Federal Ammo Backlog & Shortages

[XDM45]

Just an FYI, a good friend of mine knows someone who works at Federal testing ballistics; from what I get down that pipeline is that Federal has enough orders to where they are 3 years behind on filling them all. It doesn't make financial sense to invest in more people and machinery (to them), so instead, they're running the people and machines they have already in a 24x7x365 basis.

Can anyone else verify?

Also, my same friend told me that all the guns and ammo manufacturer were already backed up for 6 months prior to Sandy Hook, but I'm not sure about that one. I don't know if they are normally backed up, but I'd assume so since there's always been a demand for guns and ammo in this country, and even more so when gun control or some event happens to spur interest and pricing.

I spoke with Andre at Arnzen Arms on Friday and he said that there's a lot of people getting into guns right now, which I'm sure every gun store can attest to. (He actually contacted me about an XDs they have/had, but I couldn't get down there in time to grab it.)

Discuss.

[CarRacer]

The 6 month backlog is due to the election. People were already freaking out again when the President got elected.

[BBeckwith]

Well there are a few guys on here that work at Federal and I am guessing they may not be able to talk about order fulfillment.

This is what the ATK website had for job postings in Anoka though.

Shift Information:

We are currently hiring on the following full-time shift:
Shift I: 5pm-5am Fri/Sat/Sun and Thurs 11pm-5am

Shift G: 5am-5pm Fr/Sat/Sun and Thurs 11am-5pm

The first 4-6 weeks will likely be on another shift.

lots of weekend and night shifts

[TommyMN]

I've greatly considered working there. I'd love that crazy weekend shift as of late for daycare

[Ron Burgundy]

Ammo orders are cancelable. Walmart, Dicks, etc. run out of stock and place orders with Federal and all other manufacturers trying to fill their empty shelves with product (target ammo is a commodity, they care little for brand). The next thing you know, the ammo manufactuerers have 3 years of backlog. Speed forward 12 months and all the gun bills have been killed and Joe American quits stockpiling. Demand normalizes and Walmart, et. al. cancel excss orders (they do not want to be warehousing product). Federal and all the other ammo manufactuerers receive cancellation orders and are back to their 6 - 12 month backlog.

[BigBlue]

Admittedly I am no business person, but I have to wonder how a company can have 3 years' worth of backlog and not justify a capital expansion to their line?

I've had several buddies who used to work for Federal and were able to take advantage of the employee store. I wonder how that is doing these days? I imagine it gets cleaned out very quickly after restocking.

BB

[AFTERMATH]

Admittedly I am no business person, but I have to wonder how a company can have 3 years' worth of backlog and not justify a capital expansion to their line?

I've had several buddies who used to work for Federal and were able to take advantage of the employee store. I wonder how that is doing these days? I imagine it gets cleaned out very quickly after restocking.

BB

Because of this:

Ammo orders are cancelable. Walmart, Dicks, etc. run out of stock and place orders with Federal and all other manufacturers trying to fill their empty shelves with product (target ammo is a commodity, they care little for brand). The next thing you know, the ammo manufactuerers have 3 years of backlog. Speed forward 12 months and all the gun bills have been killed and Joe American quits stockpiling. Demand normalizes and Walmart, et. al. cancel excss orders (they do not want to be warehousing product). Federal and all the other ammo manufactuerers receive cancellation orders and are back to their 6 - 12 month backlog.

Imagine ramping up to WWII like production, just to have all your orders pulled. You'd go under real quick like.

[XDM45]

Ammo orders are cancelable. Walmart, Dicks, etc. run out of stock and place orders with Federal and all other manufacturers trying to fill their empty shelves with product (target ammo is a commodity, they care little for brand). The next thing you know, the ammo manufactuerers have 3 years of backlog. Speed forward 12 months and all the gun bills have been killed and Joe American quits stockpiling. Demand normalizes and Walmart, et. al. cancel excss orders (they do not want to be warehousing product). Federal and all the other ammo manufactuerers receive cancellation orders and are back to their 6 - 12 month backlog.

Very well possible. I will never stop stock pilling, but I also can't support the ammo companies by myself hah.... I went to the Wally World in Shakopee tonight and they were bare of the most popular ammo on the shelves. They also have a limit of 3 box per day per person for ammo, when and if they have it in. Yup. One more reason to order online. Glad I did and I will continue to do so from now on.

[grousemaster]

Ammo orders are cancelable. Walmart, Dicks, etc. run out of stock and place orders with Federal and all other manufacturers trying to fill their empty shelves with product (target ammo is a commodity, they care little for brand). The next thing you know, the ammo manufactuerers have 3 years of backlog. Speed forward 12 months and all the gun bills have been killed and Joe American quits stockpiling. Demand normalizes and Walmart, et. al. cancel excss orders (they do not want to be warehousing product). Federal and all the other ammo manufactuerers receive cancellation orders and are back to their 6 - 12 month backlog.

Very well possible. I will never stop stock pilling, but I also can't support the ammo companies by myself hah.... I went to the Wally World in Shakopee tonight and they were bare of the most popular ammo on the shelves. They also have a limit of 3 box per day per person for ammo, when and if they have it in. Yup. One more reason to order online. Glad I did and I will continue to do so from now on.

Which website has the popular calibers in stock right now? When it's widely available again, the purchase limits will surely be lifted.

[Molasses]

so instead, they're running the people and machines they have already in a 24x7x365 basis.

Yawn. Most of the production areas of the plant have been running on a 24/7 schedule for something like the last two and a half years (or is it three and a half? Time flies). For the previous few years before that it was mostly 24/5 with certain high-demand areas covered by a weekend shift and a whole lot of voluntary and mandatory overtime elsewhere as needed.

The current situation reduces to a calculus designed to give ulcers to managers. Every choice could end up being a career decision. Other posts in this thread have already covered the basics. Plenty of folks working there can remember the layoffs after the '94 AWB and Y2K runs on ammo wound down and there was a whole warehouse full of stuff nobody was interested in buying until their ammo fort was used up, so the risks from choosing poorly have already been made altogether too real in the past.

[XDM45]

Ammo orders are cancelable. Walmart, Dicks, etc. run out of stock and place orders with Federal and all other manufacturers trying to fill their empty shelves with product (target ammo is a commodity, they care little for brand). The next thing you know, the ammo manufactuerers have 3 years of backlog. Speed forward 12 months and all the gun bills have been killed and Joe American quits stockpiling. Demand normalizes and Walmart, et. al. cancel excss orders (they do not want to be warehousing product). Federal and all the other ammo manufactuerers receive cancellation orders and are back to their 6 - 12 month backlog.

Very well possible. I will never stop stock pilling, but I also can't support the ammo companies by myself hah.... I went to the Wally World in Shakopee tonight and they were bare of the most popular ammo on the shelves. They also have a limit of 3 box per day per person for ammo, when and if they have it in. Yup. One more reason to order online. Glad I did and I will continue to do so from now on.

Which website has the popular calibers in stock right now? When it's widely available again, the purchase limits will surely be lifted.

Not sure. I know I got 2,000 rounds of .45ACP pretty quickly from luckygunner.com, but Brownells won't get my .22LR until the 25th of this month and then I will hopefully get it some time after that. I think it's a lot easier to get it online - even back ordered - than trying to luck out and find it in a store right now - let alone in any real quantity.

[LarryP]

Mfrg's need to import ammo. Then relabel it. Just like almost every other company does nowdays

[XDM45]

Mfrg's need to import ammo. Then relabel it. Just like almost every other company does nowdays

No thanks.

oh, and for anyone reading this thread..... if you have any american made .45ACP or .22LR for sale, I'm always buying and always have cash available.

[Erud]

Mfrg's need to import ammo. Then relabel it. Just like almost every other company does nowdays

No thanks.

oh, and for anyone reading this thread..... if you have any american made .45ACP or .22LR for sale, I'm always buying and always have cash available.

Only American made?

Isn't your favorite Magtech ammo made in Brazil?

[XDM45]

Mfrg's need to import ammo. Then relabel it. Just like almost every other company does nowdays

No thanks.

oh, and for anyone reading this thread..... if you have any american made .45ACP or .22LR for sale, I'm always buying and always have cash available.

Only American made?

Isn't your favorite Magtech ammo made in Brazil?

Interesting., Thought it was American made.