Hornady Ammunition. Fast. Accurate. Dependable. Unavailable. In the midst of the Great Guns and Ammo Shortage of 2013, Hornady wants its customer to know they’re not supermen (the ammo maker not their customers, who may or may not be from another planet). Hornady’s making as many cartridges as they can, as fast as they can. And they have no clue when the situation will improve. (Today’s gun control rout in the Senate could mark the beginning of the beginning of the end.) Make the jump for Hornady’s rumor patrol talking points memo and a plea to all-too-credulous consumers to skeptical-up and chill out . . .
Grand Island, Neb. –(Ammoland.com)- The current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours.
Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites – all fueled by rumors and conjecture – have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items. If the information you hear doesn’t originate from Hornady Manufacturing, don’t believe it.
Here are some of rumors we’ve heard, and questions we’ve received:
Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?
Not at all.
Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?
Absolutely not.
Since we can’t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.
Nope, less than 5% of our sales are to government entities.
Why can’t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?
We’ve been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We’ve added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day. Several hundred Hornady employees work overtime every week to produce as much as safely possible.
We are producing as much as we can; much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do.
We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience. We don’t know when the situation will improve, so please bear with us a little longer. And remember, when it comes to Hornady Manufacturing, if you don’t hear it from us, please don’t believe it.
The first 9mm I found this year was Hornady, at a FLGS that wasn’t charging ridiculous prices (but they could have).
I bought an M&P 9 yesterday, I was able to fill my two mags and wasn’t even able to find Tula that had been in stock at my LGS for two weeks. They wanted 17 bucks for what was 9 dollars a box ammo.
I’ve got reports of Tula in various calibers coming back to the Walmarts in my area. Not a lot, but some showing up regularly.
Bought the daily limit of 3 boxes of Tula .223 at one Wally-world on Monday. Price was close to pre-panic level: $5.27.
Nice.
I’d like to get my hands on a few thousand 30-cal Interbond in 180 grain, please.
Juxtaposed in my head is the professionalism of this announcement and the unprofessionalism of the Zombie Max line that made me stop taking them seriously.
while the zombie craze has been really dumb, the giggle factor is worth at least owning 1 box. Since pop culture has zombies in the limelight right now, I don’t care how many dumb marketing stunts they pull, another shooting voter is a good voter, and we need lots of them.
I keep thinking of that old “Far Side” cartoon with the Vikings puling as hard as they can, and behind the longboat is a Viking on water skis.
Yeah, it’s like that…
Way over-priced, below average grouping, left behind ALOT of gunk. Never again.
Bull Shit
Tell them to stop issuing press releases and get the ppl in PR to start loading ammo… And be quick about it! 😉
Wow. I know covering the politics has been time-consuming, but this is old. Made a lap around the internet back in mid-February.
Well, I think it’s more of an update – not an article intended to be novel or ground-breaking.
It’s good to read about direct (and current) reports from a manufacturer of ammo, as it reveals the true cause of the shortage. All you buggers buying up every round in sight. Stop that – tisk tisk.
Here’s a perspective: why drastically expand production (which requires both capital outlay and more additions to the payroll) when Obama and his economy and its regulation-nation approach make investment and expansion too costly. Consider, too, that when this ammo rush ends they’ll still be paying off the loans for the now unused assembly lines and providing unemployment for the laid off workers?
In uncertain economic and regulatory times, the best we can expect is for the ammo makers to ramp up production but only with existing capital and employees.
Forecasts for firearms and ammo follow a steady increase since 1994. Since the first AWD ban, many new shooters, buying guns, and using same. Result; Lots of new customers.
Their is no end in sight. Many of the purchases may be those flipping, but a significant percentage are new owners. In the last 2 months I have had 5 women friends purchase pistols. Two already took their CHL class. Two more are planning to do same in May. All 5 are shooting at least once every two weeks.
With this many new owners and shooters. I see a steady demand for the foreseeable future. One of them, while we were at dance class tonight, wants to shoot in a idpa event. She asked me to take her to the next one in our area.
I picked up a box of Hornady Critical Defense at my LGS today, and a box of FMJ at Wally world, at 6 PM no less. Mark it on the calendar.
Hornady makes excellent ammunition. I sure wish they’d do the specialty stuff.
Our FLGS just received several 20-box cases of Hornady in a variety of calibers, so the drought may be starting to begin to end.
If you need ammo, try Luckygunner.com. I purchased some just a couple of weeks ago and they seemed to have quite a bit of various kinds. Good Luck.
have you considered giving citizens priority over the government?
You must have missed that part about 5% of sales.
i live in ny state cant get much ammo i have enough high power what i need is 22 ammo can not understand why i cant get any
Louis, Luckygunner.com has 22lr 40 gr 50 in a box for $20. But they only have 151 in stock as of right now.