Ammo prices up already?

I’ve noticed that some of the ammo deals I was buying are not available, and have been buying other brands. Just bought a couple cases of Geco 9MM at $159 but that was a screaming deal IMO. My go-to is www.sgammo.com and they seem to still have plenty of good deals, albeit not the amount they once had...of maybe it is just me not seeing the brands I’m used to buying as the cheapest prices.

Regardless, It was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve been really trying to stack ammo up as the prices fell and were down, but let’s face it, businesses need to make some margins if they are to remain viable. Material prices alone were pushing prices up from the rock bottom deals we saw over the last year.

Is it a spike or will it remain? Who knows...but at some point, I believe we will be right back in the mess we were in a few years back...and I don’t want to be there without a solid cache of ammo to see me through and allow my range time to be interrupted.

YMMV

Up is about the only direction ammo prices could go and still keep the factory doors open. As measured against income I don't think I've ever seen it any cheaper.

Seem pretty low to me.

Not that I can tell. Is there a specific caliber you are looking at? Maybe hunting ammo is up with fall seasons starting but fmj range ammo is very inexpensive. 223/556, 762x39, 9mm all probably the lowest we have seen in years, especially if you shoot steel cased.

It seems to me that the price of handloading components has gone up, especially bullets, but not beyond the increase in the price of metals in general. As far as loaded ammunition goes, I haven't noticed anything I'd consider out of the ordinary

I've availed myself of deals in the last 2 weeks at LGS on 9mm and 5.56. Bought 2k Winchester brass cased 9mm at $14/100ct and a 1k of Federal brass cased 5.56 at $20/100ct. Lowest I've seen either for quality stuff.

This is how it begins.

I don’t think ammo prices are going up. I just bought 140 rounds of Hornady Black 450BM with an ammo can for $159 shipped to my house. But by all means start a panic. I’ll make a small fortune.

So far I have seen no indication of ammunition prices increasing, just the opposite. They seem to still be slowly ratcheting down in addition to the waves of rebate deals that started showing up in the last 18 months, or so.

On my Things to Do List today is sorting (or starting to sort) the additional piles of ammunition & components that I have been accumulating over the past year. It is getting hard for me to find space to clean a gun or reload some ammo due to the windrows of STUFF that I have been parking here & there.

Buzznrose said:

Just bought a couple cases of Geco 9MM at $159 but that was a screaming deal IMO.

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I got a couple of cases of that in that deal as well. It was hard to pass up at that price.

The pendulum has swung far in the cheap direction for all things gun related since the last great shortage. AR’s for less than $300!? Stayed there a long time, too. Should swing back to a more balanced spot unless pushed again by some significant event. This past couple of years has been a golden opportunity to stock up for the next shortage. Won’t last for ever. Change is a certainty.

sherman123:
No---Not for "9 mm" or 7.62x39 seen now on "Gunbot" (online order prices). I glance at it every 1-3 weeks. Maybe a minor blip will soon be there for some chamberings, because of the cowardly political decision by Walmart to appease certain factions--and gain extra advertising benefits.

It is always interesting to be aware of trends, but otherwise, it should not matter to the majority of frequent sport shooters.

Unless people were broke (or had unplanned medical emer. etc) for years, underage, house burned down, or out of the country etc for quite a while, they should have had the opportunity to buy some sort of reserve supply.

Elkins45 said:

As measured against income I don't think I've ever seen it any cheaper.

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Agreed.

Here in Komiefornia we can't order ammo online. I started reloading because of this. 40 cal has gone up allot here in the last six months however 5.56 is cheaper than ever if you will submit yourself to a background check.

alfsauve said:

I've availed myself of deals in the last 2 weeks at LGS on 9mm and 5.56. Bought 2k Winchester brass cased 9mm at $14/100ct and a 1k of Federal brass cased 5.56 at $20/100ct. Lowest I've seen either for quality stuff.

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Wow really? Your local gun shop is selling brass cased Federal 5.56 for $200/1000rds? That is like 14 years ago prices. The very best I've seen brass cased go for was $259 for wolf Gold.

As far as whether or not there has been an uptick in ammo sales? I think at least a lil. I was ammo hunting about a week ago and for 1000rd bulk cases of wolf military classic the listing said something to the tune of 249 1k ct Cases ready to ship. I just ordered 1000 rounds and it said 42 ready to ship.

I may be off base here but I think 207,000 rounds in a week from one distributor/retailer is more than usual as I dont usually see a disparity to that extent in a weeks time, not that I pay super close attention but......


I'm not going into panic mode but in light of recent developments and the fact retailers and consumers reactions to these kinds of things can effect price and availability of ammo, I will be buying what I can afford so that I'm not without...

Since I have been literally butt deep in ammunition I haven't overly looked at prices but it seems just about every day I get an email detailing ammunition sales. Normally my summers are countless hours on the range but this year my wife has had health issues keeping me home more. Hell, I have been happy to get several hours out on my bike now and then. So as winter comes I'll be making more ammunition, on the bright side I have plenty of cans to put it in.

Overall I haven't seen much of a price increase over the past few years but again I haven't really been looking very hard at prices. Nice thing about ammunition is it has a long shelf life when properly stored much like reloading components. I always suggest to people when you see a good price (sale) to buy what you can least if things go south real quick, as we have seen before, you are sitting on a nice stash. That does not mean spend the rent or mortgage money or the kids beanies and weenies money on ammo.

Ron

A twenty pack of Remington Korelokt .30-30 $10 at Walmart. That is very nice price for ammo that can be used to fill freezer with meat. Nice pre-hunting season gesture by folks at Walmart.

Palolosj said:

A twenty pack of Remington Korelokt .30-30 $10 at Walmart. That is very nice price for ammo that can be used to fill freezer with meat. Nice pre-hunting season gesture by folks at Walmart.

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Not at all Walmart , the four around me $15.50 plus tax for Federal, Remington or Winchester. If it was $10 a box I'd buying hundreds of rounds. I'm giving up on Walmart now anyway after the last few days

^ that’s back to early 2000’s prices

Should be going down, seems like I have heard Walmart used to buy a bazillion rounds a year and they are cutting back...

I did get out my crystal ball though to take a look and it says in the future it will go up and down, just didn’t give me the dates for either.

I got two 20 boxes of the Winchester 223 55gr FMJ at the Orschelin's Farm and Home store yesterday for 9.95 each. Not super cheap but it was the last couple of boxes.
It was Old Fart 5% discount day too.

prices have been artificially low to compete with a certain retailer, that recently left. It stands to reason that there will be a new low bar.

mjsdwash said:

prices have been artificially low to compete with a certain retailer, that recently left. It stands to reason that there will be a new low bar.

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As in the "new" low bar will be higher or you predict that the smaller scale retailers will be able to compete and sell for cheaper than they currently do?

Somebody previously posted in a different thread that the reason for high price tags on ammo in small shops was because they couldnt compete, that wal mart could sell it for cheaper than they(small retailers) could get it.
That just doesnt make sense, I could go get it cheaper than wal mart could sell it to me for, how is a retailer not going to be able to get it for at least as cheap as I can?

DustyGmt said:

As in the "new" low bar will be higher or you predict that the smaller scale retailers will be able to compete and sell for cheaper than they currently do?

Somebody previously posted in a different thread that the reason for high price tags on ammo in small shops was because they couldnt compete, that wal mart could sell it for cheaper than they(small retailers) could get it.
That just doesnt make sense, I could go get it cheaper than wal mart could sell it to me for, how is a retailer not going to be able to get it for at least as cheap as I can?

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walmart sells many things at cost or at a loss. Look at their tire departments. You cant think they make money selling 26$ oil changes paying people 12$/hour, and using $18 wholesale cost worth of goods? They sell ammo at or near cost, and have for many years. Many come in for ammo and buy more because were there. Its very easy to tell the loss leaders there. If it takes 20 minutes to get attention, there's no profit. Auto/sporting goods, grocery. Now with a company getting major discounts from manufacturers, that is not concerned with operating costs getting out, the people selling as cheap as they possible can and stay in business are able to raise the price. Cheap ammo will now be limited to the internet, at least until the Democrats take congress. As far as "selling cheaper than I can buy", thats a real thing. If you hang around a convinience store long enough, you will see them unloading beer/cigarettes they buy from Costco. They can buy it there cheaper than distributors give it to them for. Yea, a gunshop can go buy from Walmart cheaper than their distributor, but the distributor doesn't need to "find someone with keys" for a half hour, and isn't out of stock for weeks. They also don't have to drive to walmart, and buy off of their normal accounts. So they do pay more than Walmart sells for, because its not worth a persons 2 hours to go buy the entire 5 boxes of inventory to save a buyer 2$/box. And now they don't have to. It may be hard on the consumer, but look at it as an extra $30/year for the average buyer, and a few thousand for the average seller, and its not so bad.