Ammo at inflated prices. Are you buying it?

I would hate to see it happen but probably the quickest way to resolve the situation is for the manufacturers to jack their prices up significantly. Temporarily of course. This could help them expand their operations so they can produce more ammo and make it less profitable for opportunists. Perhaps give the opportunists some reflection on what their actions have caused.

I would rather see the manufacturers benefit more than anyone else as they are going to need the money to expand considering the banks are giving ammo and gun companies a hard on loaning them money thanks to political leveraging.
 
I'm quite sure these 'inflated prices' will become the new normal prices... (i'm not speaking about the flipping prices) Seriously when have you ever seen retail ammo go DOWN in price?

Walmart's in my area have raised most of what I buy from them up an average of three dollars a box. I've NEVER seen their ammo go back down once it goes up not even on sale... Exception is the large shotgun boxes, but I mean handgun & rifle rounds.

Much like gas prices once they realize people WILL pay for something at a higher price why not charge the higher price?

The sucky part is Group A IMO about it is the 90% of gun owners who are establishing this precedent are those who probably won't go thru the ammo they purchased in panic for YEARS... They are the ones that have guns but never any bullets until the day comes they want to go to the range. :confused: I've never understood that who has a gun but no ammo? This statement isn't intended as a slight but multiple people I know have done this. I don't understand it they were fine last month having zero bullets now all of a sudden they want pallets of the stuff?! Way to plan ahead.

We shooters Group B the ones that put a LOT of rounds downrange, most likely have a stash that we build up over time so we are good and don't need ammo as often. But in the end the price increase done by group A won't really effect them very much because whats 3 dollars more on your yearly range trip? Now three dollars a box per the thousands of rounds Group B uses on average that tends to add up very quickly...

But hey I've been wrong before. We can see how this plays out.
 
I'm a college student who just got into firearms about a year or two ago. I didn't buy much ammo because funds are always tight and I buy when I can. Now I'm just not shooting. Can't find ammo and if I can it's too expensive.

And now Homeland Security is placing an order for 1.6 billion rounds :confused:
Hopefully this doesn't further affect the situation.
 
I'm quite sure these 'inflated prices' will become the new normal prices...
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I was living in (The People's Republic of) California during the housing boom. People were saying the exact same thing then. They were wrong. Prices came down with a vengence when supply met demand.

Ammo manufacturers are working to replenish the supply but it's going to be awhile. Within minutes of my house we have a Bass Pro, an Academy and 5 Superwalmarts. At every single store they have people waiting in line when they open in order to buy as much ammo as possible.

Guaranteed these people are hawking their wares on Gunbroker. There's plenty of stuff available there. It's almost comical. Check it out.

Prices will come down when supply meets demand. Now, if something happened and manufacturers were no longer manufacturing ammo, that would be different.

Here's a note from Hornady.

http://www.hornady.com/support/availability

The current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours. Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites – all fueled by rumors and conjecture – have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items.

If the information you hear doesn’t originate from Hornady Manufacturing, don’t believe it.

Here are some of rumors we’ve heard, and questions we’ve received:

•Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?
◦Not at all.

•Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?
◦Absolutely not.

•Since we can’t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.
◦Nope, less than 5% of our sales are to government entities.

•Why can’t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?
◦We’ve been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We’ve added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day. Several hundred Hornady employees work overtime every week to produce as much as safely possible. If there is any question about that – please take a tour of the factory. You’ll be amazed at what you see.
We are producing as much as we can; much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do.

We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience. We don’t know when the situation will improve, so please bear with us a little longer. And remember, when it comes to Hornady Manufacturing, if you don’t hear it from us, please don’t believe it.
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I was living in (The People's Republic of) California during the housing boom
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I dunno if housing boom could really be comparable. You don't need to pay upkeep on your ammo its just a one payment purchase and it can sit for DECADES and be fine...

Just like gas prices creep up I feel ammo will follow suit. its usually a dollar at a time. Now even if the manufacturers might only adjust the price on the chance that cost of materials increase. We still deal with the distributors and then retailers... each one knows they can take a slightly larger cut because people are paying for it now... why not keep it higher? If the ammo at walmart (cheapest retail example) dropped back down three dollars I would be very surprised and impressed.
 
I dunno if housing boom could really be comparable.
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Yes, it's comparable. It's all about economics. If the supply meets the demand, prices will fall, assuming nothing has happened to manufacturing capability. I know we get tired of hearing about it, but it's all about basic economics, and nothing has happened to manufacturing. That's the point. Manufacturers are ramping up production and at some point, supply will catch up to demand.

Just like gas prices creep up
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Again, it's basic economics. Gasoline isn't comparable because we have severely limited production of our resources due to [the current political state]. If they would allow us to harvest available resources, you'd easily see prices fall.
 
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The natural gas market is another example (but surplus supply this time). Prices have fallen dramatically because demand growth has not followed pace with substantial supply growth.

And remember demand won't stay at elevated levels forever. There's only such much national "budget" that can be earmarked for bullets. Current budget level expenditures are not sustainable. Sooner or later other pressures will come into play (aka collevtively the wives found out "you spent how much?") and demand will fall.

I wish I had a history of GB pricing for a type of .22 in the last six months. Thats the effective market price currently and it would be interesting to see the price trends. If those prices stabilize for a couple of weeks then we're at the high point, and it will start to fall. Indeed with any bubble, it may fall quite quickly.

INdeed. just flipped over and I am looking at two federal bricks about to sell for $75. I will wait and see what it closes for. But if they are that price at final then the "market price" may have already started falling as I was looking at $100 last week.

EDIT: yep small runs are in the $75 range. Looks like larger purchases are in the $80's - $90s. Ticked now - I see now where all the federal and remington has gone to.
 
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Ammo prices around here don't seem to be inflated much....if they have it. Last week I bought 3 boxes 50 ct. of Speer 9mm 124 gr @ $14.95 ea. That's the only 9mm they had except HydraShoks. They had no .380. Dicks had 380 @ $18.95 Rem UMC and WWB 100ct for $34.95?. No .22. My LGS has an ample supply of 9mm factory reloads @ $10/ box 50 ct. so I picked up a few boxes of that. He has no other 9mm except Hornady HP and no 380, and no .22. The other Dick's farther away, but I was going by last week, had no 9mm, no .380 and no .22.
 
Reload!

If you are a shooter you need to start reloading. It isn't hard, is enjoyable, and will save you a lot of money. Components are hard to come by right now so keep it in mind for the future. Example: I cast my own bullets for .45 ACP and can reload with them for about $3.00 or so for 50. You can reload 5.56 for 1/4 the cost of new ammo. As for .22 LR, I didn't see a shortage coming, it was a bit of a surprise. But, I keep about 8K on hand so I have plenty to shoot and help out a friend in need.

Lock and Load! :D
 
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I am considering sending an email to the manufacturers to ask them to raise prices. Why should the middle man get all the profit?

Also if they raise the price for the civilian market I see no reason why should not raise it for the government market as well.

While almost everyone suffers out here due to opportunism, the federal government could care less because ammo has not gotten any more expensive for them.
 
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I budget for and buy ammo on a regular basis. I have a decent supply and will not pay extreme prices. Most local stores have little ammo, and are limiting the number of boxes you can purchase. Haven't seen much price gouging, slight increases or none at all.
My Black Powder shooting usually is 50-60% of my shooting, now its probably 75%. Gotta save the ammo I have until its available again.
 
If the supply meets the demand, prices will fall, assuming nothing has happened to manufacturing capability.
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If the supply EXCEEDS demand, then prices fall. Prices are stable or rising slightly with inflation (etc.) if "supply meets demand".

It is likely to be awhile (months > at least) before the ammunition supply meets demand.
 
If everybody who wants ammo is able to buy ammo, prices will fall. If supply meets demands. If supply exceeds demand, prices will fall farther and faster.
 
Again, it's basic economics. Gasoline isn't comparable because we have severely limited production of our resources due to [the current political state]. If they would allow us to harvest available resources, you'd easily see prices fall
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You realize that pretty much describes the current situation perfectly? Ammo makers CAN'T keep up with this sort of consumption they aren't tooled for it. (severely limited production of our resources due to [the current political state]) as you put it. They've never had demand to this degree and for them to meet it in a rapid fashion they would need to expand factories, find more raw materials and do this all quickly. (allow us to harvest available resources)

Luckily ammo isn't a commodity completely like gas and will in the long term ammo demand will slow and curb the amount of inflation, but the inflation brought on due to the massive demand will remain.

Nothing is basic in economics when human beings are involved.
 
Indeed time will tell. Lets see what things are six months from now.

For my own curiosity I've set up an excel sheet and will weekly track Federal .22 boxes on gunbroker. This could be fun. Maybe I missed my calling as a commodities trader.
 
Nah, because you could then use your "stocks" for a lot of fun in .22. I thought it would be a little weird of me to buy 1,000 rounds of .22, when I didn't have one yet... Turns out I was wrong...
 
Indeed time will tell. Lets see what things are six months from now.

For my own curiosity I've set up an excel sheet and will weekly track Federal .22 boxes on gunbroker. This could be fun. Maybe I missed my calling as a commodities trader.
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This is my argument for the manufacturers to drive the prices up. It may be the only way to break the cycle caused by price gougers.

I think most of them if they would get their eyes off the end of their noses and look ahead they are going to make it lot harder on themselves in the long run.

It would be interesting for someone to take the time to stalk a local Walmart. Not to buy ammo but to observe and take notes on who makes the biggest purchases. Maybe even peek into the stock room and make sure the ammo makes it off the truck in the pallets and that the pallets make it to the shelves.

If I ever come across any aquaintances bragging about flipping ammo, I may give them a piece of my mind.

As I said I don't care what they are doing in the short term. It is the damage they are doing in the long term.
 
You're wrong, but you're entitled to your opinion.

I'm entitled to my opinion, and you think I'm wrong.

Time will tell.
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It's ok, I was just offering my opinions, I didn't mean to offend I was enjoying the debate. ;) Hopefully you are right and my ammo will plummet back to reasonable prices.
 
You didn't offend anyone. I merely pointed out that we have different opinions.

Everyone here is allowed an opinion. It's called dialogue. We're allowed to engage in dialogue unless the discussion turns to politics. Then we're only allowed monologue.
 
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