good sign that the semi-auto market is getting back to normal

[elfster1234]

don't think i'd purchase any of these rifles other than the LMT, DPMS recon, or DPMS sass, but the flow of rifles is starting to get back to normal.


Buy DPMS Panther Arms at BudsGunShop

DPMS Rifles - kygunco.com

Rock River Arms Rifles - kygunco.com

LMT - Lewis Machine & Tool Rifles - kygunco.com

 

[SD26]

Now if Cabela's would get 6.5 Creedmoor ammo back in stock...

 

[pmclaine]

When I can order 5K primers and 8# of Varget than read the news without getting BS things will be getting better.

 

[redhooker]

Several local shops are actually having a tough time moving ARs. Not many people wanting to jump in the 223 market with basically no ammo available under a buck a round. I can pick up a 6940 for $1299 right now, 6920 for $1100. Almost everything magpul is back to normal except still few 308 mags and follower packs available.

A few shops that haven't caught on yet are trying to get 2k for similar as well as $40 for pmags.

 

[Rainier42]

ARs are on the shelves of shops by me. It's the ammo I'm still waiting on ...

 

[thrusty]

When I can order 5K primers and 8# of Varget than read the news without getting BS things will be getting better.

Agreed 100%. Some places are allowing no-limits on component orders...but their stock goes just as fast as it comes. Semi-autos parts and guns are about to flood the market as soon as the manufactures catch up...probably in a couple more months. Components, on the other hand (ammo, primers, powder, etc), will continue to be hard to find for (what I estimate) the rest of 2013. .........and this could all change as soon as there's another shooting, explosion or political conversation.

 

[Mike_in_FL]

As far as I'm concerned I've seen way too many items backordered, out of stock, whatever, prior to and after, the '08 elections. I don't think I've seen an industry this stubborn against increasing production. It would pretty much stand to reason that if there have been runs on rifles and rifle parts for over 4 years people are going to need ammunition and components to feed them. The only analogy I can think of is having more autos sold while closing gas stations simultaneously.

 

[limamike56]

Good news indeed. Same here in Western North Carolina. Now if ammo prices and availability would just improve.

 

[FN in MT]

Yesterday I visited four shops here in Helena MT. ALL of them had primers, but with a 2-4 pack limit. All of them had some powder, with two having a near decent selection. And it was SITTING on the shelves...NOT flying out at light speed.

All of them had AR mags in stock at NORMAL prices too. Talking Mag-Puls, not cheap crap. And 3 of the 4 had at least SOME semblance of an assortment .22 RF on the shelves. Two of the shops had CASES of Fiocchi, PMC and some American Eagle .223 on the floor. Standard 55/62 gr fmj stuff...running from $10.49 per 20 rd box to $11.99 !! BEST prices on .223 since the insanity started. Nice to see boxes previously marked $20.99 tagged over with $11.99. A good start back to the older prices.

Still no Varget, Reloader powders, or bulk pak .22's.

 

[svxwilson]

Yesterday I visited four shops here in Helena MT. ALL of them had primers, but with a 2-4 pack limit. All of them had some powder, with two having a near decent selection. And it was SITTING on the shelves...NOT flying out at light speed.

All of them had AR mags in stock at NORMAL prices too. Talking Mag-Puls, not cheap crap. And 3 of the 4 had at least SOME semblance of an assortment .22 RF on the shelves. Two of the shops had CASES of Fiocchi, PMC and some American Eagle .223 on the floor. Standard 55/62 gr fmj stuff...running from $10.49 per 20 rd box to $11.99 !! BEST prices on .223 since the insanity started. Nice to see boxes previously marked $20.99 tagged over with $11.99. A good start back to the older prices.

Still no Varget, Reloader powders, or bulk pak .22's.

I also live in MT just a few hundred miles away. I am in the billings area. Our shelves are stocked heavier with ARs (now) than any other time I can remember. A few months back you were lucky to find one cheep AR. I found some federal 5.56 at cabelas Yesterday for 9.99. I also have been finding varget with 2# limits. No AR-Comp yet. The highly desired Amax bullets and other high demand reloading supplies have been scarce but I have found some as I make my rounds through the 5 places we have that stock firearms related items. 22lr is the hardest one to find, I never thought the 1000rnd blk packs would be a Endangered species. I would walk by them thinking I had plenty at home (2-3k). Now I scrape for the 50 rnd packs and am Ecstatic when I find something like a 350rnd pack.

 

[bluto51]

Here in southern Kalifornia the stores are stocked up with ARs. They're even back on sale. Ammo on the shelves has yet to make an
appearance, but P mags are now back in stock. I have to agree that the demand for powder, bullets, and primers from
manufacturers will probably stall restocking of those items locally for the next few months. When I do see ammo, prices tend to
be falling.

 

[Quicksilver]

My local shop is selling BR2 large rifle CCI primers for 67 a box. I asked him WHY and he told me honestly, that his cost was 32 a box pre-bullshit (selling for 48) and his cost now is 48 (selling for almost 70 after tax). Hope THAT comes back down. Hell... to be honest, I don't reload to save money. But I would LIKE to save SOME MONEY. With current prices, for 308 im running at about 1.00 per bullet. 100 bullets runs about 45 now (bullshit) powder is 35 to 40 a pound now (bullshit) and if you use Lapua brass, that's .75 cents a piece divided out by at least 10-15 uses or more... still. I miss when it was 30 for a box of 100, 26 a pound and 45 for 1000 primers. and that's not even cheap!

 

[Falsecrack]

ARs are on the shelves of shops by me. It's the ammo I'm still waiting on ...

+1. Try living in Hawaii. Even if you find the stuff at your favorite ammo site, by the time you factor shipping and hazmat fees, etc, you'll be paying $2 for a 70 cent round.

 

[ArmyJerry]

Try basspro, mine has been stocked full since the panic, not bad pricing either. @60 rem is another story.

Now if Cabela's would get 6.5 Creedmoor ammo back in stock...

 

[ZLBubba]

My local gun store has a bunch of ARs and AKs in stock, but they have to move them before Oct. 1 in Maryland as all of those rifles will be banned for sale. Still, it does seem like there is a decent amount of stock coming back in terms of the guns themselves.

The ammunition and reloading components are still an issue. Bullets are fairly available, just not the exact ones I want. Powder is difficult to find (H335, 8202XBR, AA2520, et alia) but it's better than it was a few months ago. 22LR is still tough to find in bulk at reasonable prices.

 

[RSR]

Heck of a great price on LRB stripped lower receivers.... $90. LRB Arms AR15 Stripped Lower Receiver

 

[slavage]

Several local shops are actually having a tough time moving ARs. Not many people wanting to jump in the 223 market with basically no ammo available under a buck a round..

here in pgh pa area its back to the norm now every one wants to finger the ar's but they are all like they said they are not going after them on the tv so I don't ""need nore want one"" now.... yeah till the next bs thing happens then they will be crying all over again

 

[bennybooboo]

Here in southern Oregon, we haven't seen much product of any kind hitting shelves of the gun shops (Fred Meyer regularly has a modest assortment of ammo). Not sure if that's because it's not getting shipped, or if it's not getting ordered.

One shop gets random shipments of this-n-that hot products, yet never changed their pricing (great people at Roseburg Gun Shop), and the other shop jumped on the price-gouging bandwagon (pricing 50 count boxes of Fed Champion 40gr LRN .22lr at $6.49) yet hasn't seen any shipments of any kind since January. I believe only reason they're still open is because they own the building. A third shop closed up (tough to cover overhead operating costs with no product to sell).

Realistically:
Things might get semi-normal towards fall 2013. Then will come the Christmas shopping season, and product will be scarce. Manufacturers will spend 1st quarter 2014 catching up and getting back-orders filled roughly 2nd quarter 2014.

What I tell people at the range is to get comfortable to seeing low inventories, keep cash on hand for when you DO find products, slow down your trigger finger, and make your shots count.

BBB

 

[Kiba]

Here in southern Kalifornia the stores are stocked up with ARs. They're even back on sale. Ammo on the shelves has yet to make an
appearance, but P mags are now back in stock. I have to agree that the demand for powder, bullets, and primers from
manufacturers will probably stall restocking of those items locally for the next few months. When I do see ammo, prices tend to
be falling.

I see you're in San Diego... if SB47 or SB347 passes the CA legislature (they're already halfway through) and the governor signs one or both I'd expect all those AR's on the shelf to disappear very quickly... I'd even venture a guess that the giant vacuum created by CA residents rushing to buy AR and semi auto stuff before the 1/1/14 cutoff date in both of those bills will probably affect the stock (and prices) of such rifles at a national level. Our state may have screwed up gun laws but we still have a huge amount of buyers-- and a huge amount of buyers faced with a drop-dead date will lead to lots of panic buying and inflated prices when they realize "get one while you still can!" may be coming true later this year.

While I've been seeing "back in stock" notices at more and more places I still can't get a case of Wolf Match Target .22 ammo that I've had on backorder since the second week of December. When I can finally buy .22 ammo again without having to scrounge for it *and* pay a regular price I'll say the market has fully recovered.

 

[Keith E.]

Small sample here but checking exchange/sale forums things seen to be moderating a bit. I hit the local gunshow yesterday in Raleigh and walked right in with no waiting and had plenty of elbow room once we got in. Plenty of arms and ammo ranging from reasonably priced to panic-priced, often @ side-by-side vendors.

Keith

 

[Cacciatore]

+1. Try living in Hawaii. Even if you find the stuff at your favorite ammo site, by the time you factor shipping and hazmat fees, etc, you'll be paying $2 for a 70 cent round.

Thats rough.

 

[Unknown]

The ammo, powder, and primer dry spell happened a few years ago too. I think that for the forseeable future, that is how things will work. Supply/demand will go through the roof, things will cool, supply/demand will catch up, then something will again trigger a dry spell. It is possible that the component, ammo, and firearms manufacturers are using the same business model as the gasoline suppliers do. But that makes sense when they go to the same schools to learn the same business model.

What is the best way for us to separate our customers from as much of their money as possible? After all, they aren't in business to make friends, or give us the lowest prices possible..they are there to get our money. That is just the way things are.

 

[superjc]

I never thought of the ammo prices actually putting more of a dampener on sales- good point. I was at wally world last week shelf had 3 boxes of .270, 2 boxes of pricey .45acp (hydro shok or something $30 per 25 rounds) and 2 boxes of an oddball .22 variation. NOTHING ELSE. been that way for months here.

 

[problemchild]

As far as I'm concerned I've seen way too many items backordered, out of stock, whatever, prior to and after, the '08 elections. I don't think I've seen an industry this stubborn against increasing production. It would pretty much stand to reason that if there have been runs on rifles and rifle parts for over 4 years people are going to need ammunition and components to feed them. The only analogy I can think of is having more autos sold while closing gas stations simultaneously.

Yeah except you dont have the dictator buying 60 trillion gallons of gas so we cant.

 

[Cegorach]

There are a good number of AR's and other semis in stock around here, but very little ammo or components to feed them with.

 

[bluto51]

I see you're in San Diego... if SB47 or SB347 passes the CA legislature (they're already halfway through) and the governor signs one or both I'd expect all those AR's on the shelf to disappear very quickly... I'd even venture a guess that the giant vacuum created by CA residents rushing to buy AR and semi auto stuff before the 1/1/14 cutoff date in both of those bills will probably affect the stock (and prices) of such rifles at a national level. Our state may have screwed up gun laws but we still have a huge amount of buyers-- and a huge amount of buyers faced with a drop-dead date will lead to lots of panic buying and inflated prices when they realize "get one while you still can!" may be coming true later this year.

While I've been seeing "back in stock" notices at more and more places I still can't get a case of Wolf Match Target .22 ammo that I've had on backorder since the second week of December. When I can finally buy .22 ammo again without having to scrounge for it *and* pay a regular price I'll say the market has fully recovered.

I'm picking up a JD Machine lower tomorrow for a build. They're plentiful right now. I wonder if everyone has already bought their "panic parts" or if they'll be another run.

 

[elfster1234]

Local dealer had a dpms sass 308 for 2050.00


And about 7 other misc ar's


Loads of pmags at 18 dollars


Some powder came in 8lb buckets also

Loadssssss of 60gr vmax .224

 

[elfster1234]

local big box sports store just got a ton of AR's in..... everything from black rain 308's, dpms 308 sass, rock river ATH 5.56, rock river predator .308 SS heavy barrel (really nice actually), some other rock rivers, & other misc. AR's..... looking good so far. all at damn near normal prices also.


they even got in some varget so I picked up 3lbs (already had 8lbs of varget, but figured WTF)

looking good so far peps

 

[yetigoode2]

It's about time