American capitalism, even what’s left of it, usually rushes to meet demand. If I were running an ammunition company and had these back-orders, I’d have a third shift, new rented facilities and additional staff to meet the demand before my competitors (who are also working really hard) get the business.
The reason for the lack of expansion is that the political risk is extremely high. One signature and the market disappears.
A second reason is that no one knows what will happen after this bubble pops and people start shooting their stores. Just how many round will you buy per month when you have 250,00 in the garage.
Lee Precision has doubled their factory size and labor and is seriously considering another expansion and they seem to be the only exception to the above.
Ammo manufacturers ARE all running 24/7. Adding more capacity is a whole different animal, as it requires long term capital expenditure. The back side to bubbles is a steep drop and a bad time to be carrying extra fixed costs. The one “good thing” here for the manufacturer is that Zippy guarantees demand.
My guess is that ammo will continue to be sold at the current rates until Lord Zero leaves office at the soonest. Increased prices and lack of availability have cut sales, or I think we’d be seeing 50-75% increases in sales of ammunition.