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One of the biggest ammo and components manufacturers, Remington going TU right at the onset of the panic didn't help either.The economics of ammo prices and arguing over "who" is driving up ammo prices is silly. This is like the argument that if we all just stopped buying airplane tickets they would drop the prices to the point flying would be ridiculously cheap. Well, the ebbs always come with the flows, eventually there is always going to be "somebody" who is willing to buy at the price offered and before long all the hold outs hoping for cheaper tickets realize they need to buy too because it isn't getting cheaper and before long you are right back to where you started.
Same thing with the ammo.
Except for 1 thing.
The 5+ million Americans who rushed out and bought guns for the first time in their lives (who previously felt they didn't need guns) and then subsequently bought a bunch of ammo to go with their guns - THEY are the ones who drove the spike in prices the most because THEY were the anomaly in the standard volume of purchases. The system was already stable with the regular purchase volume every year, it was the anomaly that was this nee volume that threw a wrench in the system that had been regular for years.
Even if they only bought 100 rounds each, that was still 500 million+ more rounds of ammo that regularly was not purchased by them, but I am sure many of them bought far more. I know a guy who bought about 1500 between rifle and pistol ammo, so potentially 5+ million times 1500 rounds, that's potentially 75,000,000,000 (75 billion) rounds that would have normally not been bought by people.
Then the cascade happened with reloading as well because mostly all the experienced shooters decided "I'm not paying $1 a round for target ammo" and jumped into reloading.
On one hand I am not blaming the new buyers, unless they voted for Biden, in that case they should live their ideals and only own a double barrel shotgun that they can fire both blasts into the air from their balcony if an intruder comes to scare them away. (Advice from the then vice-president Biden)
Well, I shot about 1,500 rounds 2020, and another this year so far... that's 3K since ammo prices went through the roof. I can't afford to pay 30 bucks for a box of 9mm and still shoot like that, so I have to "get while the gettin' is good".Follow up question due to curiosity: for those that are (more or less) in the "Enormous stores of ammo are essential. Stack it high and deep! Can't have too much!" camp, for what purposes or emergency scenarios do you see expending tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition? Thanks.
There was no way that was going to happen, most of the panic was by people who never prepared for anything in life and had to buy their first gun with all and any ammo they could find. It's the same as with toilet paper, I'll betcha some people are furnishing their homes with the stuff regretting their poor life choices.No, my point is that ammo buyers, collectively, shouldn't shoot themselves in the foot. If everyone had simply continued as they had, prices would have never fluctuated at all.
But we aren't very good about thinking of ourselves as a community.
That has nothing to do with the polarization that led to increased demand.Obama passed pretty much zero gun control. Clinton, Bush and Reagan put in more. I don't know what caused this sea-change in behavior, but it didn't seem to be policy.
I wasn't.I was shooting and reloading through all of those, and the only thing I remember dealing with was hard to find magazines.
I already see people selling ammo they say they just bought.The good news about panic buyers who don't enjoy the sport is they'll likely sell off whatever they bought for dirt cheap, it's only a matter of time.
Gun control laws were still passed in various states during these periods. Oregon alone passed several.Obama passed pretty much zero gun control. Clinton, Bush and Reagan put in more. I don't know what caused this sea-change in behavior, but it didn't seem to be policy.
This guy gets it.Newbie has lots of ammo now
Newbie can shoot monthly for life without purchasing more
Newbie will happily replace what he shoots
because
Newbie goes without things like an $800 diesel truck payment, $2000 annual vacations or using retirement funds to make a house payment.
Look at what people pay monthly to eat out.
Shooting is still fun, cheap entertainment.
.
Gun control laws were still passed in various states during these periods. Oregon alone passed several.
Yeah, plenty of profiting people around too. I know I picked up some ammo for people that said they wanted some and then turned around and didn't want it ("glad" I footed the bill). Still would like to trade some .223 for 9mm, or even sell it, but I'd rather shoot it than take a loss.I already see people selling ammo they say they just bought.
That isn't because they think they don't need it - they are most likely looking for a profit.
But yeah, once the panic has subsided, they will be selling their preps - I saw it after Y2K; lots of ammo, guns and preps sold to pay the credit card bills they thought they wouldn't have to pay because of an apocalypse. Just like with gensets after a widespread power outage, or water pumps after flooding. Lots of people panic buy and then forget why they panicked, never thinking ahead.
That's a fact.One of the biggest ammo and components manufacturers, Remington going TU right at the onset of the panic didn't help either.
With a humble, respectful, "same team " tone I would make a simple suggestion.My first at least 20 years of ammo buying, from the late 80s on, had no fluctuations. So what I am complaining about may seem like the norm to you, but four presidents and the Crime Bill didn't affect ammo prices and availability. In 2006 I bought 1000 rounds of shiny military .308 surplus for $120. 50 rounds of 9mm could be had that entire time for $5 box, with a choice of brands. 1000 round value box of .22 was $14. Stuff was never out of stock.
I was in a number of shooting clubs at the time, and while many of us reloaded, no one ever talked about stockpiling ammunition. So all this may seem normal, but there wasn't any prepping going on, and no one ever talked about zombies. So I don't know if everything changed because the president was black or what, but this new normal is not.
Interjecting the reference "maybe because the president was black" made me question the merit of anything else you wrote. What a ridiculous thing to say.My first at least 20 years of ammo buying, from the late 80s on, had no fluctuations. So what I am complaining about may seem like the norm to you, but four presidents and the Crime Bill didn't affect ammo prices and availability. In 2006 I bought 1000 rounds of shiny military .308 surplus for $120. 50 rounds of 9mm could be had that entire time for $5 box, with a choice of brands. 1000 round value box of .22 was $14. Stuff was never out of stock.
I was in a number of shooting clubs at the time, and while many of us reloaded, no one ever talked about stockpiling ammunition. So all this may seem normal, but there wasn't any prepping going on, and no one ever talked about zombies. So I don't know if everything changed because the president was black or what, but this new normal is not.
Being in the "never too much ammo or guns" camp, I just keep the ammo I buy unless I don't have a gun for it (e.g., last year I sold my AR50 so I sold all my .50 BMG ammo too).Yeah, plenty of profiting people around too. I know I picked up some ammo for people that said they wanted some and then turned around and didn't want it ("glad" I footed the bill). Still would like to trade some .223 for 9mm, or even sell it, but I'd rather shoot it than take a loss.
I think we shouldn't forget another major issue with the ammo market was the slow down of manufacturing and production of raw materials due to the shutdowns of covid. That played a big role in the initial market scarcity that manufacturers are just now getting caught up with.
I was shooting in a variety of IDPA and similar clubs with a mix of fellow military and civilians starting in the late 90s. I have been on various gun forums since at least 1999. Several of my fellow members were SEALs, but maybe they are too tactical.Interjecting the reference "maybe because the president was black" made me question the merit of anything else you wrote. What a ridiculous thing to say.
"Shooting club people" really means nothing in terms of ammo volume, most shooting club people are firing bolt actions and trap/skeet shotguns, those aren't in the crosshairs of gun grabbing tyrants, and have never effectively been. If you knew lots of guys of a more "tactical" mindset back then, I would bet they were stockpiling ammunition, you just never heard about it because why would they tell you and the internet wasn't around for you to easily see what other people were advertising they were doing.
Zombies aren't real and people who talk about preparing for zombies in the "walking dead" sense are dumb. Metaphorical zombies do exist though, they come in the form of people drugged out of their mind, or people that say things like "you don't need a gun, the government will protect you."
I would surmise the biggest difference is the availability of information, you didn't know what you didn't know in the 80's because the accessibility of that information was significantly reduced.
Please tell us how you make your own primers and cases.How about, no need for big piles of ammo but the ability to make what you need should a crisis arise. Roll your own.
It all depends on whose ox is being gored.I don't know if Obama's race had anything to do with the way the right reacted to his election vs Clinton's, but no other presidential candidate has been attacked for supposedly being foreign born, either. So it doesnt seem like much of a stretch to suggest that some of the less-than-wise average behavior during those periods was the result less-than-laudable prejudices.
Well, Obama's birth certificate was a serious credibility issue and it was a historical fact that Hawaii was giving out birth certificates to foreign born babies, and it is further complicated by his family in Kenya having things to say about what is accurate or not, but regardless of that. I think Obama drew significant criticism because he was inspired by Saul Alinski, referenced his dedication to Islam despite pretending to be a Christian for votes and was pushed into political power for what he said rather than what the results were. He sucked, plain and simple.I was shooting in a variety of IDPA and similar clubs with a mix of fellow military and civilians starting in the late 90s. I have been on various gun forums since at least 1999. Several of my fellow members were SEALs, but maybe they are too tactical.
I don't know if Obama's race had anything to do with the way the right reacted to his election vs Clinton's, but no other presidential candidate has been attacked for supposedly being foreign born, either. So it doesnt seem like much of a stretch to suggest that some of the less-than-wise average behavior during those periods was the result less-than-laudable prejudices.
These were real SEALs. I was Navy, knew a lot of the same people. Went through OCS with two well known SEALs.Regarding "Seals" when I worked at a gun range, we met "Seals" all the time, in fact it seemed that we had the highest concentration of "Seals" in the country visiting the range.