Anybody got a defibulator???

[pslshooter]

I went to my local Wal-mart last night to see if I could find any 45 acp ammo that they've had in stock lately and saw that they finally had some 380 auto in. I damn near had a heart attact when I saw the price. 100 rnd box of Winchester fmj was $39. The 100 rnd boxes of 45acp are only $32. They can keep it and choke on it as far as I'm concerned. I'll never pay more for 380 than 45, that's just nuts.

[Lone Star]

Be as outraged as you want, but this is an example of a free market economy and scaling.  Far more .45ACP is manufactured than is .380.  Because there is "plenty" of .45 ammo, the demand is lower and the price is lower.  The demand for .380 is high and the supply is low, so prices are higher. 

Because less .380 ammo is manufactured, the maker has to charge more per unit to make it worth his while to make it at all.  Otherwise he'd be better off just making more .45 ACP ammo and not disrupting his production line - which is a high cost.  All this is simple business, but is often not understood by folks who have never owned or worked for a manufacturing company.

Of course, to make it "fair" for everyone, we could just have a government that regulates all pricing so that no consumer ever pays too much.  Now that sounds like a great idea to me....


.

[rawhidekid]

I'll go along with the demand is greater for .380 acp than .45 acp, because more people carry a .380 on a daily basis.  Cost of making it, no way.  Here in Arizona when the demand for all ammo went crazy; we saw greed at its' finest.  While Wal-Mart was still selling .22 cal 500 brick boxes for $9.50 per box.  One of the better Gun shops was already running the same ammo for $35.00 per box.  The clerks at Wal-Mart werre acusing him of having his employees buy the Wal-Mart ammo up to resell at his storre.  Many of the shops around here are just now getting ammo back on the shelf.  Powder is evan being rationed at a 2 pound limit at many stores.

[Mikey]

pslshooter:  you're right, it's enough to give you chest pains but please don't bother with places like wally world or even your local gunshop - get on over to our links page here at Graybeard's or go to MidSouth Shooters Supply and mail order your ammo at lower costs than nearly anywhere else. 

Loen Star is absolutely right about this being a 'business' - many of us just don't think about it that way but there is nothing 'un-capitalistic' about jacking up the price of products, as long as we are willing to pay.

You may still have to pay your state tax on mail ordered gun stuff (like here in nys - thanks gov, you flaming liberal), but I believe you can obtain bulk supplies at much lower costs when you order from places like MidSouth, Natchez, Cheaper'ndirt, Cabelas than you can by walking into your local X-mart. 

And if you do not yet reload you may wish to consider taking up the hobby - it really pays off in times like these.  jmtcw.

[hunt-m-up]

I second the online ordering thought. I would also add Sportsmans Guide to check out for good prices. It is very much a free market and we are free to search out the best sources for our products. Look ahead a few days on expected ammo needs and you can have it delivered to your door.

[spruce]

It's just supply and demand.  Demand goes up, supply goes down, prices increase.

We can't blame the ammo manufacturers for it, nor distributors/dealers who increase their prices.  We don't have to buy if the price is outrageous.  If you feel the product is worth the price you buy it, if you don't think it's worth that much then don't buy it.

If a store is stocked with over-priced ammo that doesn't sell then eventually they will have to lower the price to move it.  Eventually the business will need cash flow - they can't survive with shelves full of stuff that doesn't sell.

You and I (the shooters) are the only ones who can lower the prices.  They're (prices) are up because we have bought far more ammo/shooting supplies/guns during the past year than we normally do in a year's time.  If we go back to buying just what we need the prices will stabilize and gradually decrease.

We all like to shoot so it's hard to resist buying if we're running low on ammo, but if we can be patient the prices will improve.

[rawhidekid]

Last I checked not to many were reloading .22 long rifle.  One of the gun stores out here actually had a decent gun sale do to not being able to get ammo!  $100.00 off some models like the new Rugers.  The last gun show was the first in years to carry large amount of powder and reloading supplies!  Justy got to take the good with the bad.

[pslshooter]

with the prices up and supply being low my 380 thunder has been holstered in the house with it's HD rounds for going on 8 months. The last bit of range ammo I had was used by my woman nearly a year ago. It sucks because she likes shooting the 380, but we have overcome and adapted, now she shoots 38's out of the Ruger blackhawk.

[falaz]

RELOAD, RELOAD, RELOAD. You will always have the ammo you need and want on hand. There has always been the argument about whether it saves you money or not but now it's about whether you can shoot or not. Before smokeless powder most shooters reloaded their own to keep enough ammo on hand 'till they could make it to town. Now it's about making sure you have enough for yourself while 100 million others buy it up before you get yours. I have an ammo can full of .380 (about 2k rnds) to use at my leisure and not one of them is store bought. There's some cash outlay in the beginning but if you start now, you can have a sizable stash before the government decides to tax ammo to death like everything else. Then there'll be plenty but you won't be able to afford it. 

[pmeisel]

I didn't know a defibulator was for a heart attack.

I thought it was to cope with the super-tight groups and the super-long shots you often read about.  Super-large fish, too.

[Dee]

Ya think that's bad? At Gander Mt. in Texas 38 special is (or was the other day) a little over a buck a round.

[Cheesehead]

I reload for 15 cartridges but not for my 380 or 32 ACP. I may have to reconsider. I have never reloaded for cartridges this small.

Cheese

[rawhidekid]

It is actually easier to load the small cases.   The problem is finding those dang small fired cases, a twig covers a .32 ACP!

[greener]

Reloading has been the only way I've been able to feed my recoil addiction.  As long as maintained a good supply of primers, no problems with having ammo when I want to shoot.  With the much lower price per round and my ability to control the availability of ammo for shooting, I'm pretty sure reloading has cost me more than not reloading.  I shoot a lot more than I would otherwise.  One of the justifications for some of my firearms purchases have been, "since I reload, I can afford the ammo." 

[His lordship.]

Some of the ways I have been getting through this is to use my pellet guns, my .22 rimfires and .17 HMR.  The .22's got clobbered, so I started using only the cheap bulk bricks which I got at Wally World, even then I made sure I went easy on consumption.  I started out shooting single shot muzzle loaders and BB guns, so it works for me due to habit

I already had some .38's and 9X19, so it was not too bad.  Trying to replace the .38's and my .45 ACP was really hard though.

[Old Fart]

ChrisD

I spent a few afternoons shooting bb and pellets myself.

I've been reloading for years, but when the 22lr got hard to find here in Okla. I switched over to the air guns for plimking.

I always buy in bulk when I purchase reloading supplies. Just tryingto keep ahead of the curve. I bought my last big batch of primers before everyone decided to start reloading. Lucky break for me as some of it became hard to find for a while also.

Recently I've noticed the shelves starting to fill back up with ready made ammo. I have been able to pick up a few bricks of 22lr over the past couple weeks. That made the grandkids happy. A regular staple at our house is 22lr plinking when the g'kids come over. I had to ration them some the past month or two. They just didn't understand, which made me feel kind of crappy for them. I was getting close to having to buy some of that over-priced walmart resell ammo at the gun shows for them.

[rawhidekid]

I don't know if you all have looked at the midway site, but the 22 bulk is getting sky hi.   That said most of the sky hi stuff is what is out of stock.  He still had some Winchester 333 count bulk for around $13.00 a box while it lasts.