Curiosity caused me to stop at three gun stores today; two near Athens, Georgia and one near Lawrenceville.
5.56 ammo was available in case quantities at one of the Athens outlets. 500 rounds of Independence brand (Israeli made, marketed by ATK) was selling for $299, and the store was even bold enough to have the stock and price noted outside on the sign.
The Lawrenceville store had PMC 5.56 in 1000 round quantities for, if I recall, for $699. Federal or Magtech by the case was also available, but it cost more. There were also some thousand round cases of Tula 7.62x39 marked $299 each.
Pistol ammo was not available in large quantities, but looked to be generally available. The exceptions being 9mm and .22LR. Two out of three stores had some 9mm, one said it had none. Sample pricing of what I saw in stock: Magtech 124 gr. FMJ for $19.95.
I think I saw a few 50 count boxes of .22 ammo at two of the stores. But I didn't look close enough to determine if it was plinker stuff or specialty. No bricks, buckets or large cartons on the shelves.
Firearms inventories continue to recover. But used selections remain well below what was customary until last December. My assumption, as I've said before, is that people aren't parting with guns right now.
Customer traffic at all the stores looked steady, but low for Saturday by standards set in recent months. Like last weekend, skies were sunny, temps in the mid-70s. I suspect most folks had better things to do than hang around a gun store.
West coast is still drier than last year's hiccup. - Spook89
ReplyDeleteI would expect ammo to start to catch up first. It is produced at high rate volume production.
ReplyDeleteThis "recovery" is just spotty at best. There has been some pick-up in the southern states, for some reason, but the rest of the country is dry...including MY store! Distributors don't have anything to sell us. Believe me...if I could get it I would buy it...and resell it reasonably, but I don't know when I'll get any re-supply. Ar's are trickling in, but the key word is "trickling" . There are NO highcap pistols available. This is gonna take a while to bounce back.
ReplyDeleteThose prices are outrageous!
ReplyDeletePerhaps outrageous compared to what things sold for a year ago, but well below what some Internet sellers have priced the same exact stuff.
DeleteFederal claims their Idaho divison produces 4 million rounds of .22 cal a day. Why can't I find a brick of ammo?
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen .22 LR in months here in Michigan, other that at gun shows for $100 a brick. High capacity 9mm pistols are on the store shelves, but they're mainly dubious-looking stuff from Turkey, Israeli police surplus Tanfoglio CZ75 clones that have had thousands and thousands of rounds of corrosive-primed SMG ammo run through them and look the part, etc. If you want a Glock 17 or an M&P, you're SOL. No 9mm ammo is to be had, other than at scalper's prices.
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