What do we expect the price of ammo to do for the rest of 2016?

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Warp

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What do we expect the price of ammo to do for the rest of 2016?

Ammo prices have been coming down for at least 2.5 years following the panic we started off with in 2013. Even in the last year there have been noticeable reductions in prices and increases in general availability.

Crude/gasoline is way, way down, and that always helps.

Political entities have been pushing gun control hard, but ever since the general public realized...in the 2013 panic...that it wasn't happening...nobody really cares what those people say.

Of course...there is an election at the end of the year, but we won't know what direction people expect that to go for months and whomever gets elected won't be in office until a year from now.



Regardless of what happens later this year...I see ammunition prices remaining good or even improving slightly over the spring to summer.

What do you guys think?
 
Prices should remain stable until weeks leading up to the election. Then everything will be sold out. Happens every time. This moment is likely to be the time, when 10 years down the line, we will be looking back and saying " remember when .308 was $300/640rds? " or even "remember when you could order ammo to your door, without requiring an FFL transfer?"
 
It's gonna go up. California will likely pass a law that requires licensing of ammunition buyers and all ammo bought online will have to be shipped to an FFL. I expect the shooting community in the largest state in the nation to make panic buys everywhere in the state and online before these new laws take effect.

Although, if I were them, I'd just leave the state or start a revolution.

And since we're in an election year and the economy is nosediving early, I think the SHTF crowd will make their "preparations" before the usual September/October market crash takes effect.
 
Ammo prices don't really affect me because I reload. As long as I can find components for a decent price, I'm good.

If it becomes apparent in Sept/Oct timeframe that Hillary is going to win, you will see stuff showing up at my house by the truckload, lol.
 
I bought a bunch of ammo (about 8000 rounds) last month for 3 reasons:

1) It was holiday sale priced combined with discount coupons.
2) There will be another ammo sales spike closer to election time, so prices will go up as companies cash in on the increased demand.
3) My ammo budget will get severely cut when our first little one arrives this summer! :)
 
All depends on what the election is looking like this fall. If the democratic candidate is strongly in the lead, I expect to see buying pick up, prices go up, and availability to get skinny. Double that if it starts looking like republicans will lose ground in the house/senate as well. If republicans are in the lead, things should be better than they are now. Components will follow whatever ammo does. All of this assumes we do not have another horrific mess like Sandy Hook that the media goes nuts over and serves as grist for the political mill.

I think the wise person stocks up on what they like when it is available and reasonably priced, no matter which way the political winds are shifting. I don't find myself in need of much these days, but when I see something I use priced at bargain levels, I still buy it.
 
I expect ALL ammo to disappear from store shelves and online after the first week in November.

Cheaper than dirt will cease to be cheaper than dirt.
 
I have a short list of items that I need to re-stock as my previous buys in early 2008 have held up well. I am working the list now in small buys here and there based on price and brand availability. Waiting until September will be too late.
 
Ammo prices don't really affect me because I reload. As long as I can find components for a decent price, I'm good.

If it becomes apparent in Sept/Oct timeframe that Hillary is going to win, you will see stuff showing up at my house by the truckload, lol.
Really? I also reload and, for the last two years, component prices jumped to dizzying prices IF you could even find them at all. Component price fluctuations lag finished ammo but price behavior is similar.
 
^^^X2!

Reloading isn't a cheap date anymore. I wasn't able to find primers or projectiles for a time, or pistol powder for even longer.

Heck, I bought an 8 lb. jug of WSF because I couldn't find any handgun powder anywhere.

-Bill
 
I still can't buy handgun powder locally. It's literally been years. Primers were the same, but have poked their heads up again in the last year or so. I'd like to keep about 10K around this time. Going to order some more projectiles and stock up on 5.56. Pistol powder is a tough one. I'd like to get about 16lbs of Blue Dot and 8 more lbs of Bullseye.

If Hillary looks promising, the shelves will be bare again. . .
 
I survived the panic of 2008 and 2013 because I had components that were bought cheap, prior to those events. Even at the height of the panic, I was loading 9mm for 12 cents/round.

Over the last 3 month's, I've already re-supplied with 2 years worth of primers and rifle/pistol powder.

I won't be scrambling around come September because I already have enough stuff on hand.
 
I watched a friend pay 10 cents a round for CCI 22's today. I had to swallow hard on that one.

Me thinks a very minor glitch will drive prices up once again.

They test the waters and see what they can get.
 
I bought a fairly large amount of factory ammo as it became available over the past few years.

I have never reloaded a single round, but have all of the equipment and components, press, dies, etc... 20 pounds of pistol powder, 20,000 large and small pistol primers and 10,000 bullets. That should last me for a while.
 
RE: Reloading supplies/components...I was shopping around for the stuff to get set up for reloading 9x19 a couple years ago and yes the pistol powder was insanely hard to get for awhile. I was in all of the reloading forums, sections, threads, etc...it was like winning the lottery when somebody had a good price on in stock Power Pistol.
 
Even 333-rd. boxes of .22LR were at a large local gun store last week for "$20.99". A decent improvement over six months ago. It should get a bit better.
To avoid too much time/trouble etc reloading, just have or acquire a rifle which shoots either steel-cased 7.62x39 (.22/rd.) or .223.

Buy as much of this Romanian/Ukr./Russian ammo as can be justified before next September. The next panic could possibly begin this week.
One or two panics had Nothing to do with elections.
 
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I watched a friend pay 10 cents a round for CCI 22's today. I had to swallow hard on that one.

Me thinks a very minor glitch will drive prices up once again.

They test the waters and see what they can get.
.22 LR isn't ammunition anymore, it's a lottery ticket.
 
Personally, I think that SOMEDAY, and hopefully soon, we will be able to buy 22lr for 4 cents per round again. I sold my sliver for $50 an ounce. Now I am waiting for it to go back down to $8 an ounce so I can buy some more. People were saying "you will never see gas under $2 a gallon again" less than a year ago. I just laughed and said "that is what they used to say when Jimmy Carter was president.
 
I expect ALL ammo to disappear from store shelves and online after the first week in November.

Cheaper than dirt will cease to be cheaper than dirt.
Treat Ya' Like Dirt is never cheap. Aside from the economics, there's an emotional price to pay in dealing with a company like that. Can't and won't do it.

As to ammo prices in general, it's cheap now and available. It generally doesn't go bad for long periods of time, i.e., shot some .22's from the 60's recently and they all went bang. Over the 50+ years it had been stored in damp basements, hot attics, etc, no special care taken.

Think of it as a long term investment and you can't go wrong whether or not it spikes as we approach the elections. Plus, seeing the old price tags on it will always put a smile on your face. :rolleyes:
 
I think now really is the time to buy, and as somebody above stated, we may be looking back saying "man I wish ammo was still at spring 2016 prices."

During the panic I remember seeing old threads from about 2011 (only two years prior) and drooling over the prices people were discussing.

Now when I search around for opinions and feedback on ammo to make a purchasing decision or just kill time reading about gun stuff, I see 2011 prices and I think...wow that's almost exactly the same price today. Obviously this depends on what you are looking at, specifically, and where...but yeah.
 
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Over this past summer, I bought 60 boxes of Federal XM-193 from Cabelas for $6/box delivered. I don't think I will ever do any better than that. $360 for 1200 rounds.

This, on top of the components I have to load another 2500 rounds.
 
Others have already mentioned, but I also think prices will be reasonable until we get close to November.

Other than .22lr I am not complaining about the current price of ammo, and there seem to be a LOT of new reloaders. Places like Freedom Munitions are booming, as people are realizing it's safe to shoot reloads (remember we have a lot of new gun owners among our ranks).

Hopefully people have learned to have a little more than necessary on hand at all times.
 
The next economic collapse we are on the verge of will keep raw materials low. And prices will hold steady

Rimfire will still not have recovered
 
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