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That was a wild time.

A few lessons and observations:

1. AR's are great... but they aren't worth breaking the bank. If you don't have one and prices are going wild just enjoy the countless other more affordable firearms. Garands, M14s, even bolt and lever guns still have their place.... or spend a bunch of money and buy an AR, it's your money so do what you want.

2. Be prepared. Have a number and make that your "zero". For me it's 1,000 rounds. Never falls below that number for any caliber.


3. If you can afford bulk purchases go for it... otherwise take baby steps. Right now ammo online is fairly affordable... but there are also decent local sales. Every time I'm in Bi-Mart or other local retailers I pick up at least a box. If I make a purchase once a week I'm only spending between $6-10 and walking away with at least 20 rounds. Over the course of a year that adds up to over a thousand rounds.

At the end of the day don't forget to practice. It doesn't do anyone a lick of good to have 10 AR's in the safe if you haven't shot 8 of them.

My personal belief is it's better to have one good rifle, plenty of quality ammo, a med kit, food and some training then all the inventory of Cabelas.

Safe shooting and be prepared.
 
In 2011, I either paid $680 or $860 for a bastardized tacticool used AK at the Portland gun show. Whatever I paid it was way too much. It did look cools as **** though and weighed 12lbs. I wanted an AR but there weren't any left under $1000. Six months before they were going for $4-500.
 
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On a bit of a tangent; I recall about this time of year people will say something to the effect of "what are you going to get with your tax refund"? Some would get guns, others ammo.

I wouldn't say anything - refund? What's that? Last year I paid and paid and paid and the state said I still owed. I didn't finish paying until about December.

But this year I will get over $5K back (I left my W4 setup without exemptions so I paid more tax than I needed to).

Might get some ammo.
 
I well remember the panic buying and selling as well as the .22 shortage.
If it happened once , it can happen again.

Buy what want , when you can.
If you are like me and can't really afford a case of ammo at a time...
Just buy a box at at time , when you can.... you'd be surprised at how fast that can build up your ammo supply.
Andy
 
What I remember is that Clackamas Town Center happened the same week as Sandy Hook, and I kinda had a feeling things were gonna get weird regionally so I ordered a bunch of .223 from places than weren't here. When Sandy Hook happened I just sort of sat on everything, afraid to shoot it up for awhile.
 
This time around things are going to be different. Our enemies have learned it's best to engage us in a bunch of small skirmishes rather than pick a fight with a large powerful organization that has a proven track record. When they (Obama) went after us on a national scale, we were better prepared to do battle; we had our big guns on our side to help us fight. Now that it's just a handful of states being attacked, the remainder will sit it out just like many have done in the past - not all of them, but most do that (NIMBY). Nationwide threats seem to bring us all together, but not so when it's just one state being attacked. I remember back in Obama's day, that no matter where you were, magazines, ammo, guns were all hard to come by and when we found them we were aghast at the price our friends, our allies, our vendors were selling them for. With friends like that who needs enemies. I support capitalism, but I don't support those profiting off the misery of others. Fast forward to now, there are no shortages of anything and probably won't be because nationally speaking the second amendment isn't under assault like before. Ban them here and we'll go to Oregon, or mail order. We couldn't do that before. Times have changed and our enemy has become strategic. Don't let these bubbleguming cowards and traitors win. Vote... and volunteer some time or put forth some kind of effort to help those you are voting for.
 
That was a wild time.

A few lessons and observations:

1. AR's are great... but they aren't worth breaking the bank. If you don't have one and prices are going wild just enjoy the countless other more affordable firearms. Garands, M14s, even bolt and lever guns still have their place.... or spend a bunch of money and buy an AR, it's your money so do what you want.

2. Be prepared. Have a number and make that your "zero". For me it's 1,000 rounds. Never falls below that number for any caliber.


3. If you can afford bulk purchases go for it... otherwise take baby steps. Right now ammo online is fairly affordable... but there are also decent local sales. Every time I'm in Bi-Mart or other local retailers I pick up at least a box. If I make a purchase once a week I'm only spending between $6-10 and walking away with at least 20 rounds. Over the course of a year that adds up to over a thousand rounds.

At the end of the day don't forget to practice. It doesn't do anyone a lick of good to have 10 AR's in the safe if you haven't shot 8 of them.

My personal belief is it's better to have one good rifle, plenty of quality ammo, a med kit, food and some training then all the inventory of Cabelas.

Safe shooting and be prepared.

I agree with everything stated. But I would say get a copy of that 1 good rifle and a spare BCG or 2, and lots of mags!
 
I well remember the panic buying and selling as well as the .22 shortage.
If it happened once , it can happen again.

Buy what want , when you can.
If you are like me and can't really afford a case of ammo at a time...
Just buy a box at at time , when you can.... you'd be surprised at how fast that can build up your ammo supply.
Andy
Many times individual boxes are cheaper than the bulk box in stores. Currently I pay 27-29 cents per round for AR brass ammo when its on sale. I don't care about brands. Mainly at Bi-Mart but also wherever I bump into it.
 
I remember guys lining up in front of Walmart to buy the 22lr when it hit the shelves. Walmart started rationing 2 bricks per customer so these guys would bring their wives along. One gun store had a brick of the crappy Remington Thunder 22lr for $135. I walked out of there. Another was selling the Walmart ammo and they just put their sticker over the Walmart price
My doctor was an emeritus troop leader for the Boy Scouts. The owner of my favorite gun shop would donate 100,000 rounds of 22lr for the scouts to shoot at Camp High Sierra each summer. There was one year when Joe couldn't find 100k rounds anywhere so a bunch of us regulars coughed up 2 to 5 thousand rounds each for the scouts.
Heck, I traded 2 bricks for my NRA Rifle instructor course. Times were tight then.
 
That was a wild time.

A few lessons and observations:

1. AR's are great... but they aren't worth breaking the bank. If you don't have one and prices are going wild just enjoy the countless other more affordable firearms. Garands, M14s, even bolt and lever guns still have their place.... or spend a bunch of money and buy an AR, it's your money so do what you want.

2. Be prepared. Have a number and make that your "zero". For me it's 1,000 rounds. Never falls below that number for any caliber.


3. If you can afford bulk purchases go for it... otherwise take baby steps.

All during the last great panic I "tried" to tell all who asked this. Some would listen, many would not. <shrug>
The AR's, and several other guns that just went crazy on price were still available at "normal price" if the person did not "have to have it" that day. Places were still selling these as they came in and not scalping. Many would panic and pay any price for one now.
Ammo was the same. It was still being sold at the normal price if you did not have to have it that day.
Lastly when this last panic ended I said again humans in general seem to have amazingly short memories. As soon as the market was back to normal many just forgot all about it again. Now that things like .22 ammo are stacked on the shelf many forget. As mentioned if you don't want to spend $300 to buy a case of it just buy a few boxes every week or month, or whatever, MORE than what you shoot. Soon you have a nice supply. For centerfire stuff all you have to have is the supplies to roll your own. Can be done same way. Some here and there, stuff never goes bad. Next panic you can roll and shoot. Sadly next panic there will be hoards running around saying its all a conspiracy by the companies again and such :confused:
 
All during the last great panic I "tried" to tell all who asked this. Some would listen, many would not. <shrug>
The AR's, and several other guns that just went crazy on price were still available at "normal price" if the person did not "have to have it" that day. Places were still selling these as they came in and not scalping. Many would panic and pay any price for one now.
Ammo was the same. It was still being sold at the normal price if you did not have to have it that day.
Lastly when this last panic ended I said again humans in general seem to have amazingly short memories. As soon as the market was back to normal many just forgot all about it again. Now that things like .22 ammo are stacked on the shelf many forget. As mentioned if you don't want to spend $300 to buy a case of it just buy a few boxes every week or month, or whatever, MORE than what you shoot. Soon you have a nice supply. For centerfire stuff all you have to have is the supplies to roll your own. Can be done same way. Some here and there, stuff never goes bad. Next panic you can roll and shoot. Sadly next panic there will be hoards running around saying its all a conspiracy by the companies again and such :confused:

I don't reload, yet but I do save most of my brass. I've given a lot away to those that ask. I did see an interesting post here that someone was teaching a reloading class. I think it was in Wa. I would be interested in something like that locally.
 
I don't reload, yet but I do save most of my brass. I've given a lot away to those that ask. I did see an interesting post here that someone was teaching a reloading class. I think it was in Wa. I would be interested in something like that locally.
Most rolling your own is dead simple. Strait wall hand gun rounds are the most simple. For that I learned with a book by Lee. Read it, went to the store bought some stuff, rolled up a box or so, went out and they worked. Now days newbies have to hand it to Algore. They have the net. There is untold hours of personal teaching right there for anyone to see free. For anyone who really does not want to roll to save money, just wants to be prepared it's cheap. They don't need a nice progressive press. Just a basic Lee "Kit" will set them up. Set it up, roll a few to see how it works. Put it away. Set aside of primers, powder and bullets. They are set for life. I don't roll a lot of stuff any more as price is too low to bother. Do have a few 5 gal buckets in garage with empty brass though and all the other stuff. If we have another major panic I can dust off the press and roll ammo. The thing to not do is wait for a panic. Last great ammo panic the second things to vanish was reloading stuff. You could not buy a set of dies or press any more till they caught up. So set aside the stuff now, little here and there.
 
You guys are talking about the 2012 panic as if it were the only one to ever occur. :D

I've been through three of them now....1994.....2008.....and 2012. 2008-2012 was really more of a single panic but it really hit high gear in 2012.

It won't be the last.

-E-
 
I got hit in 2008, having just retired and returned home, and when I went to buy ammo to build up my stocks, there was ether none to be had, or it was so outrageously priced that there was no way I was going to ether pay that!
I did get lucky in being able to purchase powder and bullets to be able to rebuild my stash that way, for a time anyway, so I got through it OK!
Once the prices came down and availability and selection got better, I got on the ball and started stocking up as much as I could as often as I could!
I remember buying up cases of 5.56 and 7.62X51 every time I found it, and then buying up all the powder, primers, brass and bullets to roll my own just in case!
It took a good 5 or 6 years to be able to get .22LR at decent prices, but I had a metric ton from before the crash that I had kept, so I was good to go there!
I still buy up all the Fed Gold Medal Match, Eley, and 10X I can find when I find it though! Never know when the next shortage will happen!
 
You guys are talking about the 2012 panic as if it were the only one to ever occur. :D

I've been through three of them now....1994.....2008.....and 2012. 2008-2012 was really more of a single panic but it really hit high gear in 2012.

It won't be the last.

-E-

Y2K - it has been a while, but the prices went up quite a bit the year or two before, and then at the gun shows for a couple of years people were selling all their preps like there was nothing in the world to worry about from that point on.
 
You guys are talking about the 2012 panic as if it were the only one to ever occur. :D

I've been through three of them now....1994.....2008.....and 2012. 2008-2012 was really more of a single panic but it really hit high gear in 2012.

It won't be the last.

-E-
Nope it will not but, many just live through them and almost immediately forget. There was one on primers before algore invented the net. Can't remember what set that off now but I learned then. When they came back I made sure I kept many K on hand.
This last one as far as .22 though was one I had never seen. Normally they come and go. This one went on for years. Of course a lot of it is self feeding. My Wife even got caught up in it. The .22 one had been going for a hell of a long time. Since we always had plenty she never knew till she "heard it" one day. Races in to tell me there is no .22 ammo to be found. My telling her I had it in hand would not convince her and she got burned a couple times trying to "help" :eek:
The worst part of the .22 is how cheap it is. No one wanted to fill the garage with AR's but you know a lot of people filled the damn thing with .22 ammo. The people making it knew that if they spent HUGE money on new machines and building the pipe line would fill and the machines would sit idle. So they had no choice but to run 24/7 and wait for people to stop panic buying.
There will be another. Way too many people will again be caught short and scream and yell and will have learned nothing :confused:
 
I well remember the panic buying and selling as well as the .22 shortage.
If it happened once , it can happen again.

Buy what want , when you can.
If you are like me and can't really afford a case of ammo at a time...
Just buy a box at at time , when you can.... you'd be surprised at how fast that can build up your ammo supply.
Andy
True dat! Whenever we would head out to the sticks for a shooting day, we'd stop at the last Walmart for ammo and I always grabbed a brick or three because it was so cheap. Over the years it added up and I and my friends comfortably rode out the shortages and had enough to share when needed. Just a box or two per gun store visit and before you know it...
Y2K - it has been a while, but the prices went up quite a bit the year or two before, and then at the gun shows for a couple of years people were selling all their preps like there was nothing in the world to worry about from that point on.
Heh
I bought into Y2K hook line and sinker. I think I still have a bucket or 2 of hard red winter wheat in the garage. :confused:
My favorite prediction for Y2K actually came true when some wag said "Come January 2000, I predict a lot of dogs will be eating a lot of MREs".
 
I still had 1000 .22LR CCI MiniMags from 1977 and two 525 round boxes of Remington Goldens when the panic hit. When the panic was over I stocked up and now have around 15k rounds, most sealed with desiccant. I will never panic buy and will always have plenty of ammo and reloading supplies for defense and plinking.

I remember the people buying up everything they could from BiMart for scalping. I hated those people and really hope that they got stuck with all of that overpriced ammo.
 

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