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 ...
Do you know why IMR powder cannot be found anywhere?? IMR 4895, 3031, and 4064 are “on backorder” at every supplier I have checked!
I can believe 223 and 308 ammo being in short supply, but 22?? Somebody would have to convince me that the govt. isn’t involved in this.
“New American” has a nice progressive sound to it...
It’s because of the middleman trade that has sprung up.
Go to Wal-Mart at 4-5AM, buy 15 boxes of TULA 7.62X39 for $5 each.
Sell at the local gun store for $8 a box.
The gun store sells it for $10 a box.
Make $45 for a short car trip.
INCREASE CAPACITY!
From gun broker, it looks like 7.62X39 is selling for around 40 cents a round.
I could probably spare some at that price.
Where I am located the ONLY business that gets sporadic low quantity shipments of .22 LR or WMR is Wallyworld.When word gets out it vanishes in less than 2 hrs.Even .22 short is getting hard to find.
.556 and .223 shipments seemed to have dried up.
I would like to know HOW all these sellers on Gunbroker are able to procure thousands of rounds of these calibers.They are jacking up the prices 3-400 % and people are scopping it all up.
I purchased thousands of rounds of .22 last summer. Previously, I had never had more than 500 rds on hand. I presume many people are like minded, with many late to teh party.
People purchase what they can shoot. When other calibers became unavailable or unaffordable, people began buying what they could. The last ammo on the shelves was primarily bird shot and .22LR, now that is gone.
There are many SHTF and urban combat situations where I would opt for a .22 over all others. And if you can only afford $20 of ammo, you can shoot a lot more times with a .22LR.
Ok, lets say all of those new gun owners bought 100 rounds, (I'm sure many bought a lot more, but 100 is probably a good round number for the average gun buyer that wants some practice ammo and a box or two around the house). That 6.5 BILLION rounds! And that is only on the guns bought since 2008, the other 250 million guns in private hands need ammo as well. No wonder they can't keep up with demand....
22LR I can believe, but 9x18 there isn’t a hugh number of us shooting it.
Primer shortages.
I think there is gov involvement. When the gov started placing 5 year contracts on ammunition versus year over year, it causes bottlenecks in the system as the manufacturers have to set aside x percent to be able to fulfill those contracts if needed. That may not directly impact Hornaday as it seems to have small contracts, but it would impact suppliers of things like primers.
Government
The Latest Proposed Gun Control Bill Out of Florida May Be the Most ‘Ridiculous’ Yet
Mar. 6, 2013 6:30pm Jason Howerton
If a Florida Democrat has her way, anyone who tries to buy ammunition will have to first complete an anger management program. Critics are slamming the bill as a ridiculous and unconstitutional proposal to deal with gun violence.
Florida state Sen. Audrey Gibson (D-Jacksonville) introduced the bill on Saturday, which stipulates ammunition purchasers must go through a three-day waiting period to buy any ammo if they have not completed anger management courses. The bill would mandate that ammo buyers take the anger management course every 10 years.
A lot had large amount in stock and saw the writing on the wall so they waited until peak pricing opportunities. Kind of like the guy up in Arkansas who back in November, took a second mortgage on his house and bought $220K worth of ARs in which he could probably sell for $750K now.
I tried to find some 45-70 a few months ago and it was all gone. The shop said some of the boxes have been sitting on his shelves for years collecting dust and they even sold out.
The only thing I’ve consistently been able to find is shotgun shells. Even the odd sizes are all sold out here.
How about democrats not be allowed to vote until they take anger management courses?
In the meantime, ATK has received a letter from the government saying that gov’t orders MUST be filled first. Sales to the private markets only can happen after the gov’t orders are filled...and the gov’t is ordering a LOT.
Wallyworld has raised the 100 ct. box of clay loads from $20.97 to $ 26.97.
When I got down to 350 rounds I stopped shooting my Makarov. Funny thing is a couple of years ago I got my wife a 380 and couldn't find any ammunition. Now it easy to find. Go figure.
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!!!
;)
Amazing what a box of donuts will do...
New American a John Birch Society magazine
Also from the article:
Kidder also attributed the cutbacks to recent reductions in U.S. military actions.
This insinuates that demand is down, when there are real shortages on the streets. Since he's being disingenuous on the last part, a rational person might question the rest, but hey, that's just me
“Do you know why IMR powder cannot be found anywhere?? IMR 4895, 3031, and 4064 are “on backorder” at every supplier I have checked!”
Have you contaced Hodgdon’s directly?
I’d like to get a source for that info.
If you had bothered to read the article you would have learned that it is an Army munitions plant that has undergone modernization.
Went to a gun show to get the wife a pistol. The 380 was the only one she could pull the slide back to chamber a round. Probably should have gone with a revolver. Good thing is with very little practice she is extremely accurate.
Ammo isn’t hazmat
380 has become very popular lately because a lot of smaller CCL guns are chambered for that. I used to buy a lot as my carry is a Walther PPK/S.
Ya..and it’s just a coincidence that ATK has chosen now to shut down the Lake City facility, and lay off workers, so they can perform a $400M upgrade.
That they’re a major DOD contractor, couldn’t have influenced their timing.....
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