Salt in an open wound???

[T.O.M.]

A local gunstore chain put an add on Facebook.  A photo of a young woman holding a Smith AR in one hand, an M&P 15-22 in the other.  Caption:  In these times, are you shooting more .22?  It then advertises 500 round boxes of .22lr...for $95 a box.  As for the guns, their website shows no Smith ARs or 15-22s in stock.   

[WLJ]

Guy is probably sitting on a metric crap ton(s) of 22 bricks he paid $5 each for and had squirreled away for just such an occasion.
He'll be sold out in 15 minutes.

[HankB]

Ammo is in short supply again - unlike a couple of years ago when it was .22 rimfire, now it's virtually ALL modern cartridges.

The NRA and other rags have run articles saying it's merely "supply and demand" and the manufacturers are making and shipping as much as they can. And most shooters will understand that with high demand, ammo will be snapped up very quickly when it hits dealer shelves.

What people DON'T understand is - why isn't the ammo hitting dealer shelves in the first place?

I've spoken to the sales staff at big box retailers (Cabela's/BassProShops, Academy) as well as little gun shops and the ammo isn't coming in - where they used to get it by the pallet, now they're lucky if they get a case - or sometimes just a few boxes.

I'd like to see an article from the NRA or someone else as to exactly WHERE, WHY, and HOW the supply chain is being interrupted.

[cordex]

I’m pretty sure it is strictly increased demand.

Others have estimated the increase in ammo ordered just by new gun owners. Add to that the regular shooters and hunters, and the people who are stocking up for the boogaloo or the cultural revolution, that is a lot. Then the people who panic buy whenever prices go up and availability goes way down. Plus the opportunistic flippers.

Why isn’t it hitting shelves?  Well, when every single retailer is out of stock and putting in orders all at once, suddenly the pallets of ammo that are waiting on the warehouse shelf aren’t there, and as the deliveries hit the distributors they have to be split up between their retail customers so that everyone gets a little bit.

[Boomhauer]

The problem is everybody and I mean everybody including any little BFE hardware store, one stoplight town pawnshop all the way to the big boys plus everybody on the internet is buying it up as fast as they can no matter the caliber.

Even the moderately popular to obscure hunting calibers that stayed on the shelves last time are gone this time. Plus last time you didn’t have COVID impacting not only the manufacturers but also their supply chain.

The only time I’ve seen ammo in any quantity has been at the flea market and I don’t even bother asking the price.

[MechAg94]

The problem is everybody and I mean everybody including any little BFE hardware store, one stoplight town pawnshop all the way to the big boys plus everybody on the internet is buying it up as fast as they can no matter the caliber.

Even the moderately popular to obscure hunting calibers that stayed on the shelves last time are gone this time. Plus last time you didn’t have COVID impacting not only the manufacturers but also their supply chain.

The only time I’ve seen ammo in any quantity has been at the flea market and I don’t even bother asking the price.

I would be curious to see a video from one of the manufacturers on exactly how much COVID impacted production.
1) personnel
2) raw materials production domestlically and import

How much foreign ammo imports have been slowed down at the ports?

Then also I understand the main Remington ammo plant spent 2020 mostly idle.  Has anyone seen someone talking about that?

I agree that demand is likely the biggest factor, but I don't think production has been 100% of what it could be.

[kgbsquirrel]

I would be curious to see a video from one of the manufacturers on exactly how much COVID impacted production.
1) personnel
2) raw materials production domestlically and import

How much foreign ammo imports have been slowed down at the ports?

Then also I understand the main Remington ammo plant spent 2020 mostly idle.  Has anyone seen someone talking about that?

I agree that demand is likely the biggest factor, but I don't think production has been 100% of what it could be.

All primers are hand charged.  So if covid bs keeps the primer manufacturer from fully staffing up you've just throttled everything to that primer bottleneck.  And that seems to be where we are, a period of high demand while at the same time production was double kneecapped.

[Jim147]

Primers brass and covid really slowed things down when firearms and ammo buying spiked.

[lee n. field]

Guy is probably sitting on a metric crap ton(s) of 22 bricks he paid $5 each for and had squirreled away for just such an occasion.
He'll be sold out in 15 minutes.

Back in round one of 0bama G&AF (Gun and Ammo Famine), I ended up picking up quite a few .22 bulk packs.  If he paid $5 for them, that was quite a bit older than then.

[AZRedhawk44]

Rather irked at Browning/Winchester coming out with the 6.8 Western right now.

Just what the market needs.  A boutique bolt action cartridge to draw demand off of the lines that should be making 9mm/.223/.308/.45acp.

[kgbsquirrel]

Back in round one of 0bama G&AF (Gun and Ammo Famine), I ended up picking up quite a few .22 bulk packs.  If he paid $5 for them, that was quite a bit older than then.

Bulks were $12 in 2008.

[lee n. field]

Bulks were $12 in 2008.

That's about what I remember paying.  $15-ish.

[MechAg94]

Back in round one of 0bama G&AF (Gun and Ammo Famine), I ended up picking up quite a few .22 bulk packs.  If he paid $5 for them, that was quite a bit older than then.

Most dealers I heard of who had stashes of 22 were selling them off during that first period when people were paying $80 per brick.

[WLJ]

Back in round one of 0bama G&AF (Gun and Ammo Famine), I ended up picking up quite a few .22 bulk packs.  If he paid $5 for them, that was quite a bit older than then.

Just pulled a number out of my ____. Not sure what dealer cost was on a brick when they were retailing for $10-15

[French G.]

2006 and I had a case of PMC .22 for $90. Ah, the good old days. Ruskie .223 was 90-120 a case and I could often find PMC or Winchester .223 for $150. PMC .45 was $200 and I always had a case in the trunk I was working on.

[JTHunter]

Bulks were $12 in 2008.

If anybody is interested, I have 4 bricks of Winchester Wildcat .22 LRN from 1999 that I paid $10 for back then. 

[T.O.M.]

Friend just texted me from this gun shop.  He was buying an optic and mounting plate for his HK handgun.  They had ammo.  Tula brand.  A box of 50 .45 rounds was $47.99.  The Tula 9mm was $39.99.  Limit of two boxes per customer.

[Jim147]

Not bad for right now. I'm seeing $1.20 a round for most things in stock. Glad I still have plenty Fromm before the last rush.