Where is all the ammo going?

[wildfan1]

All the major manufacturers are running full speed, and probably overtime. Where is all the ammo going? There is no way, with the slow pace it is trickling in and the fact that most places are limiting box counts on purchasing, that the regular flow of ammo is making it to the stores, and with the limits it cannot be hoarders. Where is it all going? Is the gubment stockpiling it to keep it away from us? Are supplies really drying up and manufacturers simply can't get the materials to manufacture in quantity?

[Thunder71]

Walmart, Fleet Farm and Gander all told me that the ammo never hits the shelves, people are there grabbing it out of their hands as it comes out of the cases.

[Rip Van Winkle]

It's not that mysterious. figure if 1 Million gun owners each buy 1000 rounds it add up to 1 Billion rounds. How many gun owners are in the country and what is the ammunition manufacturing capacity?

[wildfan1]

Walmart, Fleet Farm and Gander all told me that the ammo never hits the shelves, people are there grabbing it out of their hands as it comes out of the cases.

Wish I would be lucky enough to be there as they were putting it out, just once.

[tletourneau]

A chunk of it is in my safe! B-)

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[grousemaster]

Walmart, Fleet Farm and Gander all told me that the ammo never hits the shelves, people are there grabbing it out of their hands as it comes out of the cases.

Wish I would be lucky enough to be there as they were putting it out, just once.

Yea, sucky time to get into a new caliber or decide to stock up on ammo....after the election was the prime time I suppose...

[Seismic Sam]

Dunno if ALL of this is true, but I heard it on good authority at the NRA got 100,000 new members after the ban birds started swaking, and that it swelled up to 250,000 within a couple of weeks after that, and the last number I heard yesterday was ONE MILLION new members.

Plus from what I have heard, with the buying frenzy in the first week where Brownell's sold 3.5 years of mags in 3 days and Bill's Hudson sold out TWICE in a week of all the EBR's they had, a lot of these people were noobs who hadn't really considered buying an AR right now, but when the panic hit they indiscrimanently bought any EBR on the shelves. For those people, the panic buy of the gun would trigger and even more panicked response to get ammo for this thing they had never shot before, so I think that's what's amping the hysteria this time above and beyond Obama just getting sworn in in january 2009.

[20mm]

It's going to China. j/k

I fully understand where the ammo is going. Tons of gun owners don't even keep more more than a box of ammo on hand. Then you have some jack of a politician talk about banning ammo and boom. No more ammo on the shelves.

What worries me is if something like this happens with food.

[FJ540]

Sam's got it right - every new AR owner is trying to find ammo for their new toy.

Some might look at the current frenzy as a bad thing, but I see it as a way to introduce millions of newbies to the platform - which sucks in the short term if you want more of your own, but in the long run will bolster the industry and our sport. With the added bonus of that many more rifles in the hands of the People.

Federal Cartridge has been struggling to expand in Anoka, and it looks like they just got permission to add more office and warehouse space this past year. I don't know if that means they'll be allowed to re-purpose the existing space to production facilities or what - I have a feeling they don't really need a warehouse at the moment: just load it straight into the trailer.

[Ron Burgundy]

I was at FF on Sunday. Everything gone right after open --- except .40 s&w. it looked like they couldn't give it away. Thinking about picking a fortey up just so I have something to shoot.

Business school taught me that JIT inventory is the bees knees. I followed that with my own ammo stock. I guess we missed the case study on crazy, irrational shortages.

[FJ540]

In business, when carrying inventory has costs associated with it - JIT is the way to minimize those expenses. Especially when you're taxed for the value of inventory on hand. Why tie up money in stuff you don't need, and why have inventory of stuff you can buy or make later?

For personal use, if you're able to buy without incurring debt (which right now is still dollars ahead of having to buy at crazy pricing later without incurring debt), then having inventory is better than having to procure with market forces and inflation.

It's a matter of perspective and ultimately how badly you want what you're after. Wait for it and get a good deal, or pay through the nose and get it right now. Or spend a bunch of time and energy running all over trying to get it for a good price which ends up being more money/resources than waiting out the increased demand, but not having to worry about costs going up later.

[jdege]

It's not that mysterious. figure if 1 Million gun owners each buy 1000 rounds it add up to 1 Billion rounds. How many gun owners are in the country and what is the ammunition manufacturing capacity?

Last I read, the civilian ammo market was around 6 billion rounds and 4 billion loose primers/year.

[Rip Van Winkle]

It's not that mysterious. figure if 1 Million gun owners each buy 1000 rounds it add up to 1 Billion rounds. How many gun owners are in the country and what is the ammunition manufacturing capacity?

Last I read, the civilian ammo market was around 6 billion rounds and 4 billion loose primers/year.

If that's true and we figure 100 million gun owners that equals only 60 loaded rounds and 40 hand loads each per year. The shortage doesn't seem so far fetched when looked at that way.

[wildfan1]

No way 1/3 of the country are gun owners though

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[FJ540]

What makes you say that Matt?

My kid technically can't own a gun, but he's got two of them.

ETA: according to this site: http://www.gunpolicy.org/firearms/region/united-states

There's 88.8 guns per 100 people. I'd think we're probably well above 1/3 of the population given those numbers.