What will happen when the AWB dies, Opinions?

[SodiumBenzoate]

You better get your breather tubes above those windshields if you expect to keep the engine running! Tall exhaust stacks too!

Don't forget to watch out for all the expolding day care centers!

 

[Schuey2002]

Anybody wanna' take any bets on whether or not some idiot goes on a shootin' spree with an AK-47 in September??

 

[Tom Bri]

That is a bet I will NOT take.

 

[Muzzleflash]

I wouldn't put it past the gun grabbers to engineer an event like that for "the greater good".

 

[angrywalkindude]

I want a 500 rd drum for my 10/22. I

 

[jason10mm]

I doubt much will get cheaper. When has that EVER happened? But look at the LEO price for regular mags and use that as a guide for what you will be paying eventually. Making a post-ban rifle is usually MORE expensive because of having to permanently attach a muzzle device and cut off the bayonet lug (though I suppose front sight posts without lugs are being manufactured new by now). But as the novelty of owning a "pre-ban" rifle and accessories drives up demand, costs will still be high, then as the demand drops off, prices will still be a little inflated as the consumer will perceive themselves getting a little more for their money (well, a $30 17 round mag ought to cost more than a $20 10 round mag, it holds more... )

It would be interesting to see if manufacturers and dealers are seeing more collapsable stocks, pre-ban config uppers, and bayonets being sold in anticipation of the sunset, with a corresponding decrease in 10 round or high priced pre-ban mags being sold.

 

[Phil Ca]

Re: .22 short bullets bouncing around inside a skull.

Many years ago during the AMA Convention in SF, a doctor went out in the Tenderloin area of SF after dark and was attacked and robbed. The perp used a .25 caliber pistol and shot the doc in the head.

The injured doctor went into a hospital complaining of a severe headache and the ER people found several .25 caliber bullets that had penetrated the skin and hit the skull and then moved around the skull under the skin.

I don't remember the exact year but I was working in downtown SF at the time and it was a few blocks from my office. Probably the early to mid 70's.

 

[Sam Adams]

J Miller and whm1974

The gun makers have never stopped making standard capacity mags. Think about it. Para Ordnace has offered one or two std cap mags for every gun they've sold new since the ban became law. And they want us to believe that all of these were PRE-ban. Sure they were.

I sincerely doubt that Para Ordnance or any other manufacturer or importer is making >10 round mags for the US market without the "Law Enforcement Only" stamp. Why? Because getting caught doing so is a great way to a) forfeit the company's ability to sell to the US market and b) get high-ranking company officials put in jail or listed as fugitives from justice.

Nope, they saw the ban coming for months, and manufactured mag bodies 24/7. That they were flat, without springs, followers or mag plates was no problem - only the body had to exist prior to the date of the ban for the prohibition to apply.

 

[Atticus]

The only prices that will drop will be for SOME mags and the pre-ban rifles.
I doubt if post- ban rifles drop a nickel -most people don't give a hoot about bayonet lugs, flash hiders, etc. The price of "high-cap mags will still be high (at least for a while) due to the hoarding taking place out of fear of the next ban.
BTW- The law only applies to the US market -most companies never stopped making standard mags for overseas sale.

 

[TechBrute]

Prices won't really be affected that much. How much less would an AR-15 sell for just because it doesn't have a bayonet lug?

Of course, you'll probably be able to get a deal on castrated 10-round mags.

 

[Firethorn]

10 round mags cheap?

Naw, the price on those will INCREASE.

Why? Because nobody outside of those states that passed their own AWB will want them. So they'll pretty much stop making them, and use the stockpile in those areas. It'll eventually become a kind of 'special order' item. And as people will notice that wait a second, I have to pay MORE for a crippled magazine than a standard one? I'm complaining!

I mean, take a look at what RD-RAM runs for today, versus the new stuff. Even PC100 costs more by size than PC3000(note:different measuring system for speed).

 

[jeff-10]

The AWB mostly affects pistols anyways. Semi-auto 9mm and 40S&W pistols by a huge margin outsell semi-auto rifles in this country. I think we will se a return to new and innovative full size pistols with double column magazines like we saw in the 80s. The wide spread use CCW permits and people who carry is only half the reason those tiny Kahr or Kal-Tec pistols have become so popular. The other half of the reason is there is not much of a market for a full size 9mm that has half its magazine blocked.

Also everyone who likes AR-15s will now want a pure M-4 look a like. Telescoping stocks for ARs and folding stocks for AKs will now become vogue again.

 

[Kharn]

High prices at first, then back to normal by the end of the year (or March at the latest) at the stores & shows. I hope the manufacturers wont gouge too much, but I doubt A\B\C and the like would even think about it.

Its also my little brother's 21st birthday on the 13th, so its gonna be partytime like nothing else.
If I even remember the AW ban expired when I wake up the next day, I'll be suprised.

Kharn

 

[TechBrute]

I wonder if Bushmaster has their first "no-ban" rifle spoken for yet? I think it would be kind of cool to own their first rifle that rolls off the line on 9/14 with all the evil features that are banned. Of course, in 5 years, new shooters won't even know the significance of it, but whatever.

 

[NavajoNPaleFace]

Dragonfire has touched on what I, too, think will happen if/when the AWB sunsets.

The states will begin to enact legislature of their own in their idiotic attempts to control guns (exactly what the federal Democratic Congress is hoping for).

And we think Californians have it bad? Do we think the state of New Jersey has ridiculously strict gun laws?

Ah, what other state(s) will have that reputation shortly after September?

 

[kernal_panic]

i'm buying at least 20 new mags, a pre ban system xm177 upper, and a telestock for one of my ar-15s.

 

[GE-Mini-Gun]

The thing I want to know is what is going to happen to the LEO/Military marked mags? Most people here tend to think the ban will come back, correct? So when it ends in September you go out and buy a truck load of LEO marked mags for $10 each, then when the ban comes back again what do you do with these mags? I would think that they would be illegal again.

As for me I’m buying 4 Beta C-mags; 2 for the AR and 2 for the AK.

 

[TechBrute]

As for me I’m buying 4 Beta C-mags

With their reliability problems, why would you want 4? I understand buying one as a novelty, but 4? New ones are $250, so you'd be dropping a grand on mags that may or may not work when you need them.

i'm buying at least 20 new mags, a pre ban system xm177 upper, and a telestock for one of my ar-15s.

I'm not really sure what's holding you back on the mags. You can get brand new USGI mags for $20, still in the wrapper. Buying 20 of them at once can probably get you a better price. The price on them won't drop much, either. Oh, sure, USA Mags will start giving mags away for nothing, but they are pretty much crap. I'm talking quality USGI-spec mags. They won't drop much in price, if at all.

 

[Sam Adams]

They won't drop much in price, if at all.

Why wouldn't they? The mags out there are all part of a presently-limited supply. Once the AWB dies, quality manufacturers can and will start making many more (and wouldn't you, if you knew that producing something that cost you $2 could be sold to a wholesaler for $4, then a retailer for $7.50 and then a consumer for $10-$15 - and be truthfully advertised as being NEW)? Supply will be rising, thus cutting prices once demand (after the post-sunset rush) gets back to some normal level.

The present magazines will, in about 8 weeks time, be a minimum of 10 years old, and many of them are used. I don't know about you, but I think that if most people had a choice between a new mag and an old, used one, they'd be paying a whole lot less for the old, used one (assuming equal quality). Me, I'll stock up on the old (but unused) ones, as they're really just as good and they'll be lots cheaper around the end of the year.

 

[TechBrute]

Ok, Sam, then using your logic 10 round mags would be cheaper than they are now. Right now they cost the same as new 30-rounders. Why aren't 10-round mags cheaper?

Also, you're pretty much just making up numbers to show a point.

 

[Sam Adams]

Ok, Sam, then using your logic 10 round mags would be cheaper than they are now. Right now they cost the same as new 30-rounders. Why aren't 10-round mags cheaper?

Also, you're pretty much just making up numbers to show a point.

The demand for the 10-rounders should drop (who wants 10 when you can have 20 or 30 for not much more?). The only exception to this is in states that enact some version of the AWB for in-state purposes, but that's not really an exception, since purchasers in those states are currently limited to the 10s right now (i.e. those unenlightened state legislatures wouldn't be creating additional demand for the 10s). So, YES, 10-rounders should be cheaper than they are right now - UNLESS the manufacturers really slow down production, which they very well might, knowing that demand for them will drop.

I think that the price for the 10s will stay roughly the same, because I think that manufacturers will switch production from the 10s to normal capacity mags. Demand for the new normal caps will initially be high, but after the initial hoopla (and buying based upon the fear that a new AWB will be passed in 2005) prices will level off. The central message that the price of normal caps will decline from the present level to something lower as time passes, is true. What is now a limited supply of normal cap mags is no longer going to be limited, hence prices will decline. That is the opposite of what happened in '94, when the then-unlimited supply was capped, thereby raising the price of sub-$5 mags to $20 or more (in the case of used M16/AR15 mags).

As to the pricing numbers I used - yes, I made them up. However, I did it to illustrate the point that if 10-year-old NIB mags are now fetching $20, and some manufacturer can make new ones and get them to market for less, then that is EXACTLY what will happen. While I don't know how much it costs to manufacture high quality AR15 mags in quantity (i.e. thousands or tens of thousands per month), I can't imagine that it is much more than $2.00 - not with automated machinery and the cheap component costs that would come with such high quantities. I don't think it unreasonable that such a mag could wind its way through a wholesaler, a retailer and to the final consumer for $10-$15. Heck, check out

http://www.impactguns.com/store/magazines_restricted.html

to see new normal capacity Bushmaster and DPMS mags for $16.00. When you keep in mind that police departments are playing with other people's money, it doesn't take much imagination to see new and functionally identical mags selling for $10-$15 in several months' time to civilians in what will once again be a competitive market without artificial constraints.

Bottom Line: The increased supply of normal cap magazines that will be available beginning in 8 weeks will cause lower prices, just as the artificially lowered supply of the last 9 years and 10 months has caused higher prices. It is simply the flip side of the coin, and I won't back away from that.

 

[jeff-10]

Most people here tend to think the ban will come back, correct?

The pessemistic naysayers who say that are the same ones who said it would never sunset in the first place. With all 3 branches of goverment firmly GOP there is little chance a new one will pass. If John Kerry gets elected all bets are off though. Still hard to imagine the GOP losing the house there and the ban would need to get through it before it could go anywhere.

 

[PATH]

I intend to stock up on 10/22 hi-caps as soon as they become affordable again! I love to blast off a couple of hundred wally world federal ammo!
Sept. 13 can't come too soon for me!

 

[TechBrute]

Sorry, Sam, I didn't express my question well.

Why, right now, aren't 10-round mags cheaper to buy new than "Pre-ban" mags? 10-round mags are basically the same price right now as 20s and 30s are. Why aren't 10-rounders cheaper right now? Using your line of reasoning, 10-round mags would be a lot cheaper because there's a limitless supply due to current manufacture.

I hope I did a better job of asking this time.

PS I'm not saying that the mags won't drop AT ALL, but I don't think they'll drop significantly. I'm thinking maybe a couple bucks, but not enough to make a big impact.

 

[Muzzleflash]

I want a pair of 200 round AK drums which I would then set up as one of those crank dual gun gatlings.