I have heard it on gun bloggers' sites, on firearms forums, at the range and elsewhere: 'Hey, it looks like ammo is becoming more available and that prices are dropping back to normal'. The truth is, even though I have been settling for buying ammo at lower than super price gouging prices and letting people know when the prices are fairly good (considering how high they went), ammo prices are nowhere near normal. So what are normal ammo prices. In that regard, I will grant the ammo companies this much - higher fuel costs raised the price of everything and war related use of resources have made ammo components more expensive - so I will say that normal ammo prices (kind of, sort of, maybe) are those that they were under the presidency of George W. Bush subsequent to the rise in fuel prices that made everything go up in price.
So, what does that mean today. Well it means that when you see a price on something like CCI, TMJ, 40 grain, .22WMR at only $15.50 per box of 50, here, you may think that the prices are getting back to normal. Why? Because weren't the prices at some other establishments just a whole lot higher than that, such as the .99 cent per round, or $49.95 per box of 50 price, offered here for very similar ammo, in the same caliber (only difference is essentially that one is HP and the other TMJ), made by the same manufacturer and for which there is usually a minimal price difference if any.
The truth is that while some ammo seems to be a bit more available, at somewhat lower prices than the ultra high price gouging highs that prices reached, current prices are nowhere near normal yet and some still remain super high priced (as can be seen in one of the examples above). When will they reach kind of, sort of, almost normal prices again? When the prices of ammo like that, in the same caliber and grain weight, made by the same manufacturer, reaches prices like the $9.87 per 50 rounds for hollow points, and $10.16 per box of 50 for solid points as it was offered here well after Bush had left the Oval office and Obama had been in office for awhile. They may reach true normal again six months to a year after the price of gasoline falls back to what it was before the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. For now though, if they go as low as the pre-Obama prices, I will be more than satisfied and I will keep buying as much as I can, of calibers I can use, at even higher prices than that so long as the prices are not in the stratosphere.
Let me say, I have to qualify the above because I have seen the price of one particular type and brand of ammo go back to normal on one website if only fir a very brief time. Yesterday, Cabela's had a 500 round bricks of Remington .22LR for about only .04 cents per round plus shipping. That low of a price on .22LR has been unheard of as of late! They only allowed 1 brick per customer so I was not all that unhappy when I was to late to find any remaining in-stock.
All the best,
Glenn B
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