Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Reloading supplies and ammo

While in my local Wal mart the other day, I cruised the sporting isle and noticed two AR's in the case. One Colt and one Windham, and no line of folks to grab them. No ammo of course.

Added a small amount of 223/5.56 to my supply today. Been finding some at reasonable prices here and there.

Directly from Hornady.

Product Availability
Hornady Products are scarce in my neck of the woods. How can I get ahold of some?

The current political climate has caused extremely high demand on all shooting industry products, including ours. Empty retail shelves, long backorders, and exaggerated price increases on online auction sites � all fueled by rumors and conjecture � have amplified concerns about the availability of ammunition and firearms-related items.

If the information you hear doesn�t originate from Hornady Manufacturing, don�t believe it.

Here are some of rumors we�ve heard, and questions we�ve received:

Have you stopped production, or has the government forced you to stop?
Not at all.
Did you stop selling bullets so you could only make loaded ammunition?
Absolutely not.
Since we can�t find your product you must be selling it all to the government.
Nope, less than 5% of our sales are to government entities.
Why can�t you make more? Ramp up production? Turn on all the machines?
We�ve been steadily growing our production for a long time, especially the last five years. We�ve added presses, lathes, CNC equipment, people and space. Many popular items are produced 24 hours a day. Several hundred Hornady employees work overtime every week to produce as much as safely possible. If there is any question about that � please take a tour of the factory. You�ll be amazed at what you see.

We are producing as much as we can; much more than last year, which was a lot more than the year before, etc. No one wants to ship more during this time than we do.

We appreciate everyone�s understanding and patience. We don�t know when the situation will improve, so please bear with us a little longer. And remember, when it comes to Hornady Manufacturing, if you don�t hear it from us, please don�t believe it.

Guess that pretty well sums it up........ THANKS ALL

Luckily, this month has my truck paid off, and no balance on the credit cards I keep for emergencies. I'm debt-free for the time being anyway.

I have plenty of stuff stockpiled (not enough to consider it hoarding, except by some newspeople).
So, when the craziness subsides, I'll be there to take advantage of "normal pricing structures", and I'll be able to scarf up whatever I think I'll need until the 'next' craziness is over.

There were some great deals to be had on firearms, ammo and components after the last panic subsided, especially from people who maxed out their credit card and needed cash. I saw essentially AR-15's for as little as $500-$600 and similar deals on ammo and components.

That's what I saw, too. I managed to score 10 pounds of IMR-4064 for $11 per pound and a sleeve (5K) of large pistol primers for $80 in the aftermath of the last "scare."

I knew it! Your buying it all up?

Trav
I believe that all of the Remington rifles that came out as 6mm were 1:9. The 244s were 1:12.

No, I'm waiting out all of the jackasses running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

I figure most of these boneheads throwing down $30+ per pound of powder and who-knows-how-much for a brick of .22 LR will be sitting around their house full of ammo and reloading supplies that they'll never use and think, "Gee it'd sure be nice to have some cash!" And I'll be there for them.

Yeah, when the lemmings are all running for the sea, head for the high ground...

DF

I talked to a guy that used to work for me yesterday about the situation knowing that he is a looney reloader. Seems that his wife whom works for a local high tek company has written a computer program that searches for components among over 30 companies and does a cycle every 10 minutes. Components searched are on a master list and when found are placed on order and a cc billed. He said he has bought over $15k since end of Dec. he was complaining that his program bought 5 lbs of powder and the seller reduced it to 3 lbs and still charged him $27.50 hazmat.

Idiots abound everywhere.

+1. Thats what I'm waiting for. I have more than enough and I got it from the aftermath of times like this.

Yup. A good deal of the shortage problem is scalpers. They don't mind having to buy high if they think that they can sell higher. Then there are those that haven't seen the writing on the wall. They keep a bare minimum of supplies and then go apesh!t when there's a shortage in the supply system. Anyone that handloads should have at least 20 pounds of powder, 5,000 assorted primers and plenty of brass and bullets to ride out the storm. That would last most folks for a couple of years or more. Further on down the road there may well be bargains to be had.

Johnnu,
As mentioned in the reply from Hornady post, the manufactures are probably all busy as hell and loving it. During the last component crisis I was astonished to find out that I couldn't find CCI primers even in Lewiston ID. I needed some, as I hadn't "hoarded" any, and finally noticed an ad in the local "pennysaver" type classifieds that a shop 30 miles or so the other side of Lewiston had some (I'm about 60 miles from Lewiston in the other direction). I called and had them put some aside for me, went to pick them up, and met a guy working that Saturday at the shop who worked during the week for CCI/Speer. On the primer line. He told me he talked to the production mgr who told him if they stopped taking orders that day he could run the primer line 24 hrs a day for a year and a half. Of course, we still had the Iraq war going along with Afghanistan, and the hoarding. The company was quite happy to be so busy, I can't see as to how they'd be any less happy to be filling every order they have today.

I'm thinking I should have bought stock in the sporting arms and associated goodies companies then.

Now I'm running low on some powders and don't see any on the shelves. I hope this sillyness ends soon.

I thought everyone bought 2 8 pounders with each new gun?

I needed some .223 Rem ammo for demonstration purposes for Hunter Education Classes. Luckily found a box of 50 Remington brand @ $28.00. Our local Walmart recieved 2 each Colt AR-15 rifles & sold them quickly @ $1400 each. That said, .22 LR has been tough to find at any price.

Our recent HUNTER ED Class burned through almost 400 cartridges on our Field Day Exam. I'd like to find some to replace it. Might need to shout out to the local community for some small lot donations.

Scalping and hoarders are a small reason for the unavailability of certain components.


The main reason is the aspect of production. For a business with a fixed number of machines and employees, expanding their production drastically for a temporary demand is foolish and irresponsible. The cost of expanding a facility, hiring new employees, buying new equipment is tremendous. If this is done simply to fill a temporary increase in demand most businesses would go under. Employees can only take extra shifts for so long before they don't want to work more. People have families too. A business can only hire so many extra people to cover the increased production. The cost of benefits and training a new employee is a substantial investment. Even with extra employees and equipment most ammunition manufacturers are running 24/7 production, but there is always down time for maintenance etc.


Look at the issue as a production aspect and an economic decision, rather than evil hoarders/scalpers. Some folks planned ahead and bought stuff they need, anticipating the climate. Others intend to profit from the situation, as is there right in the supply/demand economy.

Was at my LGS yesterday and they had a rack full of ARs when a month ago there was none, and AR 30rd PMags had dropped in price from $35 to $28. Also much more powder on the shelf but still not much of the popular stuff.
So, I think things are starting to settle down a bit.

John, I lived within a few (100 or so, it is Mt after all) miles of Havre, & it isn't all that far to where you were in those days. We, of course, were way more interested in fast horses than fast girls in those days. (That needs to be taken with a large grain of salt.) Montana was not that big when gas was only $.35 per gallon.