Will ammo prices EVER go down again??

[evenflow80]

Its just really sad that I missed what sounds like the Golden Age....back in the day when a box of .44/357 mag was "expensive" when it cost anything over $20.

I was Googling ammo right now and I came upon countless "old" threads from 2003-2005 and saw precisely that.... people scoffing at seeing a 50 round box of ammo like .44 mags and .357 mags for $20 and saying how ridicolusly expensive it is. Right now I feel lucky that I belong to a range that sells "cheap" reloads....cheap being .44 mags that cost $25 per 50. The cheapest factory new ammo I know of is Fiocchi for $30 a box.

Is the ammo price increases permanent? Its WAY too much even if you take inflation into account.... we're talking about a time span of as little as two years.

Politics aside (I'm a VERY open minded person, I have nothing but total lack of respect and pity for tools that espouse the black/white conservative vs liberal generality), if Republicans get back in power, does that bring ammo prices down because people stop hoarding ammo? Is this really true or do the political sheep just mindlessly repeat what they hear?

I'm just really upset about this. I can't go shooting as much as I want, and when I do its marred by the fact that every time I go to the range I have to pay $100+ (range rental, ammo, etc).

Yes, I know I can reload, yada yada, but seriously, don't people realize that a lot of us live in smaller apartments and/or condos with no garage or non-living area to put up the rig for reloading?

What do the more experienced shooters think? Do ammo prices fluctuate this widly?

 

[40S&WSuperfan]

i'm not too experienced of a shooter, but I have heard a number of reasons why ammo has gotten more expensive and only one of the was political. most rounds have gone up about $10 for a box of 50 since I began shooting. I'm on the west coast and heard that one reason was that a big ammo distributor went under so its more scarce in some places to get ammo, and also heard another story that somehow brass was getting scarce in some places. these were told to me by other shooters and buyers, not from anyone working.

 

[JCP281]

We have a war going on right now, thats not doing ANYTHING to help prices. Also, you have to figure in a little inflation for the Dem. running the show. Also, you have everyone freaking out and stockpiling. This will cause more demand then supply, when you have that prices go UP.

Ammo prices will never go back down to how it was in the 90s.. but I certainly think once the stockpilers chill the heck out nd a republican is back in office things will chill out again.

 

[7east]

We have a war going on right now, thats not doing ANYTHING to help prices.

What does that have to do with anything? Afghanistan's been going since 2001 and Iraq since '03...

 

[JCP281]

It has a lot to do with it.. As more troops are sent the requirements for more ammo goes up. Common sense should tell you that.. Granted this isnt all calibers out but I can sure as hell tell you that 5.56 ammo and 9mm is a hell of a lot harder to find since the war(s) started..

 

[sonick808]

war, politics, inflation and probably the most important of all: OPPORTUNITY to keep prices up with the obama hoarding phenomenon.

They had to temporarily raise prices a certain degree, why would they give that back to us ? I think we're mostly stuck with this for at least another year or two; and will probably only get back 50% of our previous prices as competition and adequate supply comes back into play more strongly.

If you don't reload, now is the time to learn. I personally prefer the hand press above ALL others since i can feel the integrity of each and every round by hand. I can feel nuances via the hand press that i can't feel via a handle. Then again, I only load 1000 every couple weeks....

 

[Cheapshooter]

It has a lot to do with it.. As more troops are sent the requirements for more ammo goes up. Common sense should tell you that.. Granted this isnt all calibers out but I can sure as hell tell you that 5.56 ammo and 9mm is a hell of a lot harder to find since the war(s) started..

If it has that much to do with it, why wasn't this shortage and high prices when the fighting was at it's peak? Admittedly, some companies are making ammo for the military, but not all. The main reason is the panic people are in because of the Obama election, and the threat it presents to the access of ammunition. They know it will be hard to take our guns, so the alternative is to make them to expensive to own and use.

 

[JohnKSa]

Is the ammo price increases permanent? Its WAY too much even if you take inflation into account.... we're talking about a time span of as little as two years.

Actually if you take a look over a longer period things are much different.

What spoiled us was that for nearly 2 decades, ammo prices remained constant or actually even fell a little.

Back in the early 1990s I remember buying some 9mm in bulk and feeling very fortunate to get it for 13 cents a round. Before the recent price jumps, nearly 20 years later I could go to Wal-Mart and buy 9mm in 100 round quantities for about 10 cents a round.

Now I can buy it for about 20 cents a round. That's a big jump from a couple of years ago, but that's exactly what one would expect to see happen to 10 cents a round ammunition after 20 years with 3.5% annual inflation.

 

[JCP281]

If it has that much to do with it, why wasn't this shortage and high prices when the fighting was at it's peak? Admittedly, some companies are making ammo for the military, but not all. The main reason is the panic people are in because of the Obama election, and the threat it presents to the access of ammunition. They know it will be hard to take our guns, so the alternative is to make them to expensive to own and use.

I never said that was the main cause.. but to say that it hasnt contributed is a pretty ignorant claim.

 

[DaveTheCave]

I guess I'm kinda lucky. I bought my first gun a little over a month ago. So these prices are all I know. The prices seem annoying to me, but all I've dealt with. People that are paying double the prices now I'm sure want to pull their hair out lol. Only thing I can think of to compare is gas, when I got my license gas was like $1.25 per gallon now it's more than double that and it drives me off the wall.

 

[Nnobby45]

Yes, prices will go down. The glut will exceed that followed the Clinton gun ban.

 

[Yuzu]

Yes, I know I can reload, yada yada, but seriously, don't people realize that a lot of us live in smaller apartments and/or condos with no garage or non-living area to put up the rig for reloading?

Bolted my press right onto my computer desk, stuff it in the closet when not in use. Basic reloading equipment doesn't take up too much space.

 

[Rangefinder]

Will ammo prices EVER go down again??

That's like asking if the price of a new truck will ever go down.... Not likely. There are, however, ways to off-set the cost-----Yes, that means reloading. And no, you don't need a lot of space for it. I use to have mine set up on a rotating pedestal in my closet--worked great for a long time. I still fire my rifles for about $0.35 a shot, and my handguns for much less. Improvise, adapt, and overcome. The days of $85/1000rd case of 7.62 are long-gone. Find a way around it.

 

[Hook686]

I suspect ammo prices have gone up because the basic resources that are used to manufacture them have gone up in price. China seems to be building a lock on many resources to support that new industrialization they have obtained. I reckon folks can stop that trend by refusing to continue to buy Chinese made goods.

I don't see that happening, nor do I see the price of ammunition going down.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I suspect ammo prices have gone up because the basic resources that are used to manufacture them have gone up in price. China seems to be building a lock on many resources to support that new industrialization they have obtained. I reckon folks can continue that trend by continuing to buy Chinese made goods.

This statement hits the nail on the head. Look at what happened to rates when everyone realized China was a market to make money in.
The scrap dealers made a lot of money and the scrappers did pretty well themselves. Copper, brass, aluminum, steel prices went through the roof. Building materials, such as wood, sheet rock and cement were bringing record highs.

China has slowed down their building frenzy and prices have fallen a little. Whats this got to do with the price of ammo? Well, look at what your ammo is made from Brass, copper, steel, nickel... (I know nothing of how gun powders are made.)

If the ammo manufacturing companies had to go out on the open market to replenish their basic commodities and had to pay current prices, they had to recoup their price somewhere. They passed it on to us in the form of price increases. This coupled with the "Their gonna take our guns away" and the "Its the end of the world" crowd also drove up demand and price.

I have seen the price of some ammo fall, others, where available, have remained the same. I have not seen an increase in prices in awhile.

Before people go to blame the ammo companies and the stores, think about it. If I where offering you .80 cents for something you are selling and someone else offered you $1.00 for the same thing, who would you sell it to? Especially if you had a lot of the item to sell? I do not call it greed, I call it capitalism.

 

[shafter]

I doubt it will go down much, it may become more available though.

Reloading doesn't have to take up much space or money. Get the Lee handpress(not the one with the hammer). Everything you need will fit into a tool box and you can do it at the kitchen table. You don't even have to mount anything to the table. Its slow alright but it sure beats paying ridiculous ammo prices.

 

[22-rimfire]

I doubt ammo prices will decrease significantly. From my perspective, center fire ammo was always expensive and now it is just crazy ridiculous expensive in general. I used to think $10 for a box of 50 was expensive, but then I earned a lot less money than I do now.

It has always sort of shocked me to see somebody shoot up hundreds or rounds of centerfire ammo in one day for recreation.

Heck if I shoot more than a brick of "cheap" 22 ammo in a day, I think about it.

 

[Water-Man]

Companies raise prices to make more profit. If the consumer pays the higher price, the company will continue to raise prices. That's the way it works. It doesn't matter what the reasons are.

 

[Skans]

Yes, prices on ammo will come down. When distributors have warehouses full of ammo that isn't being purchased, on which they still have to pay rent, prices will come down. You still have some time until that's going to happen.

On one hand, there have been NO warehouses sitting with any ammo in them for quite some time, so it's going to take awhile for them to fill up. On the other hand, many folks have turned part of their homes into warehouses for ammo. There are gluts of ammo stashed away in private residences. Once these individuals realize that they have more ammo than they can shoot iin 10 years, the biggest consumers of ammo not only stop buying, but start dumping some of what they overbought. So, just sit back and wait for the distributor's warehouses to fill up. It will happen and prices will come down.

 

[jtc2162]

Two wars going on
China and India's economies are growing quickly causing metal prices to rise
Oil prices rising

Add that to what was perceived as a very anti-gun president being elected and you've got a nice recipe for ammo hoarding, shortages, and high prices.