Ammo Availability and Prices....Ouch!

T

Tom Roberts

Well-known member
Went to a small gun show yesterday and couldn't believe what I was seeing! Pistol ammo was nearly non-existant and what was there was priced out the roof. My buddie was looking for 9mm and finally found some from a dealer who parted with 100 rds for $45 out of his private stach in his truck. But get this, one guy was selling 1000 rds of 22LR for $1000......a dollar a pop! When and/or will this madness end? Several of the old time dealers are really concerned about where all this gun and ammo regulations are heading.....ME TOO! Anybody out there think this initial madness will settle down back to something normal or are we on the verge of unprecedented, historical set backs in our right to bear arms?
 
Lotta knee-jerk ammo buying going on. I mean come on, not even the most liberal whacko gun-grabbers are talking about limiting .22 ammo.
I guess I need to put that box of 1,000 .22LR I have up for sale, I could use the money to buy some new gear for next duck season.
 
Been buying 22LR for $22.45 for 525 rounds... Saturday we bought 250 UMC 9mm for $79.99. This was at Gander Mtn in Rochester,MN. They also had CCI Blazier .40 S&W in the 250 round box.... list price was $99.99... when we got to the counter, the .40 cal was on sale... 10% off.

The did have 7.62x39... but it wasn't cheap... $8/20... zero .223 (5.56)
 
if .22LR is that expensive I need to sell some of the stockpile I have. Probably could pay for a year of college for my oldest with the proceeds
 
Man, I have five bricks of .22s. I can't imagine I'll ever need that much anymore. I think I'll part them out. I want to buy a new boat for next season...

Sheesh!

Unfortunately, I believe it is going to get worse before it gets better. The present administration is in for a long and arduous fight on the hill, and I don't expect it to end soon, or peacefully.

Jon
 
This is a number that really got me........Last week Wideners sold over 14 MILLION rounds of IMI 5.56 in less than 3 HOURS!!! That is nuts
 
What's a paper dollar worth. Let's print more. Most stores are limiting you to one brick. Bricks were 12 bucks before Obama now they are 24.
 
when i ran my skeet leauge i reloaded my own shells. after buying the press, powder, primers, wads, dies, shot,ect,ect. i think im still in the hole for that. everything was so expensive i doubt i saved 10 cents a box. but i did get very consistent loads and i think it was worth the extra time when in competition.
it was a cool hobby and back in the day you could really save money, but as with anything people figured they could charge more for the ingredients.

if i could only load my own lead for ducks i would really save some money
 
Chris on my larger caliber rifles I use for hunting reloads are all I shoot. Yes the upfront is pricey but as you say the consistency is unreal along with the range of loads you can shoot. I believe I can easily reload them for 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a not so premium shell and get premium performance.
 
ONe way to look at it: When ammo restrictions dont materialize and/or a Republican gets elected in the next Presidential election, there is going to be alot of people off-loading ammo they really didnt need to begin with, should be some bargains.
 
Chris,

I've been reloading for 12 ga since before plastic hulls (circa 1960). If you compare your reloads with the junk loads sold in the discount stores you are correct, not much savings. But if you compare your reloads to compareable 'quality' loads you should find a savings of a couple dollars a box for 12 ga or 20 ga. Drop down to 28 ga or 410 and the savings is huge. With 28 ga factory target loads selling for $9-10 and a reloading cost of $4 it doesn't take long to make up your initial set up costs. Get into lead hunting loads for pheasant for example and the savings is even more dramatic. I've seen 28 ga. pheasant loads selling for over $20/box while my cost doesn't change much at all. Even with going to premium nickle plated or copper washed shot I can still save a ton on those loads.
 
Chris, You likely have seen these but if not, here is a calculator to figure actual cost. I normally don't include the hull costs as I can usually get around 10 reloads on a hull, depending on the hull and the gauge. I think hull costs now are in the neighborhood of $.10 each (12 gauge) if you have to buy them so amortized over 10 loads is $.25/box. In the case of 28 gauge the hulls are $.15 -$.20 so it can be a factor if you have to pay for them. I have close to 3000 28 gauge hulls so to me its a nonfactor.

http://www.reloaderhub.com/calculator.cfm
 
I don't suspect any of this inventory shortage or panic buying to end.....maybe ever. The current administration along with all the "liberal progressives" are going to be trying to grab guns every chance they get for the foreseeable future. Also, manufactures are backordered for 1-2 years on everything you can possible imagine. There won't be new inventory to put on the shelves for a year even if all the panic goes away. I also believe a whole new generation of folks are learning a valuable lesson from these circumstances. I suspect people are going to continue to stockpile guns and ammo. The message is, "if you want a gun you'd better buy it now along with a lifetime supply of ammo and parts to go with it". If you don't, you may never have the opportunity to buy one again, or if you just buy the gun, you may not be able to use it without the ammo.

Don't expect to find any deals after this panic subsides. People who paid $1 a round for 5.56, or $2000 for a regular ol' AR are not going just sell them for half what they invested. They wouldn't have purchased those items unless they feared they would loose the ability to obtain them. There is no reason to believe this sentiment will change. If the "normal" market does return these people will just stockpile more guns and ammo, not sell it. After all, people dropping $1 a bullet probably aren't going to need the money.

Reloading? There is the same shortage and price hike going on in the reloading department as well. I challenge any of you to find a FMJ 55 grain .224 bullet anywhere. Primers? good luck.

Wouldn't it be interesting to see how much stuff everyone would buy right now if there was an unlimited supply of product and no price hike? It would be incredible.

And, "sorry for rambling", I bet all this panic buying is scaring the shit out of our rulers.

The end.
 
"MOLON LABE"

What'cha trying to say there Pete?...;-).... I like that better than "I'll give you my gun when you pry it from my cold, dead hands"
 
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Ya, it just seemed a bit more civilized.............plus it will get people to go look up what it means - like I did. :)
 
Some people I have spoken with have said it might not be a bad idea to buy any type of ammo that you can get your hands on no matter what caliber. As in the future it could be used in trade for something you may need.
 
Ya, it just seemed a bit more civilized.............plus it will get people to go look up what it means - like I did. :)
Click to expand...


Yep, me too. I heard that in the movie The 300 and had to look it up.
 
Since the talk is about guns, the spike in ammo prices is most likely temporary. On Cabela's Web site, the price of shotgun target ammo is only up about $10.00 a case from last year. The cost of lead shot for reloading keeps going up sharply. Getting a 25lbs. bag of #8 lead for under $40.00 a bag is getting to be a good deal. If you price out the current cost of all new components, it may be a better deal to by loads on sale if you can get a good price on shipping. To get my cost down to load a 16ga. target load, I have to reduce the shot and powder to make a 5/8 oz. load to use for trap and skeet if I want to shoot every weekend when the weather is good and make it affordable. I due agree the cost of good field loads my be better to reload for some gauges. As demand of the ammo rush gets less, the price may fall but demand and cost of materials will most likely keep the price increasing from year to year. Speculation is just that and invest as you see fit.
 
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