Who knows
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location:
Posts: 84
Who knows
Who knows anyone that works at one of the ammo factories. Can they shed some light on the low production of ammo? We have all heard the crazy stories like the government buying it all, black suv's at the stores. I personally don't believe that. So what's the problem? Let's not speculate.
#6
Example: My mother-in-law is not a shooter, but she is a firearm owner. She owns a .38spcl to keep on her nightstand and a .22lr revolver, that's it. She shoots about every month to every other month, half a box (20-25rnds) at a time.
In this climate, my mother-in-law has noticed the empty shelves and noticed the high traffic at the shops, and heard all of the whispers and rumors... My mother-in-law, who shoots about 3 boxes of ammo a year normally, has suddenly started stockpiling ammunition. She has various loads of .38spcl totalling up to just under 1,000rnds right now, and has about 12-15,000rnds of .22lr, and buys every box she can find. She called me earlier this week asking if she should buy reloading equipment because one of her friend's son's (a true blue mall ninja) said all gun owners should be able to load their own in case "they" take away our ammo. All that on a limited income...
The demand is huge, and unfortunately it's driven by nothing but speculative rumors. Companies are making ammo as fast as they can, focused on the highest demand items right now. I noticed last month that it started to slow down a bit, for a few weeks ammo and components were starting to show up on shelves again, but then once it became available, the surge picked up again and it's all gone again. In high population areas where people have no common sense and show it in their law making, the ammo supply will take longer to come back. In areas with less people and more reasonable lawmaking, you'll start seeing availability again soon enough.
Personally, I'm not certain that the US Gov't, cutting it's defense budget as it is, could hide a significantly sizeable ammunition purchase to outweigh the civilian demand right now. Millions of US firearms owners are slamming ammo demand right now, way heavier than the military could ever compete with.
In this climate, my mother-in-law has noticed the empty shelves and noticed the high traffic at the shops, and heard all of the whispers and rumors... My mother-in-law, who shoots about 3 boxes of ammo a year normally, has suddenly started stockpiling ammunition. She has various loads of .38spcl totalling up to just under 1,000rnds right now, and has about 12-15,000rnds of .22lr, and buys every box she can find. She called me earlier this week asking if she should buy reloading equipment because one of her friend's son's (a true blue mall ninja) said all gun owners should be able to load their own in case "they" take away our ammo. All that on a limited income...
The demand is huge, and unfortunately it's driven by nothing but speculative rumors. Companies are making ammo as fast as they can, focused on the highest demand items right now. I noticed last month that it started to slow down a bit, for a few weeks ammo and components were starting to show up on shelves again, but then once it became available, the surge picked up again and it's all gone again. In high population areas where people have no common sense and show it in their law making, the ammo supply will take longer to come back. In areas with less people and more reasonable lawmaking, you'll start seeing availability again soon enough.
Personally, I'm not certain that the US Gov't, cutting it's defense budget as it is, could hide a significantly sizeable ammunition purchase to outweigh the civilian demand right now. Millions of US firearms owners are slamming ammo demand right now, way heavier than the military could ever compete with.
#7
That is what I heard. Both ammo manfs and some firearms manfs have boosted up production but still can't keep up with the demand. Some manfs like Hornady that make both ammo and supply components estimate it will be at least 6 months until they get caught up with the ammo and components will be available for reloaders.
#9
Fork Horn
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: canada
Posts: 257
ive been moonlighting at a gun shop for awhile now. about 4 days ago I ran up a skid of .223 Winchester "usa" brand 45 grain hollowpoints. how might a Canadian shop get a entire skid worth of .223 ammo? there is no buying scare in Canada. if we can get ammo a plenty from our distributer network then obviously the ammo is floating out there somewhere. most the ammo makers are running above normal capacity and there is no shortage of copper, lead and zinc specific to the gun industry nor is there any major increases in prices (of materials) that wasn't foreseen. yes it sucks that some shooters cant get their ammo but I think distributer/dealer networks and manufacturers can learn a lot from these times. long story short the ammo walked off the shelf in the hands of shooters, not the boogeyman
#10
The manufactors have cut down production to drive up prices. Like I said before, my bosses daughter works for ATK, she used to be able to put in all the overtime she wanted. ATK has cut all over time, you would think at a time of shortage they would not do that. Its all about the $$$$. The law of supply a demand dictates the price, they can sell less and make more money.