Did this happen last time ?

[Wolfdog91]

Gotta ask did casting equipment go up in price and or vanish last few elections or hoarding campaigns or is it just this one ?

[BigAlofPa.]

I think it's this one. Last one it was rim fire and 9mm shortages. This is the worst i ever saw.

[hotrod13]

Yes the last one was nothing compared to this one. As posted above those where the 2 hardest rounds to purchase, but reloading equipment and dies were still available

[FLINTNFIRE]

There were a lot of molds and reloading stuff for sale at high prices last shortage also , it affected casting , reloading and components it is just worse this time .

[44Blam]

I saw a Lee progressive set with dies for 9mm on "sale" for $800 on Craigs List...

[M-Tecs]

I've been an avid shooter/reloaders since 1970. I have not seen anything this bad and we have 2 to 3 years before is hopefully gets better. If the Left holds the House and Senate at the mid terms it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

[crackers]

To gauge that I go to a list of what has actually sold like

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=bullet+mold&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1

and say definitely, yes. It sux to be desperate.

[farmerjim]

Every time a democrat is president people buy guns, ammo, and reloading equipment. It takes at least a year with a Republican in office for it to come back to normal. If there is ever a Republican in office again, Stock up for a lifetime, Most people here did so. This is the worst of all the shortages.

[Garyshome]

Last one was reloading dies and stuff like that. Oh and Bullet molds were worth more then gold.

[sharps4590]

I don't remember loading or casting equipment being difficult to come by the last manufactured shortage. Powder, 22 ammo and 9mm & 223 ammo yes. But none of that had any effect on me personally. I remember being able to get whatever I wanted or needed but, after almost 50 years of doing this my wants and needs are minimal.

[Dunross]

I have been reading the board archives a lot lately. At the moment I'm back in 2009. Quite a few threads then that could simply have their dates changed to now and no one would know the difference.

These things are cyclical. When ever a Democrat takes the White House ammunition, components, equipment dry up for a while. Eventually matters settle down, but it can take time.

What has amplified this particular cycle is the pandemic and the rioting we saw last summer taking place during a presidential election compounded by the Democrats taking control of Congress. That turned the amplifier up to eleven!

[onelight]

This is the worst I have seen .

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

My recollection of the two previous "runs" on the shooting world supplies market.

2007-08
There was a spike in commodities prices, just as the housing bubble was breaking. Prices crept up for items that contained Brass, copper, steel. Then when Obama won his first election, that tripped the trigger. AR-15 clones prices skyrocketed and shortages of common ammo and then hording/crazy secondary market prices followed. Powder and primers were somewhat effected, but not like today. As I recall, it took about a year or two to calm down...2010-11 when the Tea Party made big Gains in the House.

Dec. 2012
The Sandy Hook incident. With the 07-08 thing fresh in our minds, it was almost instantaneous that AR-15 clones were all sold off the store shelves, then 223/556 ammo, then 22LR ammo (I still can't explain why that happened?) and then other related items. Powder and primers were more so effected than 07-08. 22 caliber boolit molds were unobtanium, but other casting related equipment wasn't effected very much. This craziness one lasted a couple years...but the 22LR market never recovered.

[yovinny]

We've had bans, panics, shortages and price increases before,,, but I've never seen one this severe or encompassing before. But Ronny was in the White House when I started out, so I'm just a yout compaired to some here.
Anything firearm related seem scarce to unobtainable today,,, at just about any price.

[Thumbcocker]

Don't forget the Brady bill and the Clinton years.

[farmbif]

the last big shortage as I remember it, everything was gone, out of stock, just like now. crazy high prices on eBay .

[mdi]

I don't remember dates well but it is a democrat induced problem, this being the worse I've seen so far. Last time guns going first. IIRC; then ammo, then reloading components were hit, but most components still available. This time everything guns/shooting/reloading is hit hard, even air guns and pellets (I looked for 22 pellets and had to go to 4 or 5 vendors to find any). I can't even give a wild guess on how long this will last as it's the worse the country has experienced and our government steadily gets more immoral and corrupt we may have a battle on our hands. I'm looking for 2024 for Trump's reelection...

[762 shooter]

It is administration induced, but this is the worst I've seen since I've been alive.

My manufacture date is 1951.

762

[Kraschenbirn]

Don't forget the Brady bill and the Clinton years.

Yeah, I 'specially remember the Clinton years. I sold the first (and only!) AR I ever owned (a Colt H-Bar with a Wilson trigger group) for over three times what I'd invested in it...without the slightest hint of regret. I do, however, regret the pair of freshly rearsenaled...they were in cosmoline with new barrels when I got them...Russian SKS that I let go around the same time.

Bill

[waksupi]

I think this time, more people realize what a threat the left is to our rights.

[Conditor22]

This time is worse because there are millions of new gun owners and the Military & Police are stocking up on ammunition.

[Cast10]

Wow! I can’t believe I was luck this time around! I started a while back collecting all my gear. I even had to wait on melting furnace. Right before all this started, I’d already collected everything to smelt and cast and was just waiting to pickup PC stuff. I got lucky for once! Whew!

[1006]

I believe covid has compounded the problem and influenced production rates. Nobody wants to hire extra workers, that cannot be laid off. Nobody on unemployment wants a temporary job.

[Hanzy4200]

This is by far the worst it has EVER been, 10 times over. Last time was mags, .22, and 9MM only. And it was relatively short lived. I remember being irritated that Power Valley didn't have 1 or 2 of the powder and primers I wanted.

[Blanket]

worst I have ever seen, but yet those caught without think us that stocked up should bail them out. Last time I gave away a bunch of 22's to youth shooting clubs and thankfully they stocked up when it was over

[Mitch]

The last time was not as bad but pretty much the same.I belive 2 things are differnt this time around.Covid has made a differance in production getting behind and the current situation in the country in general.People,who never had guns before a getting them for protection and buying plenty of ammo to go with them guns.When the ammmo ran out they started buying up reloading equpiment.The bad part is it is not just gun related things that are in short supplie.It can be anything now days.

[Petrol & Powder]

While the current shortage is bad, the passage of time tends to soften harsh memories.

For those of us that have been around a while, we had 12 years of Republican control of the Whitehouse from 1981 to 1993 (two terms of Reagan followed by 1 term with George H.W. Bush)
H.W. Bush signed an executive order banning the import of certain firearms, which later became a permanent law. So even that long stretch of Republican control of the presidency wasn't immune to gun control.
The Clinton years were bad and there was the assault weapon ban of 1994 (which had a "sundown clause" ending it in 2004 - fortunately that occurred during a Republican administration)
Clinton was followed by 8 years with George Bush in the Whitehouse.
Then we had Obama and there was a serious panic leading up to his inauguration from mid-summer 2008 (during the campaign) and continuing well into his first term.
There was another panic around his second election.

The current situation is complicated by the pandemic, HUGE social unrest, the fact that democrats hold both houses of Congress and the Whitehouse, the fact that the dems hold several states and the general unrest in the country.
HOWEVER - we have been through this before. This country almost came apart in the 1960's and early 1970's
This country DID come apart between 1861 and 1865

Every mass murder event and every out of control liberal city will feed the fire to ban more guns and therefore feed the panic buying of all things firearm related.

We've been down this road many times.

So to answer the question, "Did this happen last time"? the answer is YES. And it also happened several times BEFORE and it will likely happen several times again.

[Four-Sixty]

I wonder if things will get worse because of growing demand for copper, a component of brass.

It takes a while to explore, find, then mine copper. There will be a growing demand for copper due to infrastructure spending, and building electric vehicles. I'm going to make sure I have enough brass next.

[3006guns]

I ordered some 6.5 PRC brass for my son's birthday........six months ago. Still getting apologetic emails from the dealer that it's not in stock. I'm fairly well set for components myself, but I'm reluctant to dig into my reserves until things settle down politically, in about three + years............

[3006guns]

While the current shortage is bad, the passage of time tends to soften harsh memories.

For those of us that have been around a while, we had 12 years of Republican control of the Whitehouse from 1981 to 1993 (two terms of Reagan followed by 1 term with George H.W. Bush)
H.W. Bush signed an executive order banning the import of certain firearms, which later became a permanent law. So even that long stretch of Republican control of the presidency wasn't immune to gun control.
The Clinton years were bad and there was the assault weapon ban of 1994 (which had a "sundown clause" ending it in 2004 - fortunately that occurred during a Republican administration)
Clinton was followed by 8 years with George Bush in the Whitehouse.
Then we had Obama and there was a serious panic leading up to his inauguration from mid-summer 2008 (during the campaign) and continuing well into his first term.
There was another panic around his second election.

The current situation is complicated by the pandemic, HUGE social unrest, the fact that democrats hold both houses of Congress and the Whitehouse, the fact that the dems hold several states and the general unrest in the country.
HOWEVER - we have been through this before. This country almost came apart in the 1960's and early 1970's
This country DID come apart between 1861 and 1865

Every mass murder event and every out of control liberal city will feed the fire to ban more guns and therefore feed the panic buying of all things firearm related.

We've been down this road many times.

So to answer the question, "Did this happen last time"? the answer is YES. And it also happened several times BEFORE and it will likely happen several times again.

Best summation of the situation to date.

[GhostHawk]

This is the worst I've seen.

Last time if you were patient you could still find powder and primers, and .22lr ammo if at higher than normal prices.

But, last year they ran over 20 million new background checks. Month of March this year set records for over 4 million in a single month. And all of those that went to new shooters can not find anything. They can't find loaded ammo, so the only other real option is to reload. So sales of reloading equipment have gone through the roof. But it isn't doing them much good because primers are no where to be found.

Last time even in the middle I could if I was patient and checked daily find powder, primers, ammo.

This time is bad. And those who have left it too late are suffering and paying unheard of prices.

I checked last week, of all the 5 online sellers of 9mm ammo I would normally buy from only one had any in stock. And it was selling for .84 cents per round. Buying in bulk, 500 round pack. I used to buy Federal 9mm for .24 cents ea. But enough are desperate enough to pay those prices that there is no need for sellers to lower them.

Its a bit like the toliet paper scare. The sellers know as long as there are desperate people out there they can sell TP for 5$ per roll instead of 5$ per package. And I suspect they are having delays getting restocked as it is. So they are going to make money while they can. I don't blame them for that. That is why they exist, they are there to make money.

[GregLaROCHE]

To gauge that I go to a list of what has actually sold like

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=bullet+mold&_sacat=0&rt=nc&LH_Complete=1

and say definitely, yes. It sux to be desperate.

The most shocking are the prices bid! You know someone is ready to pay that. The others for sale may not sell, but if there’re already bids, they are going to go for that price, at least.

[charlie b]

Yes, it is pretty bad. I don't ever remember a shortage of things like bullet molds.

People are worried there will be a breakdown of government services, including law enforcement. Especially with the 'defund the police' rhetoric. So, it is kind of a 'normal' run on gun stuff due to Dems being in power, magnified by the 'semi-preppers'.

Sportsmans here gets guns and ammo in weekly, frequently powder and primers. They have some bulk 9mm bullets on the shelf right now. All of it is sold at normal prices. Since the pandemic 'run' started I have purchased 5 thousand primers at regular prices. There is usually a line and only 2 boxes per person. Lots of 9mm and .223/5.56 is going out the door. They get some other stuff every now and then. They had .357Mag, .45acp and .308 (Win white box) a couple weeks ago.

Each week the stuff that comes in stays on the shelf longer.

[DonHowe]

One thing that couldn't hurt is to refuse to pay other shooters/reloaders scalper prices.

[lightman]

Like many of you, I have been through several of these. Every one of them were thought to be worse than the others. Ammo, components, reloading equipment have all been scarce in the past shortages. But I'm pretty sure this one tops them all.

This one makes me glad that I was prepared. Some of the past ones caught me short due to being young, beginning a career, having a young family, ect.

[tinsnips]

One more factor that might be part of the problem is no one has any patience anymore. They want everything now so paying Ebay prices is okay with them.

[Murphy]

I'm of 1953 vintage. I started reloading around 1980 at the latest. I'm going to throw in with the rest who've said this is the worse shortage yet.

Straight up, politics have always played a part in the supply & demand of firearms and ammunition. This time, it was proceeded by Covid and the panic it created in it's early stages. I recall one shop in Las Vegas selling out of firearms and ammunition within a 24 hour period, over 250 gun purchases. This was about the same time the toilet paper went missing. Some people began to stock up then. Others, felt the Republicans would stay in office and all would be well and back to normal before now. Oops! The election went the other way and the real panic buying began. It was like hitting the nitrous on a drag car.

I'd always wanted a Remington New Army, one popped up in S&S 5-6 years back and I snagged it. I don't think it's ever been fired. I rounded up a good amount of caps for it and several pounds of powder as well. Would you believe I haven't gotten around to purchasing a .454 round ball mold for it though? No, I don't want to buy round balls for it, I want to make my own. After all, this site is about cast boolits, right? I decided I may as well look for a mold a few months back. Whoa! I wouldn't give what they were asking for one then, and after seeing a 2 cavity Lee hit the $199 mark with 21 bids on it yesterday, looks like I won't be buying one anytime soon either. I've waited this long to shoot it, looks like I'll be waiting a good while longer at those prices.


Murphy

[Hodagtrapper]

This is the worse I have ever experienced with the "plandemic" and the liberals now in control coupled with millions of first time gun buyers all needing to feed their weapons for a little practice and self defense preparation. Thankfully I bought and bought and bought since President Trump took office. Reloading supplies are tough too but they can be found albeit primers are very scarce!

Chris

[oley55]

I fear my two year supply of most things will run out before this is over. Some of this has to ease up sooner, but the overall skinny times will be around a good while. Even when things start easing up, I and many like me will be busy buying for the next stupid that comes along and we will cause the current shortages to extend even further.

[slim1836]

I should have been more prepared but I'm within my means. The sad part is I just finally got in on a private gun range last year after waiting for 7 years. I'm not using it like I had envisioned due to limited inventory. I'm not as "fat" as others, but I try to shoot each monthly meeting day, gets me recognized among the members.

Supplies get low or I run out, I may buy a slingshot, if they're not outlawed by then.

Slim

[justindad]

What has amplified this particular cycle is the pandemic and the rioting we saw last summer taking place during a presidential election compounded by the Democrats taking control of Congress. That turned the amplifier up to eleven!

Another thing amplifying this shortage is the common knowledge that this election was stolen.
A delivery truck missing in PA with 250k ballets from NY will put people on edge. So will the conclusions shared by an MIT PhD Cyber Security Chief Engineer with special military training, etc, etc. Therefore, ammo shortage.

[oley55]

Supplies get low or I run out, I may buy a slingshot, if they're not outlawed by then.

Slim, Oh great now you gone an done it, the "Great Slingshot Shortage of 2021"!!