Be a "hoarder" with me!

[btaylor73]

It has been a long couple of years of relearning the concept "supply and demand" for most of us. Generally it feels like things in the shooting world are getting better when it comes to reloading supplies, guns, ammo, ar-15's, magazines, and everything else related to guns. I am really surprised that pistol powder and 22LR is still hard to come by. It seems to me 22LR seems to be worse than what it was a year ago!
I have been shooting for about 12 years and if memory serves me right, I think this is the 3rd or 4th time that I have experienced some type of shortage on reloading supplies. Particularly primers. Obviously this last shortage was 10 times worse than the last ones all combined. Luckily for me, I learned from the first primer scare that I was no longer going to go without supplies so I stocked up! Ever since, I never have been without reloading supplies and 22LR. I have always been covered for my needs
So...during the height of the panic I read many times on these forums people calling others who had stocked up, "hoarders." It seemed that those who had a stock of supplies where looked down upon. It made me laugh when others would complain about those who had a supply and not give it up to those who had found the shelves of the stores empty! If having a supply of what I need in the basement is being labeled a hoarder then I love being a hoarder! Now don't get me wrong, I did help many friends who were not as wise and didn't stock up.
So here we are today. Things are a little better. I can walk into most stores and buy primers, bullets, AR-15s, magazines, some rifle powders, and just about anything else (except that dang elusive 22LR!). Some of this stuff seems to be at pre panic prices! So look at this as a reminder to all of us to ask ourselves if we are going to be wise and stock up for the next scare brought on by a shooting, or a popular democratic politician who might be elected and take away gun rights, or a shift if the supreme court, or whatever else that wakes us all up and sends us scrambling to empty Cabelas or Sportsmans Warehouses shelves.
Luckily I have been blessed with a job that allows me to have a little extra income to feed this horribly addictive hobby of shooting. Also it's nice to have a wife who will let me be an addict. I realize all of us do not have the ability or income to stock up but we might want to start off with baby steps with stocking up.
So there's my invitation. Let's be hoarders together!!!!!!!!!

 

[1911 guy]

Agreed. Some people laughed at me when I bought a literal pickup truck load of .22 ammo. I'm still shooting it, more than 10 years later and it still has the sixty-nine cent price tag on every box.

 

[Armymutt]

Where were you buying it for $.69 in 2005? I have boxes from a Montgomery Ward store in Indiana that closed in the 60s that are tagged at $.69. I think it was around a buck the last time I bought .22LR in 2000.

 

[Bang!]

I'll join you. Presently buying what I'm using plus a little more. Still leaving some on the shelf for the next enthusiast.

 

[375supermag]

Hi...

I agree that any shooter needs to be aware that forces outside of our control can dramatically impact our sport.

It is the height of foolishness to not be prepared for the next panic...I have not yet had my shooting impacted by the current panic and have no intention of being impacted the next time around.

I don't shoot a lot of factory ammo other than .22LR and .22Mag, so I keep a fairly large supply of components on hand (primers, powders and bullets(both commercial cast and jacketed).

Whenever I can buy more components, I do.

If I empty a can of powder, I buy at least two containers. Use up a 1000 primers, buy a couple thousand.

Over the ongoing panic, I haven't yet needed to use any of my "strategic" reserve.

The only thing I haven't shot during the panic has been any .22Mag. I still have about a thousand rounds and will hold those until I double that amount.

As far as .22LR, my son and I have probably shot more the last two years than we did the previous 15 years combined. Mostly because we acquired three new .22 rimfire firearms...one of which is an H&K autoloader carbine. My son has run literally thousands of rounds through that rifle in the last year.

Even with the shortages, we have been able to increase our supply of .22LR ammunition from what it was a couple of years ago. I have gone months at a time without seeing any on the shelves at gunshops and then, suddenly there will be 50rd boxes at one shop, bulk packs at another and 100rd boxes at another.
We generally buy all that we can considering daily limits and available currency, needed or not.

 

[cat_IT_guy]

Im not sure I've reached hoarder status yet, but I certainly have a larger stockpile of ammo than I have at any point in the past. Im sitting a couple thousand rounds of .22, and still buying opportunistically, but Im more price-sensitive than I was a year ago.

The shortage of rimfire has changed the way I shoot it. I used to shoot hundreds of rounds in a weekend without giving it a second thought, as I could simply pick up another brick or 3 next time I went to wally world. Now, I shoot generally only 50-100 rounds of .22 in a session, as I'm never sure how soon I'll be able to replace it.

 

[X-Rap]

And this is why the supply is still catching up. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, my family had plenty stacked up and we intend to double that when it's available.
If it would keep and was cost effective to buy the storage I'd have 10,000 gallons of gas in the ground at these prices too.

 

[BSA1]

Unfortunately two major medical illnesses in 2012 and 2013 along with a job layoff caused severe financial hardships so I wasn't able to prepare as well as I wanted even though I saw the Banic coming.

I'm back to work, just about got all the medical bills paid off so for 2015 my goal is to replenish my reloading supplies along with misc. goodies like magazines. The second half of 2016 and 2017 may get real rough for gun owners again.

I did notice though that this time around the name calling and mockery of people that were stocking up wasn't near as bad as 2008. Hopefully more gun owners are realizing how fragile our rbka is.

 

[CB900F]

Fella's;

I've not been affected by any of the shortages. I don't think of myself as a "hoarder" either. But, like some here have posted, when something was available, I bought it. Therefore, at times, I did have more than I needed. But, when the shortages did come, I also had what I needed.

Even during the shortages, I've been able to help out other people, friends, who were affected. To wit, I sold 9,000 rounds of .22lr, and yes I made some money on the transactions if you figure raw numbers. If you adjust for inflation, well, maybe so - maybe not.

When it comes to the future concerning this subject, you don't have to be the Oracle Of Delphi to see what's coming. If you were a Boy Scout and didn't take the "Be Prepared" motto to heart, that's your own fault. And then there's the old question of common sense; if it's common, why does it seem to be in such short supply?

900F

 

[GBExpat]

I learned decades ago to "hoard" non-perishable products, storage space & disposable income permitting, while they are available & the prices are low.

I completed my last major load-up in a category ~7-8 years ago ... milsurps & milsurp ammo along with a modicum of reloading supplies (as I wasn't doing a lot of reloading at the time). Deals started to dry up at about the time that I finished topping-up my bunker.

I am one of the many folks here who have not been bothered by the recent shortages and who haven't had to pay stupid-high prices for some types of ammo.

That said, I am very glad to see reloading supplies (powder & primers, in particular) becoming available again, as I am now reloading for handguns more than I ever have before.

 

[maxxhavoc]

The biggest hardship that the .22lr shortage caused me was that it was my go-to skill training and plinking round. That caused issues for a bit, because having a non-reloadable round as what I used as my most-fired round turned out to be poorly thought out.

After the primer shortage, I had stocked up on those, and powder to an extent. I never thought the ever-present .22lr would get scarce. So during this shortage, I decided to switch my primary caliber to a centerfire round. 9mm is not expensive to reload, and as long as you buy components when they are available it is more of a sustainable option.

So I keep SPP primers stacked deep, 8lbs of Red Dot goes a long way when loading 9mm. I try to keep at least 3000 loaded rounds of it on hand, and maintain enough primers, powder, and bullets to crank out probably at least another 15k.

When .22 gets available again, I may change back, but not before I lay in 100k+ rounds in circulation after demand (and price) drop. In the meantime, 9mm AR, 9mm 1911, and an assortment of more moderm 9mm pistols get me by.

 

[VINTAGE-SLOTCARS]

I don't think I'm a horder but I still have cci primers in the small red/white packs. I am now stocking up on the blue packs and a differant powders. Don't think I'll be caught short any time soon.

 

[jrdolall]

I am "hoarding" 223 ammo, 9mm, 9x18, 30-06, 6.5 Swede and 5.45x39. As soon as it becomes available at prices I like then I will hoard 22 LR and 22 magnum as well as pistol powder and primers. I have a lot of primers but will quadruple that when I find them priced right.

I bought 100k rounds of .223 before the panic in combination with two friends. That is the only round I made a "profit" on by selling off to people early in the panic. We tripled, or better, our purchase price on what we sold and more than made back our initial cash outlay. We were still half price what people could buy 223 for during the height of the panic and could have sold it all.

I bought 3 cases of 5.45x39 and haven't opened any of them. That is a long supply for my one gun.
I reload 9mm but have been buying factory ammo as it pops up at a decent price. If the next panic wipes it out then I plan to be able to reload until the cows come home.
I have purchased enough 30-06 and 6.5 (in the brands I use to hunt) to last me 50 years. That's not a lot of rounds but I guess it's hoarding.
I have enough 22 LR for a year if I don't buy another box. There are a couple of types that I would like to find but haven't seen lately. When/if the price gets right I will buy a 10 year supply. I just have too many 22 caliber guns to let them sit idle because I am low on ammo.
22 mag is a round I have started shooting a lot more in the past 5 years or so. Now that I have two PMR-30's I tend to shoot it a lot more and can burn through a case pretty quickly. When all I had was a revolver and a bolt action a case lasted me two years.
I have the ability to reload the 9x18 but have purchased about two years worth of factory ammo.
All the others, 38, 380, 357, 7.62x39, 45, 30-30 and a bunch of other oddball calibers, I just keep a couple of boxes on hand and don't worry too much.

 

[Walkalong]

I have been planning ahead all my life. If we have another shortage one of these years, a great many more reloaders will be ready this time. I just read where a fellow bought 8 pounds of a pistol powder to try. I never buy more than four pounds of any one powder at a time and that is only after I know it works great for something I load a lot.

Yep, a lot more people will be ready next time. It sure was tough for many this time around, and they were understandably frustrated with people who had plenty, some of who flaunted it.

Think of it this way, there is going to be lots of new old stock powder for sale cheap in a few years.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

I'm still using the WLR primers that I stocked up on when Klinton was in office.
That tell ya anything..?

 

[CoalTrain49]

This last panic was the hand writing on the wall for things to come. I'm going to be able to reload for a very loooooong time now. I have made it a point to buy when the prices were good and buy more than I can see a need for in the foreseeable future.

It's not hoarding, it's resource management.

 

[Chisos]

I started my stash after the Slick Willie primer scare in 1994

 

[ranger56528]

Resource Management....I like that...

 

[joem1945]

I don't think of myself as a hoarder. Perhaps obsessive compulsive as I see empty brass and I think "I can fix that". When that NY congressman said on a news program " the Second Amendment protects forearms but it doesn't say anything about ammunition, we can put a 10,000 % tax on bullets". I said to myself before you do that I'll stock up and I did.

 

[sauer1911]

In my novice years of reloading of the past, I have collected alot of brass, primers, projectiles, and Oh my just a FEW containers of powder. Yeah kinda lost track of what I was ordering and what I had already had in the closet!

Had to build some vented powder boxes.

be safe

 

[orionengnr]

I thought I had bought enough WM 525 packs of Federal .22LR when they were $9 and change, six or so years ago. Used to grab one or two every month or so. Wife even gave me a couple as a "joke" Christmas present. Joke's on me...should have asked her to give me four more every birthday and Christmas. I have enough to shoot a bit, but certainly not the 100 rounds a week I used to shoot.

Similarly with components. I have enough to keep me going for a good while, but until I can replenish those supplies readily, I am reluctant to burn through any great quantities.

" the Second Amendment protects forearms

Now that right there is funny. I don't care who you are, or if you believe in "autocorrect".

 

[FROGO207]

Being "prepared" is something everybody should take to heart. Whether it is ammo/reloading stuff, food, or survival supplies for a natural disaster/storm. A hedge against future price increases or supply disruptions of any goods that one sees the need to have is a good plan. Economic situations sometimes do not allow this and I feel sorry for those that could see the storm coming but were helpless to stock up ahead. I also have helped some fellow shooters out with supplies that I could spare and payed it forward as much I could. Some of them obtained firearms and found no ammo at all available. So a box of factory to them at least allows them to try out things and arm themselves till supplies get better.

IMHO a true hoarder is someone that saves everything whether needed or not and then unreasonably refuses to ever part with anything or use it themselves for fear of running out. Not many reloaders fit this description, at least not the ones I have ever interacted with.

 

[1911 guy]

In response to Armymutt, I went to a going out of business sale and looked at the guns and ammo. Saw the price and asked if that was really the price. They said yes, how much do you want? I responded with "How much do you have?"

They took it to my truck on a pallet jack. Right place, right time. I spent my annual shooting budget (and then some) in one fell swoop.

 

[browningguy]

the concept "supply and demand" for most of us

I am constantly amazed at the number of people with absolutely no concept of economic theory trying to explain supply and demand. Supply and demand is a term that is used to discuss normal economic conditions, not extraordinary short term conditions such as the gun ban scares, or natural disasters.

 

[jcwit]

I am constantly amazed at the number of people with absolutely no concept of economic theory trying to explain supply and demand. Supply and demand is a term that is used to discuss normal economic conditions, not extraordinary short term conditions such as the gun ban scares, or natural disasters.

And I'm amazed that are those that continue to think it's all about supply & demand after years of shortages.