No Ammo and WHY?

[GeneCC]

15,600 rounds? And please tell me other than a few survivalist types on the board ninety five or better percent of you never kept anything close to that much ammo on hand in your house?

Buying in bulk saves money. It's not "The End of the World As We Know it" as much as "Small quantities raises your cost per shot".

For some of us the price spikes started back in 2003. The "War on Terror" pushed up prices on ammunition. For a time primers were very scarce and hard to come by because manufacturers were keeping them to arm our Soldiers.

Federal Reserve inflation of the money supply, which they've done almost as an imitation of what the Japanese Central Banks did back in the 1990s, caused some Big Banks to start using Commodities as a "hedge funds" against inflation. These commodity investments caused the price of oil, copper and other items to rise in price as a speculative hedge against inflation.

China also started buying "strategic materials" as a hedge against inflation of their US T-bonds.

These two forces caused a big increase in the price of copper. Copper is one of the source materials for bullets.

Prudent folks realize that ammunition will probably never get cheaper and that buying in quantity reduces price per shot.


It's not about being a "Prepper" as much as a form of "cheaper by the dozen" and "buy it while it's cheap".

[nfafan]

<snip>

I suspect a lot of these conspiracy theories are due to people being pissed about the lack of ammo and needing someone to be angry at.

I don't buy into the conspiricy thing, but yes; count me as one of the pissed.

I have a small stash of my preferred rounds, but I don't trust .22LR ammo for dependability to go bang worth a shit and prefer to buy it "fresh", on an as-needed basis. Now you can't find squat outside of Island Firearms usurious prices.

That plus like many on this board, I don't have the free time to go camp out at Wallymarts waiting on the ammo truck, nor the vast disposable income in the family treasury to "buy in bulk" for other less-used calibers. Good for you if you do.

[fortysix]

Really guys how many of you ever kept more than 500 rounds in the house other than .22 before this dust up?

15,600 rounds? And please tell me other than a few survivalist types on the board ninety five or better percent of you never kept anything close to that much ammo on hand in your house?

My lessons learned in the service of the United States and also the experience of the 2008-2009 ammo shortage taught me to buy early and often. I have set quotas I buy (or did until December) on a schedule every month. I hunt stores and online for the best deal in volume, then fill in the gaps with in person random buys when I'm in stores. People thought I was stupid or crazy, but now I'm the only one among my shooting friend who has anything to take to the range. My friend sheepishly asked me to bring the ammo when we go break in his new 308 thompson center on Monday. My rule of thumb is 1000 rounds per firearm I expect to use (there are many I own that I don't plan to ever shoot, they are collectors' items or things that are not allowed at the range). Not paranoid or *prepping* (what a stupid word), just practical. As others mentioned, it only takes one shooting or one copper mine strike in Chile to drive up prices or take supply to zero. Being prepared isn't a sin.

The lesson I learned from this particular shortage is that I will learn to reload, soon as the equipment is available. Then guess what? I'll have thousands of primers and cases stockpiled, much like when I stockpiled ammunition. If you're the last one with bullets, you win!

[jmiro]

Sorry some of you are mad. This was suggested to me years ago.
Every pay day pick up a box of ammo or some reloading supplies. it doesnt take long to have enough (when is enough enough).

[ALS]

We sold what 2.5 million guns over the last two or three months and everyone had to buy at least a box of ammunition to go with it. What are we up to at least 65 million new guns were purchased over the last 49 months. That also adds to the demand side of the ammunition supply.

[edstephan]

15,600 rounds? And please tell me other than a few survivalist types on the board ninety five or better percent of you never kept anything close to that much ammo on hand in your house?

Well then I must be in the 1%. I saw what happened in the Y2k panic, and Clinton yrs. So when Ammo was cheap I bought.

So what would you call us guys that bought 45,000+rds of a single caliber?
I shoot CMP and 50,000 rds may only last 2yrs. I'm glad I bought all the South African at $18.00 a 300rd Battle pack, and the LC M855 at $135.00 a case of 1000.

I have several thousand rounds of .50bmg when it was $0.25 a round. Now I don't have to pay $5-$7.00 a round just to go bang.

Same with 22LR, 9mm, .45acp, 5.56x45, 7.62x51, etc...

Also the older ammo was more relieable and then there was talk about building a shelf-life in the powder.

So if you didn't stock up when it was cheap, quit your wining and pay the price or don't shoot!!!

An OC Activist and 1 of the 3%
Ed Stephan

[Her9852]

Well then I must be in the 1%. I saw what happened in the Y2k panic, and Clinton yrs. So when Ammo was cheap I bought.

So what would you call us guys that bought 45,000+rds of a single caliber?
I shoot CMP and 50,000 rds may only last 2yrs. I'm glad I bought all the South African at $18.00 a 300rd Battle pack, and the LC M855 at $135.00 a case of 1000.

I have several thousand rounds of .50bmg when it was $0.25 a round. Now I don't have to pay $5-$7.00 a round just to go bang.

Same with 22LR, 9mm, .45acp, 5.56x45, 7.62x51, etc...

Also the older ammo was more relieable and then there was talk about building a shelf-life in the powder.

So if you didn't stock up when it was cheap, quit your wining and pay the price or don't shoot!!!

An OC Activist and 1 of the 3%
Ed Stephan

Man has a point

[messeduprex]

I would like some Real Answers on this. Called the Sportsman Guide this am just for a couple questions and got no place. She was like matter of fact, everyone knows what is going on, well please tell me. This has been going on since October 2012, if not earlier on some flavors. What? all the worlds ammo factories just slowed production for 6 months. Please, real answers on why no ammo and no bs. Thanks..

Sportsman Guide has been one of the few places that have been regularly getting ammo in./I just recently bought 2 cases of 5.56 from them. The only reason you don't see it is that it gets sold that quick. When I bought my 2 cases the CSR rep told me they got 5000 cases in and only 100 were left over to sell from filling backorders. Those 100 cases went in minutes. and at .36cpr you would expect it to.

[Fujisawa-sensai]

I don't buy into the conspiricy thing, but yes; count me as one of the pissed.

I have a small stash of my preferred rounds, but I don't trust .22LR ammo for dependability to go bang worth a shit and prefer to buy it "fresh", on an as-needed basis. Now you can't find squat outside of Island Firearms usurious prices.

That plus like many on this board, I don't have the free time to go camp out at Wallymarts waiting on the ammo truck, nor the vast disposable income in the family treasury to "buy in bulk" for other less-used calibers. Good for you if you do.

I don't have much disposable income either, but I still bought a lot of ammo. Which is a problem.

Just did an inventory of how much ammo I have, and figured out the pre-Sandy Hook value of it. Ugh. If I had any financial sense I'd sell it all now and put the money into something I'm not afraid to use.

[lemko]

Sorry some of you are mad. This was suggested to me years ago.
Every pay day pick up a box of ammo or some reloading supplies. it doesnt take long to have enough (when is enough enough).

I have been doing this all along, but not every day. I'd have nothing left for anything else if I bought every day. I usually buy when my wife goes grocery shopping or to the mall. I walk or drive over to a nearby gun shop and at least buy a box of 9mm or some other common round I use.