We are doing it to ourselves again!

[Rex]

Stoped at our local gun shop today (the only one left) The lady said we don't have anything that you usually want left and have no idea when we might get primers, bullets, etc, etc in again. She said " we have very little left to sell and will probably have to close the doors as we can't make a living this way". All those practical people who are just stocking themselves up for the next 10 years are costing us another Mom and Pop supply store.

[btroj]

So we aren't supposed to buy?
Not sure that there is a "correct" answer to this.
Do we blame people like me who like to keep a few years supply on hand?
Do we blame the guys who have 10 years worth on hand?
Do we blame the guys who are new to shooting?
Do we blame new reloaders?

There is a panic going on right now. It will pass.

I am sorry to here that a small business may close due to this but I don't like being blamed for it.

[Love Life]

I blame El Nino

[plmitch]

So we aren't supposed to buy?
Not sure that there is a "correct" answer to this.
Do we blame people like me who like to keep a few years supply on hand?
Do we blame the guys who have 10 years worth on hand?
Do we blame the guys who are new to shooting?
Do we blame new reloaders?

There is a panic going on right now. It will pass.

I am sorry to here that a small business may close due to this but I don't like being blamed for it.

Well said Sir!

[hiram1]

The plan is working.shut the little guy out and they can keep up with the big guys.you will buy from who they let stay.

[Rex]

Don't whine when there are no more small shops.

[Jim]

Odds & Ends Gunshop in Floyd is doing a thriving business. Last Friday, I came home with a Marlin model 60 I had put on layaway for Janet. This morning, I just ordered a pellet rifle. They have guns, ammo and customers coming and going every day. They ain't nowhere NEAR shutting down.

[btroj]

I wish we had more small shops. Omaha has very few "gun stores" any more. We have Guns Unlimited, Cabelas, and Scheels. Big businesses drove out the little guys.

My point is that there isn't a good answer right now. Supplies are short. That drives up demand. That little shop may not have anything left on the shelves but did they complain when they were selling everything they had? Did they profit from the panic?

Not saying it isn't a shame to see a business close but I want to know what you want us to do about it Rex? Isn't it a bit late to ask for moderation now? Should a business refuse sales to save for a rainy day?

[10 ga]

Rednex in Tappahannock has added some employees to keep up. Used to be 1 or 2 guys in there now it's 3 or more employees and 5 or 6 customers even during weekdays. They have even had 45acp and the only 22lr I was able to find for the wife to use to practice for her CC class. Greentop, Basspro, Dicks and all the others had NO 22lr for her and no 45cp for me.

10

[TheGrimReaper]

The good local shop we have around here is thriving too! I'm happy for them.

[LUBEDUDE]

Stoped at our local gun shop today (the only one left) The lady said we don't have anything that you usually want left and have no idea when we might get primers, bullets, etc, etc in again. She said " we have very little left to sell and will probably have to close the doors as we can't make a living this way". All those practical people who are just stocking themselves up for the next 10 years are costing us another Mom and Pop supply store.

If they were making a living on just selling THOSE items, then my hat is off to them.

Sounds like it is time for a new business plan. Not complicated, just add some new lines of goods related to your business.

Marketing 101

[S&W-629]

i have 2 shops close to me and i know one of them are not doing good at all.I think thay have allways got thare prices from GB

[oldred]

Talked to the owner of our biggest local shop today and he says things are looking good for him , still can't get much in the way of ammo and reloading supplies but guns are really moving right now. He was saying that he is seeing more people almost everyday who come in wanting to sell what they bought a couple of months ago so he has been doing a brisk business buying/selling guns along with a lot of other things that were not affected as badly.

[Swamp Man]

Any business should always have enough funds to cover them over in the lean times. To many small shops spend the large profits in the fat times and don't put it back into the business. There is no one to blame but the owners for not having a better business plan. Losing a business sucks but it's not the customers that causes it.

[462]

Locally, the two, one-man shops are rather enjoying the current boom, with constantly full display racks and counters, and plenty of gunsmithing work to do. Granted, powder and primers are scarce, but if that Mom and Pop shop can't make it without them, they were destined to fail. It was just a matter of time, and it looks as if their time has come.

That said, yes, it saddens me that they are struggling and may have to close the shop. I worked for three Mom and Pop businesses, prior to working for a national one, and the three of them eventually failed.

Darwin had it right.

[longshot1154]

Its hard to even get close to the counter at our local gun stores, which is all we have as the only box store in the area I'm at is Dicks Sporting Goods. I went to one gun store on a Thursday, early afternoon, and there must have been two dozen people shopping. They had 4 employees working and all of them were with customers filling out the background forms and there were several others waiting to fill out forms. I was interested in a .22 revolver and I left as I couldn't even get their attention. Not blaming them, as the place was packed. Went to three gun stores that day and all of them were doing gangbuster business. Only one of them had primers, small pistol magnum, which I bought as I don't have any small pistol primers at the moment and magnums are better than nothing, and I bought a 4 pound jug of Unique, which they had just got in. Plenty of new and used guns at all of them and the prices are still very reasonable.

[slim1836]

It's all Bush's fault.

Slim

[white eagle]

its to bad I will not shop at our Gander mountain incompetence over flows the cup there
I prefer to drive to a nearby small town shop that has the common sense that is lacking here

[41 mag fan]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think it's so much panic buyers, as it's buyers in general. Not so much per say hordes buying everything they can get their hands on, but a vast majority of individuals that on a normal basis, would hold off or spend their money on other things they find more important at the time.
Scared and panicked yes, but you look at the gun shows, the amount of people that come in who recreation shoot, are going now, because they think it'll be forbidden soon to own or buy.
otherwise, they might wait till psring or summer and go to a show because it's something to do or that time of year.

I don't think it's panic buyer alone causing this. As in panic buyers buying up thousands and thousands in goods, as it's all those who'd of put off buying or bought later down the line or some other time during the year that are causing the shortages.

As long as the news keeps stirring the sh*t it's going to keep at this pace. Not until politicians back off and the news stops stirring the anxiety will things come back to normal.

Stores come and stores go, if they can't adapt then they wont last.

[plmitch]

The shops around here are making money hand over fist and its not slowing down and range use is slowly on the rise. Very good signs.

[Cane_man]

i think a lot of people who had been either planning or putting off buy a firearm decided they better do it now or it might not happen... i think this applied to current owners of firearms and first time buyers as well... i know i bought 2 guns in January that i was going to get to one day and thought i better move on them on now...

[uscra112]

In fairness to the shop the OP mentioned - that part of the country isn't exactly densely populated; there ain't a lot of people buying high-markup AR stuff and carport commando accessories, or Glocks and 1911s, I'm sure. I have somewhat the same situation here in western West Virginia (SE Ohio). The only shops at all here are home-based operations with no overhead to speak of and in one case the proprietor has a day job.

[Case Stuffer]

I have read here many times that we should all have see this coming and stocked up during 2010 and 2011. Guess same can be said for the small shops.If they have been round awhile then they should have remembered 2008 -2009.

My lame excuse is that I was not actively shooting and though that with a couple thousands rounds of 9MM, 5,000 rounds of .45ACP, 8 to 10,000 rounds of .38special loaded up , a little powder and a few thousand primers I was good to go. Then I decided to purchase a new 9MM for CC to replace my 30 plus year old .45 ACP AMT Hardballer and felt that I needed to burn a few thousand rounds to tune myself up and to give the pistol a good shake down.

Still want a XD S .45 single stack if everyone else would stop buying everyone made.:)

[btroj]

Paxton is in about the middle of nowhere. Makes me wonder if the shop he mentioned had a small inventory, sold it, and can't get more in.
Big shop here in Omaha still has primers, just never know what type. Powder is in good supply too, prices are good. I bought 8 pounds of 2400 for 109 earlier this year.

[Friends call me Pac]

So the folks that are currently ravaging the shelves are the problem and because I had the the means to stock up over a period of time I'm just as guilty? The reason I became a so called ammo horder came about innocently enough. I have always loved to squierrel hunt. About a year before I retired a brick of .22 was $9.99. The year I did retire I went to the store and was shocked to see that the same brick was now $17. I also now had time to actually do some shooting & the .22 seemed the cheapest route. I started paying a little more attention to other shooting supplies and noticed they had gone up in price too. It wasn't too hard for me to figure out that it was smarter to buy before prices went even higher. This started in July 2005. I get a pension and after my truck and house payments are made there isn't a whole lot left over. Fill up my truck, there goes $100. Take wife out to eat, there goes $40 and the little things keep adding up. I did take what I could afford each month to buy .22s & reloading components. I figured I may as well stock up before prices double again. Some months I would take 2 bricks home with me. Some months I didn't have the money to buy anything. My point is I did what I could with what I had over a period of 7 years. Everyone had the same chance. Maybe not for 7 years but at least since 2012. I was proactive others are now being reactive.

Now I'm the bad guy because I wanted to save some money and planned ahead.

[smoked turkey]

I got a call from a friend who was at a local gun auction last Saturday. He told me that a box of 50 .22 Lr ammo was selling for $22. They sold many many boxes at that price. This was not target ammo, but just the garden variety that big box stores usually sell. What we are doing to ourselves is not only driving up prices now, but I think in the future we won't see affordable .22 ammo like we used to get in the past. I think that is one of the down sides to hording and panic buying we see going on now. So in answer to the question what are we to do at this point? I say if a person is trying to amass 50,000 primers to have in "stock for a rainy day" that that is wrong and is hording and driving the price up for everyone. It is time to be reasonable about our stock supplies. I am sure that this line of thinking is not popular with some, but I feel true never the less. Just my $0.05 on the panic buying we are seeing.

[KYCaster]

Well, the rainy days are here. It sure would be nice to have 50,000 primers on the shelf. That's pretty much been my comfort level for the last 20 years or so, but I'm down to less than half that now. Fewer than 1000 SPM and just 300 209 shotshell.

9mm, 38Super and 40S&W are all getting Tula SR cause that's what I have the most of......I'm "hoarding" my 3000 remaining Federal SP for my DA revolvers. When the family comes to visit, we can go through 7-800 38spl. so I sure would like to have another sleeve of those on the shelf.

Having double your normal yearly use on the shelf is not what I call hoarding, it's just planning ahead.

Just because it's wrong for your situation, doesn't mean it's wrong for everyone. Saying that having 50,000 primers is wrong is like saying you don't need a 30 round magazine. If you're willing to put a limit on how many of something someone should be allowed to have, you've started down a slippery slope. The only difference is where you want to put the decimal point.

The only reason I'm able to continue to shoot the number of rounds I choose to is because at some point, I DID have 50,000 primers on the shelf.....same with powder, brass and lead.

All these panic buyers just chose the wrong time to try to build their inventory. Eventually, the market will stabilize and I'll be able to replenish my stock, same as I always have, without contributing to the insanity.

Back to the OP.....same thing applies to a business. If you don't plan for the bad times, you won't survive.

Jerry

[TXGunNut]

Support your local mom & pop stores, they're part of your community and often better places to get info and other "extras" hard to find in the big box stores. Very few left around here and I sure miss them.

[Wooly]

It's all Bush's fault.

Slim ROFLMAO! Why not ? He gets blamed for everything else D.C. screws up.

[462]

Regarding limiting the amounts of powder or primers one can have on hand: Who determines the amount? You? Some governmental agency? No thank you. I'll make that determination based on my wants and needs.

What would come next: Limiting how much money a person can make? Limiting the size of one's house? Limiting how long a person can live?

That kind of thinking was tried in the Soviet Union, and does not belong in a free society.

[Ed Barrett]

Local shop I do business with most of the time had 3 pistols last time I was there 4 days ago, usually has 30 or 40 for sale. Plenty of rifles and shotguns for sale, no AR's but this isn't really big AR country. Plenty of rifle ammo, less than 2000 primers all LR Mag, about 50 1 lb containers (all slow rifle), no pistol except some 30 Luger that has dust on it, no 22 lr. I usually like to stop by and talk to some of the local shooters, but lately "new experts" have been in there and as I have gotten older it just doesn't seem worth my time to listen to the half truths. I don't think this shop is in any danger of going out of business.

[41 mag fan]

Seems like i keep seeing this " should of seen it coming in 2012" thing on here. Since when did anyone see the kids at Sandy hook getting killed in advance??
I'm sure if anyone had foreseen it, he wouldn't of got out his own house, let alone into the school.
Seems to me people keep forgetting if it wasn't for Sandy hook, things would be normal and plentiful right now.

Right now, I got close to 70k of primers sitting in the shop. I bought them over the last 3 yrs. I didn't panic buy, i bought when they were on sale.
Here at the end of the month, I'll be getting a nice settlement, I'm planning on placing an order for 100-200k of primers. Might have to wait on them, but I'll have my order in, if I can order. I'm not doing it due to the panic, i'm doing it to set me up for many a yr to come, as i might not be able to work in my job much longer due to health.
Bad timing with supplies short yes, but if people don't like it, oh well, I'm looking at my future and the money I might not have in the future.
Underground coal mining is killing my health, and is a dying field anyways

[Adam10mm]

They need to diversify or die. That's the reality of it.

[Jim]

I posted THIS THREAD (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?174013-Buy-ammo-now!&highlight=)on December 6th, 8 days before the Newtown shooting, with no way in the world of knowing what was coming. A few agreed with me, but quite a few ripped my head off for it.

I don't know what the next five minutes holds for us anymore than anybody else does. I do believe, however, there comes a time to listen to advice from others that might know something we don't. I considered the advice of a merchant of a thriving business to be worthy of consideration and shared here what I heard.

I felt like I made a serious mistake when I started seeing the responses to what I posted. I still feel that way.

I am NOT the 'go to guy' for inside information. We all have our contacts and hear things that aren't out in the street. I received a message I thought was pertinant to what we do and posted it, that's all.

Personally, I'd very much appreciate someone telling me "A friend of mine is in the food distribution industry and he said we might wanna stock up on canned goods" or some such. Verified or not, I would heed that advice and quickly.

I really do regret starting that thread. I have learned a valuable lesson from it.

[Boerrancher]

After the 08 shortages were over, I took it upon myself to buy a brick of 22LR every month. I don't shoot a 22 but I have 2 kids that love to hunt small game and go through a lot of it. I don't see how anyone in there right mind can blame folks like me for the current shortage when I started buying before the shortage when. Do I have enough 22LR to carry my kids through this current shortage? I don't know it depends on how long it lasts. It just seems stupid and ignorant to blame those who had some foresight to put aside a few extra rounds for the lean times. Folks like myself are not hording they were being smart. How can anyone look at the man in the white house, and those that have controlled the Senate for the last 8 years and 4 years of controlling the house and not think to stock up just a bit?

If you couldn't take a look at Bush's last 2 years and see where things were going in this country you obviously had your head in the sand. I started stocking up during Bush's last term because I could see the writing on the wall. When 0 was elected there was a panic and ammo and components became hard to come by. I was able to ride it out and continue to shoot. After the panic was over, I restocked my supplies because I was low. I managed to forget to restock a couple of items but that is alright. I will get by. Who's fault is it that I over looked those few things? It is mine, and mine only. I would be insane to blame anyone else for my lack of foresight and my forgetfulness.

I think it is unjustly rude to blame people for stocking up way ahead of time. How did folks like me contribute to today's shortage? I haven't purchased reloading components or ammo in over a year, I bought when they were plentiful, a little at a time, just like most folks. How dare anyone have the gall or audacity to say that folks like myself created this shortage. YOU had the same opportunity to buy when I did. If YOU didn't then it is no one's fault but yours. Stop blaming everyone else for your short sightedness. If you want to blame someone, blame the Gov for ordering billions of rounds of ammo. Blame the people who are like YOU who didn't have enough foresight to see this coming... TWICE in 4 years. Sheesh, no wonder this country is in the shape it is today. People refuse to even think about tomorrow much less next year.

Don't try to blame the Sandy Hook shooting for this either. It was nothing more than a small spark used by those in power to attempt another usurpation of more liberties. If not Sandy Hook then it would have been something else. These people in power told us what they wanted to do once they were in power and I guess folks didn't believe them. Well now that the domino's are falling and you can't stop them, don't blame those that knew they were going to fall while they were being set up. If you were foolish enough to believe that all would be well and good 4 years ago on the second amendment front and didn't stock up to some extent, then it is strictly on you. Stop blaming those of us who were prepared, blame those like yourself who weren't, and if you think that limiting what a person can have as far as components and ammo goes you are no different than those in power now that want to limit what you can or can't have. It is an evil thought process that goes against every founding principle of this nation.

End of Rant.

Joe

[montana_charlie]

All those practical people who are just stocking themselves up for the next 10 years are costing us another Mom and Pop supply store.
Any store should be happy to be 'sold out'. It means the merchandise is moving.
But, they need to have their supply lines working well so restocking can occur regularly.

Apparently your Mom & Pop is lacking in that aspect of their operating plan.

[Blacksmith]

I posted THIS THREAD (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?174013-Buy-ammo-now!&highlight=)

I really do regret starting that thread. I have learned a valuable lesson from it.

Jim
You shouldn't regret that thread. If one person read that and stocked enough to get them through this craziness it was worth it. The thing to regret is the Cast Boolits Members who responded to your post in less than a gentlemanly way. If they disagreed they could have had a ligament discussion of the opinions and facts.

Hind sight is always 20-20 and in hindsight you are a profit. If you have further insights please share them with me.

[PS Paul]

Freakshow nailed it: Diversify. The largte independent retail sporting goods store that I run has a lot of camping, hunting, marine, apparel, footwear, fishing (LOADS of that) and publications, not to mention guns and ammo. If I only did one category, we would fail.

A customer said to me the other day, "Don't you wish you were just in the gun business?". I responded with a flat, "NO, cuz if I were, we would not be able to stay afloat when golks like the Obommunist start doing what they promised and take apart America, one freedom at a time". The customer was a little surprised because all he saw was the firearms feeding frenzy, but LOW margins on firearms and related goods DO NOT keep the lights on......

[Ickisrulz]

I blame El Nino

I blame Obama. Firearms industries are just another one of many having a difficult time because of the uncertainty. I blame the voters and non-voters too.