as far as new firearms are concerned. Lever action rifles and SA revolvers are in decent supply. Ammuntion for semi auto handguns is scarce.
Used revolvers are available depending on the shop. Used rifles and shotguns are getting scarce.
Prices seem to have increased for used DA revolvers...I recently put a Dan Wesson .41Magnum on layaway at $900. A couple of months ago, I bought a used S&W Model 27 for the same price.

 

[doubleh]

LGS is in very short supply on handguns except for single action army clones and a few 1911s. He has some 22 rimfire and most centerfire ammo but not a lot. No 380 at all. On the other end of town is a farm and ranch supply store and they have a good selection of handguns and rifles including their normal amount of ARs plus the ammo supply is not bad. They are resupplied weekly and the ammo gets thin just before the next shipment. The LGS is a small M&P store and the F&R supply is part of a West Texas chain of stores which probably has something to do with what's available at each. On the other hand, my wife drug me to Walmart earlier this week and the ammo supply was slim and none. Since it's a NM store they no longer sell guns except for muzzle loaders due to a law passed last year by our fuerher and her legislative cohorts. Walmart said it was easier to just drop sales than comply with this asinine law.

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Visited the same LGS in the original posting about a month later. A few more interesting milsurps on consignment (a tired-looking Venezuelan FN49, one Hakim, 3 Garands, 3 Springfield 03A4s, a very clean refurbed K98k with repro ZF-41, an SKS[!]), all priced north of $1K -- except for a lone Yugo Mauser marked $450. Never thought I'd live to see an SKS priced at $1K. Handguns were limited to a few nice S&W revolvers priced in the $900-1200 bracket and two consignment Glock subcompact single stacks priced at a Grand apiece.

I went in to consign a redundant 10/22 (I have 3 others) to raise some cash for a concrete job at home. We priced it at a scandalous $450 partly because of the illuminated scope and folding stock, but mostly because I threw in 2 bricks of Remington Thunderbolt .22 LR. Rimfire is getting scarce; they had several bricks of RWS LR on their shelves, priced at -- get this -- $99! My Thunderbolt boxes still had their old $19.99 pricetags pasted on them.