No, this isn’t the first chapter of my memoirs. Instead it’s a commentary about the gun and ammo issue from my perspective as someone who sells guns for a living.
If you haven’t seen it yet, I wrote about the number of NICS checks and the records that were set last year. You can check it out here. Those numbers will come into play later, so take a look.
First, I’m going to address ammo and firearms availability. There are/were several factors that led us to the apparent shortage that we’re seeing today. Starting with the WuFlu closures this time last year to the riots last summer to thousands of people rediscovering hunting and the shooting sports. Then there was the bankruptcy of Big Green. The previous ownership group ended production at all Remington facilities when they entered receivership. There hasn’t been a new box of ammo or gun with that name on it produced for nearly a year.
Let’s take a look at the issues the closures and lockdowns caused the firearms and ammo industries for a second. It wasn’t just lost production time, the closures also impacted supply chains, importation of raw materials and production scheduling. The effects of those are still being felt today. Think about it for a second, mines closed, smelters closed, foundries closed. With modern manufacturing keyed to what are called Just in time supply chains, any disruption is going to cause outsized knock-on effects. At this point, the manufacturers are concentrating on the most popular rounds, just to meet demand. It may be a year or more before you see that .32 win special on the shelves.
Jason Vanderbrink, the president of ammo for Vista Outdoors, the group that owns CCI, Speer and Federal ammo, says his production facilities are running at 100% plus capacity. That capacity will increase some over the next few months as the newly reopened Remington ammo facility in Lonoke Arkansas starts shipping. That plant had been aquired by Vista in the Remington arms bankruptcy sale last fall. With any luck the ammo market will start to loosen up once that facility starts to ship.
Now, on to my personal observations. Working behind the gun counter 40 plus hours a week gives me a slightly different perspective than I think most of you have. I don’t see a shortage of guns. What I see are a bunch of people grabbing up anything they can. While looking over the A&D book a few weeks ago I noticed something. The location that I work at has gotten nearly the same number of guns as it did over the same time period the past few years. What has changed is the assortment of firearms we’re seeing. We don’t have the variety we used to have. We’re seeing the same guns over and over again. I’m not sure if that’s due to our buyers or the manufacturers. That said, the latest shipment of guns we got had a wider variety than I’ve seen since last summer.
Ammo however is a different story. I do see a shortage there. Used to be, we’d get pallets of ammo. Now, we get random boxes of ammo and an occasional case or two. Why? Well, as I see it there are several factors. Individual hoarders are a part. I see the same guys every day. I know for a fact that most of those guys are sitting on thousands of rounds, I sold at least some of it to them. You know they aren’t just stopping at my place. It got so bad, one guy bought 10 cases of 9mm, all we got in one day, the management instituted a two box limit per day.
The next factor I see are online retailers. Your local gunshop can’t compete with the big online dealers. A small, low volume dealer doesn’t have the buying power of some huge online place. Those online places go to the top of the list when an order comes in. Joe’s Guns n Bait in east bumf*ck gets whats left. And while we’re on the subject, I’ve noticed a big price spike at most of the online dealers. One online place is even being sued for price gouging. While the prices at my employer have gone up, its been a modest increase due to an increase from the suppliers.