Will Republican Control = Falling ammo prices?
- Thread starter MurBob
- Start date
No, there isn't - it is the supply/demand scenario working properly. The supply side is askew with the demand side.
No one was gouging anyone; they asked for a certain price, and you either accepted their price or you didn't. Retailers not only need to make a profit, but also need to recoup money for future prices, especially if they anticipate their costs will go up. Same reason why gas goes up quickly and comes down slowly.
50 shooter
New member
Lamarw,
It's only been about a decade since a brick of 500 .22 was $9 at Walmart and there was never a shortage!
People are driving the cost of .22, could you imagine what would happen if they stopped buying it for a month, six or even a year? It would get rid of the scalpers trying to make a living off of it.
Anyway, not going to happen anytime soon so I guess it's good for a laugh.
It's only been about a decade since a brick of 500 .22 was $9 at Walmart and there was never a shortage!
People are driving the cost of .22, could you imagine what would happen if they stopped buying it for a month, six or even a year? It would get rid of the scalpers trying to make a living off of it.
Anyway, not going to happen anytime soon so I guess it's good for a laugh.
^^^^
Yes there are many factors but the biggest is the gun industry is about to lose their best salesman when Trump takes over.
The older guys here have seen 5-7 presidential transitions.
The closest to today was the Clinton-to-Bush transition. Both ammo and gun prices softened as fear of anti-gun regulations diminished. That Clinton to Bush transition Was relatively tame to what this transition will be, just based on the rhetoric of then-Clinton and the hyper-anti-gun Obama.
Further if the Hearing Protection Act passes as expected, expect suppressor prices to plummet.
Yes there are many factors but the biggest is the gun industry is about to lose their best salesman when Trump takes over.
The older guys here have seen 5-7 presidential transitions.
The closest to today was the Clinton-to-Bush transition. Both ammo and gun prices softened as fear of anti-gun regulations diminished. That Clinton to Bush transition Was relatively tame to what this transition will be, just based on the rhetoric of then-Clinton and the hyper-anti-gun Obama.
Further if the Hearing Protection Act passes as expected, expect suppressor prices to plummet.
shootbrownelk
New member
TXAZ....I hope that you're right about the prices of suppressors falling. Is there a provision in the hearing protection act about repealing that $200 stamp charge? I hope so, buying a can, if this passes will just be like buying a gun.
carguychris
New member
Yes, and there's an interesting angle to the charts you posted. Let me take the beginning number on each chart and adjust it for inflation using the gov't CPI inflation calculator, and compare that to today's copper price according to the same website, Infomine.com.Aguila Blanca said:
Copper on 3 Jan 89: $1.55. Adjusted for inflation: $3.02. Copper on 26 Nov 2016: $2.65.
Lead on 3 Jan 89: $0.35. Adjusted for inflation: $0.68. Lead on 26 Nov 2016: $1.01.
Lead has gone up by 48% but copper is down by 12%. Cartridges contain more lead than copper by weight, but copper is so much expensive that the prices offset each other to some degree. Basically, we're essentially back to the starting point on the graphs in terms of metal prices.
The historically low price of ammo in the mid to late 1990s was caused by low and stable metal prices (readily apparent on the graphs) combined with the sudden appearance of ammo from recently-idled military plants in former Warsaw Pact countries onto the Western commercial market—a combination of factors that will not reoccur.
There was a TFL thread from about 1-2 years ago comparing today's retail ammo prices to those in the 1960s and 1970s, and the general consensus is that they're slightly lower today once adjusted for inflation.
I've heard several people theorize that the popularity of cheap rapidly-reloadable large-capacity faux-EBR .22LR semi-autos has increased the number of shooters who are likely to burn through 1,000+ rounds in an afternoon, thus increasing the demand for cheap .22LR bulk packs. IMHO this theory has some merit; I don't think it's only the hoarders who have driven prices up. This theory aligns nicely with the fact that Mini-Mags are once again widely available for $8/100 at my local discount stores, as is SV target ammo for $4/50, but bricks seem to fly off the shelves for $25/500. I don't think the $8.88 Federal 550 is coming back.50 shooter said:
The possible use is to provide ammunition to those that need it.
The Government buying ammo is like a coat with a lot of pockets. Each pocket has some change in it. It is a bigger bureaucratic issue to move the unspent change to an empty pocket than it is to buy what the empty pocket needs from a full pocket and then move the purchased item (ammo in this case) to the empty pocket that needs it.
Yes, it LOOKS like govt depts. who don't need it are stockpiling ammo, but in reality all that is happening is that their money is being used to benefit an "empty pocket".
Ammo is heavy, so when transportation costs DOUBLE in a handful of months (like gas/diesel going from $1 and change per gallon to $3+ in four months, prices go up.
Other nations competing for resources drives the price up. We got spoiled during the 80s and some of the 90s, ammo prices were pretty stable. Then India & China, began buying LOTS of copper and lead to feed their growing industries. Fuel cost soared, and that was BEFORE we got into a shooting war that has lasted for over a DECADE. And then add on top of all that, panic buying and hoarding in the US.