Where's the ammo? American Rifleman article

[BigBL87]

Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I don't see prices and availability getting back to normal until early 2022 at best. I hope I'm wrong.

 

[wiscoaster]

The main problem with ammo supply is that you can't just stock it and then sit on it. Shooting is one of those skills that you have to use it or you lose it. Ammo needs to be continually used and replenished for it to be a useful commodity.

 

[TomJ]

Well, no. When the prices get to a certain point, much of the ammo goes to gunbroker instead of filling orders. Then it is rather slowly let out as we are all forced to bid against each other, one lot at a time.
If there were a true shortage, gunbroker wouldn't have any either. But they do. And they did all through the Sandy hook panic too. Even when shelves in stores are empty for lack of availability. It is all there on gunbroker, any kind you want. And how ever much you want to buy. Right now.
This not ammo but is illustrative: Take KVAR for example. In normal times they sold Bulgarian stamped rifles for around 800-1000 on their website. I bought several. But since the embargo, the KVAR rifles are only available on auction and are going for 1750-2600. It is just street smarts. You dont fill orders for 995 when people will bid it up to 1900.

Yes, there's ammo available on Gunbroker. The question is who's selling it there, the manufacturers or private individuals or businesses. I don't see the major manufacturers bypassing their regular supply chain to sell direct on Gunbroker, and these types of rumors are why the president of CCI/Federal released his video. It's on another thread. There always have been and always will be people willing to flip products which are in high demand. The same thing happens many Christmases with in demand toys. This year it's the X Box X. They are sold out everywhere, but available on E Bay at inflated prices from the flippers. There may be smaller ammunition companies selling their reloads direct on Gunbroker who are profiting from this, but it's not the major manufacturers.

 

[Zahn]

I think the idea that there's a lot of ammo or primers available on Gunbroker is misleading. Go to that site and pick an item, and figure out how many listings there are. For example, there are around 400 listings for "Small Pistol Primers" at the moment. That is for the entire nation. 400 bricks of small pistol primers for sale. (yes, I realize some ads are for 100, some for 500 and a few for 3,000) Now, before this all started, on any given Saturday morning, how many bricks of 1000 small pistol primers were sitting on shelves waiting to be purchased nationwide? The shortage is real.

 

[Newtosavage]

I've stopped going to the local public gun range, the Honey Island Shooting Range, because of the people who go there with short barrel AR's and AK's, and shoot up hundreds of rounds, seemingly just to make noise. As a former NG and Army reserve instructor and competition shooter, IMHO they do not seem to be doi anything to improve their skills. Maybe it is just their idea of fun.

I haven't stopped going to my range because thankfully the AR blaster crowd is still fairly thin there, but when they are there, I just leave or sit in my truck until they leave - for the same exact reason. Short-barrel AR's under a metal roof are absurdly loud. Not to mention throwing brass all over. No thanks.

 

[mshootnit]

I think the idea that there's a lot of ammo or primers available on Gunbroker is misleading. Go to that site and pick an item, and figure out how many listings there are. For example, there are around 400 listings for "Small Pistol Primers" at the moment. That is for the entire nation. 400 bricks of small pistol primers for sale. (yes, I realize some ads are for 100, some for 500 and a few for 3,000) Now, before this all started, on any given Saturday morning, how many bricks of 1000 small pistol primers were sitting on shelves waiting to be purchased nationwide? The shortage is real.

Many of those 400 auctions are one lot with several units behind and will be relisted until all units sold.

 

[mshootnit]

I am not saying large manufacturers are sending product to gunbroker.
The supply chain:
Manufacture=>Wholesaler=>Retailer=>Consumer.

What I am saying is somewhere in the middle that chain gets rerouted when people know the auction price is multiples of the wholesale price.

 

[Old Dog]

The main problem with ammo supply is that you can't just stock it and then sit on it. Shooting is one of those skills that you have to use it or you lose it. Ammo needs to be continually used and replenished for it to be a useful commodity.

I agree to an extent. I had thought (up til about four or five months ago) that I was sitting on a supply that would last me the rest of my life even if I didn't buy another round... Now, maybe I've gotten carried away in the past couple of months, shooting more than necessary as some form of passive-aggressive resistance to the regime change, but I've dug more into my stock of 9mm, .38/.357 and .45 ACP than I'd thought possible. Perhaps also because I've been helping out friends, co-workers and family a bit too. Fortunately before the 2016 election when Hillary had her 16-point lead in the polls, I was buying .223/5.56 by the pallet, so I should be good there until 2040 or so.

I may have to start rationing my handgun ammo a little bit more wisely

 

[Paul R Zartman]

The main problem with ammo supply is that you can't just stock it and then sit on it. Shooting is one of those skills that you have to use it or you lose it. Ammo needs to be continually used and replenished for it to be a useful commodity.

I for one can sit all my guns down for over a year(almost 2 years when my heart issues were not cooperating with me) and still hollow out the bullseye with my 30+ year old ammo...thinking that ammo is a "commodity" leads me to think that your buying it to make a profit. Not a investment for your personal benefit.
I gladly sit on all my ammo while watching others scurrying around paying exorbitant prices just to go to the range. And yes, I do give factory ammo to my good friends in need.

 

[Snidely70431]

The main problem with ammo supply is that you can't just stock it and then sit on it. Shooting is one of those skills that you have to use it or you lose it. Ammo needs to be continually used and replenished for it to be a useful commodity.

One can do a lot to maintain shooting skills with accurate pellet guns. Sight picture and trigger pull is a big part of that.

 

[wiscoaster]

....thinking that ammo is a "commodity" leads me to think that your buying it to make a profit. ....

Wrong. It's a commodity in the sense that it's a useful product purchased now to be used up and then replaced at some point in the future. I think you're associating "commodities" with "futures" which is true to an extent that some commodities have associated futures markets, but untrue to another extent that some have none, and that some futures markets aren't associated with any commodities at all.

 

[reddog81]

The main problem with ammo supply is that you can't just stock it and then sit on it. Shooting is one of those skills that you have to use it or you lose it. Ammo needs to be continually used and replenished for it to be a useful commodity.

But you can buy a few years supply and store it in a corner of your basement and not worry about it going bad. Stockpiling a few year supply of food, water, or fuel is a much more difficult proposition.

 

[straightShot]

He hits the nail on the head. I was in my local Cabela's last week and as quickly as a worker put boxes of 9mm ammo on the shelf, people filled their carts.

 

[Meeks36]

But you can buy a few years supply and store it in a corner of your basement and not worry about it going bad. Stockpiling a few year supply of food, water, or fuel is a much more difficult proposition.

Nah foods easy. Water and fuel are a pita.

 

[Typetwelve]

I've stopped going to the local public gun range, the Honey Island Shooting Range, because of the people who go there with short barrel AR's and AK's, and shoot up hundreds of rounds, seemingly just to make noise. As a former NG and Army reserve instructor and competition shooter, IMHO they do not seem to be doi anything to improve their skills. Maybe it is just their idea of fun.

Ugg...AR and AK pistols, my goodness. Yes, they are freaking loud and super annoying. I have a 7.5" AR "pistol" that sees the range possibly twice a year, pretty useless little thing, truth be told. Yesterday was some goofball rat-tat-tat'ing an AK right next to me while I was trying to test some loaded match ammo. It was driving me nuts.

 

[benEzra]

My local run-and-gun “CQB” rifle matches have always allowed you to do a clean run by shooting each target only once in the A-zone, but a year ago most shooters would nevertheless double-tap most targets to avoid any penalties for missing the A-zone. Now almost everyone is putting just one round in the A-zone per target, which at current prices can save you $40 or $50 in ammo over the course of a match.

 

[Paul R Zartman]

Wrong. It's a commodity in the sense that it's a useful product purchased now to be used up and then replaced at some point in the future. I think you're associating "commodities" with "futures" which is true to an extent that some commodities have associated futures markets, but untrue to another extent that some have none, and that some futures markets aren't associated with any commodities at all.

 

[DustyGmt]

Ugg...AR and AK pistols, my goodness. Yes, they are freaking loud and super annoying. I have a 7.5" AR "pistol" that sees the range possibly twice a year, pretty useless little thing, truth be told. Yesterday was some goofball rat-tat-tat'ing an AK right next to me while I was trying to test some loaded match ammo. It was driving me nuts.

I can definitely see how that would get on your nerves. If I'm shooting my AR shorty I usually walk outside the pavilion off to the side so im not gassing people next to me set up on the benches. The echo off the roof is pretty bad, I find stepping away into the open is less intrusive on others. Last thing I want to do is be inconsiderate to others. On the other hand, the people who bought houses right next to the range who complain to the town and call the police, I could really care less about. If you dont like gunfire, dont buy your second home right next to a shooting range and expect us to care you're sitting in your gazebo with a sweater draped over your shoulders trying to read "the handmaid's tale" in quiet.....smh. my town has really become something of a resort town for out of staters, NY, CT, NJ, MA. Let freedom ring!

 

[JMB0711]

My local gun store told me the other day the ammo manufactures are 4 billion rounds behind production schedule.

 

[JMB0711]

Yeah it sucks. I like shooting. I feel like every time I see a box of overpriced ammo I'm either a sucker for wanting to buy it or a sucker for not realizing that it was the last box I had the chance to buy until 2049.

Heres the secret...see it buy it.

 

[DMW1116]

I've started comparing the ammo shortage to the gas issues that happened after Katrina and again in the 2010s. Gas went from $1.90 in my area to $4 per gallon and hung in that range for a while. Round 2 was $3.50 or so and lasted a year or more. Gas stations were never completely out, but they had pumps that would run dry. Some stations stopped selling higher grades from most pumps and just had 87 from them. It took a while to shake out, but eventually did. My brother has always been an off the grid sort and he started running his diesel engines off filtered used cooking oil.

 

[GEM]

I think this one has petered out.

Closed.