ammo prices

[Mark W]

I buy most of my powder from Powder Valley in 8 pound jugs. Just checked their web page and they seem to have plenty of stock and have not raised their prices one penny. I have always found them to be reputable.

I just looked and they appear to be out of stock on most common powders. There’s some oddball stuff that nobody uses.

 

[338 dude]

Cheaper than dirt wants over 800 bucks for a case of a 1000. If this is true it would be advisable to avoid till this corona bologna garbage ends.

Aren’t there laws against price gouging during an emergency

 

[Baer45]

I have to speak up for the Dealers here. It is dam hard to make money in a gun store, period, especially with online competing. I am part owner of one of the nations largest gun ranges and the Obama scare put 3 out 4 gun stores out of business and at the same time all we heard was “I bet you guys are making a ton of money....” while we were actually loosing our shirt. We raised ammo box prices by a dollar. We could not get enough ammo to meet demand, then we could only sell 2 boxes until we had none. No one wanted to rent a lane because the cost of ammo and rental fee was too high and if you shot at all 2 boxes of ammo lasted no time...this time we decided to build a reserve of ammo in the event of another crisis and paid interest for four years on ammo that just sat in inventory..then we could not get guns or anything gun related...if you can’t get it you can’t sell it....dealers would much rather have peaceful times with level buying so we an at least have some type of reliable projections for cash flow...I felt like I was under attack from the shooting sports/gun lovers as much as the federal government. People would come in and look at a price and if they saved .25 cents buy online...ok, that’s the way the new game works but only a very few make any money in the gun business, it is more an act of love. I left a high income job in a total different industry to loose my shirt in the gun business but fortunately I did not get into it with expectations of making money. I saw the direction the country was going in the first year O got elected and the Marine in me had to try and fight back somehow. I can assure you the wholesalers are seeing price jumps and have to pass it on and if they add to that it’s because they know sales will come to a stop when the panic is over. It’s like everyone runs and buys 5 years worth of food so for the next 5 years the grocery store is not needed (jus an example but you get the idea). The answer is simple: don’t hoard. Load up when prices are low, adding fuel to the fire hurts us all in the end. Thanks for letting me rant...

 

[Nick Caprinolo]

I have to speak up for the Dealers here. It is dam hard to make money in a gun store, period, especially with online competing. I am part owner of one of the nations largest gun ranges and the Obama scare put 3 out 4 gun stores out of business and at the same time all we heard was “I bet you guys are making a ton of money....” while we were actually loosing our shirt. We raised ammo box prices by a dollar. We could not get enough ammo to meet demand, then we could only sell 2 boxes until we had none. No one wanted to rent a lane because the cost of ammo and rental fee was too high and if you shot at all 2 boxes of ammo lasted no time...this time we decided to build a reserve of ammo in the event of another crisis and paid interest for four years on ammo that just sat in inventory..then we could not get guns or anything gun related...if you can’t get it you can’t sell it....dealers would much rather have peaceful times with level buying so we an at least have some type of reliable projections for cash flow...I felt like I was under attack from the shooting sports/gun lovers as much as the federal government. People would come in and look at a price and if they saved .25 cents buy online...ok, that’s the way the new game works but only a very few make any money in the gun business, it is more an act of love. I left a high income job in a total different industry to loose my shirt in the gun business but fortunately I did not get into it with expectations of making money. I saw the direction the country was going in the first year O got elected and the Marine in me had to try and fight back somehow. I can assure you the wholesalers are seeing price jumps and have to pass it on and if they add to that it’s because they know sales will come to a stop when the panic is over. It’s like everyone runs and buys 5 years worth of food so for the next 5 years the grocery store is not needed (jus an example but you get the idea). The answer is simple: don’t hoard. Load up when prices are low, adding fuel to the fire hurts us all in the end. Thanks for letting me rant...

I understand your dilemma. I have a small gun dealer I try to buy things from. Mostly it's when I am buying small amounts of things. One pound of powder I want to try or a different box of bullets. But since he is a small store, many of the specialty items are not in his inventory. So I get him to order it for me and then must wait several weeks because his suppliers have minimums.

Not his fault and most times I am not in any hurry. His prices are not to far out of line except for powder. I keep a large supply of powder and when I do order it it is usually at least 16 lbs at a time. My neighbor and I sometimes order together and have had 48 lbs delivered from Powder Valley. Local dealers prices vary but $5.00 extra a pound is too much for me to ignore.

Last week I tried to order 500 bullets from him and he told me he could have it in a week or two. His price was only $2.00 more per hundred than on line so I ordered them from him. Then I discovered that I needed an additional caliber that he did not have and I had almost run out of, so I went on line and ordered them. They were here in two days. Hard for him to compete on those terms.

 

[Baer45]

They can’t compete except hazmat items but there again, if they can’t get the latest “hot” powder, they can’t afford to inventory others...I will say that often I’ve had people check out our products online from their phone and find we are way below market. A recent example were electronic muffs. Even I was surprised to see we were 20% less..shipping cost and now increasingly taxes are knocking down some competition...a ton of people pay way too much for Ammo online but it depends on the seller...all a dealer can do is offer service and experience..,my point is if you want to keep a store or range where you can go to see guns before you order or pick up a box of Ammo when the shtf, you better off giving them some of your business...they have enough problems with OSHA/EPA, anti-GUN protestors at their front door, etc to also try to meet everyone’s lowest price. Once GUN stores close, they never reopen...

 

[Baer45]

...AND if you are in Virginia with an a’’h’’’ Governor, you are told to limit 10 people in a large store at a time?///Then it “Close all Gun Stores”

 

[jwink]

Lucky for me, I don't need ammo, I lost all my guns in a boating accident a while back, couldn't recover any of them.

 

[DirtySteve]

Lucky for me, I don't need ammo, I lost all my guns in a boating accident a while back, couldn't recover any of them.

I don't have guns either. I buy components to keep others from getting them..