^^^^ True, that's part of the equation.

quote:

Originally posted by jcsabolt2:
Firearms that are still in the NORMAL range are the high end pistols, AR's and shotguns...think most guns exceeding $1K. A Daniel Defense AR can still be had $1,700, same price as pre-panic.

This is what I notice as well. I was in a normally well stocked shop recently, and about the only rifle they had was a SCAR 17. I LOL’d.

Around here, at least at the two local shops I frequent, availability is more of an issue than price. Months ago, the smaller shop would normally have about 70 different pistol models in stock. Last time I went, there were about 30, and many of them were lesser known brands like Canik. As far as new gun prices go, they've only risen a little due to the rise in wholesale prices. What has risen a lot are the asking prices for used guns being sold on consignment. Some of these people are nuts.

Around my area, some stores have raised the prices "a bit" shall we say, and others have not. It does make's it easy to decide which shop gets my $$$$.

My local shops haven't shown much markup in prices, just lack of availability. The local prices are certainly much less than what is being peddled in the secondary market such as on GB and many of the forum marketplaces I frequent.

Personally our prices have gone up a little because our costs have gone up some. I don’t blame any shops for selling things at MSRP. Just because we had a couple great years of rock bottom prices doesn’t mean MSRP is a terrible price.

I also don’t hate on Gunbroker prices because many of them are auctions and if people want to pay 2 times msrp for a gun then the market has spoken and says that gun is worth 2x msrp right now. Do I agree it’s worth 2x msrp? No, but I also don’t think new trucks should cost $80k+ When you can buy a nice new car for 20-30k.

I don’t participate in the price gouging because I have very little overhead, but I understand it. If someone needs $10000 a month in profit and used to make $50 a gun they could sell 200 guns and make it. If now you are only able to get 100 guns you have to sell them for $100 profit each because your $10000 a month bills haven’t changed.

And Ammo.... I haven’t seen a decent amount of ammo in a while, but I understand why places charge an arm and a leg for it. If Ammo is selling for $30 a box and you sell it for 15 it’s just inviting all the loser scalpers to come buy your $15 Ammo and sell it for 30... why not let the business make the money?

If I could get ammo I would either sell it at a decent price to well known customers that I know just want some ammo to go shoot.... or I’d sell it to randoms at $30 a box because if someone is going to make the profit on it it’s going to be me and not some random scalper

I get people all the time that say a shield at palmetto was $250 a year ago.. well they were... but that’s when smith would run buy X amount get one free deals so you could average them out and get them cheaper.. now shields are probably more like 350-400 because that’s the normal price of a shield without some sale. A couple years ago Tesla stock was $50 a share, but it’s not now. I would much rather have Bitcoin at $300 rather than $32,000... but we can’t always get yesterday’s prices on stuff.

Was at my LGS yesterday, checking to see if they had anything interesting in a .22 cal. semi-auto. Nope. Asked "What are those?" of a couple 1911s in the counter display case. "Rock Island," he replied. "One a 9mm, the other .45 ACP." I allowed as how a 9mm 1911 was on my list of pistols to get, someday. "I have something in the safe I think you'll like," he replied, and fetched it out.

It was a Kimber, and it was nice. Slide like it was on bearings. Trigger very nice. "How much?" I asked. $900. "Well outside my impulse buy budget," I thought, and replied "It's nice. I'll have to think about it."

I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure it was a Kimber Stainless LW. Had a stainless slide and aluminum frame. Wasn't two-tone. That's the only Kimber I can find like that.

MSRP on Kimber's site is $761. I might have walked out the door with it for that. On-line price check suggests street price is as much as $100 under that. I definitely would've been out the door with it for under $700.

When he was showing it to me he allowed as how he brought it out because he knew I was an impulse buyer. He's right: I am, sometimes. But not at a 20-30% markup

I’m beginning to see prices come back down to more normal levels, and I think it’s directly related to the lack of ammunition. All these new gun buyers are getting discouraged at the prospect of buying an expensive paperweight and are not buying them now like they were in the spring and summer of last year.

More availability and even reasonable prices the past couple of weeks. Glock 19's for $539.99, G43x's for $439.99, and I saw a Sig P365 Tac Pac (pistol, three 12 round mags, and a holster) yesterday for $539.99.

Jebus, now I have that damn Kimber on my mind

In mid January, out of boredom, I checked a central Ohio gun dealer's website for 9mm and 10mm 1911's. They had Springfield Ronin full size 9mm pistols for $750 ($100 under msrp) at 2 of their 4 locations, very surprising to me. A 9mm 1911 has been on my list for some time but had no expectation I'd find one until a couple years in the future. I made the trip and had my first gun store experience in over a year. Waited over an hour in a line outside and spent another 45 minutes buying the handgun. I thought it was pretty lucky find, but likely a market anomaly. Otherwise, what little exposure I have suggests gun prices seem to be up and availability down.

For our shop inventory has started to return. Aside from Glocks, HKs and Rugers, the rest of our regular brands are well represented. Glock and Ruger are distributor-only brands as I've whined about in the past, so the bottleneck there is with the distributors. HK is...well, they're HK. They'll ship us a SP5K every so often, but a VP9SK...in my dreams.

As for pricing: we've been more or less "normal" throughout Rona, but even we are finding it hard to leave money on the proverbial table now that sales volumes are slowing (due to the lack of ammo no doubt) and our outstanding orders that are still to come, at least with some stupid crazy high demand firearms (i.e., the aforementioned SP5K, for instance). We've been contemplating the cancelling of certain orders as a result of the relatively pronounced slowdown in sales over the past couple of months, but with the spectre of what the White House and Congress might do, it's a bloody tough call.

My local dealer who is awesome has plenty of inventory and good prices. I could have bought a 19x or 365xl for under $600 all day.

My preferred local shop has higher prices than I’ve ever seen. They’re trying to slow the inventory as restocking has been sporadic at best. They are more than happy doing transfer business all day long. They are surprised at the number of guns they are selling at the current prices. They’re still giving me pre-shortage prices but haven’t been able to get things I’m looking for. When their shelves went bare I brought in some consignment guns to help have inventory. This is the first time in 30 years of gun buying that I’ve had money set aside and can not find anything to buy at prices I’m willing to pay.

My LGS pricing is about 10% higher than the norm these days. Online prices are insane. I won’t even consider GB given the newbies have no idea what $ are reasonable and scams are still ongoing. I almost choked when someone on SF posted a non-fired, circa 2001 German P225 for $1700. That’s double what I paid 2 years ago for the same and won’t buy into such gouging. Better to simply wait out the foolishness if there’s a gap to be filled in one’s firearm lineup.

This sums up my thoughts nicely.


https://youtu.be/zqHZWdFVyyQ

Things are nuts around here too. My LGS is holding the line ok on consignment guns. Saw a Smith 5906 the other day for $450 and a Beretta INOX for $750. Had a Sig Legion for $900 bit the finish was rough. Little high but not bad for used. He doesn’t have hardly any new guns in stock at all other than blue label Glocks.

I’m just searching for a Ruger MC GP100 in 10mm. Started to buy myself one last March for my birthday from CDNN for $599 but held off after all the COVID crap hit. Now the cheapest on GB is $1200. And I can’t find one locally for a decent price. Buddy of mine who’s a dealer checked and he’s looking if he orders for me at possibly a year or more before it comes in. Things be crazy...!!!

Pistols and any shotgun or rifle of a "tactical" nature are a good deal higher than they were before the virus days. Its not uncommon to see a basic gen 5 G19 going for $650 or more. I've seen prices increase this week, its nuts.

I'm still watching and seeing prices come down a bit. Inquired of one USP pistol but got no response. Assume it is sold but still listed. When time allows I will check in at some of the local shops. I viewed one on line seller who must have a tractor/trailer full of ammo for sale. At this time he is still high. I would hate to think how much he may lose if ammo supplies come back up. I've never seen one seller have so many cases for sale. Like he bet the farm.

I moved to Utah in summer of 2019 but I hadn't been in any local gun shops until today. Was killing time waiting for after-school activities to finish and stepped into a small shop around the corner. They had 3 pistols and a small rack of used bolt action beat up rifles. They wanted $680 for a plain P365. I asked if they carry reloading components under normal circumstances. The owner replied that they do, but not to expect full inventory for 5 years. That seems like kind of a stretch, but I did once wait 888 for a backordered 8 lb jug of Win 231 back in 2008. Disappointed to say the least.