No other commodity is in short supply except ammo.

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armedwalleye said:
There's a subset of gun owners that most of us are part of that has a stock of ammo, and regularly adds to it and/or replenishes it, but a lot of folk I know that have guns have little to no ammo at home. They only think of it when the want to shoot, and sometimes they find it and sometimes they don't, even in good times. Now a whole crop of new owners who believe the sky has fallen, plus the "casual" shooters who believe they need to now lay in a supply, plus those of us hunting for reasonable prices, all lead to the shortage. The other "wild card" in the mix is those buying solely to re-sell. Multiple trips through every Wal-Mart and Fleet Supply in an area and then put things on Gunbroker and Armslist solely to turn a profit isn't helping either. You can't say it's not happening when you see the same seller, week after week, listing different manufacturers and lots of ammo for sale. SOMEBODY is buying it at inflated prices, and that only encourages them. When ammo factories are going 24/7, it's not like they can just "add another line". Much easier, IMO, to make toilet paper faster to catch up. The ability and cost effectiveness to create from scratch and entire production facility and line to make more .22 shells isn't cost effective for the short run, and suppliers normally can keep up in the long run.
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^^^this. I agree with this 100%. Plus other unaccounted for variables. I know some that own guns and don't even have a spare box of ammo kicking around and don't really care to either. Then the re sellers, some of these guys don't even have a shop, but they will move heaven and earth to make $100.
 
Oh and good luck finding an AR in the coming weeks/months/ever. I could be wrong but from all indications, if you're a guy who has always wanted an AR but never jumped, I think it's safe to say it's time to jump.

My friend who bought his first gun this past fall told me he wanted to look at some AR's because of the way things were going he feels like his window is closing and I don't blame him. So I told him I'd keep an eye peeled and I went to the LGS the other day and asked where all the AR's and Lowers were? He had a couple few of each a few weeks back, he said he wasn't getting any in and couldn't find any. Said the spikes lowers he usually gets more than doubled and he told me if he does get any in he was not going to put them out and just sit on them, he figures they will skyrocket and will sell them online. Probably smart, he's gotta keep the lights on.

Although, it's hard for me to figure whether this was a really tough year for the LGS's or a really good one? On the one hand it's been hard for them to get stuff in, on the other what they have been getting sells immediately and at a nice premium. I would imagine it balances out in their favor and they are moving more in a week than they would in a month+++ plus they can pretty much name their price.
 
brewer12345 said:
Eh, all of us here really would rather not have these periodic panics, scarcity, looming repressive actions, etc. To put it bluntly, it sucks and we care more than most people in the US, so it sucks extra hard for us. I'd say a good solution would be to get out a single shot rifle or single action revolver, get out a box of shells, and spend some quality time taking carefully aimed shots. I also like doing this with black powder. When I am really concentrating, all the nonsense that normally chatters around me just sort of fades away into the background. Good therapy.
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+1
Back during the first Obama ammo panic I put aside my beloved 10/22 and bought a beautiful used Remington 541T, my first bolt action .22 rifle. Rather than running through a brick each outing, it was a box. Instead of 50yds, it was 100. Instead of soda can it was golf balls as targets.
 
It's simple. People were buying toilet paper like crazy. People stopped buying toilet paper like crazy. Toilet paper quickly returned to normal.

People have been buying ammo like crazy for almost a year now and show no signs of stopping. That's why you can't find it on the shelves.

What people need to realize about the toilet paper shortage is that massive quantities of it were produced as those large rolls that you find in public bathrooms such as in restaurants, businesses etc. When people stopped going to work because of the lockdowns suddenly they were using their own bathrooms much more frequently and therefore needed the small rolls. It took a little while for production to make the switch.

With firearms people are concerned for their personal safety due to riots and unrest, but even more so about likely legislation that will ban or severely restict ownership. There is no good news on the horizon about this so people buy buy buy. Factories are adding shifts to work around the clock but they don't want to invest in expansion for the very same reasons. It's poor business to invest large sums of capital when there is a good chance that the demand will dry up.

I hope everyone here was buying when things were good. I know many were sounding the warning but there were scoffers.
 
Waveski said:
You “ackshully” neglected to factor in mortality.
The birth rate is declining , I’m pretty sure , and I have little doubt that the paper industry factors in census and demographics.

The bottom line is (ha ha) - I can walk into any store and buy t.p. at a normal price , but 9mm is going for over $1 per round on GunBroker.

Or maybe I'm just full of crap.
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Waveski said:
- There were not 7,000,000 new toilet users who came into being in 2020.
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No, I understand that completely - you said there wasn't 7 million NEW users, so that implied only birth rate. I answered the specifics. And at the height of the TP panic I saw people selling it out of their cars for $1 a roll, and people were buying it. As for 9mm, thanks for the reminder - I'll hit the lead pot and make another couple hundred this weekend.
 
shafter said "I hope everyone here was buying when things were good. I know many were sounding the warning but there were scoffers."
"Why you wasting your time loading 9mm" they said!
Now they're pulling that handle like it's a penny slot !!
 
bearleft said:
shafter said "I hope everyone here was buying when things were good. I know many were sounding the warning but there were scoffers."
"Why you wasting your time loading 9mm" they said!
Now they're pulling that handle like it's a penny slot !!
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The snickers I got when I said I was casting for 9mm...now they ask if I have extra.
 
Went shopping(Amazon) for GMRS/ham radio and pickings are slim especially the low price stuff, conspiracy sells or maybe it’s just boy’s toys.
 
John_R said:
From what I've read, that shortage is because job applicants
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It's more complicated than that, and way off topic for THR--but the very short of it is a collision between historically low pay rates and the extra-strict rules for holding a CDL.

Too many of he logistics companies budgeted themselves for paying drivers $10-15/hr (or mileage equivalents). So, the myriad calls to up the FMW have clobbered that wage floor. And, a huge number of potential drivers are no ineligible due to States allowing recreational use of things CDL cannot indulge in.

HR departments at logistics companies have all the woes of any other HR department, sadly.
 
Sitting back here and watching things happen is what we old folks do for fun. I get my social security, retirement pension, and my stimulus checks. The stimulus check is causing inflation. With inflation we get higher prices and shortages.
The toilet paper wars are over and now our dept.store has tons of toilet paper at record high prices. When the ammo wars are over the shelves will be stocked with higher priced ammo.
The show goes on..........
 
Balrog said:
I have read the explanation of the current ammo shortage, and not sure I still believe it. No doubt COVID, shipping delays, political turmoil, etc, led to panic buying and temporary shortages, just like there were toilet paper shortages. But now everything except ammo seems to be available.

I am not sure what is going on, but I am not sure I am still buying the narrative provided.
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Not exactly true. Reloading components like bullets and primers are unavailable.
 
BCR#1 said:
Not exactly true. They are if you're willing to pay GB prices for components.

Bill
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I was referring to the OP's statement that ammo wasn't available. I'm pretty sure he was talking about the availability of ammo at the usual retail outlets, not GB. If he was talking about online I missed that part. His example was toilet paper. The truth is one doesn't have to go to GB to find ammo, components or even firearms. Just go to a local gun show and all the usual scalpers will be there.
 
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CoalTrain49 said:
Not exactly true. Reloading components like bullets and primers are unavailable.
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Have to look carefully - I was able to snag several boxes of bullets on MidwayUSA very recently when they popped up. They got wiped out soon, but if you have email notification and can move fast, you can find them. These were at pre panic prices, as well. Now POWDER...just paid $40 a pound for X-Terminator, because it was all I could find at the time. It is what it is
 
Every time I see someone sing "Brag" praise to the reloading "Discord" which just enabled them to grab a thousand primers or whatever, I wonder how much that same interwebz "Discord" is contributing to the "Shortage".

Not seeing shortages elsewhere? Huh, why haven't I been able to find my Eggo Mini Pancakes for over a month?
 
George P said:
Let's not forget, Remington who is a major ammo maker, hasn't been making much since before the BK they went through. They are finally starting to get production going so it should help ease some of the shortages.
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No kidding! Usually, during hunting season, whole sections of shelves are full of green and yellow boxes in every imaginable rifle caliber. This year, I don’t remember seeing *any.*
 
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