Posted on 05/20/2009 5:00:59 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Every day, Darren Newsom's three Bitterroot Valley Ammunition facilities crank out 300,000 rounds of ammunition.
It's not nearly enough.
“I'm going about 100,000 rounds in the wrong direction every day,” Newsom said. “We probably have about six months of back orders right now.”
Newsom has been in the ammunition manufacturing business for more than 20 years and he's never seen demand this high.
Fearful of the Obama administration's potential to tighten gun control laws, people from all over the country are stocking up on guns and ammunition.
“I went through the Clinton years and there was a bit of a scare then,” Newsom said. “This is like the Clinton years on steroids. � On the day of the election, our phones started going nuts. It hasn't stopped since.”
As a master distributor for ATK - the world's largest ammunition business - Bitterroot Valley Ammunition supplies other ammunition manufacturers around the country with the components needed to make bullets.
“I get a million primers in every other day and most are shipped out the very next day,” he said. “I have 100 million primers on back order right now. We just can't get enough of them.”
At a recent gun show in Salt Lake City, Newsom sold somewhere between 300,000 and 400,000 rounds in the first two hours.
“It's just unreal,” he said. “Somewhere in lots of basements around the country, there are millions of rounds of ammunition being stored.”
Local businesses have felt the ammunition shortage.
At Bob Ward's in Hamilton, Mike Matteson said there has been quite a run on ammunition and reloading supplies like bullets and powder since the election.
“We are especially low right now with pistol ammunition,” Matteson said. “There are four or five calibers that we don't even have on our shelves.”
(Excerpt) Read more at missoulian.com ...
Every gunstore should have a sign which reads, “Obama-—Employee of the month.”
_______________
One near us has a sign that says:
Barak HUSSEIN Obama... are you f***ing kidding me?
I’d be one of the first to buy. 7.62 x 25 is the perfect ‘tweener’ round for Kel-Tec carbine, plus it’s so damn cheap.
My wife cannot shoot my M1A, but I think this theoretical gun is something she could handle and perform with at around 100-150 yds.
Beneath that, should be a sign that says, "If you're not a member of the Second Amendment Foundation or the National Rifle Association, we'll serve you last. Have your card ready.
There are only four million NRA members and maybe another million in the other gun groups.
If 75 million gun owners won’t join the NRA even when a first year membership is free, you’re fooling yourself if you think those gunowners will ever rise up to fight tyranny.
Fear. Or you could call it a realistic assessment of our new ruler. If I could afford, and get, 5 times what I have on hand, I'd buy it tomorrow.
The real question is this: When they come for our weapons and ammunition, and they will, what will be our response?
There is a difference between and stockpiling.
Bump for further investigation
Thanks, you said just about everything I would have responded with. I couldn’t have commented on the remarks regarding military personel, because I’m not, and have never served our country in the armed forces. I wasn’t going to respond the rest of it, because I didn’t have the time to answer all of the questions, and I really have no need to answer to anyone in the first place, regarding the decisions I make when it comes to defending my family, and making sure I have the materials in the future to do so.
When it comes to how many firearms I own, and the amount of ammo I want to have on hand, I couldn’t care less about how that may effect others in the market, just as I’m sure they don’t care about me. It’s not like I’m a billionaire, spending millions and millions of dollars, wiping out entire inventories of local gun shops within a 500 mile radius.
Mr “Buffalo Head”, I think you need to find another direction to focus your rants, because not only are they misplaced, they are a complete waste of time.
VERY well said, and from first hand experience!
What’s 600 rounds of 5.56mm weigh (roughly)?
Thanks!
I wasn’t going to take the time to type all that, but as I read the post I got more and more irritated, and finally had to vent.
The "Shot Heard Round the World" was fired in April of 1775 at Lexington and Concord. The commencement of open hostilities was triggered by government use of the regular army troops to disarm the populace.
During the occupation of Boston, the government allowed citizens to depart the city, but they were not allowed to take their firearms with them. Many smuggled their weapons out of the city.
In order to evict the occupiers from Boston, the people had to rely on taking cannons from their enemies by force at Fort Ticonderoga.
The Second Amendment was our Founders effort to improve the prospects of future generations when the inevitable time came that the people would once again be forced to defend themselves from a tyrannical government.
We owe it to those brave souls to hope for the best while preparing ourselves for the worst.
Fifteen pounds. I have one of those cartridges, so I weighed it carefully and multiplied by 600. The rest fell out of the canoe. A long time ago. On a deep lake. That doesn't exist anymore.
I got to handle (but not shoot) the Saiga 12 at the NRA party in AZ last weekend. Felt pretty good. You could probably buy several Saigas or a trunk load of ammo for the price of the fancy name brand.
I think that round would totally be useable to 250 yards out of a 9mm platform modified to 7.62X25. What America needs is a cheap and light PPShK, in semi auto. Keltec could do it easily, with simple barrel and mag mods. I suspect they won’t out of a fear the ammo supply could be cut off with the stroke of a pen.
Unfortunately, no such magazines exist in quantity for a rifle such as you envision. I don't think Kel-Tec wants to get into making a lot of specialty magazines.
It shouldn't be too hard to make a modification of an existing kel-tec design, if you could secure a large quantity of magazines from the east block for the PPsH for example. Have them make a couple of thousand up on special order.
The problem is that these type of guns are already flying off the shelf, and there is no production capacity that is not being used already.
All good points. It won’t happen. But let’s just say that there were millions of good PPShK mags in eastbloc warehouses....and millions of sealed spamcans....and they could all be imported for a song....it’s an interesting thought experiment. KelTec could readily fill a “niche” considering the superior ballistics and much much lower ammo cost compared to 9mm. At this time, 9mm costs literally 5X tokarev ammo.
The high current price of ammo is what makes this so attractive, and it is likely to have dropped considerably by the time the project could get into gear. Or, if things get *really* bad, the logistical problems would become nearly insurmountable.
I am betting that in two years, we will be able to buy large quantities of excellent ammo and good rifles for very reasonable prices. Let us hope so.
>>”Is it possible that this never before seen demand on ammunition is going to the “civilian security force” or something similar?”<<
Good point, but I doubt that to be true. If so, I am sure that our experience and superior markmanship abilities will prevail. Zero’s ‘home-boy security farce’ will scurry back to the ghetto when their ears get pierced from 300+ yards away.
Not to worry, myself6, the “Right” people are buying the ammo.
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