[comment from reader who asked me to post for him] Great article Emily, which helps defuse all the conspiracy theories. They and other companies are making all they can and the new Remington owners are adding at least one plant to meet the demand. Lead may become an issue, only one US smelter exists now I think, someplace in Missouri. During the Obama administration the feds were buying out ammo “for training” in massive quantities that caused the hoarding phenomena then. Best is once the craziness subsides, buy a box or so every now and then so as to keep a small stockpile and consider using an airsoft or pellet gun around the house for sight alignment and trigger control practice. Also there a .22 conversions for some pistols to enable having one pistol with 2 calibers to cut ammunition costs. I’m glad to see more women involved in the shooting sports and self defense programs. Also the manufacturers are producing pistols with shorter trigger reaches such as the Sig 365 that better fit them to smaller hands. FFF Regards,
all ammunition manufactures have been running at full capacity, the Remington plant was shutter during bankruptcy resolution but they are back in production now. the shortages are all because of panic buying, which are primarily feed by fear of more anti gun laws. the shortage of components has halted the individual reloader, I have several hundred rounds that I need to reload, but as described, no primers available, this all has had an adverse impact of the shooting competitions for this season, even sponsored professional shooters are carefully managing their ammo supplies
We are our own worst enemy when it comes to these shortages. Hornady described it perfectly.
The answer to price gouging is simple: don't buy at inflated prices - period. The gougers will get the message if we all wouldn't buy. Unfortunately, though, panic wins out.
Two years is a long time, but I'm hopefully not going anywhere. I'll wait for sanity to return to the guns and ammo market.
Wow! I guess I can understand. And with respect, I wonder about how the ammo manufacturer is doing with supplies they need of the ammo components, like the propellant and the projectiles, and the casings plus the primers. I'll bet these suppliers are also overwhelmed. I think it would be interesting to find out.
It’s the ebb and flow of politics. During Obamatime, gun/ammo sales were crazy (like now). Then we were safe under President Trump so gun/ammo sales slumped somewhat because folks didn’t fell compelled to hoard. You get a Dem gun grabber(s) in office and all bets are off.
The forthcoming election may give us a bit of an advantage (at least Congressional stalemate) but SCOTUS could be the ace in the hole. Although Emily thinks there will be no cases other than the NY State Rifle & Pistol Association (a carry case) this session, I’m hoping we’ll see a few more next year.
I think the last time around we had a shortage, the problem was partially triggered by the USG buying. All those rounds socked away back in the '50s for the cold war had expired and needed replacing. No manufacturers will admit this, probably because they have NDA's in place that legally bind them from doing so, but that's almost certainly what happened. This time around it's just genuine panic. If you've got people running around outside your front door throwing molotov cocktails, while the politicians in your home town and at the state and national level are screaming "defund the police", who are your only perceived protection against said molotov cocktail thrower, you're going to take matters into your own hands and go buy some guns and ammo. You're going to be new to it or it's been so long since you fired one on grandpappy's farm that you need to do some training. You're scared so you'll want an ample supply in case at some point literally none will be available. So you buy a whole bunch, and everybody else is doing the same, so there's none to be had, or if it's there, it's priced like they made it out of silver and gold. At some point this will subside and we'll be able to get cheap ammo again. The question now is, will manufacturers learn their lesson and actually make some capital investments in preparation for the next surge? I mean, it's happened twice in about 10 years. It's going to happen again.
I get it about rifle and pistol ammo shortages. Lot's of new owners. However, this does not explain the shortage of target and field shotgun ammo. Now some of that can be explained by the fact the Remington plant was shut down for more than a year and just recently reopened. But why Winchester and Federal have not been able to get shotgun shells to market is a mystery. The material used to make primers for bot types of ammo is the same - are they only making rifle and pistol primers so they can't make shotgun ones? The only target ammo our club has been able to get is from Mexico or Italy and that just doesn't make sense.
[comment from reader who asked me to post for him] Great article Emily, which helps defuse all the conspiracy theories. They and other companies are making all they can and the new Remington owners are adding at least one plant to meet the demand. Lead may become an issue, only one US smelter exists now I think, someplace in Missouri. During the Obama administration the feds were buying out ammo “for training” in massive quantities that caused the hoarding phenomena then. Best is once the craziness subsides, buy a box or so every now and then so as to keep a small stockpile and consider using an airsoft or pellet gun around the house for sight alignment and trigger control practice. Also there a .22 conversions for some pistols to enable having one pistol with 2 calibers to cut ammunition costs. I’m glad to see more women involved in the shooting sports and self defense programs. Also the manufacturers are producing pistols with shorter trigger reaches such as the Sig 365 that better fit them to smaller hands. FFF Regards,
I’m interviewing the head of another big ammo manufacturer next week so let me know any questions that didn’t get answered in this one.
Great interview! It is consistent with what I've heard from other manufacturers.
all ammunition manufactures have been running at full capacity, the Remington plant was shutter during bankruptcy resolution but they are back in production now. the shortages are all because of panic buying, which are primarily feed by fear of more anti gun laws. the shortage of components has halted the individual reloader, I have several hundred rounds that I need to reload, but as described, no primers available, this all has had an adverse impact of the shooting competitions for this season, even sponsored professional shooters are carefully managing their ammo supplies
Fortunately, I have a few thousand rounds of 9mm stockpiled from a number of years ago. Some of it was purchased when it was $10 a box!
We are our own worst enemy when it comes to these shortages. Hornady described it perfectly.
The answer to price gouging is simple: don't buy at inflated prices - period. The gougers will get the message if we all wouldn't buy. Unfortunately, though, panic wins out.
Two years is a long time, but I'm hopefully not going anywhere. I'll wait for sanity to return to the guns and ammo market.
Great interview thanks
Wow! I guess I can understand. And with respect, I wonder about how the ammo manufacturer is doing with supplies they need of the ammo components, like the propellant and the projectiles, and the casings plus the primers. I'll bet these suppliers are also overwhelmed. I think it would be interesting to find out.
It’s the ebb and flow of politics. During Obamatime, gun/ammo sales were crazy (like now). Then we were safe under President Trump so gun/ammo sales slumped somewhat because folks didn’t fell compelled to hoard. You get a Dem gun grabber(s) in office and all bets are off.
The forthcoming election may give us a bit of an advantage (at least Congressional stalemate) but SCOTUS could be the ace in the hole. Although Emily thinks there will be no cases other than the NY State Rifle & Pistol Association (a carry case) this session, I’m hoping we’ll see a few more next year.
I think the last time around we had a shortage, the problem was partially triggered by the USG buying. All those rounds socked away back in the '50s for the cold war had expired and needed replacing. No manufacturers will admit this, probably because they have NDA's in place that legally bind them from doing so, but that's almost certainly what happened. This time around it's just genuine panic. If you've got people running around outside your front door throwing molotov cocktails, while the politicians in your home town and at the state and national level are screaming "defund the police", who are your only perceived protection against said molotov cocktail thrower, you're going to take matters into your own hands and go buy some guns and ammo. You're going to be new to it or it's been so long since you fired one on grandpappy's farm that you need to do some training. You're scared so you'll want an ample supply in case at some point literally none will be available. So you buy a whole bunch, and everybody else is doing the same, so there's none to be had, or if it's there, it's priced like they made it out of silver and gold. At some point this will subside and we'll be able to get cheap ammo again. The question now is, will manufacturers learn their lesson and actually make some capital investments in preparation for the next surge? I mean, it's happened twice in about 10 years. It's going to happen again.
I get it about rifle and pistol ammo shortages. Lot's of new owners. However, this does not explain the shortage of target and field shotgun ammo. Now some of that can be explained by the fact the Remington plant was shut down for more than a year and just recently reopened. But why Winchester and Federal have not been able to get shotgun shells to market is a mystery. The material used to make primers for bot types of ammo is the same - are they only making rifle and pistol primers so they can't make shotgun ones? The only target ammo our club has been able to get is from Mexico or Italy and that just doesn't make sense.