For those of us who don't own a semiautomatic rifle.

[TenDriver]

Exactly. I bought one last May. At the time, and I'm betting now the service grade rifles were very nice. Mine is a SA with only the bolt and stock not original. CMP wood and a H&R bolt. Gauged almost new with the original barrel on it.

I will also say that if an AR is what you want, there is no substitute. Same with any gun.

 

[Rugerspyderon]

I have been reading and noticing that ARs and semi auto rifles are hard to find. The .223 seems impossible to find at store. This past weekend I went to the gun show here and there were plenty of AR14s, Sigs, DPMS, etc. there was tons of .223 I don't have one but I arrived three hours after the show opened on Saturday and saw people walking out with them and buying them from FFLs. Some were over priced but some were not too bad. I had been having an impossible time finding small pistol primers on line or at stores. The guy that sells reloading stuff at the show had none, Crazy, an ammo dealer there had primers by the cases CCI, Winchester, etc. I was blown away. I am now stocked.

The real problem is 22lr availability!

 

[Ignition Override]

Mushy:
You've not noticed the numerous (eleven) pages of SKS rifles on Gunbroker? They've been quite available since my search began in March '08 (bought a THR 'WTS SKS' in person), and since then they never disappeared on GB.

As was the case two weeks ago, many of them have seller listings, or have bids at about $300-450. This is not that much above prices in early '08.

We have no idea what the hidden reserve price is, but there were only five pages of them when the recent panic hit.

 

[thump_rrr]

It is possible that someone bought a huge inventory and has been sitting on them for a while waiting for prices to climb.
The retail price of Russian SKS rifles in Canada is $199.00.
These are refurbished Tula and izhevsk armory rifles.
You can purchase an "investor pack" of 10 rifles with slings, oil bottles , cleaning kits in a wooden crate for $1,699.00.

If you're wondering what condition are they in here is a pic of mine.

 

[cfullgraf]

As a note, the AR manufacturers will not spend any capital right now to ramp up production. The fate of being able to produce ARs is still in question.

If they have some un-used production capacity that can be had at little or no cost, like adding some shifts or working overtime, the manufacturers will do that, at least for a while until the employees burn out.

In 2009, inventories, in general, began to pick up from third to fourth quarter 2009. Prices started to recede a bit by 2010.

 

[rbernie]

What do you think the major manufacturers are going to do...will they keep cranking them out to meet the demand or will they slow down with an "AWB" looming.

Since any AWB similar to the last one will have a cut-off date, every manufacturer out there is likely to at least consider making as much as possible to get it all dated prior to the cut-off date. The risk is that any new ban may be structured differently than the last, and anything not transferred prior to the date cannot be sold. That would leave them with unsaleable inventory, at a huge cost/profit hit.

If y'all are concerned about this, it may be a good idea to write your CongressCritters and let them know your concerns. Heading off a ban is better than prepping for one.

Ruger will even make it easy for you - fill out the web form and they'll distribute their form letter to every one of your elected Representatives:

http://www.ruger.com/micros/advocacy/

 

[Sav .250]

Unless there is passed legislation one way or the other nothing will change.

 

[mcdonl]

The thing that bothers me is how some of the LGS are trying their best to "keep the panic" stirred up. All the while continuing to raise their prices.

It bothers me that people think that the time to panic is over.

Until this senate is out, the supreme court is stabil and all gun control laws removed from the table I will continue to panic. And I will continue to purchase as much as I can.

 

[Mushy]

My state is on the verge of going full-retard in the form of a magazine limit.

If I can only have 10 rounds I don't know if I want them to be .223... It's hard not to get discouraged.