Visitors Now: | |
Total Visits: | |
Total Stories: |
Story Views | |
Now: | |
Last Hour: | |
Last 24 Hours: | |
Total: |
It seems ammo (except .22lr) is back to a pretty good level of availability. Certainly well stocked stores and online dealers have plenty of the stuff. I am seeing .223 in the .42 to .44 cent range for cases. 9mm ball seems to be in the .37 ish range though is case of reloads for $300/1k is a great deal. 7.62×39 is under a quarter a round in any quantity which is nice.
I hope everyone remembers the dark days of firearmagedon and what we wanted to buy when things got back to normal. I sort of reconsidered priorities then added some more 7.62×39 and small game type shotgun loads to the list. Also I’m still waiting for .223 and 9mm to drop a little bit more in price. Personally I think .223 will settle back around 40 cents with a spread
between .38 and .42 or so depending on specifics. Nine Mil might drop to
the .30 cent range. Beyond that who knows. Hunting rifle and shotgun
ammo wasn’t affected so it’s largely stayed the same anyway. As to the lowly .22lr who knows when it will be back at any sane prices.
However the prices now, if you shop intelligently, are good enough that if I wasn’t already sitting in an OK place I would be buying. If we only had a few hundred rounds per caliber/ gun the difference of 10% that ammo may drop would pale in comparison to the slim-moderate chance something will happen that hurts availability again. Getting caught short because you wanted to save $20 would be foolish.
The point I am working towards is that ammo is back at decent, if not great, prices. Now is the time to stock up on what you need.
I disagree with the video that you should get a box of this or that every payday. That was my technique for a few years when I was a young gun owner. Every payday I would get a box per gun/ caliber (at that time the same thing). That meant a trip to the local sporting goods store for a box of 12 gauge buckshot, a box of .38 special, .40 S&W, some .22lr, a box of .223 and another of 30’06.
The issue is that I was an uninformed consumer. Small boxes of ammunition are often marked up quite steeply at brick and mortar stores. Paying 20-30+% more than you would purchasing a case of ammo is quite common. What this translates into is 20-30% less ammo for your dollar. So instead of buying a box here and another there save for 3 paydays then get 250 rounds of Federal LE Buckshot, in a few more months a case of ammo for your pistola, you get the idea. The only exception in my mind to this is oddballs like Grandpa’s .32S&W revolver that you only want a couple boxes for anyway.
Save money, buy ammo in bulk at good deals, repeat until you are happy. Of course you do need some balance, so do not spend all of your money on ammo. Some needs to go to food, some to saving, etc all.
I’m looking I don’t see it
You may see sporadic instances where shelves are well stocked but this is not the norm by any means. One thing I’ve noticed is the price of loaded ammunition as well as reloading supplies are at a new high normal price. While supplies are becoming more plentiful the GREED factor is alive and well which in itself acts as a barrier for many buyers….
In the small, rural towns, ammo is coming back. In the moderate to large cities, only the unpopular stuff is being found and some shotgun shells. Shops around my town HAVE full shelves, sans the .22 cal. However, they have imposed strict limits on many calibers. Despite that, 7.62X39 seems to be readily abundant again. This is a good barter caliber as the AK, SKS, and other popular rifles take this round.