Ammo Prices...Seem to be coming down

[MRP2003]

I am seeing rifle,pistol, and ammo inventory going back up though most of it is AR style rifles, semi auto pistols and the popular rounds such as 9, 223/5.56 etc.

I was in the Outdoorsman earlier this evening and they had loads of 5.56. Cash price was approx.74 each for 1,000 rd box. I think they got 1-2 pallets in of it. Hunting rounds were not nearly as plentiful but I’m hearing they should be come Aug-Sept timeframe

just saw that Midway is selling 5.56 for .625 each round

 

[Born2vette]

Was in my local Walmart this morning and they had a few 25 rnd boxes of 12 ga game loads. most was $7.87 a box. not a lot and pretty miscellaneous but encouraging to see some on the shelf

 

[texas123]

I have purchased ammo in the past from SGAMMO went online today and noticed some rifle and pistol ammo slowly making its way back in stock. Prices still seem pretty high on some calibers. Hopefully this will change as supply gains on demand.

 

[ajeandy]

I guess it's time to start boycotting Vista...They have raised their prices 3x in 45 days and are shipping less and less to wholesalers are more to direct to consumer to reap the profits selling at their insane msrp rates.

Biz Bits: Ammo subscriptions coming soon

Customer feedback heavily shaped a plan Vista Outdoor has unveiled to provide monthly ammunition deliveries to gun owners who purchase subscriptions.

lmtribune.com

 

[Brian's Surplus]

I guess it's time to start boycotting Vista...They have raised their prices 3x in 45 days and are shipping less and less to wholesalers are more to direct to consumer to reap the profits selling at their insane msrp rates.

Biz Bits: Ammo subscriptions coming soon

Customer feedback heavily shaped a plan Vista Outdoor has unveiled to provide monthly ammunition deliveries to gun owners who purchase subscriptions.

lmtribune.com

So, are you proposing to boycott ALL Vista brands?
I honestly don't blame them for raising their prices. Ammo prices were too low in 2017/2018 realistically. Trump's election had created artificial market conditions (the "Trump slump"). They were operating on pretty thin margins for years before the recent craziness. Their costs have also increased and continue to do so. Overtime pay, increased cost for materials, increased shipping costs, etc.
As long as they don't start selling direct to consumer at wholesale prices, I have no problem with it. Lots of companies sell direct to consumer at MSRP.
Besides that, Vista brands include a long list of companies.

Alliant Powder,
CCI,
Estate Cartridge,
Hevi-Shot,
Federal,
Remington,
Speer,
CamelBak,
Bushnell,
Tasco,
Simmons,
Eagle,
Blackhawk,
Hoppes,
RCBS,
Butler Creek,
Uncle Mike's,
Outers,
Weaver,
Gun Mate,
Redfield,
Etc, etc.

 

[armalitesheepdog]

That's a whole lot of boycotting

 

[ajeandy]

So, are you proposing to boycott ALL Vista brands?
I honestly don't blame them for raising their prices. Ammo prices were too low in 2017/2018 realistically. Trump's election had created artificial market conditions (the "Trump slump"). They were operating on pretty thin margins for years before the recent craziness. Their costs have also increased and continue to do so. Overtime pay, increased cost for materials, increased shipping costs, etc.
As long as they don't start selling direct to consumer at wholesale prices, I have no problem with it. Lots of companies sell direct to consumer at MSRP.
Besides that, Vista brands include a long list of companies.

Alliant Powder,
CCI,
Estate Cartridge,
Hevi-Shot,
Federal,
Remington,
Speer,
CamelBak,
Bushnell,
Tasco,
Simmons,
Eagle,
Blackhawk,
Hoppes,
RCBS,
Butler Creek,
Uncle Mike's,
Outers,
Weaver,
Gun Mate,
Redfield,
Etc, etc.

My point is that, at this point, they are contributing to the shortage. They are reserving tons of inventory for DTC where they make the most profits. They are not shipping product to wholesalers at the capacity that they could. I have back orders that keep getting pushed months and months back yet I see the same product available for purchase DTC. They are using this as an opportunity to maximize profit instead of supplying ammo to the market. So yes, I'm saying Vista is intentionally creating demand so that they can profit since they nearly have a monopoly on the domestic market with Federal, CCI, Speer, & Remington. It isn't about the price increases in general, it's about not pushing product to distributors and reserving it for DTC where their shipping process takes 2+ weeks. If they keep withholding product they can keep demand high and force / encourage people to sign up for their services / purchase from them.

 

[bwframe]

I think it's a great idea to boycott Vista products, where you can.

Better yet, to not forget their name and tactics down the road when supply is back.

Gun owners scoffed at boycotts of Dick's and CheaperThanDirt. While we didn't close these companies, we certainly hurt them badly and turned a lot of their customers into never again's.

Not only did we ding these scoundrels for their gun related sales, we also ruined their name for any other purchase considered.

To this day, many of us know lots of folks who would never give these companies a dime and will educate online whenever discussion points to it.

 

[SheepDog4Life]

I'm undecided on Vista... there are two ways this can go...

1) the cynic in me says that they are trying to milk every dime,

2) The flip side is that they've seen their products sold at exorbitant prices on secondary markets by, for lack of a better word, "scalpers"... in the recent past, a direct-to-consumer subscription, bypassing these unofficial secondary markets, would have been a win-win... supply at MSRP.

 

[Brian's Surplus]

My point is that, at this point, they are contributing to the shortage. They are reserving tons of inventory for DTC where they make the most profits. They are not shipping product to wholesalers at the capacity that they could. I have back orders that keep getting pushed months and months back yet I see the same product available for purchase DTC. They are using this as an opportunity to maximize profit instead of supplying ammo to the market. So yes, I'm saying Vista is intentionally creating demand so that they can profit since they nearly have a monopoly on the domestic market with Federal, CCI, Speer, & Remington. It isn't about the price increases in general, it's about not pushing product to distributors and reserving it for DTC where their shipping process takes 2+ weeks. If they keep withholding product they can keep demand high and force / encourage people to sign up for their services / purchase from them.

If they are producing and selling ammo, how are they contributing to the shortage? If they are selling it, they are "supplying ammo to the market."
I may not be getting the stuff I have on back order as fast as I would like, but I'm still getting more than 10 times what I would usually get so I can't really complain too much. We are still getting multiple pallets every month, probably averaging a pallet a week. They are supplying dealers with more ammo, reloading supplies and accessories than they were before the panic. I'm also seeing lots of things that are sold out on their DTC site that I am still getting. I can't really blame them for selling DTC when they have the chance, I do the same thing. In my opinion, they would be kind of stupid to wholesale everything and not put anything on their retail site. When other dealers want me to wholesale things to them at a show, they either have to wait until the end of the show or order it in advance of the show. When I am getting low on a particular product and I can't replace it soon, I won't wholesale to other dealers. Why would I sell it at wholesale when I can make more selling it at retail?

 

[SheepDog4Life]

While I'm not exactly "happy" to see Blazer 22 lr going for basically $50/brick ($4.99x10) on the CCI/Blazer site.... two bricks for $100 with free shipping from Vista beats the tar out of $80-100 for ONE brick, plus $20-35 shipping and 3% CC charge from the scalpers on GB... that they were able to get away with as recently as a month or two ago.

And, it's squashing the scalper market over on GB... which does make me happy.

 

[viiiupndhead]

When this thread was started, I wasn't really seeing much of a drop in prices. In the last week or 2 though, I think things are finally easing up. Hopefully we don't have another event that will drive things back again.

We have finally been seeing ammunition at the distributor level staying in stock for over 30 seconds. I've even seen some stuff at decent prices (for the times) staying in stock for a week or more. I've still been placing lots of orders and we still have a massive backorder, but we have more on the shelves at lower prices.

The big benefit for me and my customers, is that we will be able to start using secondary suppliers less often. Using secondary suppliers drives the price up to unreasonable amounts, but it also allows me to keep pretty much everything in stock, all the time. When I'm able to get items from regular distributors, the prices are always much more reasonable. There will still be a few calibers we are having difficulties getting for some time, but most of the common calibers on the shelves have already seen pretty big price drops. There are even some items that I'm selling below cost (ones that I payed way too much for) since I can replace them at a much lower price now.

I would say that it's probably not time to start stocking up with big quantities yet, but people can afford to buy ammunition to go shoot now.

I need an alert for when you think it’s time to stock up in large quantities again. Hope this holds out!

 

[Nazgul]

Stopped into a gun shop I haven't visited in awhile yesterday. 45 ACP was $1.25 per round, 9MM was $1.17 per round, 308 $1.50 per round for cheap white box stuff.

Not me....

Don

 

[Bugzilla]

I think it's a great idea to boycott Vista products, where you can.

Better yet, to not forget their name and tactics down the road when supply is back.

Gun owners scoffed at boycotts of Dick's and CheaperThanDirt. While we didn't close these companies, we certainly hurt them badly and turned a lot of their customers into never again's.

Not only did we ding these scoundrels for their gun related sales, we also ruined their name for any other purchase considered.

To this day, many of us know lots of folks who would never give these companies a dime and will educate online whenever discussion points to it.

Cheaper Thad Dirt must be built on some of the most expensive soil in the country!

 

[tude]

Last go around the manufacturer's probably felt they let the supply/demand thing end too soon. This time with a lot of the control under one roof (Vista) it will run longer. A lot of folks will trade the recreational shooting
for gas and grocery money, especially if they need a sheet of plywood for something.

 

[Bill2905]

Cabelas in Hammond had some 44 Magnum ammo for $1.10 per round this afternoon. I can't recall the brand or load. I haven't seen that stuff on a shelf in a year.

Most of the 5.56 NATO is still 70 cents per round whether it's a box of 20 or 1000.

They continue to have a few boxes of CCI 450 small rifle magnum primers if anyone here in the Region is looking for those. Price was $66 per brick.

 

[Dean C.]

Honestly I have no personal problems with vista doing DTC, they truthfully have been the only reason I have had ammo through this craziness.

All of the gun shops around me have 9 for $36~ a box roughly and I can get it on the Federal website for $26 with free shipping. That's a win at least in my book , can't say $26 a box excites me but significantly better than the alternative. I pay for a membership at my LGS every year (for the range use) so I do my part to support them IMHO, that and I still refuse to buy guns online.

 

[MRockwell]

Millions of rounds of ammunition stolen on Mexican highway

Two trailer loads of small-caliber ammunition bound for the United States have been stolen by armed assailants on a highway in Mexico's most violent state, Guanajuato

abcnews.go.com

Even the cartel is getting desperate

 

[nipprdog]

I don't know what federal is thinking. I got some xm193 from them last fall for 60 cents. they are now up to 90 cents to 1 dollar;

https://www.federalpremium.com/search?q=5.56

ammoseek is now down to 60 cents.

 

[tude]

Federal is probably trying to keep the bar high. I mean Vista.