Well after yesterday

[Queen_of_Thunder]

Yesterday was strange. Stopped by a LGS to see what their transfer policys were only to find out they don't do trasfers from this particular dealer. They did find the gun I wanted so I was lucky there. Anyway after leaving the LGS I get pulled over not 100 feet from the house. I get a ticket for a break light being out. After that I go home have dinner then head out looking for a bulb. So I try walmart. No joy there but I check the ammo counter on the way out. Bingo. They were putting ammo out and they had CCI 22LR HP. So I grabed my limit and headed for the checkout so I could continue my search for a blup for the tail light.

Normally, at least during the last shortage ammo was put out first thing in the morning but if last night was any kind of indicator then my local Walmart is putting it out at random times. I also noticed that ammo wasn't in case lots but boxes holding several different calibers and only a few boxes of each. I sure hope this isn't a warning that ammo is getting tighter again. Is anyone else seeing a tightening of ammo supplies?

 

[BSA1]

No.

But with Christmas a few days away it would be little surprise that ammunition will find it's way under the tree.

 

[Hokkmike]

Queen did you get a ticket or a warning for that light that was out?

 

[MagnumDweeb]

I think we are still making our way through a return to normal supply. Walmart's prices easily beat their competitor's prices hands down and every gunnie I know refuses to buy from anywhere else other than Walmart. That wasn't the case before Sandy Hook. I and other gunnies would buy from online when there were good deals that were on par with Walmart or simply sometimes better because the online retailer offered a brand Walmart didn't.

Now that is not so much the case, or at least the price difference is so great that it's better to wait for Walmart to have some ammo on hand. I'm down from buying a hundred value pack of pistol ammo and an additional box of pistol or rifle ammo (.357 magnum, or .223), every week to once every two weeks now now that all my pistol calibers have at least two thousand rounds of factory fresh ammo sitting around, except for .44 magnum and .454 Casull.

For the foreseeable future I hope Walmart sticks to there three box (or 150 rounds of centerfire ammo) limit. It'll keep supply available for casual recreational shooters. Competitive shooters will have to roll their own or pay higher premiums I think.

A new dynamic I've witnessed is that new shooters are also starting to stock up on ammo making a trip at least every two weeks to pick up ammo where previously they would only do so in prep for going shooting, if they even bothered to buy their ammo somewhere else other than the shooting range. So expect the pain to keep up. It's not going anywhere soon.

At the same time though, don't shop anywhere other than Walmart for your ammo unless the ammo is a great deal. We have to freeze out the sellers a little and reduce demand against supply so they bring prices down to sensible levels. Those levels of course being competitive with Walmart. And those who say they can't compete at those prices, oh well, someone else willing to get less will replace them. There are more and more LGS opening around me. I don't see shops disappearing anytime soon. They'll just have to accept not making as much as they were hoping for. God knows I have as a lawyer.

 

[mokin]

There is everything BUT .22 around here. The cases are full everything. My Walmart runs are usually early evening, after work and I've missed the .22 ammo by just hours. I get there too early. The other ammo is priced a little higher than it was but is still pretty close to pre-crazy prices.

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

Queen did you get a ticket or a warning for that light that was out?

I got a friggin ticket. I couldn't believe it. The officer could have sais get it fixed but no. Anyway getting pulled over meant I went looking for a new bulb which took me to walmart and I ended up with 300 rounds of CCI 22lr HP ammo. So looking at it I gues you could say I was lucky. If I hadn't been pulled over I wouldn't have gone looking for a new bulb which means I wouldn't have been able to buy 300 rounds of CCI 22lr. So looking on the positive side I should be happy I was pulled over because I ended up with 300 rounds of CCI 22lr HP ammo.

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

I think we are still making our way through a return to normal supply. Walmart's prices easily beat their competitor's prices hands down and every gunnie I know refuses to buy from anywhere else other than Walmart. That wasn't the case before Sandy Hook. I and other gunnies would buy from online when there were good deals that were on par with Walmart or simply sometimes better because the online retailer offered a brand Walmart didn't.

Now that is not so much the case, or at least the price difference is so great that it's better to wait for Walmart to have some ammo on hand. I'm down from buying a hundred value pack of pistol ammo and an additional box of pistol or rifle ammo (.357 magnum, or .223), every week to once every two weeks now now that all my pistol calibers have at least two thousand rounds of factory fresh ammo sitting around, except for .44 magnum and .454 Casull.

For the foreseeable future I hope Walmart sticks to there three box (or 150 rounds of centerfire ammo) limit. It'll keep supply available for casual recreational shooters. Competitive shooters will have to roll their own or pay higher premiums I think.

A new dynamic I've witnessed is that new shooters are also starting to stock up on ammo making a trip at least every two weeks to pick up ammo where previously they would only do so in prep for going shooting, if they even bothered to buy their ammo somewhere else other than the shooting range. So expect the pain to keep up. It's not going anywhere soon.

At the same time though, don't shop anywhere other than Walmart for your ammo unless the ammo is a great deal. We have to freeze out the sellers a little and reduce demand against supply so they bring prices down to sensible levels. Those levels of course being competitive with Walmart. And those who say they can't compete at those prices, oh well, someone else willing to get less will replace them. There are more and more LGS opening around me. I don't see shops disappearing anytime soon. They'll just have to accept not making as much as they were hoping for. God knows I have as a lawyer.

Trying to freeze out people isn't going to happen and is simply a bad policy. The manufacturers need to see a basic demand so they can decide to either add additional production or not.

As far as buying from someone other than walmart that is not doable in this market as no one is getting the ammo they need to take care of their customers. In my area Academy has been the one store to have any kind of dependable supply.
and it was hit and miss but at least they were getting some shipments even though those shipments were extremely small.

 

[MagnumDweeb]

Queen I appreciate your point but most ammo manufacturers haven't added any real production infrastructure to their businesses and likely won't because they know this is all cyclical, bumps and potholes. They might temporarily ramp up production but they won't make it a permanent part of their model. So only buying from Walmart (we don't have any Academies around my way that I have seen, just Gander Mountains and Dicks, and their prices are way more than I'm willing to pay) makes sense to me.

I know gun store owners, I work out at the same gyms they do and I give workout advice from time to time to them. They've bragged about making lots of money, so it's not likely they are sharing in our pain, they're making their money and they could come off their prices quite a bit and still make a good chunk of change. And that's why I'm saying we need to freeze them out a bit by only turning to Walmart till they lower their prices. Will they match Walmart's prices, not likely, but they can afford to only be fifteen percent higher instead of thirty and if they can't then who needs them. A buddy of mine waiting on his FFL to come through plans to only sell ammo at ten percent higher than Walmart and no more, and he owns two used car dealerships and three pawnshops. He's not an idiot, he's told me he knows he can still make a lot of coin selling ammo that way.

I won't buy from him ammo wise, but I'll buy reloading components because again he knows in order to succeed you sometimes have to beat out the competition. And there is fixing to be a glut of competition over the next year.

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

Queen I appreciate your point but most ammo manufacturers haven't added any real production infrastructure to their businesses and likely won't because they know this is all cyclical, bumps and potholes. They might temporarily ramp up production but they won't make it a permanent part of their model. So only buying from Walmart (we don't have any Academies around my way that I have seen, just Gander Mountains and Dicks, and their prices are way more than I'm willing to pay) makes sense to me.

I know gun store owners, I work out at the same gyms they do and I give workout advice from time to time to them. They've bragged about making lots of money, so it's not likely they are sharing in our pain, they're making their money and they could come off their prices quite a bit and still make a good chunk of change. And that's why I'm saying we need to freeze them out a bit by only turning to Walmart till they lower their prices. Will they match Walmart's prices, not likely, but they can afford to only be fifteen percent higher instead of thirty and if they can't then who needs them. A buddy of mine waiting on his FFL to come through plans to only sell ammo at ten percent higher than Walmart and no more, and he owns two used car dealerships and three pawnshops. He's not an idiot, he's told me he knows he can still make a lot of coin selling ammo that way.

I won't buy from him ammo wise, but I'll buy reloading components because again he knows in order to succeed you sometimes have to beat out the competition. And there is fixing to be a glut of competition over the next year.

There can be no competition if there is no product available. As it is ammo is a week to week situation. Keeping non SD 9mm ammo on the shelf is shaky at best. From what I see at my local Academy the availability of 9mm for purchase depends upon what they received in one of their 3 scheduled weekly deliverers.

As for your buddy I will venture he will lose money on ammo as there is only one entity that can order ammo cheaper than Walmart and that is the US Government. Walmart has some 3,000 plus stores.

 

[JFtheGR8]

I don't think this is just a "cyclical bump" as there are more new gun owners now than ever. Some will give up but others will continue to shoot and consume ammo. Obama has been one heck of a gun salesman. He's been even better at selling ammo.


Posted from Thehighroad.org App for Android

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

I don't think this is just a "cyclical bump" as there are more new gun owners now than ever. Some will give up but others will continue to shoot and consume ammo. Obama has been one heck of a gun salesman. He's been even better at selling ammo.


Posted from Thehighroad.org App for Android

Who do you think sold me the Rock Island 10mm that comes in tomorrow. Thats right, Obama. He even talked me into a Ruger GP100 with help from ABC's buy American campaign.

 

[ahtoxa]

I got a friggin ticket. I couldn't believe it. The officer could have sais get it fixed but no. Anyway getting pulled over meant I went looking for a new bulb which took me to walmart and I ended up with 300 rounds of CCI 22lr HP ammo. So looking at it I gues you could say I was lucky. If I hadn't been pulled over I wouldn't have gone looking for a new bulb which means I wouldn't have been able to buy 300 rounds of CCI 22lr. So looking on the positive side I should be happy I was pulled over because I ended up with 300 rounds of CCI 22lr HP ammo.

You should be able to get this ticket dismissed. This isn't a moving violation ticket and should be just a fix-it ticket. Get a new bulb and then head to the clerk's office at the courthouse to sort it out.

 

[Tirod]

most ammo manufacturers haven't added any real production infrastructure to their businesses and likely won't because they know this is all cyclical, bumps and potholes. They might temporarily ramp up production but they won't make it a permanent part of their model.

http://www.remington.com/pages/news...ion/remingtonexpandsammunitionoperations.aspx

Ammo makers are adding production. Some are dropping small lot recipes to increase the production of the better sellers - changing over a line and setting up machinery for a few thousand rounds is obviously counterproductive to leaving well enough alone and selling every cartridge you can make in the downtime alone.

What has radically changed is the demand. The Remington plans were in the pipeline long before the latest panic. Same with the importers - there are more this year than ten years ago.

With the increased number of AR and AK owners, ammo consumption is going up. Self loading actions invite shooting another round - exactly as was predicted by the military who were pushing the idea since the invention of the lever action. It's the older senior managers who have dragged their feet ever since. They refuse to face reality. If you can pull the trigger, you will.

Entirely why the military went to automatic actions -to get more bullets flying, which means more hits, which makes your side dominate the battlefield. In commercial terms, it means selling more ammo, and they saw the writing on the wall a long time ago. What they couldn't see was how panic buying made them get behind the production curve, or how senior management would be such an obstacle.

Bolt action shooters are like that.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

I don't think this is just a "cyclical bump" as there are more new gun owners now than ever. Some will give up but others will continue to shoot and consume ammo. Obama has been one heck of a gun salesman. He's been even better at selling ammo.


Posted from Thehighroad.org App for Android

I don't think there's been any time in American history when more ammunition has been put into the hands of the citizens than in the last 12 months.



On a personal note with respect to gun sales...the Savage Mark II-F I bought earlier this year for my wife wasn't a direct result of the political bruhaha going on. But through the increased interest in firearms by the rest of the family, the additional acqusition of two additional bolt action .22 rifles and a handgun were.

There's another handgun coming...but I've been planning on that one for years, so it doesn't count.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

http://www.remington.com/pages/news...ion/remingtonexpandsammunitionoperations.aspx

Ammo makers are adding production. Some are dropping small lot recipes to increase the production of the better sellers - changing over a line and setting up machinery for a few thousand rounds is obviously counterproductive to leaving well enough alone and selling every cartridge you can make in the downtime alone.

What has radically changed is the demand. The Remington plans were in the pipeline long before the latest panic. Same with the importers - there are more this year than ten years ago.

With the increased number of AR and AK owners, ammo consumption is going up. Self loading actions invite shooting another round - exactly as was predicted by the military who were pushing the idea since the invention of the lever action. It's the older senior managers who have dragged their feet ever since. They refuse to face reality. If you can pull the trigger, you will.

Entirely why the military went to automatic actions -to get more bullets flying, which means more hits, which makes your side dominate the battlefield. In commercial terms, it means selling more ammo, and they saw the writing on the wall a long time ago. What they couldn't see was how panic buying made them get behind the production curve, or how senior management would be such an obstacle.

Bolt action shooters are like that.

If Remington is doing this, it's because their marketing research studies have shown a long-term increase in the normal sales of ammunition, which will mean that they fully expect their new facilities to actually be meeting a new, and higher, demand in ammunition.

 

[rodregier]

Michael Bane argues that base level demand is much higher than before.
(Gun Culture V2.0)

The question is how long for the ammunition manufacturers to recognize this and initiate both incoming supply chain and plant expansion...