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Ammunition Price Increases ....

5K views 44 replies 28 participants last post by  Texasflyboy 
#1 ·
I looked to see if anything about this had already been posted but did not see anything.

 
#2 ·
I will pay 15% above actual 'normal' prices for primers now...

If I could simply buy it without all the hoops, I would pay 15% above 'normal' prices for lots of ammo, no complaints. If their expenses have gone up and it is actually 3-15%, and 15% is the extreme, I don't have a problem with it.

I guess the question that goes with it is, is this going to change the inflated prices on the 'normal' market? Current prices have nothing to do with manufacturing costs.
 
#6 ·
I haven't seen any real action by any of these companies to address the real direct causes they claim are the cause of the shortage that I've heard were the cause. They need to first hire some consultants that think outside the box. I am for buying American but the first thing I would do is set up a sub factory in Mexico or somewhere else that does not have the regulations on lead, brass, and the components for primers. If they could just make primers only without any regulation of where they are getting materials and environmental regulations of manufacture, coupled with very low labor, they could crank out primers 24/7 in volume and import it to their own factories and get real meaningful production back again until it gets caught up. Same with lead and bullet production as long as quality control was 100%. Yeah we hear that costs are going up, but I've also read that just getting raw materials is the problem. There has to be some real solution besides just hiring more people.
m14brian
 
#12 ·
Hmmm...is "monopoly" spelled "Vista Outdoor"?

They control many marketing avenues within the outdoor/shooting sports realm.

Regards,
D1
That's what I was thinking as well.

They are selling everything they can make and more. There's no incentive to hold the line on prices, especially when demand is so high and you have that much market share.

The 15% +/- increase is just from the manufacturer, the distributors and retailers can mark it up as much as they think they can get away with.
 
#16 ·
I ordered a a few thousand rounds of ammo from CTD back when O'butthead stole his second term.
They took my money, gave me a confirmation number and said it was in the shipping dept.
2 or 3 days later I got them back on the phone to find out that they had sold my order out from under me.
That was it for me. I won't even open the catalog...fire starter!!
 
#19 ·
Same. They offered me a great deal on some other ammo, packed in smaller boxes. I asked if theybwould be me thebsame per round price, they said no, I said give me a refund, never going back.


Gun owners are the worst when ammo is cheap they wont buy it because they dont have time. When ammo is expensive they won't buy it because they can't afford it. Maybe 2021 will be the year people quit making excuses. 4 years to prepare...4 years.
After the Obama Ammo Famine, I reminded my friends... buy your ammo now while it is cheap and available, and if you don't, i don't want to hear your whining...

Of course, i had no idea I would want large pistol primers, so Ha on me!
 
#25 ·
More often than not, I am ecstatic that we have a lot of distance from the Stupidity.
I wonder if we could slip in a provision in the next bill if we grease the right palm to get ammo included in special USPS 'Media' rates.

I can dream.

Don't worry, the stupid gets elected by the stupid, goes to DC, and then broadcasts itself to rain down around the world. Plenty to go around.
 
#24 ·
Invested in a few dozen shares of VSTO this week. We'll see if that works out as ammo keeps getting stockpiled at increasingly higher rates.
 
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#42 ·
Hello,
Heck, it's been like that in Ca. for what 3-4 years now. No on-line ammo sales/deliveries except too FFLs and COE holders. And, at a price for their paperwork and hassle... you're still on the books.
I hear, some people just take more short distance vacations... What a crap shoot that is these days; every ones shelves are bare at the Big Box Outlet, from what they say.... A guy that works at the shop next door, said there wasn't "any ammo", not even shotgun shells at any of the Walmarts or Big5s in the Carson/Minden area last weekend. Just, empty shelves... I asked, "Did you try Tractor Supply"?.... No, was his reply.
DISCLAIMER: I haven't been out of an 50mi. radius since Dec. 2019 pre-covid.
Yet, my new hobby should be training Homing Pigeons.... of various species. I'd, just have to feed them well...
 
#45 ·
For any small arms ammunition OEM, primer production remains the bottleneck. To this day, primer production is entirely a hand operation, with the most highly paid production workers working in the primer assembly area. Primer "wipers" are some of the best trained, but have the riskiest job of anyone in small arms production. Primer "wipers" work with a wet explosive compound that is pressure, temperature, and static sensitive. Which is why they work so slow, and deliberately, using wood or natural rubber tools. Any OEM can increase component production rapidly for projectiles, cases, or in many instances, gunpowder. But primers will likely remain the bottleneck for some time.

The only data I was able to get for primer production was a 1999 report from Lake City that the daily production goal for all primers (SR, SP, LP, LR, .50BMG) was 2 million per day. Lake City makes billions of rounds of ammunition annually. A Billion divided by a 2 million = 500 days. So, obviously primer production lags behind ammo production, which likely means at that time Lake City either had stockpiles, or was supplementing primer production from outside sources.

Primers are a central issue for rapid increases in production. No one has figured out (yet) how to fully automate primer production without blowing up their facility.

And its even worse for rimfire production, where 100% of the cases are hand primed, typically 1000 or 2000 at a time by a seasoned experience worker using a wood wiping paddle and about 30oz of wet priming compound that has a special mixture which includes ground glass, an additional hazard that centerfire primers don't require.
 
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