Found a place selling 10mm for less than 60¢ a round. Only bought one case.

I was extremely lucky. A week or two before Covid hit I did an inventory and ordered more ammo than I ever have before at one time.

I seriously went way overboard, but we are set and I don't have to even glance at today's prices.

I'm more sick of the lack of availability than I am the high prices. I understand that as demand goes up and supply goes down, pricing will increase. I can live with that. I also knew this could happen again, so I bought everything that my budget would allow back when you could actually find stuff. Unfortunately I don't see an end in sight to the current situation...and what I had isn't going to last forever. Even though I'm stocked pretty well on loaded ammo, I'm kind of afraid to shoot it up because I don't have anymore components to replace it when it's gone....I used most of what I had up over the past 8 months. If I could find primers, even at somewhat inflated prices, I'd feel better knowing that if I curb my shooting somewhat and replace what I go through, even at an elevated price, I can still buy stuff to keep the stockpile at a comfortable level and hopefully stay within my budget. But thats not an option today because primers are nowhere to be found.

I don't understand why the ammo manufacturers aren't expanding production to meet the demand right now. I get that it costs money to hire people and purchase space and tooling, and I understand that there's a bit of risk involved in that investment in a fluctuating market, but the current sitation has been ongoing for almost a year now, and this is probably the 4th or 5th time in the past decade that this has happened. I'd say it's a pretty safe bet they recoup their costs and then some...even if they eventually have to mothball some of the gear between the end of this and the next panic. They can sell everything they ship right now, and pretty much name their price. Instead, by not stepping up to meet the demand, they are costing themselves profit and failing their customers at the same time. I wish I had the capital to start a primer manufacturing business right now...I'd be running 3 shifts and making money hand over fist.

92 - Only speculating with my comment but I wonder if ammo suppliers are having problems getting the primers they need, even the ammo companies that make their own primers, to increase their output over a specific level...Just thinking that they maybe able to ramp up to a certain point but beyond that the supply line becomes limited....Just my thoughts.

Thanks for the articles...that explains some of it. And I imagine the Freedom Group/Remington fiasco definitely complicated things. It still doesn't explain why the market (either existing companies or new startups) isn't responding to meet the enormous surge in demand, though. That's money being left on the table. I could see over the short term...but this has stretched out to almost a year...with no end in sight.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
Thanks for the articles...that explains some of it. And I imagine the Freedom Group/Remington fiasco definitely complicated things. It still doesn't explain why the market (either existing companies or new startups) isn't responding to meet the enormous surge in demand, though. That's money being left on the table. I could see over the short term...but this has stretched out to almost a year...with no end in sight.

There is one hope I have in all this mess: someone will at least start to fill in the supply chain where it is most needed. I see this as a true test of market economics if there ever was one.

Far from being the brightest bulb or Scroogest of ducks myself, I have to believe more capable people have figured this out and are working on it.

Again pray for the orange man folks. Otherwise ammo prices will continue to rise and internet sales banned. These are dark times for gun owners friends.

FYI, lots of 9mm at Cabelas today, mostly FMJ Winchester.

The price was near $15 for 50. I didn’t buy any. They did have a few different size boxes, with purchase limits. Most of the shoppers were buying some.

The sky is falling the sky is falling.... wait... You say this has happened before? Just in recent memory? During the Klinton years or even the Obammy years? Who'd a thunk it? Just who do you think caused these shortages? I know, its the anti gunners stocking up to get us to stop shooting. Must be them, they've got tons of money to throw at the problem. Its a conspiracy I tell you.

I am buying 2-3 boxes at 15 a box. I dont need it but who knows how long the shortages will last

My God. I am so glad that I reload. The day I pay $30 for a box of Bosnian made 9mm fmjs, Bloody hell.

rburg - you might be onto something there.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
I know, its the anti gunners stocking up to get us to stop shooting. Must be them, they've got tons of money to throw at the problem. Its a conspiracy I tell you.

Yep.

The Amish won't be the root cause of gasoline shortages.
Teetotalers won't cause a shortage of alcohol.
Eskimos won't hoard air conditioners.

Gun owners are the people who are buying ammo, ammo components, gun parts, and gun accessories.

I actually did ok a few days ago after realizing I didn't have very much 9mm jhp ammo. I was able to find some jhp 9mm ammo from Sportsman's Guide for only $23.99 a box of 20 rounds from Norma-for member pricing,( I bought a membership a little while back as for the price of the membership it covered the cost of the shipping and lowered my items costs a good deal at the time). Anyway, I thought about getting more today to find the exact same ammo is now 33.99 for members and $39.99 for non-members. I can see prices only going higher and higher unfortunately.

I was looking for a box of .22 short the other day. I.e. 50 rounds. Prices started at about 9 bucks.

Decided I didn't need them, even if the seller had any in stock. They did not.

Elk,

If you still need .22 short, let me know. I have some I have had for years.

Email in my profile.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:
I was looking for a box of .22 short the other day. I.e. 50 rounds. Prices started at about 9 bucks.

Decided I didn't need them, even if the seller had any in stock. They did not.

I haven't shot much .22 in the past couple of years, so I'll admit to letting my stockpile dwindle below where it should have been...I only had about 2,000 rounds at the beginning of the covidiocy. However, I recently acquired a couple of .22s that I'd been hunting for over the past few years, so my .22LR ammo consumption has gone up quite a bit in recent months.

The other day I found some Winchester M22 bulk packs in a store. The pricing was outrageous...$53/box, limit 1, but I had no idea when I might see any again, so I went ahead and bought one. Got home and put it in my ammo can next to one of the other 500 round bulk-pack boxes of M22 that I already had. Design on the box, and the proportions of the box were identical...but this new one was somehow....smaller. I looked closer and realized that in small letters, hidden on the side, the new box says "400 Rounds", not 500. Unethical jerks at Winchester shrunk the box while keeping everything else the same. So yeah...I spent over $0.13/round for a box of .22LR. At least I found some, and I'll have something to shoot with my kids for a while. But the folks in the Winchester marketing department can go eat a bag of dicks. When stuff gets back to normal, I'm only buying Federal and CCI.

The Walmarts around me get 22lr in bricks from time to time at pre crazy 2020 prices. If I'm there I look.

Holy Shit--22 LR is going for 25 cents/round. My son's friend needs 22 for rodent control. I grabbed a box of Federal 525 22 LR to give to him. For laughs I googled the current price--$149.
I told my son pre pandemic that ammo was going to be the new currency-now he believes.