What drives the cost of ammo

.........What do you think will happen to the price of ammunition if there is new legislation........
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I know this thread makes reference to ammo costs, but there's a lot more going on than just that. Right now BHO is what's determining the cost and availability of things.

You don't have to wait for new legislation. Here's what's happening according to John Farum (those of us who took his training signed up for his Quips) inre: to a couple of major retailers he's personally familiar with.

Waiting period for BG checks over a week (46 business hours).

No AR's left in stock, and any future shipments already sold. Some wholsalers closed--inventory gone. PMags gone at $60 ea. and going for $100on Gunbrokers.com.

None of this matters anyway, since today is the Apocalypse and we're all doomed. Nice knowing you, and fairwell.;)

.223 ammo sold out with all BO's already spoken for.

At another dealer (I assume in another location), waiting period was 24 hours

Here in Reno, Nv. a major gun dealer I'm acquainted with sold 18 AR's in one afternoon on Monday. Another was on the eve. news yesterday. They had customers lined up out the door.

I checked with Sheels today, and they still have Glock mag's in stock, but G22 is already sold out and some others nearly so.

I understand that things may be different, depending on which area you live in, but certain types of ammo will be in short supply or not available--especially .223.

John points out that this buying frenzy (guns, mag.'s, ammo) eclypses the rush during the Bill Clinton era and when O'Bama was first elected--by a lot.

During less frantic times, fighting two wars, and stockpiling of ammo by lots of shooters effected cost. And, of course, so does demand. I prefer to stock up before the hoarders get it.:D

The point: You don't have to wait for legislation to see what's going to happen re: cost and availability.:cool:

I think that the more "recreational" calibers will always be available and so will premium SD ammo. Bulk ammo is another story, especially for AR.
 
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Supply & demand, material prices, plant operation costs, and I'm sure a very sizable liability insurance cost. The manufacturers can never tell when some greedy moron, and his equally greedy lawyer will file suit over something stupid the moron did. Coupled with the "give them a lottery winning settlement" attitude of juries.
 
That is not true. Even the bigger ammo factories (military excepted) run a batch of one caliber. Then they change over a line and run a batch of another caliber. How long a line will run a given caliber depends on demand; and how long it takes to fill the pipeline. The more demand for one caliber the longer that line will be kept running and production of other, less popular, calibers will be put on the back burner.
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I suspect that some of the really popular calibers, such as .223 have their own dedicated production lines and another production line, possibly the older machinery, gets switched out to do runs of the odds and ends calibers, but I don't know for sure.
 
Things will be sold for whatever people will pay for it. That being said, of corse .380 cost more than 9mm. 9mm is in much more supply.
 
I have been in sales for many years and I have yet to see an "excessive" profit. The main focus in my business, and I suspect most others, is to make sure my kids have shoes on their feet. The fact that I enjoy what I do and I am able to provide a quality product at a reasonable price to a consumer who is happy to buy it all while employing a number of people is just a bonus. If I decided to increase the price of my product just for the hell of it my customers may choose to go to my competitors for the product they want. This helps put shoes on the feet of my competitor's kids and that is not why I am in business.

If my costs go up on the components that go into the products I sell then I have a choice to make. I could sell my product at the same cost and make a smaller profit (which may keep my kids from getting new shoes). Or I could raise the price of my product to try and make the same profit. Or it could be a combination of those two. But, if my component costs are going up they are likely going up for my competitors too so we are all facing a similar decision.

The dilema I face is no different than that faced by a big company. The difference is that they may be trying to put shoes on the feet of the stockholder's kids. They can not just raise prices on a whim or their competitors will step in and take their customers.

As somebody else pointed out, the other option is to have the government decide which products are made and what prices are charged. Throughout the history of man this plan has never worked.
 
In my admittedly limited experience, most of the folks who talk about the greedy capitalist pigs making excessive profits have never made or sold anything in their lives. All they have done is sit in a classroom listening to left-wing professors who themselves have never done an honest days work.

Jim
 
I'm glad JamesK said it before I did.

Just be glad ammo is available at any price. We are likely to see hoarding again like in 2008-2009 due to fear-mongering, but the industrial machine will keep churning out ammo as long as we keep buying it.
 
I shoot .32acp. Fiocchi makes the best and sells it for less than the others I'm guessing because they make and sell alot of it in Europe and South America. Their 30/30 is priced higher than Winchester and Remington probably because they make less production runs of that cartridge.
 
If you think ammo is overpriced, buy the fanciest progressive reloading press that money can buy, and then try to make a living reloading ammo for other people.
 
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