So you say it’s not a conspiracy

[Doug44]

Like I said before there is no shortage of ammo. Just check on the internet. I won't pay their prices. Just the wrong people are somehow getting their hands on the ammo. Lots of these places employees notify their friends when ammo is available.
Last LGS I was in had a skid (that's 4ft x4 ft) about waist high of ammo. Since I am not buying I don't even know what it was. I even see some ammo on forms selling at outrageous prices.
If everyone would just sit back and relax and stop buying things will settle down.

 

[llowry61]

Are there supply chain issues? Workforce issues? I hear reliable employees are almost impossible to find, and that involves supply chain employees, but everywhere I look trucks are rolling, warehouses are warehousing, deliverers are delivering.

That is true, there are drivers and delivery services seem to be doing well. Vehicles gas and drivers do not seem to be in short supply - Amazon can vouch for that, but you might consider that the supply chain includes a multitude of items beyond just labor and deliver

 

[llowry61]

Are there supply chain issues? Workforce issues? I hear reliable employees are almost impossible to find, and that involves supply chain employees, but everywhere I look trucks are rolling, warehouses are warehousing, deliverers are delivering.

That is true, there are drivers and delivery services seem to be doing well. Vehicles, gas and drivers do not seem to be in short supply - Amazon can vouch for that.

There is a lot to the supply chain. I just struggle with the idea that capitalists aren't doing everything they can to get the ammo buyers dollars.

 

[Jon651]

Are there supply chain issues? Workforce issues? I hear reliable employees are almost impossible to find, and that involves supply chain employees, but everywhere I look trucks are rolling, warehouses are warehousing, deliverers are delivering.

I just read a news article where they were predicting shortages of gasoline this summer. Why? It's not like there is a lack of crude oil at "normal" prices, or the lack of refining capacity. They claim it could happen because of the lack of truckers to move their product and with Covid easing off an increase in the number of folks who want to drive this summer (on top of the naturally occurring summer driving season).

I, too, see plenty of trucks on the road but friends of mine who drive truck say there is a shortage of drivers. I guess we will have to wait and see.

 

[.38SuperMan]

The place I buy my tires is an old family business. I know the owner and he told me last year and through this year have been the best months in 20 years. He felt it was due to people spending their pandemic checks.

My wife and I had to get a new washing machine last summer. The dealer is a local shop and the clerk said they were very low on inventory at that time. He said sales had been terrific and production was off due to pandemic restrictions in the states where they and components were made.

I was in the local hardware store that's been there over 100 years. I live in a small town and you get to know people. The clerk said he'd been in the hardware and lumber business 44 years. Most of their business is for new home construction. He was telling me a particular piece of lumber that was $1.88 a couple years ago is now $10. Despite this people are building new homes all around me. Cost doesn't seem to be a factor. He also asked me how long I'd been in my home, 5 years, and said I could double my money right now.

That new truck and 5th wheel are looking better all the time. I hear Montana calling!

 

[Gamecock]

There are millions of new gun buyers EVERY year.

Again, demand cannot explain why Cabelas/BassPro/Academy are receiving less.

 

[Ackley1952]

There is more ammunition in the hands of
American public now than at any time in the past. Probably 100 times more. When I was young a box of 22 shells was plenty. When Huntley or Brinkley said it you could trust it. Now it just requires more ammo. Keep your powder dry .

 

[Telecaster]

Other than internet rumor, what evidence is there of raw material shortages in the ammo industry? Not limits due to increased demand, but less available now than before.

 

[Telecaster]

There are millions of new gun buyers EVERY year.

Again, demand cannot explain why Cabelas/BassPro/Academy are receiving less.

It doesn't seem credible that out of hundreds of millions of gun owners, a handful of dawn patrol buyers snatch it all up before anyone else gets there, unless there's a lot less ammo reaching the stores to begin with.

 

[germansheperd]

Once again it's not arriving at a lot of stores. The mom and pop LGS all say the same thing "we can't get it". Most big stores get a shipment of something, some days but the little amount they get is gone by the time breakfast is over.

 

[RCL-09]

As I posted earlier...

Just stopped by one of the better LGS in town to just see what they had. As I was walking around they rolled out a cart with 130 cases of 1000 rounds of Tula 9MM.

Aside from that they had thousands upon thousands of 5.56/.223, .308, 7.62x39, .45ACP, and many others.

Cheapest was Tula steel case at $1.40 a round.

 

[Jon651]

Other than internet rumor, what evidence is there of raw material shortages in the ammo industry? Not limits due to increased demand, but less available now than before.

You can check the totals for mining on the internet. The US is the world's largest user of refined lead but mines only 1/5 of what China does. However, we import the most lead from Canada (44%). Our own lead mining has dropped every year for the past five years while lead recycling has increased only slightly. Employment at lead mines and mills has shrunk slowly as well.

Here's the data sheet from the USGS:

https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2020/mcs2020-lead.pdf

On the flip side, copper production (the chief component of brass) has remained fairly constant over the same time frame.

Here's the copper data sheet from the USGS:

https://pubs.usgs.gov/periodicals/mcs2020/mcs2020-copper.pdf

 

[germansheperd]

Never thought I see the day when Chinese lead and Russian cartridges keep Americans armed.

 

[Gamecock]

It doesn't seem credible that out of hundreds of millions of gun owners, a handful of dawn patrol buyers snatch it all up before anyone else gets there, unless there's a lot less ammo reaching the stores to begin with.

Sir, you can just ask them. I did. I asked the local Cabelas and the local Academy, "Are you receiving as much ammo as you used to?" They both said no, not near as much. Some days, none. It was never like that before.

The demand theory doesn't cover the facts as we know them, manufacturers are making more, stores are receiving less.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

The demand theory doesn't cover the facts as we know them, manufacturers are making more, stores are receiving less.

I guess I must have missed something. How did the reaction to Wuhan flu enable manufacturers to make more, especially with no new factories?

 

[Sistema1927]

Supply versus demand.

Funny how that works, whether it is ammo, toilet paper, chicken, or gasoline. Aren't they teaching basic economics any more?

 

[Telecaster]

Sir, you can just ask them. I did. I asked the local Cabelas and the local Academy, "Are you receiving as much ammo as you used to?" They both said no, not near as much. Some days, none. It was never like that before.

The demand theory doesn't cover the facts as we know them, manufacturers are making more, stores are receiving less.

I asked at Academy too, a few months ago. Same answer, they weren't getting much at all. Not, "We're getting it in, but the same group of people keep showing up to buy it at opening time."

For those who believe a group of people keep showing up at Academy to snatch ammo out from under us, to flip it on the internet, that would be pretty much the definition of a conspiracy.

 

[Telecaster]

Another thought. If there are "seven million new shooters," wouldn't that be a pretty good justification to build new ammo making facilities or add on to existing ones? That's not the same demand pattern as anti-gun elections every four years, this is industry growth.

 

[SchemaEnigma]

...For those who believe a group of people keep showing up at Academy to snatch ammo out from under us, to flip it on the internet, that would be pretty much the definition of a conspiracy.

No, that would be the definition of black marketeers.

 

[ddixie884]

Any time there is a shortage real or imagined black marketers will try to take advantage. In such times buy only what you can't do without.......