This is NOT an April Fool’s story. I promise. I already got that one out of my system. From what I can tell, it looks like the shortage on AR-15 rifles and the like is winding down at long last. However, the ammo shortage continues unabated and only seems to actually be getting worse . . .
According to my sources, some of the more popular mass produced AR-15 rifles are back in stock at the distributor level at the pre-panic prices. A Bushmaster AR-15 can be had for as little as $800 to the dealer, and Colt rifles are once again reasonably priced. In short, if you were pissed that you missed your chance to buy an AR-15 before the panic buying spree, you will have the opportunity to do so again very shortly.
It looks like AR-15 rifles have, for the moment, reached the “saturation point” in the market. Just about everyone who wants one has one, or doesn’t have the money to buy another. With a decrease in demand, production and the available supply catch up and prices will begin to drop off.
At this point, two things can happen. Those who’ve been waiting on the sidelines for prices to drop could swoop in and buy up the newly available supply, thus pushing prices back up (or keeping them at their panic-level highs). OR, we really are at the saturation point, in which case AR-15 prices will come down.
So while the news is good for the Evil Black Rifle™, the news isn’t as cheery for ammunition. The ammo shortage is having a compounding effect; those who weren’t hoarding ammo before are snapping up every round they can find now. And those with ample ammo stashes are seeking to add to their stores. In short, we’re still screwed for the foreseeable future.
So to recap, the good news is that you can buy guns. The bad news is that you can’t feed them.
Oww, my heart. 🙁
I am not seeing that. Ammo supply’s are weak but at least were I live I can’t say they are worse. Most of the LGS have something in stock even if it is expensive and the local Wal-Mart / Dick / Bass Pro are getting some in although it isn’t lasting long it is still coming in. I still think your original est of June / July is going to be pretty accurate at this point.
Thanks
Robert
The cheapest I have seen Colt AR’s anywhere near me is $1,675.00. That same rifle, in that same shop was $1,175.00 before the panic. We are still talking about a 30% increase. I will call the AR Shortage over when prices are within 10% of pre-panic levels.
Oddly, 223/556 seems to be coming back around….at least here in NW Georgia. 9’s, 40’s etc not so much.
This is ripe to be ruled invalid even without the 2nd amendment argument. Since you can’t be forced to make statements under the 5th, you can’t be punished by virtue of not making those statements. That permit requires you to make affirmative statements and disclosures. If it was just a permit (ie, a peice of paper saying you passed criteria), it might pass muster, but this requires disclosure of current possessions, and affirmation of facts.
Has anyone actually seen a fresh box of .22LR in a store recently?
Local Walmart in KY gets some 22LR every other day or so. Even with a 3 box limit per customer, you need to be there are 7 AM cause by 8, its history. Having never been there at the right time 🙁 I asked the clerk about the price. She said it was the “same as always”.
But, having a well stocked locker already, I just can’t bring my self to camp out in front of the store.
I picked up a 525 loose pack of Fed .22lr at my LGS last Friday. One to a customer.
What’s this 22ammo you speak of! Lol
Cruel. Funny but cruel.
Admittedly, anyone who really believes the ATF would make the NFA process efficient probably also believes in the Easter Bunny ….
Not just ammo. Try getting your hands on components for making ammo. I will not be able to shoot competitions this season if the supply of H4198 or Varget supply doesn’t appear soon. Same goes for primers of any sort. There is even a shortage of shell holders, dies, and most bullets. I saw some H4198 go for 200% of normal on gunbroker. Really? 674 dollars for 16 lbs of powder.
Optimistic suppliers say June for stuff. The other day my LGS said “go fish” no longer trying to estimate arrival.
I’m waiting on backorders on uppers. I have an open order with RRA from before the panic. I am starting to think that order got lost in the shuffle.
My LGS has plenty of rifles in stock. But prices are still high ( probably why they are in stock)
Makes me glad I own a .38. No shortages for me.
Got this little darling as my “Happy CCW” gift from my guy. Replaced the rosewood with an NAA grip that folds over the little dear like a folding knife. It doesn’t add to bulk and stops its ability to flip so easily. For a hoot, we put a LaserLyte on it, to help with the practice of quick point and shoot. Bill Wilson of Wilson Combat says he’s NEVER without his (Literally? What an understanding wife! (joke).
“[No person shall] be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
The opinion of some psychologist or psychiatrist is no process of law whatsoever.
dont wanna brag but my lgs had a ton of. 223 but you could only buy 1 box so i got the biggest box they had. a case of 1000 for .60 a round i almost missed it it was well hidden
Somebody probably hid it hoping to come back for it. Oh well. Lucky break for you! 😀
Well played sir, well played.
Nick, can you ask your buddies at FN to make (or contract for) more 5.7 x 28?
I like companies who show strength of character and a willingness to put the welfare of their customers ahead of profit. These are the people I want to do business with. Bravo!!
I am now starting Nick’s posts with the last line to make sure it is not a long joke with a punch line.
Time to go buy an air-pump gun.
Half cock remove cylinder. Load replace cylinder. Position at notch. Pull back hammer slightly. Hold trigger and put hammer into notch gently. Takes practice.
My mid-Iowa Walmart got some .223 (in addition to 22lr Remington value packs and misc other popular calibers) ammo in Sunday night. I asked for my 3 boxes of .223 and the assistant manager was helpful in retrieving it from the locked cage. He brought it all out and they stocked the shelf right then and there (normally reserved for the morning crew).
Then, I went in this morning before work and they had some Winchester 5.56mm in stock (9 boxes of 20-ct). So, I bought another 3 boxes.
It’s going to take a while before you can walk into a Walmart and find anything and everything you want, but it’s there now… you just have to get there early, or ask.
While there is some merit in your article, some key facts regarding Cho and Loughner were left out. First, VT knew of Cho mental illness and that he was dangerous. Next, the authorities were called to Loughner’s JC 9 times before he got the boot. Had either of these two ‘spree killers’ been placed on a “3 day Psychiatric hold”( aka 5150’d) for evaluation, placing them in the ‘system’ would have been possible and access to weapons may have been denied.
Finally, you did not mention that for the last 30-40 years the ACLU has been going after states to make it more difficult for these troubled individuals to have an evaluation done by professionals. It is at that evaluation where their placement in the ‘system’ can be determined. The other route, the one the ‘state’ wants will only serve as one more path to the loss of gun ownership. The flawed, politically correct system needs to be fixed.
I have had a change of heart recently on gun control. I am going to change things with my vote, I have been enlightened by some of the comments by posters on this forum have made, I have been called a bigot and anti- semite. I certainly dont want to be that. So I have decided that I will now cast votes in favor of, schumer, leiberman, Feinstein, boxer, chertoff, Rahm Emanuel, Bloomberg, Goldberg, glickstein, glickmen, and any other Jewish polititian I can find. Won’t you join me TTAG.. thanks for helping me to see the truth that the Jews are on our side
The trip tent is about 80 yards to your left. Was it the brown acid?
So what law were they breaking again? Oh, right…
http://www.guns.com/2013/04/01/maryland-school-board-nixes-l-from-alphabet-because-it-looks-like-a-gun/
The name Le Petomane is a dead giveaway.
It translates pretty much as “The Fartomaniac” and is a tribute to this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane
Were he still alive, I have no doubt that he would be a valued commenter at TTAG.
600 yards… FROM THE HIP.
Excuse me, as I laugh / choke on my lunch…
I wanted to know what S.A.D. stands for.
Obama was great for the gun industry. No one else in the world could of done the greatness that he has done. Ammo off the shelves, firearms flying away, 1.6 billions rounds ordered by DHS, and the millions the manufactures are making.
training like that is further away than a dream, here in the heart of Liberation and Freedom, known as Chicago Illinois. color me extremely jealous!!
I need to find a range (or private property in NJ) that allows “fun” targets.
The place I go in PA (maintained by the PA DCNR) only allows paper targets, although I do hang tennis balls and small chunks of wood at the 100 yard range for my .22 rifle. Paper targets at 10 -25 yards for pistol is fun for about 10 shots. After that I want to hear something clang or break up into small pieces!
I fell for it. Lol
I literally ran downstairs and grabbed my extra fingerprint cards.
Ah hell. If there’s one thing TTAG should’ve taught me by now, it’s play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Let me know when one of them actually moves.
I wonder what Smith & Wesson will do when Massachusetts goes full retard.
I know that feel bro. It’s a great experience that hurts the body but enriches the soul in an undefinable way. We did much the same with our service rifles in a predeployment exercise in 29 Palms and learned the true meaning of ‘pain is weakness leaving the body’.
I nearly wet myself when he said “Ideal for concealed carry”.
RK-FL – Everyone entering the service gets a NAC – National Agency Check. Next step up is a NACI – National Agency Check w/ Inquiries. I know – Used to be TS-SI/TK/G/M-O-U-S-E… (CI guy)
I think the best car-to-gun analogy for this situation is comparing a new camry to something like a Ferrari 308. The camry just works all the time, the Ferrari needs constant attention. The Ferrari is also much more expensive to own. In the hands of a capable driver, the cars are the same (realistically the camry is probably faster, but for the sake of argument they are equal). You will be much a much prouder owner of your old Ferrari than of your new camry. People will stop you on the street and ask about it. It will be a much more satisfying drive. It is a car you tell your kids about after you sell it. The 1911 is the old Ferrari, any of the polymer wonder pistols are the camry.
For all those that think 500 is a lot, it’s not. That’s a couple of hours of my reloading time, and I’m slow. Typical training sessions should be at least a couple hundred cartridges. Training classes are typically a thousand cartridges a day. Not sure why your hands were bloody, Nick, you may want to look into that. I burned at least that much in my range session today, definitely that much in my weekend matches (every weekend). Heck, I’m not even “sponsored”.
Now that you’ve taught yourself how to shoot steel, you’ll have to unlearn or relearn how to shoot paper. Given that paper targets are the norm, most of the time, for pistol selection (barring some random inclusions or shooter’s choice on small steel) targets, the mental picture in your head is a steel plate vice an A zone of a paper/cardboard target. Additionally, steel isn’t really ideal for shot placement shot calling drills to figure out conclusively where you need adjustments/improvements. Train how you’ll fight…. (Or compete, as the case may be)
I’m still at a loss as to how the sights on the FNS are so radically different from the P226. Sight alignment, sight picture, etc.; concepts and principles are the same. I get that it’s a new firearm…. Practice was needed, which you have now done, great job!
These would be nice to have just for the Shits and Giggles factor!!! And besides that imagine the look on the face of your local gun control asshole neighbor when you just happen to drop the hint that you have depleted uranium rounds in your home defense shotty!!
VoteVets has been a Soros front group from Day 1. Its “leader”, Jon Soltz, has had Soros’ hand up his ass making his mouth move for so long that he’s ready to be a recurring character on Sesame Street.
Yikes…. time to leave.
When she isn’t being an idiot she enjoys focusing on her hobby:
“….. I sit on the floor trying to untangle a Slinky from a bunch of hangers.”
https://twitter.com/juliweiner
Good for you Weiner, good for you. I wish you the very best with this herculean task. If you ever get that wily Slinky freed from the grasp of those treacherous hangers, I have an entire drawer full of tangled Christmas lights you can work on.
Since CO’s unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in four years, I wonder how many of their employees will actually depart for lovely Kansas or Nebraska. Plus all the craft beers in the Fort, yum.
Well this was a waste of my time on a fake bill to soon become a fake law.
I’d like to say to PTR Industries congratulations on your decision for bravery, your love for our Constitution and your commitment to carry on producing high quality arms for God Fearing Constitution Patriotic Americans. And to all of your employees and vendors, hang tough. I’m certain that PTR has made a calculated and wise decision. We Patriots stand by you and with you !
I will be there. Hope to see you there!
Here is my insight. I will happily take the two attorneys at their word that many prosecutors will charge the victim in the self defense scenario of this discussion. And I will happily take them at their word that the victim will be a defendant in a trial and that their defense could very well bankrupt them.
It seems to me it all boils down to two thing and both are the responsibility of the defense attorney. The defense attorney has to impress upon the jury that:
(1) The jury’s responsibility is to deliver justice based on the facts of the case, not to convict or acquit based on laws (which are often immoral or applied immorally).
(2) Any attack is extremely dangerous; the defendant has no way of knowing how “gentle” the attacker will be; and the defendant had maybe one second to try and determine an optimal response.
That last point is extremely important — so important in fact that the court is supposed to instruct the jury to look at the case through the eyes of the defendant who only had a fraction of a second to respond.
What appears “reasonable” in a courtroom when a jurist has hours to evaluate the case is totally different from what is “reasonable” when you only have a second to evaluate a situation. I would hope that this would have an immense impact even on an irrational jury.
Just bought a case (1000 rnds) of mk262. Whoohoo. Paid $1/rnd but that’s pretty much they cost previously if you could find them. So, stuff is getting through. Seeing some 9mm and a bit of .223 dribbling through our big box stores lately. All said, this should be a wake up call: Keep a healthy SHTF supply and if it does hit, you can relax and won’t have to add to the panic buying and the bubble.