Ammo Scalpers

[waffles]

Posted in the other threads on this, we're not talking about $20 for a gallon of gas or water on a hurricane evacuation route, gouging, we're talking about paying more for consumables in a hobby. It'll go back down eventually, this is the 3rd or 4th major panic I've seen, and it's just part of shooting. I'm still shooting ammo I bought during the good times, and I'll replenish (and buy ammo for things I didn't know I'd be into, mainly hunting ammo) during the next period of low prices. I sold the guns and ammo I did not want, was happy with the prices I received, and kept the guns/ammo I do like (and continue to shoot them!).

People are driving themselves crazy trying to find ammo at good prices, and if you see some obviously go for it, but this is a great time to focus on other hobbies and let concerns about ammo supply, resellers, etc drift out of your head. Take stock of what you had plenty of, make a list of what you were out of, and set aside the cash you would be spending on ammo now to stack it deep during the good times.

 

[pjpjr]

I don't see how this is any different than selling a gun you bought at a GREAT price and turning around and selling for a GREAT profit.
I have never felt that I was "gouging" when I recently bought a pre 64 model 70 for $450 and took to gun show and sold for $1100 nor did I feel obligated to give somebody a good deal just because I'm a great guy!
As others have pointed out this is the free market working here and it will eventually stabilize.
Just my feelings on it!!

 

[germansheperd]

I don't see how this is any different than selling a gun you bought at a GREAT price and turning around and selling for a GREAT profit.
I have never felt that I was "gouging" when I recently bought a pre 64 model 70 for $450 and took to gun show and sold for $1100 nor did I feel obligated to give somebody a good deal just because I'm a great guy!
As others have pointed out this is the free market working here and it will eventually stabilize.
Just my feelings on it!!

There is nothing wrong with selling a box of 50 .22LR for $10 that you paid $1 for like there is nothing wrong with selling a rifle for $1100 that you paid $450 for.
All of a sudden Capitalism is a bad word if I don't like what your doing.
Remember in the end nobody is forcing you to buy anything.

 

[NYlakesider]

Wife and I have a bunch of social ammo available. That we hardly shoot now as we have a good amount of practice ammo for our carry weapons.

Been shooting a bunch of 22s. Put a lot of rounds through my 17 and 18 and she uses her newfangled bottom feeders. On occasion I drag out the 7722 and put a box through it!

We both have a very decent supply of .22s Its been a bad winter so we hit the private indoor range. (about 22 miles away) As were retired 9 out of 10 times during the week day we have the place to ourselves.

Unless things go totally wacky we are not going to contribute to the ammo scalpers retirement fund.

 

[tops]

IF or WHEN I run out of ammo I hope some is available at some price. I had rather it be a high price and available than a low price and not available. Larry

 

[ElectroMotive]

All of a sudden Capitalism is a bad word if I don't like what your doing.

BINGO!!!!

It's the hypocrisy of, in this case, gun owners. They are freedom loving, gun toting, flag waving, proud-to-be-a-[insert whatever title here]. But when they dont get their way, when they feel THEY are being slighted, well its wrong, and "somethin' oughta be done"! So many gun owners are pro-capitalism until capitalism cramps their style and then they are like "a little regulation never hurt nobody".

They like to use terms like "scalpers", but never mind the fact that anyone who sells anything for a profit is a scalper to one degree or another. And they use the term "scalper" or "profiteer" like its a bad word.

They hate on the guys/gals out in front of a big box store at 7AM daily to get ammo at non-markup prices and criticize them when they are selling. They conveniently forget that those people are investing time and effort to get that ammo, they are doing the leg work you arent willing to do, and you think they shouldnt be compensated for their time and effort expenditure? "Oh I think its fine to make money of of ammo sales, but not THAT much money". Seriously, go be commie somewhere else.


One of the worst parts of this thread lies with the author of the original post. It's a bunch of se;f-serving, ego stroking non-sense, and the poster should be ashamed and embarrassed.

I hope everyone here has the good sense to avoid paying ammo scalper prices. When people go online and pay $1.50 or $2.00 per round they are feeding the scalpers and making it harder and harder for our little gun shop owners to purchase ammo. The ammo manufacturers will eventually get caught up and things will get back to normal. Do what you can to buy local and shut down the ammo scalpers.

So dont pay the $1.50-2.00 from a scalper on line, pay it right there at home at your local gunshop! Oh the gunshop isnt the scalper though, it's Billy who used his time and effort to make some money.

 

[BSA1]

What irks me is that I am a reloader and I cannot get components because all the people who, despite the lessons of the post-Sandy Hook ammo panic and other recent event, lacked the foresight to be prepared and they have depleted the market of everything ammo. Let me say it another way. The only reason people like us cannot get ammo and components...is because of the people who didn't prepare

Actually it is because as "people like us" we did not have the foresight to buy enough reloading components (mainly primers and powder) to ride out another panic.

As a "people like us" I wish I had brought more primers and powder but I made other choices with guns and ammo. I have no one else to blame for the choices I made (and am not unhappy with my choices for reasons not allowed on this forum).

 

[VaTom]

Have been reading the responses on this thread. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule many of us were taught as kids back in the day. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

It is a matter of ethics. Just do the right thing in regards to your fellow man/woman.

 

[Catbacker88]

A previously reputable and reasonable online site that sells
"Less Expensive Than Soil" is now at 1.50 and up. Very disappointing.

CTD, when it comes to magazines and ammunition, has never been reputable. They are scoundrels of the first order and have been for decades. Piss on them.

 

[germansheperd]

Have been reading the responses on this thread. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule many of us were taught as kids back in the day. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

It is a matter of ethics. Just do the right thing in regards to your fellow man/woman.

Kinda like the guy that sells brass for an inflated price he'd typically throw out or sells grips for 'market value' that he probably has nothing in even stating he doesn't even know what some fit...................OH WAIT THAT WAS YOU LOL!

 

[LVSteve]

In the memorable words of one of our great political leaders:
"C'mon, Man!"

Do you really want me to go through the song and dance of
"Your need may be different from my need and different from the guy who is a serious action pistol competitor and blah blah blah"?

Next will you be asking me, in the words of another great political leader
"What the definition of "is" is"?

You can set yourself up as a czar who decides who needs what, but I won't.

I'm not trying to set myself up as the "needs" czar. Your point about competitive shooters quite right, but they represent a tiny minority of gun owners, even on this forum. I'm just suggesting that maybe many need (ha!) to stop and think for a minute before going out and buying ammo at grossly inflated prices. Gun owners are like everyone else, they can get swept up in the "panic" (it's not actually a panic, obviously) when if they took a step back and looked at the longer game they would say, "Nah, this is nuts, I don't need to partake."

On "taking a step back" let me give you another example. In the early fall of 2005 gas prices spiked to over $4/gallon across much of the US. All of a sudden you couldn't buy a Prius, Civic or a Corolla at MSRP, they all had markups slapped on by dealers, I seem to recall that $3k was not uncommon on the Prius. I had coworkers rushing out and spending $4k-$8k on tired small cars just so filling up at the pump was cheaper. However, none of them got rid of their pickups or V8 SUVs, so I asked them:

"How many miles/years will you have to drive to make up those thousands of dollars your just spent buying, registering and insuring that dog of a small car you just bought for stupid money? Oh, and aren't you still paying $300/year in registration and $900/year in insurance for that truck you rarely use?"

(Yeah, I'm not known for my subtlety)

You could see the little wheels going round in their heads and the "oh ****" look creeping across their faces. Almost all came up with the same lame answer: "You can't look at it like that." ROFLMAO!!!!! I think there was one who said that the high prices were here to stay, the new normal.

Almost funnier were those who accused me of having inside information on gas prices because I'd traded a Tahoe for a new model Xterra just 6 weeks before the gas price spike. I just laughed and said "Sorry, but you can't borrow my crystal ball."

TL;DR version: we can run with the herd, but it doesn't necessarily mean we are moving in the right direction.

 

[Bhfromme]

There is a HUGE difference between buying and maintaining an appreciating asset and holding it for 20 or 30 or 40 years and then reselling it, vs buying a consumable commodity and selling it for 300% profit days or months later due to a shortage of said commodity.

It is even less valid when people are hitting every retail outlet in town, cleaning out the entire supply of that commodity at regular retail prices then turning around and selling it tomorrow or next week for 300% profit.

So, if that's what you're doing and making that ridiculous comparison is what it takes to helps you live with yourself or sleep at night, then keep telling yourself it's the same thing. It's not.

Case in point:
I'm in line at a retail outlet the other day overhearing these people talking. They've got all their friends there buying the store's per customer limit then bragging about how much profit they're making scalping it online.

Then later that very same day I'm talking to a little gun shop owner in East Gish and she's telling me how she can't get ammo for her customers. We're talking about underprivileged people with no credit cards or access to the internet and they rely on their little gun shop down the road for ammo and gun supplies.

Yes, the true worth of anything is what someone is willing to pay and yes, we should all be prepared for a shortage but what about the millions of people that live paycheck to paycheck just barely feeding their families. When scalpers take advantage of a crisis like we're currently in with ammo it's the underprivileged that get hurt the most. And that's just wrong.

 

[Bumpus13]

I want to retire in 4-7 years and I don't want to run to the LGS to pick up ammo, so about 15 years ago I started stashing back ammo.
I never thought I would see shortages like we see today so I cant say I saw this coming. I started by picking up a box on payday to shoot and some times 2 box's, one to shoot and one to put back,
If I had overtime I would pick up 3 or 4, shoot 1 stash the rest.
I moved up to a better job and started to buy by the case. I have a good supply of most calibers that I need. I thought about selling some to add to my retirement at these prices, but I just can't rip off anyone.

If people are literally lining up to pay for it, you're not ripping anyone off.

Nobody's holding a gun to their head and making them pay it.

 

[crstrode]

Have been reading the responses on this thread. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule many of us were taught as kids back in the day. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

It is a matter of ethics. Just do the right thing in regards to your fellow man/woman.

Well then, Tom. The right thing to do is to offer your guns and ammo for sale to the underprivileged at 2017 prices. That'll certainly be good for all of those ethical folks.

I can't decide if I should call "those ethical folks" anti-capitalists or pro-socialists.

 

[Bhfromme]

Well then, Tom. The right thing to do is to offer your guns and ammo for sale to the underprivileged at 2017 prices. That'll certainly be good for all of those ethical folks.

I can't decide if I should call "those ethical folks" anti-capitalists or pro-socialists.

Maybe just call them good people

 

[CZU]

Whatever happened to the Golden Rule many of us were taught as kids back in the day. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you".

I was taught the Golden Rule when I was growing up but it has changed since then. It's now "Do it to them before they do it to you".

 

[tops]

We're talking about underprivileged people with no credit cards or access to the internet and they rely on their little gun shop down the road for ammo and gun supplies.

Yes, the true worth of anything is what someone is willing to pay and yes, we should all be prepared for a shortage but what about the millions of people that live paycheck to paycheck just barely feeding their families.

I find it hard to believe that there are people that don't have access to the internet some way or the other. I was jerked up dirt poor and we didn't have a phone but a neighbor did and they would make a call for us.
Why do the millions of people that live paycheck to paycheck need a bunch of ammo. I was out of work one time for over a year and 1 box of ammo was more than enough to get me through. I don't think I shot over 10 times in that year. Even at $2.00 a shot that's only $20. a year. Larry

 

[germansheperd]

Case in point:
I'm in line at a retail outlet the other day overhearing these people talking. They've got all their friends there buying the store's per customer limit then bragging about how much profit they're making scalping it online.

Then later that very same day I'm talking to a little gun shop owner in East Gish and she's telling me how she can't get ammo for her customers. We're talking about underprivileged people with no credit cards or access to the internet and they rely on their little gun shop down the road for ammo and gun supplies.

Yes, the true worth of anything is what someone is willing to pay and yes, we should all be prepared for a shortage but what about the millions of people that live paycheck to paycheck just barely feeding their families. When scalpers take advantage of a crisis like we're currently in with ammo it's the underprivileged that get hurt the most. And that's just wrong.

1) so you are in line buying with those dirty scalpers first thing in the morning.
2) why aren't the underprivileged in line with you and the scalpers first thing in the morning? Probably because they haven't come out of their high or drunken stupor from the previous night- but that is another story.
3) why isn't the woman from East Gish in line with you and the scalpers every morning trying to buy ammo? Rumor is you and your scalper friends are there first thing in the morning and I don't know of a single gun shop that opens before 10:00 a.m.
4) why isn't the owner of said East Gish store using her credit card to buy ammo online to help her underprivileged customers.
5) why are poor underprivileged people worried about guns and ammo when the should be focusing on food and shelter first. You know priorities. If you don't have a CC why aren't they using their bank or govt welfare card?
There are many ways to do things besides whine about some hustler.

 

[tops]

1) so you are in line buying with those dirty scalpers first thing in the morning.
2) why aren't the underprivileged in line with you and the scalpers first thing in the morning? Probably because they haven't come out of their high or drunken stupor from the previous night- but that is another story.
3) why isn't the woman from East Gish in line with you and the scalpers every morning trying to buy ammo? Rumor is you and your scalper friends are there first thing in the morning and I don't know of a single gun shop that opens before 10:00 a.m.
4) why isn't the owner of said East Gish store using her credit card to buy ammo online to help her underprivileged customers.
5) why are poor underprivileged people worried about guns and ammo when the should be focusing on food and shelter first. You know priorities. If you don't have a CC why aren't they using their bank or govt welfare card?
There are many ways to do things besides whine about some hustler.

LIKE, LIKE, LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bhfromme]

Haters are gonna hate is all I can say. Have fun hatin each other. I'm out.