...or reloading components now at the current inflated prices and if not - why not?
I will admit, I have been making purchases at the exorbitant costs that face us now in the ammo market. When I can get ammunition at Academy Sports or at Walmart, I've been buying it there for the simple reason that their prices have been the lowest I have found anywhere on the ammo that I've bought over at least the last three months, if not longer. Academy Sports has a much larger selection than Walmart - my purchases at Walmart within the past few moths have amounted to several of 100 round range packs of 12 gauge, some bricks of 22 LR and maybe a box or three of 308. The thing is, I've not only been buying ammo at those two stores; and when I buy it elsewhere, it almost always is at a price so high that I would never have expected to pay that much for it within my lifetime, maybe even within two lifetimes should I be so lucky (and having beaten stage 4 throat cancer I guess I am that lucky).
Now, you may wonder why I am buying ammo at the current super high prices when I just said Academy Sports and Walmart sell it for less than just about anywhere else - much less and Academy Sports sells a large variety of what I want and need. Well, the truth is that Academy Sports, like anywhere else nowadays, does not get any specific type of ammunition in on a regular basis. They get some of this and some of that on one day, then something totally useless to me maybe two or three days later, then no ammo at all for a day or tree (talking weekdays as they usually do not receive new stock on weekends , at least by me). So, when I see something I think I should buy, I will sometimes buy it from an online dealer or sometimes even in an auction such as those at GunBroker.com. I wind up paying truly ridiculous prices when i do that - well, at least they were ridiculous prices a year or so go. Currently they are pretty much the standard prices unless I am lucky enough to find that which I want at Academy Sports. Still though, you may be wondering why keep buying - why not wait until the prices go down!
The prices may indeed go down but right now I doubt it and I also doubt that they will go down within at least the better part of the next 2 to 4 years under the Biden (or is it the Harris) administration. Sure the Republicans could retake control of the Senate in 2023 but even if so, there are so many of them who lean left (just look at how many wanted to impeach President Trump) that winning the Senate by a few seats might not be enough to actually control it. The only direction in which I see ammo prices going is up, up, up and away! Let's face it folks - Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and most, if not all, of the Biden administration members are anti-gun and anti-rights (especially the RKBA) zealots. They control the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives - the whole ball of wax as they say. Biden has already announced his plans to outlaw AR-15s and similar firearms. Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, has been attempting to institute a mega-tax on ammunition and firearms for decades. So far, it's all been to no avail but that is very likely to change as the Democrats have all the marbles right now.
A few or so months ago, my son and I got a couple of tables at a local gun show - that was well before the election in November. Since the election was imminent and since much of everything President Trump had done for the economy has suffered due to the leftist governors in states like NY shutting down the economy in their respective ultra-liberal states, I guessed that it was quite possible that President Trump could lose the election. People told me I was nuts, that I was a fool and that only an idiot could think Biden might win. Regardless of all that, I posted signs on the fronts of our tables to the effect: 'Buy Ammo Now Because If Biden Wins Prices Will Go Sky High', 'If the Dems Win The Senate Ammo Prices Will Surge', If The Dems Control the WH, The Senate & The House of Representatives They Will Tax Ammo At A 35 to 50% Rate'. Those were not exactly what my signs said, sadly I deleted the files containing them but that gives you the gist of them. I had several signs posted and people at the show would stop, read them and then laugh at them and at me. Only some very few said they made sense. At the subsequent shows, where we had tables, I did likewise and changed signs each time to fit in with what was going on with the changing political scene prior to the elections. Same result at each show, most people who stopped to read them just laughed. At least one guy told me he was a democrat and was going to vote for Biden but he knew Biden did not stand a chance of winning.
When Biden seemingly won, before all the voter fraud and such claims had been squashed or should I say ignored, I made the same pitch but then almost exclusively with regard to the runoff in GA for the Senate seats. Again - folks laughed but it seemed a little less so than they had laughed before it was apparent Biden was in. Still, they all evidently thought there was no way that the conservative candidates (the two Republicans) could lose in Georgia. Still though, I was so determined to get my message across that people should buy ammo before it was too late that a couple or few of the signs even basically said - 'You Don't Need To Buy It From Me But Buy Ammo Now From Anyone Because If he Dems Win It Will Be Too Late'. I had another sign that essentially said: 'At Previous Shows You Laughed At My Signs When I Said Biden Might Win - Who Is Laughing Now'. Some folks seemed to get it, others did not and just complained the prices were too high. Granted, they were high but they have only gone up more since then. In fact, at a show after all the election results were in and the dems had won it all (whether legitimately or not) folks still did not get it.
What they did not get is that ammo prices are not going back to the so called normal prices any time soon, if ever again, but likely will just keep getting higher and higher. There is no shortage of ammo from what I can see. It is out there and keeps getting produced. The thing is it is purchased almost as soon as it becomes available in many cases despite those sky high prices. Most certainly, that is because some people are panicked but it also is because some people understand everything I just wrote; heck, maybe they are not panicked - maybe they are just smart.
Of course, it would have been smart to have been stocked up on ammo and other supplies & equipment before the COVID-19 pandemic made people buy everything from toilet paper to Lysol, to ammo like crazy. It would have been likewise to buy before the George Floyd killing and the resultant BLM & ANTIFA riots and insurrection (and it was and remains an insurrection without a doubt in my mind - just one that is pleasing to leftists as opposed to the riots at the Capitol on January 6 that scared the poop out of them and the RINOs). It also would have been wise to be stocked up on ammo before the elections in November but even if you had planned to do so, say six months in advance, it was already too late - the libs had decided months before to start buying what for years they tried to ban. The year 2020 was a record breaking year not just for firearms and toilet paper sales but for ammunition sales as well and the trend has not stopped. Prices keep getting worse and yet the buying frenzy is out of control. Soon, I expect 5.56 NATO will be selling for $1.50 to $2.00 per round (another sign of mine that was laughed at was that it would be going for a dollar a round - it's there right now).
So yes, I am buying ammo and all of that is why I am doing so. I had a good amount before all of this started. All along since the summer of 2019, I have been restocking ammo, ammo I had sold off before leaving NY when I moved to TX. Normally, I buy ammo as I can get it, pretty much regardless of the price. Of course, if I do not have the funds, I do not buy it but when I have the cash on hand I buy it as I can get it. Granted, lately, the amount of ammo I have been buying has slowed quite a bit but I still am making purchases because i think it prudent because of the current politically oppressive climate. Hell, they want to reprogram you if you supported President Trump.
My latest purchase was a bid of $705.00 plus $15 shipping on a case of 9mm FMJ of a brand I like - Sellier & Bellot. The same ammo was going for about $189.00 plus shipping a year or little longer ago. The thing is that the same ammo may be going for $1,500 or more by next year or sooner; that is my bet anyway if you will even be able to purcahse ammo legally by then. Of course, buying ammo now at these prices is a gamble but then that is just as not buying it is a also gamble. If the likes of Biden, Harris, Schumer, Pelosi, Romney and such have their way - you will either not be able to buy ammo at all or it will be taxed so high and restricted so much that you absolutely will not be able to afford even one round of it. Thus, I am still buying it now. I may lose a lot of money by purchasing it at these prices if the prices suddenly drop or I may wind up a very happy shootist in that I will have it if and when I need it.
The way things have been going in this country, I am pretty sure we will be needing it sooner than later - just saying that is the way I see things going - not condoning a shooting war but if someone starts shooting at me and mine I aim to defend us.
Glenn B
8 comments:
Can't really blame you for stocking up even at inflated prices. I haven't been buying ammo because I reload, but I did spend a lot on components when the prices started rising because of pretty much all the reasons that you gave. I lucked out a month or so ago and picked up 5000 small pistol primers and 9000 small rifle primers for $1000 total from a small shop that was liquidating their reloading supplies. That averaged out to $.07 each for the primers which is about 2X to 2.5X the normal price. Sounds like a lot, but now they are going for 10X. A few months before that I bought a few thousand large pistol primers at 1.5X normal. I have no regrets. I've also gotten tens of thousands of component bullets for .380, 9mm, .38/.357 and 10mm plus oodles of once fired brass. Even if prices come down in the near future, which I don't see happening, I needed somewhere to spend my social security money......
Got into the game late as in MA you can't buy until you have your LTC. So since then I've bought a lot but I've found private sales are cheaper than online. Though I did spend a fare amount at higher prices because I had none for my new shiny toy. Now I have what I consider a good supply for the next year and am just jumping on the best deals I can find sub $0.60/rd is a buy right now. And it can be found.
I think you might be right but I can only spend the cash I have. Now when that stimulus check comes in...
News from most of the manufacturers is that they are a year or more back ordered. Part of the problem was the Remington plant going offline. It should be back online this year, which will alleviate 'some' of the problems, but if you're not shooting a 'standard' round, good luck in the foreseeable future, as all of the production is going to be 'standard' calibers until the backlog is cleared. This is/will be a continuing problem for those 'odd' calibers.
If you're not selling into the hysteria, you've got it backwards. I don't want to call names but the terms "Victim" and "Loser" come to mind. Better examine your choices and change your ways if you want to survive.
A possible not so clever attempt by the IRS or ATF to try to get me to admit I am selling anything. If not that, then: As for the prepubescent disrespectful attitude you displayed in your first post here - bugger of pal.
The higher electric bills are coming, someone has to make money on all the carbon credit schemes.
Old NFO,
Odd or less popular calibers are evidently being produced. Why, I have no clue. I have seen some not so popular calibers for sale at Academy Sports such as 28 gauge shotgun shells; they have had them in abundance for months and just got more recently (over the past couple of days I think) even though it seems me and one guy I spoke to today seem to be the only people buying it. They have also had 10mm pistol ammo (not quite mainstream), 450 Bushmaster (not very popular as evidenced by the fact it stays on the shelves for days to weeks after they get a shipment and other ammo sells out in only hours or even sometimes minutes after the store opens). I also have seen a good deal of unpopular ammo on sale online. Target Sports USA has (as I type) these rifle calibers: 375 SOCOM, 416 Rigby, 458 HAM'R, 458 Lott, 500 Nitro Express, 6.5 Remingtom SAUM, 7.92X33MM Kurz Mauser, 7X74MM Brenneke, 7X65MM Rimmed. Not the most unpopular calibers but certainly not something you'd expect to see a good number of shooers shooting regularly at a local range. I mean when is the last time you went hunting for Cape Buffalo with 500 Nitro Express! Now granted, some of that probably has been in stock since last year but some they got just recently such as the 7X74MM Brenneke as I recall suddenly seeing it available maybe a week or two ago. I think the 500 Nitro Express is a recent addition as well.
I would have thought, like you, that only very popular calibers would be produced right now. That seemed true when the bird hunting seasons were open here in TX. There was an abundance of shotgun ammo then. They had it in 12, 20, 28 gauge and 410 bore in shot sizes from from #4 shot up through #9 shot but now its very difficult to find anything but the occasional 12 gauge 7 1/2 shot trap ammo and some leftover 3 1/2" shells. Well that is except for 28 gauge. I figured once the manufacturers dropped back in production of shotgun ammo, we'd see an increase in calibers like 9mm and 5.56 but that seems not to be the case. I imagine with all the increased buying, components may be in short supply.
As far as it being a year before things kind of get back to normal, I think that is not going to happen under a Joe Biden administration if ever again. As I recall, the article I read (authored by some ammo company reps or at least based on info they gave out) said that it might go back to normal within a year if President Trump was reelected and if the panic buying slowed down. They did not expect it to do so should there be a democrat landslide with the demons of democracy taking control of all three houses.
I see it getting much worse before it gets better. That is why, just within the past week or two, I have spent as much or more (and more is more likely) than I'd probably have spent in 6 months on guns and ammo in normal times. I may be a pessimist but if my prediction comes true, at least I will not wind up being a very disappointed optimist when the demonkrats place a 50% tax on ammunition and/or when they outright outlaw certain calibers or type of ammo. If I wind up being wrong, then I'll be happy that the bad things did not come to pass and I'll be out some cash but that is the gamble I am willing to take. Now that they control everything, I cannot see them not doing so with ammo taxes especially since they have the unwavering support of scum sucking RINOs like Mitt Romney to name just one of them.
Buy while you can get it so long as you can scrape up enough to make the purchases is my philosophy on this subject.
All the best,
GB
I have a 4 or 5 year supply of all components except projectiles and a 2 or 3 year supply of loaded ammo. I can make bullets as I do it a couple of times a year. I can make gas checks out of spent 22LR cases. I will wait out the craziness of the current market.
I have a a few 1 lb powder jars of spent primers. With phosphorus sesquisulfide, antimony trisulfide, potassium chlorate, sulfur, and potassium chlorate I can re-build spent primers. It is simple chemistry. My re-man primers are equivalent to rifle/magnum primers. The Powder is a different story. I can make black powder but it shoots dirty and very smoky. Fine for one shot but The air needs to clear after three quick shots. I do not have the expertise for the smokeless nitro-cellulose as I understand the theory behind the manufacture but not the garage lab method for producing it.
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