BiMart in Beaverton, rep tried to tell me they're still short on ammo when...

[CharlesAFerg]

I'm not quite sure if this is the proper section for this, but it's in regards to ammunition, so why not?

Anyway, I recently visited the Beaverton BiMart and went to the ammunition desk for some .357 Sig and .45ACP. I understand that .357 Sig is relatively obscure in the civilian market, so I wasn't surprised when they mentioned that they never carry it at all. Yet, when I asked about .45, he started to tell me that "The ammunition shortage is still strong! People buy it all when it comes in." All that, just to see that they are absolutely overstocked with .223 and .308, and they haven't had a shipment in at least a week or so they mentioned.

The guy obviously has no clue, and he went on to respond to a question I had about the shortage.
I said, Well, you would think that with increased prices, the smaller manufacturers would start to grow in both production and sales, while the already large manufacturers would also be expanding. He responded by telling me that, "It's nearly impossible to get into the market, because you have a mandatory military contract when you start an ammunition business, eating up all of your production."

Quite honestly, I think that's a load of manure, but does anybody know any facts about this statement?

The way I see it, if they didn't have an overstock of .225 and .308, as they did, I would probably walk away and not think of it. Honestly, though, that is the one thing that made me think that all the problem really is, is he or whoever does their product ordering for future inventory sucks at their job, and doesn't know what to order.

If the military was sucking up their production, wouldn't they be out of those two types of rounds?

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[jordanvraptor]

Thats a load of BS unless its attached to the Health Care bill with everything else...

.45 is still spendy but thats partly because it uses a lot of brass and lead which the Chinese like to buy for their economy so all ammo went up regardless of the panic buying. The military doesn't use that much .45 ACP (in comparison to 9mm or 5.56 and 7.62) and those that do are probably special forces which can buy open market without MILSPEC contracts. The Marines probably have to bid it out through the Navy but they don't use that much for their MEUSOC guys.

 

[xstayfrostyx]

The guy obviously has no clue...

That's why he works at bi-mart.

I stopped in there a couple weeks ago and they had a couple UMC bulk packs (250) of 45acp for $92. I grabbed one without hesitation. Otherwise, I can't even remember the last time I've seen any 50 round boxes... not even blazer, or anything.

Meanwhile, it's hard not to trip over the piles of 40 and 38sp. I'm curious too, what's the deal?

 

[toolfan]

As I understand it, some cartridges are made pretty much year round, and some are made in batches. Obviously, high demand/military cartridges are going to run pretty much all the time.

For lower demand stuff, it doesn't make sense to keep the line rolling all the time, so they run batches. That explains why .380 will be scarce for a month or two, then suddenly everyone has it (if only for a short period, I think the manufacturers are caught off guard by the popularity of .380).

I'd guess .45 falls into the periodic production category, and I'd almost guarantee .357sig does as well.

 

[Ravenous]

I was thinking about that myself as I was picking up some 12g shells at walmart. They had plent of .308, 30-06, and .223 but just a couple boxes of 9mm and no .40 or .45. Your logic is sound that somebody should be picking up the slack and reaping the rewards but who knows what is really going on.

 

[asiparks]

Maybe the raw materials are in short supply and rifle rounds are more profitable than pistol calibres so thats why your seeing the 308, perhaps the manufacturers do huge batch runs on one calibre before moving on to a different one....

did they have any 45 ?
No ?
Did you check to see if a big distributer like AIM is rolling in non Eastern Bloc pistol rounds ?
No ?

Well, then there's still a shortage,

Do you think Bi Mart doesn't want to make money and wouldn't buy as many pistol rounds as they could lay their hands on ?

Why slam the guy who works there because of what YOU don't know?

 

[Brandon44647]

Ore City Fismermans seem to have hit the jackpot on ammo & supplies, I have for the last few weeks seen more powder , TONS of primers in every size you could want (1,000 limit, not 400 like Bi-mart) as well as Brass and loaded ammo then I've seen in a VERRRRRRRRY long time. If your looking for reloading presses they have 3 shelves full of different reloading "kits" Hornady-and RCBS to name a few. Maybe this is a stupid question , but if they all of a sudden are able to stock their shelves like this now. Why are most other "suppliers" having such a hard time stocking shelves right now ? :huh:

 

[Dan-Dee Sales Inc]

Ore City Fismermans seem to have hit the jackpot on ammo & supplies, I have for the last few weeks seen more powder , TONS of primers in every size you could want (1,000 limit, not 400 like Bi-mart) as well as Brass and loaded ammo then I've seen in a VERRRRRRRRY long time. If your looking for reloading presses they have 3 shelves full of different reloading "kits" Hornady-and RCBS to name a few. Maybe this is a stupid question , but if they all of a sudden are able to stock their shelves like this now. Why are most other "suppliers" having such a hard time stocking shelves right now ? :huh:

For us it comes in batches. We just received primers that were ordered in September. But we found 60 boxes of .380 from our 4th source that came in a week later. It is hard to say how long these items were ordered or if they have a rep like we do that keeps an eye out. We may check our suppliers 5-8 times a day for certain items because you may catch them before someone else does. 40s&w is about the only caliber that we can order on a regular basis at this time.

 

[CharlesAFerg]

Why slam the guy who works there because of what YOU don't know?

Excuse me, but I'm explaining why I feel that HE didn't know what he was talking about, since he seemed to know so much more than me. If you actually read my post, you will understand my grievances are justified and my positions and thoughts are well explained and based in fact, when the sales associate is basing his own opinions of speculation and a vague, uncited fact.

Slamming? Hardly.

Thats a load of BS unless its attached to the Health Care bill with everything else...

.45 is still spendy but thats partly because it uses a lot of brass and lead which the Chinese like to buy for their economy so all ammo went up regardless of the panic buying. The military doesn't use that much .45 ACP (in comparison to 9mm or 5.56 and 7.62) and those that do are probably special forces which can buy open market without MILSPEC contracts. The Marines probably have to bid it out through the Navy but they don't use that much for their MEUSOC guys.

Exactly, the military doesn't use much .45ACP, so I have a feeling it was a raw materials, or basic materials shortage, like primers and brass. My friend is a Reconnaissance marine, and while they do some shooting with .45, it's not even remotely to the scale that the 0311 guys go through with 5.56x45mm and 9x19mm. Same goes with the rest of the special operations folks.

I was thinking about that myself as I was picking up some 12g shells at walmart. They had plent of .308, 30-06, and .223 but just a couple boxes of 9mm and no .40 or .45. Your logic is sound that somebody should be picking up the slack and reaping the rewards but who knows what is really going on.

With regards to that, my thought is this...
Why don't the smaller, third party manufacturers become more prominent in the market? The prices don't have to decrease to compete, and everybody else has increased their prices to equalize with the smaller manufacturers. So, naturally, that would create an excellent environment for them to expand, even if the large companies are still growing. They can now compete and grow.

The associate at BiMart stated that, "they must engage in a military contract and sell the military an amoung too large to get into the business, so nobody has gotten into the business."

While it makes sense, I have seen or heard no real evidence of this. Also, nobody here has followed up on any evidence, which is why I'm still calling speculation and rumor on this one.

This is why I posted this thread here in the first place. I really appreciate the replies, and hope this continues.

 

[Misternt]

Last week they had $2 off most boxes of pistol ammo so that had might have affected it. Does bi-mart ever carry 357 sig?

 

[buick455]

I don't think there is any law requiring a company to produce ammo for the military in order to enter the market...... this isn't the old solviet union...... yet

I would think that the shear cost of machinery and liability insurance would be more than banks now days would loan

So i'd say bi-mart guy was not far off in saying that a company would need a military contract to enter the market or expand enough to make a difference on the shelves

 

[Tactical SS]

I stopped in there a couple weeks ago and they had a couple UMC bulk packs (250) of 45acp for $92. I grabbed one without hesitation.

That's not bad, I bought one of those last year sometime and it was ~$80, I looked a couple months ago and it was up to $120 in my area, hopefully it has come down under $100 around here now.

 

[ehunter]

You know its still hit and miss to get primers and certain powders it is better. Last fall in the Bi Mart in Hillsboro you couldn't hardly get any 06 or 270 ammo? Try to buy bullets there its still hard to find some normal bullets today they were out of Nolser Partitions in the 150's for my 308. So the pipe line is still not full.

 

[MountainBear]

.45 is starting to get scarce around Central Oregon again. It's still around, but you definitely have to go looking for it. So the ammo shortage is still strong, however its becoming more limited in the caliber's its effecting. The evil black rifle calibers seem to have caught up some, as has .22LR, but .380 and .45 ACP are both still harder to find around here...

 

[BroncoFan]

Massad Ayoob had an excellent article in Backwoods Home magazine last year that articulated the ammo issue pretty well. Issue 118.

 

[JAFO]

They have all of the ammo on order already. They used to get mutliple shipments a week. Now they are lucky to get a small batch once a week.

Different retailers have different buying power. No store clerk can tell an ammo distributor who should get priority on shipments.

A lot of the military rounds are made by the same proucers who make many of the other rounds (or components). Why should they bother with small time consumer goods when they still have large contracts to fill with .gov?

It's quite lame to whine about someone who has no control over it even if you *think* things should be different now with the supply.

 

[glockguy]

The Bimarts around here (albany Lebanon and Corvallis) have been low on all ammo... they just started to get there American eagle .223 back in and they are always out of 9mm... I think it just depends on demand of the cal. of ammo

 

[Rascals]

I find it hard to want to invest money into a comercial loading facility when there is the fear that the government is going to stop it. Why invest all that money for a short run of stuff. Ya you might make some money but with the chances after all that work of some executive order to say sorry your shut down does not instill the desire to invest in that option.

 

[cyclesarge]

I find it hard to want to invest money into a comercial loading facility when there is the fear that the government is going to stop it. Why invest all that money for a short run of stuff. Ya you might make some money but with the chances after all that work of some executive order to say sorry your shut down does not instill the desire to invest in that option.

This is what I was thinking.
It would be kinda like building a small hardware store next to WalMart, because there is a run on hammers. By the time you get the store built, the run on hammers might be over.

 

[deen_ad]

I guess I'm not going to find any more PMC .223 for $1.99/20 anymore? :huh: