Ammo shortage explanations - math?

[Yoteman]

Middle (mainstream) America isn't about to go down the tea bagger trail.
Our father's GOP has been hi jacked by un-electables so as long as that's the case, fear rules = hoaders= scarcity and therefore usurious prices.
Without new entries in the market the supply won't change.

[Lead Waster]

There is an ammo shortage because we are idiots. We keep buying .22lr from flippers for $50/box when it should cost $15/box. Once we stop buying at inflated prices, we will be able to find it for $25/box (you'll never see $15/box again).

Stop rewarding price gougers.

[RMikeL]

Has anyone here ever seen market conditions like this, lasting this long, for .22LR before? Or is this a first? How long did past droughts last?

I didn't get my first .22LR firearm until May of 2012, so this is all new to me.

[RandyD]

Here is a link to an article on the shortage of .22 ammo

http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2014/04/why-cant-i-find-22-lr-ammunition-sierra-vp-speaks-out/

[AR22]

There is an ammo shortage because we are idiots. We keep buying .22lr from flippers for $50/box when it should cost $15/box. Once we stop buying at inflated prices, we will be able to find it for $25/box (you'll never see $15/box again).

Stop rewarding price gougers.

Glad you get it leadwaster. Atleast the people who buy from flippers being most of the problem. You are right. Stop buying from them and they will cease to exist tomorrow..

This is the longest I have seen lack of large quantity of .22 at a retail level anyway. And I am pretty dang old..

It does come periodically but it does hit some fairly long dry spells on the local retail level.

[Norcalkid]

the term hoarder is a misnomer. you save money, correct? you aren't hoarding. you have a jar of mayonnaise in the fridge that will last you several weeks. you aren't hoarding. we shop at costco and purchase foodstuffs for several weeks. many people have vacuum sealers and buy meat in bulk or use it for harvested game. it's not hoarding.

all of those reflect holding more than one needs at the given time. in fact, hoarding would be more a psychological disorder, and there's tv shows on it. it would be the inability to discard things without value or utility, not the acquisition of items with utility.

take gasoline as an example. when prices skyrocket people don't go out and stock up on gas. why? one, the holding cost is too high. two, the availability of gas, even at higher prices is good. but ammo is the opposite, as in low holding costs and poor availability.

so what then is "hoarding"? it is a reflection of uncertainty in the future. in fact, there's a term for it in economics, called liquidity preference. people hold cash in uncertain times due to needing greater liquidity. people will stock up on those items that they feel they will need at a later date which might not be available. with hoarding, they trade liquidity (a present orientation) for surplus (a future orientation). disaster prep is the exact same thing. keep a couple of cases of water in storage along with enough supplies to survive however many days you feel you'd need be prepared for. ammo stockpiling is the same thing.

surplus comes with a cost. as we become more future oriented, we must by necessity forgo items in the present. with ammo stockpiling, oddly enough, there is a low opportunity cost. plus, ammo last for many years if stored properly. and for the past year or so, there's been a hige change in the buying habits of shooters, especially .22 shooters. don't blame the buyers for any of this. they're responding and acting in a rational manner.

agreed.

I think you might be surprised how many people do buy a lot of fuel when it's cheap. I live in an ag area I know a lot of farmers who order by the tanker when prices come down. The only difference between them and us is they have the storage. When I was a kid we had 2 diesel tanks and ordered maybe twice a year.

Personally I have always bought my ammo in bulk. Never considered myself a hoarder for buying 1k of 223 at a time. In fact, I would think it stupid to go down to the store and buy a little at a time at 50% higher cost.

Is the guy who couldn't take his kids shooting for the last 6 months and suddenly buys all he can get his hands on a hoarder. I would argue he is just a frustrated parent that learned something from the recent past.