And we all thought Obama was the world’s best gun salesman. We didn’t know about the Chinkvirus:
There have now been an estimated 8.3 million firearms sold in the United States since March—a record-setting pace likely to make 2020 the greatest year for gun sales in American history if the trend continues.
Gun and ammunition retailers are having trouble keeping up with the demand as Americans flood stores.
And a quote from an FFL:
“Pretty much everything is out of stock. We have been doing it since the late ’70s and have never seen literally no supply available. As of last week, at all major distributors you could not get any guns. Everything was literally sold out. Can’t even get hearing protection.”
At my local gun pusher FFL, I’m told there’s at least a two-month wait for a whole bunch of guns — and an indefinite wait for AR-15s. I often use Bud’s Gun Shop as a dipstick into the state of the firearms business (also to get an idea of prices), and here’s what a cursory look showed me. If I applied only two search filters (semi-auto and 5.56mm NATO ), here’s what came up as being in stock (out of 560 items listed):
…in other words, a “California compliant” monstrosity that nobody wants, and an overpriced POS from Colt. Everything else — Palmetto, IWI, S&W, Ruger, SIG, Daniel Defense, DPMS, Diamondback, you name it — was out of stock. Even the Ruger Ranch Rifle was MIA.
One of my contacts at a major distributor confirmed that Bud’s and my local guy are the norm, not the exception.
So I went to Option B: semi-auto rifles in 9mm Parabellum, once again at Bud’s, who typically advertises / carries about a hundred and thirty different models. Here’s what they had:
All the rest were MIA. And note that in the above, I said “had”. When I went back a few hours later to check, even the Beretta Storm was OOS.
And if people are buying everything in sight in 5.56mm and 9mm, that leads to… yup, ammo scarcity.
Windham Taylor, the outreach manager for Ammo.com, one of the largest ammunition dealers in America, said the company experienced the same strains as the gun dealers. Demand for popular self-defense rounds such as 9mm and 223 has kept the store scrambling to find stock to keep their customers supplied.
Now for my Loyal Readers, none of this is either surprising or alarming. We have (don’t we? ) an adequate sufficiency of both guns and ammo to tide us over — hell, ammo-wise, in some calibers I’m still living with stuff I purchased during the Dubya Administration — which should keep us going through this rough patch.
And speaking of the Dubya Administration, I remember posting back then: “These are the Good Times for us gunnies; this is the time to buy guns and ammo, when restrictions are few, supplies are plentiful and prices are sane.” I recall that many of us heeded that — at least, according to Reader feedback — and I know that I took my own advice, bigly.
The economic lesson is timeless: don’t buy during times of scarcity; buy in times of plenty.
If you do have an itch to buy a gun (and don’t we all, all the time?), this might be a good time to look at bolt-action rifles, lever-action cowboy guns and some revolvers. We all know that in a pinch, a lever-action rifle can do sterling duty as a replacement self-defense gun — yeah, it doesn’t have a 200-round magazine — and I for one would not feel undergunned by any means, if that were all I had.
Back to Bud’s, where if we look at just .45 Colt (because neither the guns or ammo are scarce at the moment), we find that there are over 90 options available, e.g.:
…and for a “companion piece” for the above, there are over 150 options in .45 Colt:
Ooooh that’s better. In fact, you have to get to Page 3 before the guns start running out of stock. (Gotta say, Kimmy likes the look of this one, oh yes he does):
…but let’s not get sidetracked here.
One more time: I accept no responsibility for bank accounts emptied, kids’ college funds raided nor relationships wrecked as a result of the above temptations proving too difficult to avoid.
An aside: I checked on my stocks of AK-47 feed (7.62x39mm) the other day, and discovered that I had only a single can (~600 rounds) left. EVERYBODY PANIC! until I discovered a couple of cases lying forgotten in some remote part of the garage — and then, by some cosmic coincidence I’m not even going to try to explain, I got a call from the Son&Heir, who wanted to know why he had five cases of 7.62x39mm in his garage when he doesn’t own an AK. Guess I lost track of them in the move from the old house. Panic over.
Lots of moving parts in this one Kim. The virus is a big factor, but add in the BLM/Antifa/and everybody else who is passed off at anything rioting, efforts to defund police departmets, the tax rebates that put some disposable income into the hands of folks who managed to keep their jobs or were retired, and a general media created unease that things may not go well in November. (How’s that for a run on sentence? I had an extra box of periods someplace but can’t seem to locate it this early in the morning.) People buy guns for any and all of these reasons.
My hidden ammo story isn’t as good as yours, but I did discover a .30 cal box full of 9mm brass the other day. I’ve got powder and primers in stock and even found a couple of hundred bullets. So I’ll spend the week rolling my own.
walked thru a gun store Friday, nice place just off of hwy 59 south of Wharton. They have a shooter quality 03A3 made by Remington for ~$1000. Almost couldn’t walk away. Still thinking about it.
I’ve purchased two 45 long colt revolvers in the past year, looking for a matching lever action. Rossi looks like the best economic choice, but I’ve never actually held one to judge it’s quality. That said, i have 500 empty cases, 1000 primers, 1000 cast lead bullets, and enough powder to ensure there won’t be any garage left after a house fire. All it takes is time to assemble components.
As ltdavel said this is a problem with multiple factors. I will also add that 2020 is NOT 2008. The influence of a mature web, combined with powerful mobile processing in the form of iPhones, and ubiquitous video platforms makes today ripe for hyper speed mass delusion, confusion and hysteria.
Reading Brian Anse Patrick (who we lost much too early). His several books on propaganda are quite appropriate to the times. Well worth reading…
Finally, I would find it hard to lose ammo. On prchase I log in all to my ammo spreadsheet. the other day I found in my closet 2 stripped lowers and uppers. Had to think really hard to remember when I bought them ! Lol
That’s way too organized / anal-retentive for me. Buy it and stack it up, is my motto. My sole nod to organization is making clear content labels for the ammo cans, and keeping a rough count of centerfire rounds expended, especially in my handguns.
And when the can gets down to half-full, ’tis time to buy again.
I’ve got a Rossi Model 92 in .38/.357. It has the John Wayne lever loop and looks great. Mine feeds the longer .357 rounds with no problems, but some shorter .38 rounds will occasionally hang up on the feed ramp. I’ve read that some people don’t like the bolt mounted safely – more for aesthetics than anything else – but removing it is an easy job.
I understand that my ten year old Rossi was actually made by Taurus and I’m okay with that. Today they seem to go into and out of production about every six months but if you can find a Rossi 92 they seem to be fun and reliable rifles at least with the right ammunition.
Thanks. Almost everyone has said they like it, just hard to place a $500 mail order for something I’ve haven’t actually held at least once. But I’m really wanting one.
You can get an aperture sight that replaces the safety: https://store.stevesgunz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2_14&products_id=10&zenid=94m41blbbg9tat5bdg0f1rn0c1
The same guy also does action jobs that assure better feeding (worked wonders on my Rossi 92 in .357)
Yup. Having moved to Texas from Kalifonia, this ain’t my first rodeo.
An example–back in the late 90’s, bought a 1600 round case of surplussed 5.56 55gr. ball ammo for 13.5 cents/round, delivered. Still have most of it. For daily use, I’ve been rolling and casting my own since ’77.
There was a time in the old California when, with a little snooping, you could find a service station with a 5-gallon bucket full of used tire weights for the asking. This was my source for casting. Then Kalifornia banned lead tire weights. When we moved to Texas, I brought about 400 lbs. of weights with me. Like I said, not my first rodeo. On that note, I should mention that there are several excellent sources for cast bullets that (so far) seem to be keeping up with demand.
Great minds think alike. My 1875 “Outlaw” is the 7-1/2 inch barrel model in 44-40. Mine was sold through Navy Arms. Bought in new at the (gasp!) San Francisco Gun Exchange in 1978. I’ll have to bring it for you to shoot sometime.
When I read this OUT OF STOCK story this morning I was thinking, is that really right? Seems like just a week ago I was receiving emails for special deals from Midway, Primary Arms and Palmetto who usually have a decent selection of entry level ARs. I checked all three just now and found on AR for $1K in stock, might be gone by now and then as you wrote above a few, very few for about $2K. I am guessing that someone is working hard and fast to make more and they sell out as soon as they come in. Midway puts Out of Stock no backorders under most of its AR type rifles under $1K. I was also surprised to see most stripped lowers out of stock and there are lots of guys with more skill and tools than I have who can build out a hell of an AR from parts, they just need a stripped lower to build on.
OldTexan sed: “…there are lots of guys with more skill and tools than I have who can build out a hell of an AR from parts…”
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It’s not hard. If you know which end of the screwdriver to stick in the bad guys face you can assemble an AR too. There is BIG money to be saved by building your own, which translates into using said savings to purchase better quality parts.
No guns here. I have medium-poor coordination, which gets worse under stress. People like me should not own firearms or power saws. Also, I dislike loud bangs. Basically, I would be a hoplophobe if not for two points;
1) I respect and agree with the reasoning the Founders had for including the Second Amendment. I am far safer in an armed Society than I would be in a disarmed one. I may not feel that viscerally, but I TRY to be ruled by my intellect and not my ‘feelings’.
2) Being for gun Control (read; confiscation) would put me in the company of a species of Leftist Fascist Vermin I flat out despise.
If the Mob turns up in my (exurban, heavily armed) neighborhood, I will do my best to support my armed neighbors without subjecting them to the risks of my untutored and questionable aim. Maybe I can run ammo.
I just bought an Uberti El Patron and it’s slicker than snot.
Hmmm, well here in CO we’re still suffering from the post-Trump glut, when everyone when out and bought Evil Black Rifles because they were sure Hillary! would get elected. I’ve had about 7 guns up for sale on a local message board (trying to thin out the collection and get rid of the safe queens) and have only sold two (and one was a trade.)
So if there’s some kind of a “run” on firearms, it’s not apparent here.
I couldn’t afford much ammo during the real salad days when Kim’s warnings came out, but from the 2016 election until early 2020 I was able to stack it moderately (and buy a fair amount of reloading bullets).
I’ve seen reportage about private ammo sales going nuts; some folks are taking proper advantage and selling off their steel case wolf ammo for stupid high prices and turning the money into more available firearms, less in demand calibers they need, etc. This is also the time to try to sell, at least in most areas, firearms that no longer of interest. As if…