Article concerning ammunition shortages

[frazzled]

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OrlandoSentinel.com
Gun dealers experiencing shortages of bullets
Henry Pierson Curtis

Sentinel Staff Writer

February 10, 2009

Selling bullets may be the most secure job in Florida as long as supplies last.

After months of heavy buying, gun dealers across the state are experiencing shortages.

Some say it began with the election of President Barack Obama. Others say it's about the economic downturn or fear of crime. Whatever the reasons, ammunition has been selling like plywood and bottled water in the days before a hurricane.

"The survivalist in all of us comes out," said John Ritz, manager of East Orange Shooting Sports in Winter Park. "It's more about protecting what you have."

Demand for bullets is so strong that suppliers are restricting deliveries.

"Where we used to get 20 to 30 cases [in a shipment], we may get two to three cases now," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders in Tampa. "The supply just isn't there. . . . Everybody is pretty much rushing out to get their hands on whatever they can."

Most in demand is handgun ammunition, including 9 mm and .45-caliber for semiautomatic pistols and .38-caliber for revolvers. Clerks at local Walmart stores, including Apopka and Kissimmee, say those sizes, along with .22-caliber, are on back order at the chain's warehouses.

American gun owners buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition yearly, according to the National Rifle Association. It has been warning its several million members that Obama favors raising taxes on bullets to make them prohibitively expensive.

"Anecdotal evidence certainly suggests that the demand for ammunition is continuing to increase, and that is certainly attributable to gun owners' concerns with the current administration," said Ted Novin, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association representing 4,700 members.

The scarcity of bullets piggybacked on more widely publicized sales of assault rifles.

"Everybody kind of got caught with their pants down," Larry Anderson, manager of Shoot Straight in Apopka, said about the demand for bullets, which surprised even longtime gun dealers.

Each day he spends one to two hours on the phone talking to suppliers to buy ammunition for Shoot Straight's store and shooting ranges in Apopka, Casselberry and Tampa.

"We're fortunate with the buying power we've got and the connections we've got," Anderson said.

Despite being able to buy 100,000 rounds at a time, Shoot Straight can't find any copper-jacketed bullets for .380-caliber pistols, popular as concealed weapons. The shops have adequate supplies of other calibers.

"You've got to beat the bushes and take deals," Anderson said. "Now I take whatever I can get instead of being finicky."

National chains are seeing the same increased levels of customers buying guns and ammunition in recent months, said Larry L. Whiteley, a spokesman for Bass Pro Shops.

"Why, we don't know," he said.

One major regional manufacturer, Georgia Arms, has seen bullet sales jump 100 percent since the November election.

"People are just stockpiling," said company spokeswoman Judy Shipley. "A gun is just like a car. If you can't get gas, you can't use it."

Georgia Arms sells more than 100 types of ammunition for handguns, shotguns and rifles at gun shows from South Florida as far north as Virginia. It now cautions online buyers, "Attention: Due to a huge increase in demand, our shipping times have been delayed 5-7 weeks on most orders. Please be patient with us and know we will fill your orders ASAP."

Demand has been so strong for all things gun that the Oak Ridge Gun Range south of Orlando is moving to a new, larger range in three weeks.

"It used to be you'd order bullets and get them in the next day. Now it can take a couple of months," said owner John Harvey, who has seen demand for state concealed-weapons classes increase 300 percent since the election.

"I haven't been able to get any smaller concealed guns that I'd recommend come in in two months," Harvey said. "Basically, Smith & Wesson is out of Smith & Wesson."

The latest surge is pushing already high costs still higher.

"It was going up long before the political thing got started," Drew Huy, owner since 1981 of Ammo Attic in Melbourne, said of prices that have increased as much as 40 percent in recent years.

He and other dealers, including Ritz, attributed rising costs to shortages of brass, copper and lead brought on by the industrial consumption in India and China. In addition, rising fuel prices dramatically increased shipping costs for ammunition, heavy by nature.

"I'm spending a lot more on it now [to buy it] than I was selling it for two years ago," Ritz said. At his shop in Winter Park he has seen the cost of bullets rise as much as 10 percent every three months for the past two years.

Suppliers to law-enforcement agencies are doing better than retail shops.

"We're in good shape," said Tom Falone of Florida Bullet in Clearwater, who sells Federal and Spear brand ammunition to police departments and sheriff's offices. The only slight problem has been obtaining .40-caliber bullets, and those are delivered within 30 days.

"I called about .22 [bullets] the other day, and they had 12 million rounds in the warehouse."

[Fangs]

The Wal-Mart here in San Marcos has been out of .45 ammo since about December from what the guy was telling me. My friend got a new .45 XD and we had to run up to Cabella's in Buda. THe Buda Wal-Mart didn't have any either.

[Liberty]

The Wal-Mart here in San Marcos has been out of .45 ammo since about December from what the guy was telling me. My friend got a new .45 XD and we had to run up to Cabella's in Buda. THe Buda Wal-Mart didn't have any either.

The Price of metals has dropped pretty dramatically. The ammo suppliers will ramp up. I bet prices by the end of next summer will be cheaper than it was a year ago.

[mr.72]

The Price of metals has dropped pretty dramatically. The ammo suppliers will ramp up. I bet prices by the end of next summer will be cheaper than it was a year ago.

Really? Why would the prices decrease if demand is still high?

Only if demand decreases will prices decrease. The cost of materials is not a significant factor.

[TheArmedFarmer]

Demand will probably slow during the coming months, after everyone is done "stockpiling". Supply will increase to match or even exceed the demand, and good prices will return.

[frazzled]

It also depends on legislation. If nothing moves forward in Congress, I would see a demand fall. I'd proffer the more enthusiastic have stockpiled or will have concluded stockpiling by spring as back orders etc. come in. At that point action by Congress and the general economy would start impacting, one way or another.

[Fangs]

Another thing that crossed my mind... With all the new CHLers, it makes sense that more people are regularly shooting. I know my time spent killing soda cans on cacti has drastically increased post-CHL.

[Liberty]

The Price of metals has dropped pretty dramatically. The ammo suppliers will ramp up. I bet prices by the end of next summer will be cheaper than it was a year ago.

Really? Why would the prices decrease if demand is still high?

Only if demand decreases will prices decrease. The cost of materials is not a significant factor.

I think people will eventually get tired of spending ridiculous amounts of money for ammo they intend to immediately use. Ammo manufacturers in the mean time will surely ramp up to take advantage of the silly prices and when it all catches up, ammo prices should go the the way of $4.00 gasoline

[mr surveyor]

well, I don't see how the prices of semi-precious metals doesn't have a huge impact of ammunition prices. Recycleable aluminum reached 80+/- cents per pound by last August, up from around 45 cents the previous year, and recycleable brass had reached $2.00 per pound. Those costs were in part due to India and China hoarding metals from around the world for their "coming out party" to enter the 20th century technology for the ignorant masses. Today, aluminum is back to around 32 cents and brass around 90 cents. In addition, the fuel costs being down proportionately to the metals cost will make a tremendous difference all the way around. There's no doubt that the manufacturers are playing the market with their prices, but as long as there's no unnecessary spewing of ignorance from DC in the next couplle of months, things will settle down...some.

I wish I had hauled my load of range brass to the scrap yard last August...I coulda been able to have been part of the pre-election economic stimulus.


surv

[03Lightningrocks]

Precious metal prices would normally have an impact on ammo prices. But in such a panic stricken high demand market, cost of materials have almost no impact...other than to improve profits for the manufacturers. I keep hoping the demand will subside at some point. Surely folks have to be hitting their fill by now.

[dadoo]

It's funny that after seeing empty shelves at several Wallyworlds around the mesquite area, and at Bass Pro, I went to the local Academy and they had lots of ammo on the shelves. 9mm, .40, .45, and everything else were plentiful. Prices were up 1-2 $$ per box, but they were full up.

[mr.72]

well, I don't see how the prices of semi-precious metals doesn't have a huge impact of ammunition prices.

It appears to me to be a basic misunderstanding of economics.

Ammo prices are set according to demand, and other than very transient conditions (such as a spike in demand that cannot be anticipated by raising prices fast enough or vice versa), there is absolutely no other factor pressuring the price. None. Zero. This is not charity. There is no price control on ammunition. There is no compelling reason for ammunition manufacturers or dealers to depress prices while there is demand at a higher price, and you would have to be an extremely foolish businessman to do so. I think we can assume that Wal Mart, Academy et. al. are not run by fools, so figure they know how to meet the demand with very nearly the idealized price to maintain the maximum profit margin given demand and volume. Likewise Winchester, Remington, CCI and other ammunition manufacturers will respond to the demand of their retailers to determine the wholesale price.

The prices of the base metals or other materials, fuel, storage, energy, labor, insurance, taxes, real estate, etc. affect the profit margin that the manufacturer realizes. If these prices become high enough and demand is not high enough to sustain a price adequate to provide a profit, then the ammo manufacturers go out of business, somehow reduce their costs, or stop manufacturing unprofitable things. Raising wholesale prices apart from a response to demand, regardless of margins or material cost, is effectively the same thing as just setting hundred dollar bills on fire.

[mr surveyor]

being a self employeed business person myself, I am not naieve.

I guess we can agree to disagree.


Granted, now that prices are up by over 100% in the last 2 years (I still think in large part due to cost of manufacture as well as demand - particularly since Nov. 2), the manufacturers and dealers are not apt to reduce prices back to 2007 rates.



surv

[TheArmedFarmer]

the manufacturers and dealers are not apt to reduce prices back to 2007 rates.

I'd predict that when demand slows and they find themselves with a surplus of product, they will lower their prices in order to continue to get a volume of sales.

[Liberty]

Granted, now that prices are up by over 100% in the last 2 years (I still think in large part due to cost of manufacture as well as demand - particularly since Nov. 2), the manufacturers and dealers are not apt to reduce prices back to 2007 rates.

They said the same thing about $4.00 a gallon gas.