Personally I am all about shopped out. In the last two months I exceed my annual gun budget (which I admit is small). Short of the return of the Walmart Colts I see no reason to buy anything.
I am noticing that the selection on my local area Armslist ads are less than the past two weeks. I just think it is mainly because of the supply is drying up. There were a lot that bought them in a rush to sell them for profit. I think that the most have sold what they have. I am seeing more and more M&P15-22's and other proprietary .22's at much higher prices (not sure if they are selling or not). I also am seeing more ads where people are trying to get firearms under less than scrupulous terms. I see ads where people are wanting to buy SBR's and other NFA firearms "without the red tape". I urge everyone to flag any like this you see... This is bad publicity just waiting to happen. Keep your eyes out and be smart and legal if you buy or sell anything. I fear there are "golden apples" out there, just to make gun owners look bad. Especially watch out for listings of "Assault Rifles for sale".... lol.
I bought my last semi-auto for a long time. I've got my eye on a couple of those Smith & Wesson 8-shot .357's. Maybe they will come out with a 10-shot.?
The shelves around here are getting hit hard. Permits to buy hand guns have seen an all time high. My bother went to a carry course that was over booked. The same course I took in june that was canceled the month before because only 2 people signed up.
Dang it, Bad Timing For Previously Planned Gun Shopping
Here I am in Afghanistan, I have been researching specifics for a couple of months now because I wanted to nail down exactly what I wanted to buy. The last time I was home I wanted to go gun shopping with my buddy, I had been drooling over an AR - 15 for a few days and decided not to pull the trigger on buying it. I have wanted one for quite some time and now I am able to afford to purchase that and some other desired firearms. I figured I would wait until I got my annual Bonus and shored up my emergency / savings accounts a little more before I did my shopping.
So here I am ready to buy. Knowing exactly what I want and how much I want to pay for the items. Just waiting to get home to go shopping and have fun on the range.
Then on December 14th Adam Lanza decides it would be a good idea to steal his mothers firearms and ammo and well we know the story. All I know is that my heart breaks for the families. I have a 6 year old daughter.
The media and our prominent elected officials among others decide to make Gun control a priority and the prominent issue thus prompting a panic of gun and ammo buying.
I'll still go shopping when I get home next month and see whats out there but I aint payin 2500 bucks for an AR-15 I'll pay at most $1,200.
Hopefully I'll find a little Remington 597 and a Smith and Wesson M&P .22. You know it is bad when you can't even get a Ruger 10/22 and Remington 597s are scarce Not to mention .22 lr ammo.
I have had trouble the past several years finding .45 ACP ammo and bought a couple of boxes whenever I have seen it available at a reasonable price. Hopefully I'll be able to get some range time in if I can find ammo and the weapons that I want to purchase. We will see.
I feel pretty confident that Ill be able to find something. What have you all seen at the local gun shops lately?
What is on the shelf is interesting. Ammo for my 307 Win, 358 Win, 35 Whelen, 22 Hornet, etc.... is easier to buy than ammo for my "mainstream" calibers..... The old Yogism "Nobody goes there any more, it's too crowded" will apply to my next gun purchase....
Both Wal-marts I go to are out of .40. One walmart had a single box of .40 for $15. Called my Local pawn shop and asked them about their 3 used Ar's, one was Colt, another was Rock River, and the 3rd was Kaiser. He said all three were stock and were priced to sell at $3,000 a piece.
One of the local gun shops was cleaned out of long guns and only a small selection of handguns. They had about a dozen AR 15's though, but they were locked up with SOLD signs on them. I found two Magpul P mags with a price of about 60 dollars each. I quickly put them down. Things are still pretty busy in my area.
I found a small LGS today and picked up 2 20 rd mini 30 mags $39 ea. and 2 30 rd Pmags $27 ea. I will keep the mini mags and sell or trade the Pmags.
A local talk radio show here reported the top states in gun sales since the SH incident... Alabama was on top with the most background cks since then, and CCW permits were going at a all time high. Here they are $7.50 a year and NO REASON for anyone here not to have one.
Our LGS is selling AR-15 magazines that look like they were thrown in the trash after Vietnam then pulled out of the dump years later. Now selling for $28/ea.
I can't hardly find a box of 9mm or .38 SPL (Since this is what I shoot 90% of the time). And what I can find is usually anywhere from $1 to $8 more than it should be. If it's ljust a couple bucks more, I'll usually pick up a box or two, but more than that, it's not worth it. The frenzy will end soon, and ammo prices will normalize again in a couple months. Glad I stocked up on 9mm a couple months ago. I'm down to 300 rounds of .38 SPL, so time to slow down until the panic dies down I think.