Rifle Mags and the AW Ban

[Coronach]

I know this has come up in the general sense before, but I'm asking now about 2 specific types of mags...

Obviously we don't know if the AW ban is going to sunset or not, or if there will be a new ban and what the specifics of it will be. However, what is your best-guess as to what will happen with the prices of AR magazines and M-14/M1A magazines over the next year or so?

Will the prices of M14/M1A mags, which are already high, remain relatively constant?

Will the prices of AR mags, which are kinda middle-of-the-road, go one way or the other?

I ask because these are the two types of mags that I'm looking to stock up on in the near future, and I'm not sure if I should buy now or buy later. FAL mags and AK mags are cheap enough that I'm just buying them now...I can't see prices plummeting on $5 FAL mags, no matter what scenario plays out.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[cslinger]

My personal opinion...

If and it's big IF, the ban goes away quietly into the night with no other bans on the immediate horizon to take it's place I dont't think people will see much of a change in prices at all.

The only difference will be that people will be able to purchase these items legally NIB.

Now will Glock magazines drop in price, surely but not down to $10. Personally I think all magazines will hover right around $20-$50 with the only difference being you will be able to aquire them much more easily.

I pay $20-$50 for post ban SIG and HK magazines. No reason to think I would be paying less then that after the ban. Heck Pre-Ban SIG P226/228 magazines can be had for $45-$65. There will not be a huge price drop.

M1A magazines may come down a bit but their ten rounders are $35.

Now I do see 10 round neutered magazines being sold at firesale prices by people looking to make a little extra green to buy full capacity magazines.

I see the same thing happening with Post/Pre Ban AR-15s. Pricess will stay about the same with "post ban configuratios" still being sold as slightly cheaper value models, while the current LEO only products will become the slightly more expensive UBERTACTICALALLBLACKHIGHSPEEDLOWDRAGBLAHBLAHBLAH MODEL.

The ban is as much about marketing pre and post as it is about politics and that marketing angle will not change if it goes away.

Hell I pay $50 for 8 shot P7M8 magazines. What's a $40 16 shot Walther magazine gonna mean to me. Nothing as long as I have access to get them.

Chris

 

[cslinger]

You may see a slight drop in AR-15 magazines on the used market. They might go down to $8 or $10 instead of $20. NIB AR-15 magazines will probably stay around $20-$30 bucks. I would like to try some of those new HK magazines though.

I don't see AK or FAL magazines gettting any cheaper.

 

[cordex]

I'd wager that USGI M14/M1A mags will stay high, but aftermarket M14/M1A mags will come out of the woodwork at lower prices. Some might even be decent quality, but I wouldn't put much money on that.

 

[treeprof]

If the ban sunsets w/out a replacement, full cap mags will likely drop abt to the point where LEO-only mags are now, i.e. $18-20 or so for Glocks, $15-20 for AR's etc. M1A mags should drop to mid-30's or so if someone starts making them new. FAL new mag prices are unlikely to drop much or at all until the supply of NIW surplus mags runs low and it's profitable to make them new. Same for most AK's. But, even if the ban does sunset there'll initially be a lot of stocking-up going on in anticiaption of something else like the old AWB coming down the road, which'll keep prices inflated at least a bit. Once that's out of folk's systems, prices will settle down as demand drops. Until next fall, prices will prob reflect the political winds - staying abt the same or rising some w/continued uncertainty, dropping or staying put if it looks like the ban is history, and going astronomical if renewal looks at all likely.

 

[Coronach]

Thanks for the (fast!) replies thus far.

Just to remind readers, I'm asking SPECIFICALLY about high-quality (USGI or functional equivalent) AR and M14/M1A magazines.

Feel free to give opinions about what the other mags will do as well, but I'm personally most interested in the two aforementioned ones.

Thanks again!

Mike

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

I see prices staying the same or even increasing slightly due to the pent-up demand and then levelling out about where LEO pricing is now.

All that assumes that the ban remains gone though, if an effort to pass a ban into legislation after the original expires happens, it will definitely artificially inflate mag prices and could even drive them higher than current prices.

 

[treeprof]

Anyone know if there's a huge stash of gov't M14 mags that could potentially be milsurp'd at some point (if the feds would allow it)?

 

[Coronach]

That was kinda what I was getting at, Treeprof. I dunno. The M-14 was only in use for a comparatively short period of time, quite a while ago, and they're still using variants of it in limited roles currently. So I, personally, don't know if there is a huge stash, and I dunno if they'd be willing to part with them if there was, for either legal, political, or practical reasons.

 

[treeprof]

Guess it depends upon what Springfield might decide to do re making new ones in the absence of a further ban. The prospect of new manuf. mags should drop the price on existing milsurps, one would think.

 

[AZTOY]

It up to the factorys and Consumer demand.

If thay start pumping out mag like crazy, the price should go down.

If thay don't, than price could stay around the same.:banghead:

 

[gun-fucious]

I believe the tooling for AR15 mags is owned by the Govt and moved to various contactors for prodution runs. I think these were minority or women owned govt contractors that get awarded a plum contract

The M14 mags were prolly under a similar system but that tooling may be in storage.

The volume of production required to drop the market price is prolly dependant on
if the contractor in possesion of the tooling can legally sell to the civilian market.

We may see cheap Thermold 30s

 

[Jeff White]

Mike,
I think that USGI surplus M16 mags will probably go down in price some. Maybe even to preban levels depending on if the .gov sells them through DRMO without requiring them to be de-milled.

I think that the USGI M14 mags will stay high, unless a new source opens up. M14s were sold under the Foreign Military Sales Program to countries like the Phillipines, Honduras, Nicarauga etc. These rifles are pretty much out of service everywhere. I don't know if these magazines have turned up on the market or not. I think that the ones Cole Distributing has came back from overseas, but I'm not certain. I'm not going to open the M14 is the ultimate battle rifle debate again!! But the M14 wasn't really produced in very large quantities and the ones that went overseas didn't stay in service long. Given the current political climate, I don't think you'll ever see the magazines still in .gov hands ever reach the civilian market. Our best hope is that a decent aftermarket magazine can be produced at a reasonable price.

Jeff

 

[El Tejon]

Cor, because of demand, mag prices will rise slightly in September '04, then decline as more sources come on line in late '04/early '05.

Buy now with eye to sell immediately after 9/04 to purchase more inexpensive mags later.

 

[Coronach]

Buy now with eye to sell immediately after 9/04 to purchase more inexpensive mags later.

Huuuuuh. Hadn't thought of that. Gee...lawyers are tricksy.

Mike