Judging by the number of ammo conspiracy theorists where I work, the disruptive organizations don't need to pick up the phone.

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Release the Kraken

Well stated. Plain. Easy to understand. What's not to like? Sincerely. bruce.

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<><

OK...my two cents....

1) Good Ol' Jason should spend less time making Youtube Videos and more time making ammo. People are mad at him and his multiple companies because there's no good reason for him to be out of EVERYTHING. For MONTHS ON END.

2) He wouldn't be out of everything for months on end if he didn't sell his entire inventories to the same 5 Gun/Ammo Hoarders every week. And how do I know he's selling to the same 5 guys every week? Because these 5 guys post "Look At What I Got" videos every week on Youtube and without fail, they are always rolling a fresh pallet or 4 off the back of a truck in to be shown off on camera. My LGS can't manage to scrounge 2 boxes of 357 to save their lives and these jag-offs are pulling in PALLET LOADS every week. And why can they do that? Because Good Ol' Jason is selling it to them instead of rationing his production out so the entire rest of the country can get some a taste.

This guy exists because of the gun community....the gun community doesn't exist because of him. He needs to do better. All the bullet makers need to do better.

Perhaps more to the story than what is stated here. Credibility and YouTube aren't necessarily compatible.

While S&W forum is a bit of an oasis, the gun community, Q peeps, and other similar groups have been nutso and getting worse on this kind of stuff. I absolutely do not blame the CEO for doing a video of this type, especially if they're at the point of getting visitors to their facility demanding answers for their conspiracy theories, it only takes one guy like the weirdo who showed up to a DC pizza shop with a rifle because he bought into "pizzagate" nonsense for things to get way too real. I don't think I could get away with making a video like this, but I respect them for putting out a straightforward message rather than just nice guy corporate bull****.

To me it was nothing more than an infomercial, long on generalities and woefully short on details.

I don't blame him for being p.o.'d about complaints, rumors, and conspiracy theories, but the way to counter those is by stating, with some kind of numbers, what the current situation is.

He says they have hired "hundreds of new employees". So is that 200, 800, what? And for the figure to have meaning, what percentage of your workforce is that, spread across how many factories? You would think the CEO would know this, and since it isn't a secret, tell us.

He says "We are doing our damnedest making 22LR/9mm/30-06."
"... making more than we ever have."
"... making ammo every minute of every day."
To illustrate, he shows bins of loose cartridges and pallets of ammo boxes. I guess that proves they are making something, but not a whole lot more.
It would be nice to have some numbers to go with these hand waving explanations. The last quote in particular: what is a day? An 8 hour shift 5 days a week? Three shifts 24 hours a day 7 days a week at every factory?
That would make it a lot clearer. Why couldn't he say?

Finally, he says something about shipping ammo every day. But how is it being distributed, is it any way we could consider fair?
Like shipping it to customers using a formula based on what they ordered two years ago, so that the big guys don't hog it all while the little guys are left out in the cold.

Like I said, I don't blame him for being p.o.'d. I do blame him for not telling us much more than we already know. Really just a little pep talk and nothing more.

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You're shy a few manners.

I've been in the retail hardware business for 32 years and at the beginning I believed that the customer is always right.
But eventually I reached the point where I understood that a customer who was abusive to my employees was just too big of a pain to tolerate and have invited a few of them to take their business elsewhere.
The people who interface with the public have a difficult enough job without having to put up with jerks.
If a customer has a legitimate problem and wants to complain then we patiently listen and try to fix whatever is wrong but vulgar or abusive language or the threat of physical violence will get them thrown out of my store (and we can handle that too if need be).
But one thing we never do is initiate an angry or insulting confrontation with a customer.
The customer may not always be right but the customer in the end is the only reason we are in business.

(I'm not the best at posting and somehow this got attached to the wrong post and not to the one I intended to respond. Sorry)

Prices do seem to be, slowly, coming down and availability seems to be increasing at this point.

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Who watches the watchers?

....about PRIMERS!

I hope when demand for ammo peters down, primers will show up, too.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

The math he used is very helpful, in some ways the ammo shortage reminds me of the toilet paper shortage right at the beginning covid crisis there was a run on paper products and last month when the epidemic exploded we had another run. unlike all the new shooters though in regards to toilet paper we don't have a huge increase in the numbers of *********s. Have a merry Christmas everybody and stay safe.

Vista reported a 29% sales increase and a 79% profit increase for the second quarter so I think they're doing ok right now.

I find the Vanderbrink video annoying. Condescending and gaslighting.

President of all these companies, and he comes out in a plaid shirt. "I'm one of you."

No, you aren't.

The Big Number Razzle Dazzle is ridiculous, as some have pointed out above. 12,000,000,000 rounds of ammunition are sold in the U.S. every year. Millions of guns are sold in the U.S. every year. More wear sold last year. But talking 7 million is a head fake. The significant number would be the DIFFERENCE between last year and this.

In the end, I think gun sales in the U.S. in 2020 has double ought zero to do with the ammo shortage.

K, Vanderbrink says the shortage is being caused by our buying more/buying too much.

Has anyone noticed that we CAN'T BUY ANY? We are causing the shortage by buying too much when we can't buy any. Stores are empty. Online sellers have no stock. NO BACK ORDERS.

Vanderbrink's assertion equates to the Colorado running dry because the people of Yuma are using too much water.

At this point, I don't trust Vanderbrink. He says he is making more ammo, and washes his hands of the problem. "Stop sending me hate mail."

What he offers is a false solution. NO AMMO IS GETTING THROUGH TO THE SHELVES. His making more changes nothing.

What he should do is to investigate the distribution of his product. Which distributors are they sending it to? He should ask them what they are doing with it. Insist they drill down to find out where it is. He should use his position to help us, not accuse us. Seriously, your customers are bad because they are buying too much of your product?

Vanderbrink says he is making more. The shelves are empty. So, Mr Vanderbrink, do something good: find out where it's going. It ain't at Cabelas. It ain't at Natchezss.

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I've still got it made.

I think that keeping the ammo shortage continuing has a great affect on financial leverage. You have a guaranteed sales proforma for the next several years. This especially works if you have a vertically integrated factory. You do have to meter commodities like lead and brass so you don't have to stop manufacturing altogether. Stopping completely would really screw things up.

Do we really believe the guy at the top is actually dealing with the little people's complaints?

They hire people just for that job. He's not dirtying his hands with that.

He's an important person. Sounds like fake indignity to me.

I agree. He should look into where/who his shipments are actually going to. I doubt they're being dispersed equably.

But he likely already knows the answer to that & won't ask it.

.

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Waiting for the break of day

I'm pretty sure this video is a bit of plain ol' marketing intended to make us less angry at them.

Yes, the panic buying surge probably cleaned out everyone's backstock. Yes, the covid restrictions probably did initially slow the flow of raw materials needed for some components.
But these guys are back up and running, and I'm very certain they've taken note that their product would sell in the US instantly for 2-3x what they had been charging, and like any good capitalists they adjusted the prices accordingly. It's only natural, you have the singular chance to make a ton of more money, do it while you can.

And now they're getting called out on it, and are trying to run cover for that. Some of the issue is the internet and the ability to talk to people in other countries... when you discover that Blazer Brass 9mm is in stock and selling in Canada for 0.20 USD same as last year, and that prices in Europe are similar (ask Classic12 about that), it exposes what they're doing.

I know some people say prices won't drop here until we stop buying everything we see, but I also think that we won't stop buying until we see and accept that there will be a continued supply. A lot just aren't sold on that, yet.

I totally agree - There. Is. No. Ammo. The manager at one store told me he's barely getting any. How can it be selling more than ever if there isn't any in the stores? Is there a higher bidder skimming it off the top of the wholesale pool? How has it gone on this long with no one figuring out what's really going on? It can't be that hard, it's not top secret stuff. Oh, I know all the gun forum brain trusts say they know why, but do they, really? What is the evidence, other than hearsay and "internet" postings?

Or, as someone on another forum said, if Remington's production went down to 10% of their capacity, why didn't Mr. Vanderbrink mention that? That alone would explain a lot. Foreign imports? Show me. No, I don't see foreign ammo for sale, was its importation stopped? Why? Covid?

The ammo shortage is a major assault on our Constitutional rights. Why isn't our fine government investigating?

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I've still got it made.

Welcome to just in time manufacturing. Americans are addicted to cheap everything and we shop on price generally. As such, supply chains and manufacturing plants have no meaningful excess capacity.

10-4.

I went in to Cabelas today and ASKED them.

"Are you getting your regular shipments of ammunition?"

"No. We are getting some. No variety. Mostly 9mm."

"So if I came in at opening time, I could get some 9?"

"Yes, probably."

The NRA (Keefe) says, "A friend at Hornady recently reached out to me to ask that I spread the word. What’s going on with ammunition is nothing sinister, nor a conspiracy. It is simple supply-and-demand. In fact, it's hyper-inflated demand like no one has ever seen."

This simply makes no sense. Cabelas is not selling more than ever; they are hardly selling any. In fact, they moved ammo sales behind a counter with "employees only" sign.

Keefe, again: "I’ve spoken to the top three manufacturers."

Mr Keefe, get out from behind your desk and go into a Cabelas and ASK. Manufacturers claiming that nothing is going on other than demand absolves them of responsibility of getting up and going to find out what's going on. I am disappointed that Keefe would accept it. Especially when it is so easily checked.

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I've still got it made.

Video from Katy, TX. See at 4:10.


"When will you get some?"

"We have no idea."

Yet the establishment tells us the problem is over buying by consumers.

We are being gaslighted.

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I've still got it made.

If I remember right during the last big ammo shortage the government was buying huge amounts of ammo, I guess to make sure they will have plenty and never run out.

The last great ammo shortage was .22 LR?

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .