Heavy demand for guns, ammo puts strain on supply chain

St. Louis Post-Dispatch ^ | 04/27/2009 | Tim Barker

[newgeezer]

Life is good at Mid America Arms in south St. Louis County.

Traffic inside the gun shop has doubled in recent months. Sales are up a solid 40 percent. And they can't keep the shelves stocked.

What started late last year — about the time President Barack Obama took office — as a nationwide surge in gun buying has evolved into something much larger. Good luck finding ammo for all those guns. Or the components and tools to make your own.

At stores such as Mid America, empty shelves and disappointed customers speak volumes about a supply-and-demand equation that's been knocked off its fulcrum by changes in the political landscape. The most popular calibers — 9 mm and .380, for example — are difficult, if not impossible, to find. And new shipments don't last long.

"It's a struggle," said Al Rothweiler, one of the owners. "Where someone used to buy two boxes of ammo, now they buy four, five or six boxes."

Rothweiler and others say it's pretty easy to explain ...

Most of the fingers point to fears that Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress eventually will get around to pushing for new laws restricting gun ownership and placing severe tax rates on ammunition sales. So people are buying guns and ammo before that happens.

"They realize this administration does pose a risk to their Second Amendment freedoms," said Alexa Fritts, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association.

For its part, Obama's administration has been fairly quiet on the subject, citing the need to focus on the economy and other issues at this time.

However, the president's urban policy agenda, at whitehouse.gov, makes it clear that Obama would like to make permanent the so-called "assault weapons" ban that was signed by Bill Clinton in 1994 but allowed to expire in 2004.

[CottonBall]

Please add me, JB. What does RKBA stand for?

[Joe Brower]

RKBA = Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

You've been added.

[CottonBall]

That’s a good acronym. Thanks for adding me - and for keeping the list.

[Tahoe3002]

While I agree wholeheartedly with your selected quotations and your reasoning, liberals think (that is a stretch) that we have made progress since 1770’s. Therefore we should have no real need for weapons. They also believe that government and law officers are all the armed protection the citizenry (sheep) requires.

Conservatives, lovers of liberty and freedom, have a distinctly different view. We understand that there will always be people/governments that seek to control us.

[CottonBall]

Millions of Americans who have always thought owning is good idea, but never got around to it, are being motivated to get off their butts and learn to protect themselves and their families. This is not irrational. When millions of people do it all at once it does unbalance the supply/demand curve. 20 million people buying 200 rounds adds up very quickly. We will see a shortage of ammo and increase in prices until people feel they have enough to protect their family.

I've run into about 20-25 people that have bought guns for the first time this year. Some are people that I never expected to even consider owning one.

[Niteranger68]

A bullet in your hand is one the government can’t put in your brain. Buy guns and ammo now!

[HiJinx]

Ping to post 60...
JB has the info you’re looking for, Cottonball.

[Vendome]

What about NATO 1997 from South africa?

[Vendome]

Also, can this 7.62 x .51 be fired from the Springfield M1A? Everyone and do I mean everyone who owns gun shops says yes and it is safe but I have yet to try.

[Double Tap]

Have you spoken to any of them? Because factories like Winchester, Remington and Federal are running 24/7.

Reloaders like Precision and Georgia Arms are at a dead stop... Why?

Because they can’t get components to fill existing orders.

[Noumenon]

People are buying weapons and ammunition because they expect that they’re going to have to use them. This is the ‘elephant in the living room’ that the MSM won[’t acknowledge.

[texmexis best]

Normal market for ammo is 2 - 3 Billlion rounds per year. We bought 1.5 Billion in December, ‘08. The factories are running full tilt but may not expand production due to political risk.

Save your brass.

[NVDave]

I don’t know. It is probably non-corrosive, but unless I have it on good authority or have tested it, it might be corrosive.

If it has a Berdan style primer, the odds are very high it has a corrosive primer.

[Robert357]

Small rifle, large rifle, small pistol, large pistol - they’re all gone.

The only thing I can find is “large pistol magnum” and shotshell.

I guess it is time to just shoot and reload for my 44 Rem Mag.

Seriously, as a reloader, I find that the current shortage of reloading components (primers, jacketed pistol bullets, brass, even cast bullet molds) is beyond belief. I can not fathom the level of "fear" that is causing this. In the past, when Clinton banned the import of cheap surplus Chinese 7.62x39 ammo I saw panic buying and price gouging in that caliber, but never across just about every caliber. I have gone to the Midway, MidSouth Shooter Supply, and Graff & Sons one-line catalogs and found just about every handgun caliber loaded ammo on back order, just about every jacketed bullet in a handgun caliber on back order, most handgun brass in certain calibers like .380 auto on back order. I periodically go to gun shows and There is virtually no .380 Auto loaded ammo anymore except at outrageous prices (i.e. $30 to $40/box of 50 cartridges, which 9 months ago only cost $11 to $15/box of 50). I regularly see people at gun shows taking handcarts of ammo out to their cars. I can understand buying a few hundred to maybe 1000 rounds of ammo in bulk for a caliber that you like to shoot to get a volume price break, but what I have seen goes far beyond that to a level of panic buying. The only silver lining is that with shortage is certain handgun ammo so bad, there has been a drop in the price of some new handguns back to pre-Obama days from some vendors. This past weekend, I picked up a new-in-the-box KelTec P3-AT at a very reasonable price as the gun shop owner said he had no ammo for it and didn't know where anyone could find ammo for it. Since, I have some loaded .380 Ammo and loading components for that caliber, it seemed like a good deal for me. At that same gun show, I saw people selling gun & a couple of boxes of ammo combinations for premium prices.

[gundog]

I can’t find any small rifle primers to save my life...

That's the way they want it.

[gundog]

I know it’s all speculation but do you really need 25000 rounds of ammo?

Maybe. What's it to ya? But I put in stores slowly, antipating what we see today. If others had done likewise(the '06 midterms were a hint)we wouldn't be experiencing shortages or price gouging.

[claudwitz]

If your local gun shop has raised prices, he's gouging you. This is a temporary shortage.

I had the opportunity to talk with a couple of representatives in the business back mid-February. They did not see anything improving until at least the end of 2010, if then at all. It sure didn't sound temporary.

[papertyger]

This is the ‘elephant in the living room’ that the MSM won[’t acknowledge.

Doesn't it seem like the world the MSM lives in and the one most productive Americans live in are as different as Norway and Zimbabwe?

[gundog]

What is corrosive 7.62x51?

Rare.

[Hodar]

All that has to happen is a political climate change.

If the GOP manages not to screw things up (and it’s even odds on that one), the Dems will lose their 60 seats. Then, the GOP will be in a position to shut down the anti-gun nuts. When those nuts dissappear, the demand for guns and ammo will spring back to 2008 levels.

In the 200 year history of our country, this is a temporary thing. We went through this back in the 80’s with Mr. Peanut (Remember the various ‘military rifle debate’?), we went through this in the 90’s with Clinton (Remember the limit on clip capacity?), it’s actually quite predictable.