Don's gun show report for May 18th

Don Dickinson went to the gun show Saturday held in Gwinnett County just outside Atlanta. Among his observations: Ammo prices appear to be coming back down while supply continues to catch up with demand:

Gun Show Report
18 May 2013

Don Dickinson

This morning I went to the gun show at the North Atlanta Trade Center. This is always a big show with hundreds of vendors. I got there at 8:30 and the line was already 100 yards long. By the time the show opened at 9:00 the line was 250 yards long. The crowd was very large but only about half or slightly less of attendance levels at big Atlanta shows in the Dec-Apr time period.

Ammunition and reloading components were the hottest selling items and were in much greater supply than at any date since the end of 2012. Ammo is back in case lots at the show, with even the centerfire scarcity leader, 9mm Parabellum, readily available at 35 to 40 cents a round and small pistol primers available for $35-40 per thousand. From Commie calibers to the most popular America center-fire rifle and pistol calibers, ammo is back at or only slightly above prices prevailing before the Democrat assault on gun rights.

There was still no .22LR generally available except secondary vendors selling their personal stocks at about $65 for a brick of 500.

There was only one big reloading components dealer present and he had about half his usual stock of items. All calibers, though not many specific popular bullets or powder types, seemed to be available at the start of the show but buying was brisk and the dealer was running out of key items by noon.

As with the last show, the Georgia Arms ammo tables were swamped but this time the crowds were only one deep around the tables and other ammo dealers were present and providing product at or below Georgia Arms prices. At this gun show, the ammo crisis is broken for calibers other than .22LR.

Guns also were in much better supply and generally $100-150 more than before the unpleasantness. I even saw two of the highly desirable Beretta CX4 Carbines being offered. One was priced at $1,100 and the other at $1,700. This points to the fact that there is still a considerable premium for especially popular guns and the buyer is advised to shop carefully.

While the shortages are largely gone, buying is still very heavy. I hope this indicates a widespread new found interest in guns and maintaining a large personal stock of ammunition and components. This period of relative calm and supply normalcy will last only until the next inevitable Democrat anti-gun outrage again stirs unprecedented demand.

Take advantage of the long awaited opportunity and get your gun and ammo stocks up to a high level while you still can.