Posted on 11/28/2020 9:48:47 AM PST by Towed_Jumper
For the second time in a decade, demand for ammunition has outstripped supply in the United States. The first ammunition bubble was from 2012 to 2017. The next started in 2020.
Ammunition manufacturers have increased their capacity. In the face of increased demand, it has not been enough. Ammunition plants are running 24/7 to make profits while demand is high. Shortages still exist in the United States. Common calibers have disappeared from store shelves. Prices have risen. Panic buying and purchasing for private stockpiles have increased.
Those who purchased a stockpile in the interval between ammunition bubbles from 2017 to 2020 are considered wise and foresighted. At one point in October of 2018, .22 rimfire ammunition was available at 2.5 cents per round. How much ammunition is being produced and purchased in the United States market?
During the .22 rimfire bubble, the productive capacity was increased from about 4 billion rimfire rounds to 5 billion rimfire rounds per year. The National Shooting Sports Foundation has estimated total ammunition produced for the United States market in 2017 at 8.1 billion rounds. In 2018, the total ammunition production for the United States was estimated at 8.7 billion rounds. The numbers for 2019 should be published in December of 2020.
A reasonable extrapolation puts the amount of ammunition produced for the United States market at somewhat over 9 billion rounds, of which 5 billion are rimfire and 4 billion are centerfire rifle, pistol, and shotgun rounds in 2020.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Many gun owners are on the horns of a dilemma: Do I shoot up my precious ammo training at the range, or do I hold onto it for CWII?
ping
Anecdotally, given the wild swings in the market, a brick of .22 ammunition has been a much better investment than silver over the last couple of decades.
Full disclosure - I am NOT a financial advisor
“...Do I shoot up my precious ammo training at the range, or do I hold onto it for CWII?...”
That is the question that only each of us can answer for ourselves.
It depends on how much ammo one has versus how much range time do I really need to keep my target eye sharp.
IF Chairman Jao prevails and the Senate flips, none of us will ever have to be concerned about buying ammo, primers or any other reloading components ever again. They’ll all be outlawed.
Better hold on to as much as possible and use for practice sparingly. Another shortage has begun!
Apparently not enough. I have an 18 pk of 2 ply Charmin TP I’d be willing to trade for some .38/.357. :0)
If you already have the basic skills, then 100 rounds/month for pistol and maybe 50 for rifle is sufficient to retain your edge and muscle memory.
If just now picking up your skills, or trying to up your game then more is necessary, obviously.
I'm holding on to mine. I already know how to shoot a rifle. If CWII happens, it's not going to be a biathlon. It'll be fighting up close.
And then guns and ammo will be plentiful and laying all over the streets.
About three months ago, gun shop just a couple of miles from me received an entire pallet, stacked full of 1,000 round boxes of .223; which was selling for $500 a case, and was gone in a matter of days.
I was on vacation traveling through rural southern Missouri back in 2014. I walked into barber shop in a little town we were passing through. This place was like Floyd’s Barber Shop in Mayberry. On the self behind the barber there were two bricks of beautiful Federal .22LRs for sale at pre-.22LR pandemic prices. I bought both bricks on the spot. Sometimes the ammo gods smile upon you.
I was in Walmart the other day. One Savage, and almost no ammo.
Reloading components are still reasonably priced. A tad higher than before, maybe a 25% increase in prices over the past 10 years. Primers that were $30 are now $40. Bullets that were $35/100 are now $45/100.
Factory ammo, however, is NUTS!
Good quality ammo can be $1.00-$4.00 a round. Even target practice ammo is at least 50 cents a round.
Of course I have a very good selection of powders, primers, and brass along with hundreds of pounds of lead to go along with this. I have quite a bit of flexibility to produce whatever type of ammo that I currently have a need for. For example if I run out of one type of powder I usually have a substitute that works just as well. The same is true of primers, I have tried most of my recipes with various brands and classifications. So if I for instance was to run out of standard pistol primers, I can substitute in magnum pistol primers and I already have the data from testing with a chronograph to use a slightly less amount of powder or a slower burning powder to get the fps at the muzzle that I desire.
MY SUSPICION IS THE DEEP STATE IS DELIBERATELY SUCKING UP AS MUCH AMMO AS POSSIBLE TO KEEP IT OFF THE CIVILIAN MARKET.
IT GOES WITH BANNING LARGE PUBLIC GATHERINGS AND FACE MASKS.
WHY?
FRUSTRATE ANY ATTEMPTS AT A PUBLIC REVOLT AS THE DEMS, DEEP STATE, AND GLOBALISTS TRY TO STEAL THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.
Not enough.
I’m pinging Liz as her tagline is relevant and epic.
As I have aged I have come to realize the reflex of shooting using a laser site makes up for some lost muscle memory. I am now too poor of sight to do much rifle shooting, so I have a laser (some green some red) on all my tools.
Reloading components are still reasonably priced. A tad higher than before, maybe a 25% increase in prices over the past 10 years.
Somebody here told me a couple weeks ago that reloading components were impossible to find right now. When I looked the only thing that I could not find were primers... which I currently don’t need. Most of my favorite powders were still in stock as was brass which I also did not need.
A lot of people who shoot at the range, reload their own, or are higher income.
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