Re: Where Has All The .22LR Ammo Gone?
That is true, prices have fallen from their peak in the AR market for somethings, and they are out there, but for the most part prices are still higher than pre-Nov. AR's are still selling higher than they were and availability is not very good, bolt groups, lower parts kits, pmags while getting more available are still hard to find depending on what you want. Try finding a AR 308 bolt or bolt carrier group, or DPMS 308 mags right now for anywhere near retail. So it does eb and flow and respond to the market. The difference is that not everyone wants or needs an AR, that rush is over, but every shooter out there needs ammo, or reloading components if they want to shoot.
The huge AR buying mass is over for now, but one word about a ban from the admin and it would be right back in full swing. Right now I think what we are seeing is a combination of a few things.
First you have the guys that bought massive guns in the Nov to say March range, gun sales were through the roof. Those people are now switching to stockpiling ammo for those guns.
Second you have the guys that already had guns that want to stock up on ammo instead. Those guys for the most part are probably done buying ammo cause they started early when most were buying up guns, prices were good, and supply was good.
Third you have the general shooters, converted to horders because they can't find ammo anywhere local so they have turned to searching hard for it and buying a lot more than normal when they find it. I'd guess this is probably the biggest group buying ammo right now along with those that have bought a ton of guns in the last few months. Demand from this group is huge because they are so vast in numbers and as the summer goes on and ammo stays short in supply, it's going to get a lot worse.
Fourth you have gun shops that have been stockpiling ammo waiting for prices to go up. This is probably a minor fraction but it has happened. The same happened with AR's and such when the rush first started lots of shops stuck stuff in the back room hoping to make more $ on it later when supply was gone.
Fifth speculators....guys that are buying huge quantities of ammo in hopes that prices and demand stay high to make a quick buck on it. I've talked to a couple guys in walmart over the past few months that bought literally tens of thousands of dollars of ammo and components and are reselling it on places like gunbroker etc.
Sixth, add in all the multiple conspiracy theories here.
Barring something big from admin, things will return to normal and supply will catch back up as demand falls off. The big question to this is when. I'd be willing to bet it will not even come close to happening until most of the country is outside their typical shooting season and hunting season is over, that puts it at least another 6 months before it starts to improve, and probably another 3-6 months after that to recover to most ammo being back in supply. That's only if no further word on gun control is heard. The instant a news article comes up about a AWB or gun control issue, or any of that sort of stuff demand will skyrocket again.