Tuesday, January 1, 2013

I've Joined The Ammo Buying Frenzy...

...but only because I had a mere two or thee boxes of .308 Winchester for my Marlin XS-7 rifle and only a single tin of ammo for my 3 or 4 Mosin Nagants. (Yes, I lost track of how many Nagants I own.)

I found a tin of 440 rounds of 7.62x54R, Russian manufacture, 168 grain, light ball ammo for $94.00 shipped to my location from Dan's Sporting Goods. 

I also ordered 100 rounds of Remington, Premier Ammunition, 308 Winchester, 180 Grain, Core-Lokt, Ultra Bonded Pointed Soft Point, for $118.95 plus shipping from MidwayUSA. (I do not know the exact shipping price for the ammo because there was something else on the order and I cannot check now because, while listed as in stock when I ordered, it is now shown as out of stock.)

That is it for me unless by some miracle a stash of cases or half cases of 62 grain NATO spec 5.56x45mm ammo and/or a stash of cases or half cases of 7.62x39mm ammo go on sale at uninflated prices.

I have to admit, ammo is getting very difficult to come by; heck even .22LR ammo is becoming scarce. Luckily, for me and my son, we built up a small surplus of ammunition for times like this. I am hoping the ammunition shortage and super high ammo prices will soon be a thing of the past and that prices will return to closer to normal levels of at least a year or two ago.

 Speaking of high ammo prices: I have removed CheaperThanDirt.com from my link list. As far as I am concerned, when they offer a box of ammo, Federal American Eagle .308 Winchester, 150 grain, FMJBT ammo for $34.59 and that usually and very recently sold elsewhere for about $18 to $19 per box (and it may also recently have been offered close to that same lower price at CTD), I find myself unwilling to continue to do business with them. That one is not the only example of what I believe is outrageous price gouging at CheaperThanDirt; they recently (as recent as a couple of days or so ago) offered Lake City, 62 grain, 5.56x45mm, penetrator rounds for $999.00 per case (1,000 rounds). I had thought that said ammo was already ridiculously and extremely overpriced ,by some other dealers, at around $400 to $500 per case, over the past couple of weeks. This newer and higher price seems insanely greed driven to me. Anyone who paid $999.00 for that ammo is, in my opinion, probably out of his mind. Yet, there must have been some like that because CTD now shows that ammo as out of stock! I know 'supply and demand' and 'what the market will bear' but when things get back to a bit or normalcy, does anyone at CheaperThanDirt expect to retain even half of their former customer base? (I said former because I have heard that many others will not shop at CTD again because of their current prices.) I think their current price policy is going to drive away many of their customers and maybe drive them out of business to. I would be quite surprised if CheaperThanDirt is not out of business within 6 months to a year but that is just my guess.

All the best,
Glenn B

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