I'm finding ammo, it's marked up, but available in retail stores

[Scratch705]

funny part is, the ammo manufacturers have stated that they have barely raised the cost of ammo to their wholesalers/distributors. these price increases have all been wholesaler/distributor and retailer caused.

and like someone posted above, yes i understand that shops will charge more to offset the decreased supply since they still have the same overhead.

but once supply is back, i would expect the prices to be back to pre-covid pricing. probably back to obama era pricing (i really doubt we can get back to trump era pricing as that was the result of overabundant supply caused by the 8 years of obama panic buying)

[DDM4556]

OK but what's the point? I got into the game later than others and subsequently missed out on certain opportunities. Am I complaining or blaming anyone else?

Its unfortunate that you weren't able to take advantage of better prices. But those that did aren't to blame for anything other than being wise.

"The people who didnt prepare before hand are retards"

Not everyone could afford to. I couldn't even legally buy ammo in state until recently. Not many people can afford to buy thousands of rounds of ammo at a time.

[DDM4556]

I don't think he was referring to you bud.

Your full of it, trappers in Alaska report differently, it's the same all over the USA, stop lying, go ask your boyfriend, he'll set you straight.

[GW]

In Washington the best price on 9mm is around $14/50 Blazer Brass
The store gets it on Thursdays and usually sells out within an hour of opening. The line of 100+ that's been out front waiting 2 plus hours gets all or nearly all of it.

[SharedShots]

Ammo prices aren't likely to come down for years if they do in any significant way. The demand for guns isn't limited enough for there to be a rise in inventories because gun control will be the story until at least 2024. What happens in the political spectrum in 2022 won't matter and that is because the incremental shift left that has gone on for so long has reached a point where the gains accumulated can't be erased for a long time.

Here is my reasoning, lets take the millions of new gun owners out there. Their history with guns started in 2020/2021. They paid more for guns and ammo than the rest of us and for them there is no good ol days of a few cents per round, what they paid while high according to many who already had is normal for them. They experienced the shortages though so as they see more inventory even a fraction of them buying will keep demand very high.

Do the people buying homes today hope for the $100,000 house or those just getting into the car owning market think the $7500 car would be great? They have no experience of that and no reference to reach back to, their history started today.

Anyone talking about a few cents per round today is the same as some of us talking about 32 cents per gallon of gasoline, it's a reality we knew but no one really cares about because they never bought gas at that price. We're kidding ourselves to think that there is some cycle to all this because there hasn't been a time with all these pressures before. The ammo shortage and high prices aren't just a reflection of gun control proposals and to apply what happened during the Obama years to this past year and going forward is wishful thinking. The societal tensions aren't going to go away because of the 2022 elections and are more likely to become exacerbated during them. Couple that with the civil unrest that also isn't a left vs right limited situation and the demand for ammo is practically limitless.

Lets also say that prices came down 30% from the highs, which one of us would think that is a buying opportunity except those sitting on a pile of ammo they are likely to have when they pass? Ammo is no longer just ammo, it's a secret sauce, a safety blanket and a source of security that few want to be without. That applies to many millions who bought guns for the first time in the last year and a half and that doesn't take into the account the millions of new gun owners who will join those ranks over the next years.

IMO, if you are hoping for a return to anywhere near 2018 prices, good luck because you might find out that today's prices are the normal and that they maintain this level for some time and then head back up.

From stocks to homes to cars and anything else, there are a lot of people who thought what they had was great and thought a return to some levels they were willing to buy again would come around except they haven't and probably aren't going to.

So as you sit there and say oh, its just another cycle, went through this during the Obama years just remember that this isn't the Obama years, its a completely different time and with very different circumstances. Does that mean the shortages will continue? Hardly, inventories will come back but there is enough demand for the long future to keep prices up.

It works this way, before all the new gun owners out there it took X% increase in gun owners buying ammo to provide an X% increase in demand. That same X% now is far more demand than it was before because the percentage works on a much larger base number. For example, you are no longer one of 30,000,000 people vying for ammo at the counter, you are one of 48,000,000 and that number and all those people have been and were willing to pay more than you for ammo. You can't compete with them as a hold out waiting for lower prices, are you willing to wait say another 4 years in the hopes that some election cycle will change things?

With each passing day someone decides they have waited long enough or that they can either start shooting or become the dry fire king or queen. They jump in and get in line. Those numbers aren't going down either, they are only going up.

Now think about who is buying all the new guns and ammo. These are often people who don't sit on some gun forum posting about some score they made or heading to the garage after dinner to recount their inventory that would put more stores to shame. They are those with enough money to buy $600-$800 and more pistols and that is the base price where they still fly off shelves. The cheap Bersas don't last any time at all. The gun buying public doesn't visit Gunbroker or some forum to buy a gun, they walk into a store.

While parts of the country other than California and a few other states don't represent the entire gun market, ammo is short and expensive all over.

Here is another thing, if you aren't shooting exactly what are you doing? I mean you might be drilling and dry firing but you can do that with airsoft too but is that what you want to do? You might do that out of necessity and sit on some personal inventory because you think you might not be able to replace it. Think about that and how that contrasts with saying this is a cycle and prices will come back.

If you really believed prices would come back and inventory would be available even within a year or two you'd probably go shoot. You aren't sure of that, not even close and that my friends is why you aren't shooting. You're hoping prices and inventory come back but you only need to be half right to be 100% wrong.

[Creampuff]

I don't think he was referring to you bud.

I forgot to put quotations on the entire paragraph