Will ammo prices keep skyrocketing?

allenwrench · Intermediate Crude Joined: Apr 23, 2008 Posts: 893

Is there a limit to how high ammumnion will go..or no limit?

biofuel13

Well I would say there are a couple factors involved, but all focused on supply and demand. Metals keep going up up up and so you will see that reflected in ammo prices. Add in the fact that more and more people seem to be arming themselves and their family members and you've got a pretty good recipe for a continued inflation of prices.

GeoJAP

I believe they will keep going up. The cost of raw materials (copper, lead) coupled with other business cost increases (energy costs, health care, etc) will push prices up.

Also, the U.N. has gotten many countries that used to surplus their older ammo (South Africa, Portugal, Britain, etc) to destroy their surplus rather than sell it on the open market. There is less surplus ammo available, which means less supply, which is also driving prices up.

I personally buy lots of surplus and eastern European ammo from wholesalers. My local Academy sporting goods store has good deals on Remington UMC 9mm ball also.

I can post some links to very reputable and competitively priced ammo wholesalers, if you like. You can get cases shipped directly to your door.

farmall · Coal Joined: May 27, 2008 Posts: 10

grampybone · Tar Sands Joined: May 31, 2008 Posts: 82

Ammo has been going up steadily for over a year. Buy now while it's still relatively cheap! It's not going to go down in price anytime soon.

joeltrout · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 1317

Does anyone have figures on how much ammo is used on a daily basis in Iraq? If the Dems win and pull out of Iraq would that add much ammo to the market to lessen prices or not enough to make much of a difference?

joeltrout

GeoJAP

I forgot to add the SW Asia conflicts to my list of reasons. Thanks Joel. I don't know the exact answer to your question, Joel, but I believe that if that were to happen, that you would start to see some more Lake City USA surplus on the market in time (which is virtually non-existent at the moment).

Here are some people that I have bought ammo from for almost 10 years now. I trust them very much.

www.aimsurplus.com <- Erik at Aim Surplus is the best guy in the business in my book.
www.amunitiontogo.com <- Great prices, friendly staff, and just up the road from me in Brenham, the home of Blue Bell ice cream.
www.ammoman.com <- I believe his name is Eric also. Wide assortment of surplus, as well as current-production American and foreign ammo.
www.wideners.com <- Not as wide of a selection as others, but good prices. Reloading supplies.
www.grafs.com/ <- Never ordered from them but they have a very good reputation. Lots of reloading supplies.

If you have a 01 or 03 federal firearms license, you can order from Century Arms. They are the biggest arms importer in the entire USA. They only sell to entities licensed by the BATF. I used to have an 03 collectors firearms license and would order directly from them. Century's policy on ammo shipping (a few years ago anyway) is $13 flat rate, irrespective of quantity. So you can order 3,000 rounds of .308 (195 pounds) and shipping is still only $13. That's a heckuva deal. Their self-assembled firearms are abominations but their ammo deals are incredible sometimes.
www.centuryarms.com

The US Civilian Marksmanship Program also sells good-quality surplus .30-06 for about $0.30 per round to use in M1 Garands and Remington 1903's. You need to jump through the hoops to get qualified with them, but it's not too hard. You can also buy an M1 Garand or .22 training rifle from them.
http://odcmp.com/

vision-master

TnAndy · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 31, 2005 Posts: 100

GeoJAP · Last edited by GeoJAP on Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

Not exactly. I agree that the falling dollar drives up the prices when buying surplus ammo or copper. But Portuguese .308 was $0.15 per round in 2004. Today it is about $0.65 per round, if you can find it at all. It is more of a supply issue, I think, not as much because of currency debasement.

Pressure on the supply of raw materials for current production ammo similarly affects prices for new production.

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 394

GeoJAP

smallpoxgirl · Moderator Joined: Nov 08, 2004 Posts: 6278

I don't think that metals prices are the driving force behind it. Copper prices have been fairly flat for about two years. Lead prices maxed out last fall and are currently in a pretty significant down trend.

_________________
"So while you sit and whistle Dixie with your money and your power.
I can hear the flowers a-growin in the rubble of the towers.
I hear leaders quit their lying
I hear babies quit their crying.
I hear soldiers quit their dying, one and all." - OCMS

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 394

GeoJAP