The "Where is everything?" thread -- guns, ammo, primers, powder, etc.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Pensacola FL: AR-15 or M-4 in .223 (today) listed at $1,000. Jay's Guns, on Navy Blvd. just east of the 'hump' bridge.
He might also have had an AR in .308.
:)HILLBILLY06-Some 550 rd. boxes of .22LR for $150 were there today.

Unless the condition was worn, an AR in .223 listed at That price in a pawn shop tells us that demand is going down.

West Point MS: AK-74 folding metal 'stock' (yesterday) at approx. $800. In the pawn shop on Hwy. 45, south edge of town.
There were a few rifles in the AR pattern, but whether any were in .223, I did not check, as ARs don't really interest me. Vic Morrow never carried one in "Combat" when I was seven.
 
Last edited:
ammo stock

The one thing that has me at a loss is why many of the retailers(Dunhams, Walmart, Dick's) in my area of PA are not getting regular deliveries of ammo as they have in past years. What is the cause of the irregular or stoppage of regular ammo deliveries? I am just asking for any and all insight! Yes, I know ammo is in high demand such as 9mm and .22lr BUT why little or no resupply?:confused:
 
The one thing that has me at a loss is why many of the retailers(Dunhams, Walmart, Dick's) in my area of PA are not getting regular deliveries of ammo as they have in past years. What is the cause of the irregular or stoppage of regular ammo deliveries?
Click to expand...
There are 3 major factors at play with big-box sporting goods discounters:
  • These stores typically purchase large lots of goods at a low fixed price and make money on volume rather than on markup.
  • They don't stockpile large inventories in warehouses; they expect to buy from a supplier, promptly ship the goods to a store, put them on a shelf, and sell them quickly.
  • The corporate bosses are usually sensitive about maintaining a consumer perception that their chain offers a low, or at least competitive, price. To that end, prices and inventories are controlled by the bosses at HQ, and individual store managers generally have little or no influence over what they get and how much they can charge.
This business model works great when you can get large quantities of goods from a supplier very quickly, but it puts them at a disadvantage to smaller retailers during an acute shortage that is driving up prices- a rarity in the Western world today. Smaller retailers have more flexibility to raise and lower prices to match demand, to stockpile high-demand goods, and to accommodate rapidly rising wholesale prices by raising retail prices accordingly. This gives suppliers an incentive to sell to small retailers during a shortage, as the small retailers are more likely to acquiesce to the higher prices.
 
Last edited:
Are you shooting less as a result of the tight supply chain?

How has the scarcity of components like primers and smokeless powder impacted your shooting habits?

Are you shooting less now than say last year at this time?

When do you expect the supply chain to free up?
 
Shooting about the same amount, but I'm more aware of the cost of my fun and training.

Loaded ammo should loosen up in 6 months, but would guess we are 9 to 18 months out on seeing components in stock.
 
Yes. Definitely.

I suspect that ammo may come back soon, but I don't expect prices to drop much from their present levels for quite a long while. And I suspect that supplies wont be as abundant as pre-panic levels as we have been joined by many many new shooters as a result of the Newtown tragedy who all need ammo like the rest of us.
 
IMHO, things will never return entirely to Pre-Panic Prices. However, one or more of several things will happen:
1) Buyers will run out of disposable income.
2) Buyers will discover that they're sitting on a metric ton of ammunition that they need less than they need the for which it could be sold (even if they take a loss).
3) Buyers will discover that they need cash more than they need those new guns that they bought but never shot.
4) New ammunition suppliers will enter the market to meet demand.
 
Last edited:
April Houston gun show 22LR prices...

Pictures from April 6, 7th Pasadena gun show(south Houston metro).

Price of 22LR brick/ammo is getting to be like that of typical 401k/403b investments! Typical 401k/403b cost 5-10X the cost of TSP(Thrift Savings Plan), if you include both explicit and implicit cost such as transaction/trading cost.

So if $20 brick of 22LR went for $100, it's 5X the normal price. If it went for $200, it's 10X the normal price. Compared to capital market, 22LR brick are still a bargain and on low end, LOL!

I suspect that this is probably man made, driven by fear mongering in gun/ammo industry and also by various factions in churches/conservative movement.

For example, I heard one folk active in church state that all government is BAD(their words, not mine) and that the government is coming to take away their ammo/22LR/rimfires.

It's commonly said that politicians are self-serving...it appears that industry and many organizations are so too...

A wonderful book covering the same topic is

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay.

I usually tell folks that current shortage is temporary and all you are getting, out of paying high prices right now, is the ability to shoot NOW rather than wait 6 months or 1 year later.

For now, I usually advise folks to use laser targeting system/AIRSOFT/pellet systems.

__brick-22LR-CCI-Blazer-125_95_zps37e6ba5c.jpg


__brick-22LR-REM-99_95_zpsf2276baf.jpg
 
Last edited:
theinvisibleheart, I hate to tell you this, but that's not enough to clear the drive-by hurdle. Give us something that invites meaningful discussion, or this will just become one in a long line of (now closed) threads that do nothing more than invite complaints about The Great Shortage of 2013.

I don't want to shut it down again so quickly, so I'll give you a chance to give us something else.
 
Spats, it oughta be closed anyway, and I'm doing it.

Mike Irwin has started a thread in this forum titled The "Where is everything?" thread -- guns, ammo, primers, powder, etc... That's the one, central thread where discussions of the prices and availability of these things should now be taking place. Feel free to continue the conversation there.

Invisibleheart, it would be fine to repost in that thread, but we're trying to keep all such discussions in one place.
 
Well, it's enough to clear the "drive-by hurdle." Unfortunately, it's still more of the same Great Ammo Shortage of 2013 story. We're trying to cut down on the number of threads that we have going on this, so I'll add it to the: The "Where is everything?" thread -- guns, ammo, primers, powder, etc. thread.
 
Last edited:
Dropped in at Wally World this morning on my way to work. Bought Winchester M-22 1000 round box of .22lr for $48.37 + tax. They had 2 in the cabinet and the clerk asked me if I was sure I didn't want both of them. I said one was plenty for now and I would leave the other box for another customer.
In the same case they had 8 of the Winchester 555 round hollow point at $23.17 and 8 of the Winchester 100 round boxes of .45ACP 230 gr. FMJ for $40.77.

As the clerk was ringing me up he told me they get ammo on every shipment but the selection is usually very narrow. Said he had not seen any .38 special in several weeks but that recently the .22lr had started to come in larger quantities the past week or two than at any time since January.

Interestingly enough, this is a location that has never sold firearms of any kind.
 
Regarding my earlier hunt for .25ACP...

I found an adequate quantity of .25ACP at the Academy Sports store in Dallas on Forest Lane east of US 75.

Hint for DFW area buyers... according to a memo at the customer service desk, all local Academy stores have imposed a 1-box limit on ".22, .223, 5.56, 9mm, .40, .45, 7.62, and .308" ammo and have placed this ammo at the customer service desks rather than at the gun department. (More about the wording of the memo in a minute.) However...
  • Academy is apparently NOT limiting the purchase of multiple boxes of other calibers such as .25ACP, and they evidently do NOT consider .380ACP to be a 9mm round. If you want to buy less-popular pistol rounds such as .25ACP, .32ACP, .32 Long, .380ACP, .44Spl, etc., check Academy. :D When I was there, they had 10+ boxes of the regular "Monarch" house-brand .380ACP 95gr FMJ (which is made by Prvi Partizan) at the usual asking price.
  • The staff at this particular store had apparently taken the language on the memo literally and had placed 7.62x54R and .308 Marlin Express ammo at the CS desk, where the boxes were piling up. :rolleyes: Do NOT go to Academy if you want to stock up on these!
 
Last edited:
Got 500 cci sr primers, 1 lb imr 4350, rcbs fl 223 dies, and 2 rcbs #10 shell holders today. Lafayette Shooters in Lafayette, La. Very limited supply and the primers were their limit.
 
Man oh man, I was looking to get into reloading to help with the increase in ammo costs, but there isn't much in the way of components in the Sacramento area. I'm having trouble just finding a press out here. Anybody in the area know where I might have better luck finding supplies?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top