War is ending.... will we get cheap ammo?

[Jicko]

(i'm dreaming.......)

[Guns R Tools]

I think it is like gas prices. Even when the price of crude drops, gas price stays the same.

War might be ending but the appetite for consumerbles, copper, lead, steel etc. by China is not dwindling.

But I miss the old price as well and hoping it wil come back too...

[TonyM]

For Retail, why should the manufacturers drop the price? We're buying ammo up at these prices. Okay, maybe a 10% drop, but the prices in many cases will still be up over 100% from 18 months ago.

For Surplus, well, there isn't any. my speculation is that all the ammo that would've come on the market as surplus in the next 2-3 years has been used. That means the ammo reserves that are being held in storage by other countries is a lot younger than it needs to be to be sold as surplus. We'll have to wait for it to get old before they start selling it off.

Buy more components and get dies for your favorite calibers. If you see a deal on components, buy big. The prices of components has gone WAY up too, and since the raw materials are the explanation for the increase we can only expect to see more of it.

[Nefarious]

if ammo prices go down, in the overall sceme of things its not going to be that big of an impact. Why would prices come down if we are willing to pay current ammo prices now? I suspect we would see some price breaks on BULK orders.. but other than that, I dont think its going to be anything to get excited over.

[Sander77]

Well, I'm the furthest thing from an economics expert, but just a question...

Wouldn't supply and demand be in effect here? Sure, we're willing to pay these prices now because it's hard to find.

But let's say every website/store had a full stock of every brand/type of 5.56 ammo... The supply would be high, and then stores would start competing for your business by lowering their prices...

Of course, that's all assuming that the supply does increase. I know there are other reasons why that may not happen...

[ocabj]

The only way we'll see a reduction of current ammunition prices is when the price of metals used in the components used to make ammunition drops in price.

As long as the cost for brass, copper, nickel, tin, and even aluminum and stainless steel remain high, there's no way prices will drop.

[DRH]

I would say that the future surplus ammo market depends on the final outcome of the UN small arms treaty. If the UN gets it's way by 2010, surplus ammo and parts kits might be a thing of the past. We already have some countries destroying their ammo and weapons instead of selling them due to politically correct pressures. The thought of one billion rounds of South African 5.56 and .308 being destroyed makes me sick. Unfortunately the domestic ammo market has been affected by the extra demand brought about by the surplus ammo shortage and the increased usage by troops in the "War on Terror". These factors along with commodity prices (metals and fuel/transportation) are not going to go away any time soon. As bleak as todays ammo prices and availability appear when compared to a few years ago, they still might be way better than what we could experience in a few more short years. So the moral to the story is to always buy it cheap and stack it deep.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

Well, I'm the furthest thing from an economics expert, but just a question...

Wouldn't supply and demand be in effect here? Sure, we're willing to pay these prices now because it's hard to find.

But let's say every website/store had a full stock of every brand/type of 5.56 ammo... The supply would be high, and then stores would start competing for your business by lowering their prices...

Yep! That's the way it works. Nobody can just "set" the selling price of ammo. They can set the asking price all they want. But the selling price is set by interaction between buyers and sellers, AKA "the market".

When metal prices come down there is no way the ammo companies can keep charging us the same high prices for ammo. It doesn't matter if they "know we'll pay it". The free market will lower the selling price.

[SemiAutoSam]

War is ending ?

Not if bush has his way.

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2007/042507.html

[mike452]

IF the war ends, ammo price might drop a bit. It's like all business, someone will sell it cheaper causing the overall price to drop.
I think if China goes into an economy depression will be a better deal for ammo, but that might be very bad for the U.S. because China and Japan are paying for our war.

War continues, China will thrive, ammo price will soar, let the Black Market begin!

[xenophobe]

If the war ends, expect a lot of Brit, Aussie and other surplus 5.56 to hit the market... a few years later.