View Single Post
 
Old 06-19-2013, 07:35 PM
tgmr05 tgmr05 is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 153
Likes: 10
Liked 129 Times in 61 Posts
Default

While there may be a few folks hoarding ammo, and making absurd quantity purchases, it is more a logistical problem.

If everyone in the US decided to top off their fuel tanks on their vehicles, the same day, it would create a shortage and panic that could not be supported.

The problem is not hoarders of ammo, it is a logistical problem of supplying ammo to all the new gun owners that have shown up in the past years, combined with magazine capacity, and switch from revolver to semi, etc.

Revolvers were king, up until the early 90's, when the writer of the article started paying attention to the gun industry. Folks used to buy a revolver, a box of 50 rounds of ammo, maybe go shoot 6-12 rounds, put 6 rounds in the revolver, put the rest of the box of ammo and gun in a drawer, and get back to life. They have enough ammo for the revolver, and at least 4 reloads.

Today, the semi is king, the AR is a much more common household rifle, and 50 rounds will barely fill 2 magazines. Couple the sheer number of new shooters, with enough ammo to fill one magazine, and have enough ammo to load 2-3 extra mags, and presto, you can see some pretty impressive numbers.

Plus, folks are becoming educated about needing to learn to shoot, and how 22's are an inexpensive way to become a better shot. 22 rifle/pistol sales went off the chart this last go around. They are one of the last items to show back up in numbers. 22 ammo is practically non existent, too. Is it hoarders? or simply the sheer volume of new shooters, who have learned you can shoot 2-300 rounds without breaking the bank. Imagine just 1 million new 22 shooters, combining rifles/pistols, etc. Imagine each new shooter only buys 500 rounds.... That is 500 million rounds. Roughly 1/2 to maybe 1/3 of the total rounds manufactured in ONE YEAR. And remember that the previous year prior to the shortage, there was not an overage of 500 million rounds laying around going for cheap on overstock.com or wherever....

Think about it.....seriously. Are there only 10 million folks with 22's in the US? If so, and each one decided to buy just 500 rounds per year, that would be 3-4 times the annual production capacity of 22 lr ammo.

Hoarders are only a minute portion of the problem. The author of that article needs to get serious, and quit the ammo envy that gives shooters a bad name.... I mean, seriously, does he really need to shoot a couple hundred rounds with each test he does? The author probably does not realize the elitist attitude he is displaying that demeans and impugns other shooters who like to shoot for fun, versus his oh so important reason for shooting.....
Reply With Quote
The Following 4 Users Like Post: