So, that’s what’s up with ammo prices
Here:
In the past year or so, most people involved in the shooting sports have noticed a growing “ammunition crisis” which has been marked by dramatic increases in ammunition prices, and in many cases, a corresponding shortage of ammunition stocks. It is not unusual to contact vendors and find the entire surplus ammunition stock sold out, and where there is ammunition in stock, to find prices have gone up by two times or more.
It’s about metal. But I’ve also noticed the surplus stuff is harder to find.
Via Tam.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:59 am
I’m not sure I buy the metal explanation… Looking up current copper and lead prices… sure enough, they’ve gone up a bunch. But to make an 80 gr .223 bullet, you only need $.039 worth of copper*. (And that assumes a solid copper bullet–lead’s substantially cheaper per unit mass, so a copper jacketed lead bullet would be much less–more like $.02 worth of metal)
That’s only $4 per box of 100 bullets for the cost of the metals (assuming all copper, more like $2 per box with a more normal copper-lead bullet)–for bullets that sell in the $17-25 range.
Rising energy costs might be playing a role, and increased demand is probably a big factor, too. But the increase in raw materials cost is so small a portion of the increase in price, that I don’t think that part’s playing a huge role.
*copper is at $3.49 per pound, lead at $.94
I didn’t find brass prices, but I’d imagine those costs are similar.
May 17th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Yes, it sucks. I’ve had to go back to reloading to feed my my subguns. Jack.
May 17th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
For current production, it’s simple supply and demand – with both the ammo itself and the raw materials. Production lines are going full bore to meet military needs, and that means there are fewer resources (materials, machines, people) to devote to commercial production.
As to the surplus, well it’s surplus. When it’s gone there is no more! And as people notice that it’s drying up, supply and demand kicks in here as well. Sellers know they’ve got a limited supply of something people want, the price adjusts accordingly until supply and demand even out.
Now, that said, does anyone know where I can get Swiss GP11 (7.5×55) in quantity? I’m down to my last three battle packs darn it! 🙂
May 17th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
I am going to have our contractor build a reloading bench in our garage later this year.
The ammo prices are outlandish, so I tend to shoot a lot of 9mm and a good bit of 38 special.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
I imagine increased demand for it on the part of the military is driving prices up as well.
May 17th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
[…] SayUncle linked to a great piece on ammo prices. Seems mostly caused by what we’ve talked about before. High commodity prices, war demand, higher fuel prices, and shrinking surplus supply. One thing caught my attention, because I had never heard of this before: I think the scariest part of all of the shortages are the role that our own government has had in the shortages, and this role is only going to get worse. As part of the 1994 Gun Control Act that gave us the assault rifle bans and high cap magazine bans, we also got a great many more things that people never heard about. Ever wonder why US made surplus for 223(5.56mm), 308(7.62mm), and 30-06 disappeared from the market? Loaded ammunition in government inventory cannot be sold to the public any longer as of 1994. If it was in private hands, controlled by another government, or was demilled with the original primer killed and removed then reassembled with a new non-milspec primer then it can still be sold. I’m not going into every deatil, but only the ban on assault style weapons and magazine capacity had a sunset in 2004, everything else was signed into law. If you think this isn’t real, look into this a bit further. You might be surprised! There is a lot more to gun control than banning guns, and I feel all shooters should broaden their horizons a bit when it comes to laws. […]
May 17th, 2007 at 4:51 pm
A little good news:
For y’all with the “evil black rifles”, AK’s or SKS’s, I noticed recently that 7.62×39 ammo (Wolf and Monarch Russain-made brand) have gone down quite a bit. Not long ago it was more than $8 for a BX/20. Recently, at Academy Sports, they had it for $4.86/BX….some of which I purchased to add to my stash.
Some vendors at the TN State Fairgrounds gunshow last week had 7.62×39 for $4/BX. I also saw some (“Tiger” brand) in bags/100rds for $17.95….somewhat less than $4 per BX/20.
Academy Sports also has some decent prices on 9mm… particularly CCI and the Monarch brand. Occasionaly they run some specials on the Remington brand in the 250 rd bx. The CCI aluminum shellls are the cheapest, but they don’t feed very well in my CZ 75.
June 5th, 2007 at 8:45 am
[…] we know that. But the press is catching […]