odd time to pick up a new AR, worse than 1994?

[Mighty_]

new here or rather, longtime lurker.

my business had a great year, had been considering an AR-15 for the past year or two (I have several long guns but they are more hunting variety). Dec 4th I seal the deal on a S&W m&p15t and picked up on Dec. 14th - talk about strange timing... my first trip to the range and I'm pretty sure im going to be stuck reloading 1 - 10 rd magazine. I guess i can sleep soundly knowing i got in before the panic but damn. You can't even talk about a new rifle purchase right now without people scrunching up their face and "winding up!". What's worse is i was kind of waiting for the holidays to pick up accessories, backup parts, etc.

How does this compare to the 1994 panic? is it comparable? I'm right at the age where I missed it (^first year of college - wasn't very interested in rifles at the time).

[Norcalkid]

I dont think 94 affected us as much in california. We hadnt figuref out the bb thing and most things we would have been scrambling for were banned in 2000.

[Norcalkid]

Um, never mind. I wss getting 94 and 04 mixed up. I dont remember a scramble till 99.

[militia_bob]

I think the 2012 panic is worse than the 94 ban. We didn't have e-commerce back then nor the easy access to the Internet.

Only way to find vendors was to flip through the Shotgun News and call them up.

Now you can see real time inventory. Vendors are selling out within minutes of posting something back in stock.

[Atlantaboi2012]

This whole thing is worse than I expected. Online stores sold out, insiders at my fav store telling me they cant even order anything, going into stores and seeing all wood stock rifles and no black ones including AKs not to mention ARs..... also it makes me glad I stocked up on Walmart ammo the way I did because they havent restocked any 223 in about 2 weeks.... You go to the range now and no one is shooting semi-auto rifles like they used to...Its almost taboo to even bring one out in the open anymore...very weird...amazes me how the actions of one human can affect millions of people....

[ICONIC]

Two hour wait at Ammo Bros Cerritos. Lots of first time AR buyers

[Mighty_]

yeah i imagine with the shift to internet retailing this is kind of sight unseen....

atleast I listen to NPR, one of my business partners went to the range that morning (dec 14th) and promptly posted an impressive target grouping to his facebook, took off for the rest of the day and returned later to 400X msgs about how inappropriate his post was. lol... awkward!

strange days

[Moonshine]

It is truely amazing the power given to one evil human being. By giving him power to change national history on a level only previously afforded to President Clinton and Governor Davis you basically guarantee copy cats looking for that level of fame !!!!

[Beelzy]

I've seen all of them, and this one is the worst.......I imagine it was like this back in 1939 as well.

[Nor*Cal]

As stated, the internet makes a huge difference. We now have buyers from all over the country online buying everything they can find. Gun shops with online stores can be wiped out within hours.

[amd64]

There is no comparison... this current rush is the worst I've seen.

[elsolo]

There is infinitely more interest in AR's and such now compared to 1986, 1994, or 1999.

We had a generation of shooters experience "can't have" because they didn't buy early enough. We also have a generation of younger gun buyers that have been turned onto black rifles by way of popular media, movies and video games.

This may also be like the 86 ban, no more after 2014, what is out there is it.
The 94-04 ban was just a ban on bayonet lugs and easily accessed barrel threads, except for the magazine part (remember $120 Glock mags?).

[postal]

There is infinitely more interest in AR's and such now compared to 1986, 1994, or 1999.

We had a generation of shooters experience "can't have" because they didn't buy early enough. We also have a generation of younger gun buyers that have been turned onto black rifles by way of popular media, movies and video games.

This may also be like the 86 ban, no more after 2014, what is out there is it.
The 94-04 ban was just a ban on bayonet lugs and easily accessed barrel threads, except for the magazine part (remember $120 Glock mags?).

Well said. I had to run out and buy a rifle because the 1999 ban. Never wanted an AR. Until years later I read a magazine article that got me interested. Had to wait until hearing about bullet buttons here on calguns to finally get one.

And, I think more and more new gun owners every day at a far higher rate than previously seen. More and more 20-30 year old first time buyers of late.

[K5Cruiser]

I would agree with those who say this is worse than in '94, simply because of the internet. The ability to locate and buy up inventory electronically, did not exist back then. Of course prices went up exponentially just as they have now. $300 AKs were going for $700 and up. It was ridiculous but in many peoples minds it was the last opportunity to get what you wanted, due to the unknown future.

[elsolo]

I know people that were happy then and happy today they bought overpriced AW's before the registration deadline.

Sure, you could buy the same gun for far less at a previous time in recent history. You could even buy one cheap recently, but what would "features" be worth to an OLL owner?