Posted on 03/08/2013 5:58:31 AM PST by EXCH54FE
Certainly there are those who see a conspiracy behind every tree, none more so perhaps than Mac Slavo. Writing for his inelegantly named SHTF Plan, he points out that since President Obama was first elected in 2008, Americans have purchased more than 65 million guns, which averages one new gun purchase every 1.5 seconds. Says Slavo, this “suggests there is much more … than just people stocking up to go hunting or sports shooting.” And then, without providing sources, Slavo ticks off the statistics: Smith and Wesson is running at full capacity, Ruger is ramping up production to meet demand, Armalite is “maxed out,” Colt is increasing its production runs, Springfield Armory is “running 30-45 days behind,” while Magpul “is behind 1 MILLION (his bold) mags.… Do not expect any large quantities anytime soon.”
If the information you hear doesn't originate from Hornady Manufacturing, don’t believe it.
Here are some of rumors we've heard, and questions we've received:
•Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?
◦Not at all.
•Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?
◦Absolutely not.
•Since we can’t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.
◦Nope, less than 5% of our sales are to government entities.
•Why can’t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?
◦ We've been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We've added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day.
We are producing as much as we can; much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
Some calibers only had production runs of once or twice per year. .380 comes to mind. They would only make it for a month or so and that supply would last a whole year.
I have no idea if they are doing that now but it would explain a few things.
Shoots great in the old CZ 82.
Do you know why IMR powder cannot be found anywhere?? IMR 4895, 3031, and 4064 are “on backorder” at every supplier I have checked!
If you think powder is a problem, just try to find primers.
Primers go to the production of loaded ammo first, then what’s left goes for a reloading component.
Long time handloaders have gone through this shortage before.
More people are handloading and instead of buying a box of 1000 primers they are buying primers by the case so they don’t get caught short.
I have over 25,000 primers in my stash and I’m probably on the low end for most handloaders.
...then pay for HAZMAT shipping.
I noticed that it was around $20 shipping on 200 rds.
Ridiculous.
I might see if there is a local market.
Directly from the story you linked:
"A spokesman for Alliant Techsystems, which operates the U.S. Army plant in Independence, said modernization at the plant is the main reason for the job reductions... The Kansas City Star reported that the plant has undergone $400 million in renovations to increase the efficiency of producing ammunition for the Army."
I used to buy 2 or 3 cases of primers at a time. The last trip to my local store there was a limit of 5 boxes of primers per customer per day.
Thats about all the problems I have besides finding projectiles. I already pick up brass from my classes. Pistol powder (H38, HP6) is not hard to find.
Yeah, primers and lead are scarce and expensive.
Do you know who they are?
Our Walmart - and I understood it's a national rule - allows only three boxes per customer per day. You can play the "shop in the morning, shop in the evening" bit to catch a different attendant. That gets you six boxes a day, as long as the stock holds up (unlikely the evening visit will garner much).
My local Wally worlds (I have three near me that I visit), all have roughly the same ammo on the shelves. .22-250, .25-06, .243, .270, .300wm, .300 wsm, 7mm mag, and 6mm. No handgun ammo (I did get lucky and find some .40S&W a few weeks back). They had .22 short and .22winmag, but those are now gone. They also carry .17hmr. Shotshells are also scarce. Only a few boxes where they had cases of 250 a while back on target/bird loads.
None of the centerfire rifle ammo is less than $1/round.
I ordered some .22LR Super Colibri (no powder, just a small bullet that is propelled by the primer only) on Friday, just because it was cheap and available. By the time it arrived, the price at CTD had doubled (from 35 per 500 to 70)... and even the 35 was up from ~22 a month ago.
I purchased 2 lbs of 3031, a lb. of Unique and some shot shell primers on Tuesday.
Bought them from a small local firearm/ammo dealer. He had just received a shipment.
Finding brass has been tougher, but I finally got what I felt I needed. Some of it was once fired, but it will work fine.
Still have a few items that I need. Guess I will never have “enough”.
Local banker friend of mine told me he had over 1,000 rounds of 30-06 brass loaded. He likes M1’s. hee hee hee
Hardly. It's the publication of The John Birch Society, a traditionalist, Americanist (if there is such a word) organization. The progressives and communists especially hate these people, the Tea Party of an earlier era.
Unless the customer knows the person behind the counter personally. Then, the attendant calls the customer to announce new shipment. Customer comes in, buys multiple boxes, sells on gunbroker, shares profits with the attendant.
esteemed government bought it all?
Progressive?
Hardly. The New American is the magazine for the Johh Birch Society. NOT LEFTIES.
I agree, there is alot of ammo going out the back door at many WalMarts.
But that dam 380 ammo was expensive even before the skool shooting. It’s oddball stuff, and only my wife shoots it because she bought the 380 on a lark without consulting me.
That’s cheating!!!
;)
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