Eventually the hoarders would run out of space. Not even black market sales will withstand high prices when supply is plentiful. If it was just hoarding in private sector it would have stopped by now. Opportunist undercutting competition at gun shows etc would drive the prices down if rounds were easy to obtain through their channels such as being store clerks etc.
The fact also many persons stopped buying due to price or just gave up looking should eventually correct the supply. For over five years this has been going on in many places. Not just .22 LR but other ammo especially for pistols. But hey I can go to Wally World right now and buy all the shotgun bird shot I want cheap. Why? Lower range good for self defense only close up.
The manufactures when they ship out an order write up paper work stating buyer and hand it to the truck driver. The truck driver calls his dispatcher and says I'm loaded. The dispatcher says OK now write a ticket to XXXX company in Backwoods, Wherever and deliver it to the following location instead. It's legal, it's done many times daily in many non firearm related sales. A Broker buys from a company to resell to his customer whom he doesn't want anyone to know due to price competition including the maker or initial seller. It keeps chis customer base a secret is the purpose.
The delivery destination change occurs in truck routing after the load has left the company. I once picked up barrels of scrap metal in Philly from a recycling company. My paperwork from that company stated Missouri. As soon as I pulled off and stopped at a place to & called my dispatcher he said it goes to a smelter in Tennessee and gave me the address. Now if a legitimate broker can accomplish this how much more so can Fed have ammo delivered to a bogus company warehouse?
Persons Hording AMMO is like hoarding food after a while you run out of space & money unless you have lots of storage capacity and money. I'd say gun show sales are a small percentage of ammo sales. Don't worry about me buying it at ridiculous prices. I can't afford it nor can many others.
One final note. Does a ammo company really care who is buying? Will they not protect their largest client especially one holding much larger contracts? A year of shortage? Yea sure I could see fear hoarding making ammo scarce. Five years? No something else is happening.
The government doesn't have to buy it all.I haven't noticed or read where the govt is buying rimfire in "bazillion" round quantities -- hang on -- I haven't noticed, read or heard form any reliable source that the govt is buying *any* rimfire at all. Centerfire? Absolutely. Rimfire? No credible evidence I've seen of any. Someone *PLEASE* correct me and show me a good source pointing out govt purchases of rimfire. Please.
Does a ammo company really care who is buying? Will they not protect their largest client especially one holding much larger contracts? A year of shortage? Yea sure I could see fear hoarding making ammo scarce. Five years? No something else is happening.A rep from one of the big rimfire manufacturers was at my local gunshop and they put him on the spot about it and he said: If he went into one of the corporate production meetings and suggested they focus on, and increase, rimfire manufacturing capacity, he would be fired on the spot.
They see no "business sense" in investing in the tooling and machinery, plus headcount & training to add additional rimfire capacity (a long term investment) for a short term problem. Rimfire is the lowest margin cartridge product they offer. It makes far, Far, FAR more "business sense" to focus on centerfire where the profit margin is higher, and demand is spread across different products (calibers/loadings).
But, if anyone has any reasonable evidence of the govt making market-depleting purchases of rimfire, I will stand corrected. Since 0bama first initiated the guns & ammo buying panics, all I've see are regular folks snatching up rimfire as soon as it hits the shelves, both at gun shops, gun shows and online. No govt conspiracy required when we are our own worst enemy when it comes to the rimfire shortage.
And let's not forget all those who are hoarding it not to shoot, but in the hope/belief that society will collapse soon and all those .22 shells will turn into "currency". Well, if society collapses, maybe they are on to something and well prepared. But, I just don't see the country going down the drain just yet. I'm hopeful and optimistic for the elections through 2016. I'll re-assess after then.
When the buying finally subsides and gets back to pre-obama levels, there are a ton of folks who will be sitting on a bigger ton of *VERY* expensive rimfire -- rimfire they bought at what used to be centerfire prices! Of course, they may not give a hoot how much money they have sunk into paying for way-overpriced ammo. That is their right. And it is my right to observe them and call their ammo shopping mania idiotic, borderline psychotic and laughable.
Don't get me wrong, I righteously fault the govt for any number of failures and shortcomings from border/national security, fiscal policy, sticking it's nose where it don't belong, over regulation and both parties ever increasing attacks on liberty. But I don't fault the govt for the rimfire shortage, except to blame 0bama for causing the panic in the first place. We consumers are demanding more than the supply can offer. Plain and simple.
It's sloooooooowly getting better and some markets are seeing rimfire stock last more than a day on the shelves. I believe it will take awhile to ratchet back down to normal everywhere. Probably not until well after 0bama is gone.