Poll: Ammo Shortage to Continue Through 2021
The pandemic may be (almost) over, but Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” is still giving us The Finger.
The famous economist Adam Smith may have referred to the machinations of a healthy capitalist society as being like an “invisible hand,” but if you’re a shooter, it feels like that hand has been giving you the Rigid Digit since about February 2020. Ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, gun store shelves have been empty–and, thanks to supply and demand, any ammo you do find is priced high enough to make your nose bleed. There’s good news and bad news today, courtesy of outdoor industry thinktank Southwick Associates.
Let’s start with the bad news, shall we? Southwick Associates surveyed about 1,800 people who regularly use ammunition back in April 2021, and their findings show that demand for ammo will remain strong well into 2021. This, they believe, will happen despite the fact that the pandemic is coming to an end. They say that there are multiple reasons for this.
The roots of the shortage go back to 2020, when 80% of consumers encountered “out of stock issues” while trying to purchase ammunition. Seventy-five percent encountered out of stock situations so far in 2021. That’s only a tiny increase in available stock. Naturally, this meant that 79% of the people polled reported either fully or partially reducing their target shooting and hunting outings as a result of depleted ammunition shelves.
So, we already have a country of shooters whose ammunition supplies are lower than they’d like. In fact, nearly two-thirds of ammunition consumers report their current ammunition inventory was lower than they would prefer. When asked how much more ammunition they would like to have on hand, 43% reported “much more,” while 38% reported “a little more.” Only 17% were satisfied with the amounts they currently had on hand.
When asked why they desire more ammunition, key reasons included:
- Uncertainty about future ammunition supplies (72%). This is especially true among consumers 45+ years of age.
- Uncertainty about future restrictions on ammunition purchases (70%).
- Uncertainty about future economic conditions (54%).
- Increased shooting and hunting activity (26%). This was more common among the 25-34 year-old consumers.
“At some point, demand will certainly soften,” reports Rob Southwick, President of Southwick Associates. “However, frenzied purchasing and empty shelves often fuels further increases in demand. We do not see demand softening in the near future.”
What about that good news we mentioned earlier? Well…
Here at Guns & Gadgets Daily, our readers get first crack at the deals on TulAmmo and Winchester White Box ammunition available at Two Birds Outdoors! Two Birds Outdoors is the exclusive distributor for TulAmmo, with millions of rounds incoming every month. Right now, Two Birds is offering the lowest prices on .223, 9 mm, 5.56 and all of those other calibers you had just about given up on ever seeing again! Click here to check out Two Birds Outdoors’ current inventory with prices better than anything out there at this time–including 9 mm at just .50/round.
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With the Biden administration’s ban on the importation of arms & ammo from Russia on August 20th 2021, you can kiss goodbye to your, “TulAmmo, with millions of rounds incoming every month”. Talk about kicking a man when he’s down!
https://www.state.gov/fact-sheet-united-states-imposes-additional-costs-on-russia-for-the-poisoning-of-aleksey-navalny/?trk_msg=BLJL0QP4SMF4739O2DLU5N65BC&trk_contact=K8N65AKARKEU32B2U1KMLDU6SS&trk_sid=B0U4O9QTTA6DOK6J48F9FNHG20&trk_link=S6ITI2K34V7KT8BFE75IH3AN9C&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Biden+Administration+Bans+Importation+of+Ammo&utm_campaign=BREAKING%3a+Biden+Admin+Bans+Ammo+Imports
My ammo supplies are always below what I’d like. Maybe if I had a room that was packed full of ammo I would think I had enough. The ammo shortage is bad enough but the jacking up of prices really sucks. I have to think that the manufacturers are selling the ammo at the same price but the retailers are gouging a desperate public. It seems for the democrat party this pandemic is the gift that keeps on giving?
Why is this shortage happening? Would it be all the talk about taking your fire arms away and abolishing the 2nd Amendment. Hope you do not have a carry permit because you have just given the Feds. the first step in coming after your fire arms! You know what will happen when it’s tried. I need not say any more.
I know one store that gets 9mm and .223 and a little of other calibers. There about $2.00 a box higher than before the crunch. They get it by the pallet. They must be paying about the same as the other places. Think we’re being taken for a ride.
Demand will continue as long as dems are in charge – everyone is right to fear the time when the 2nd amendment has ended. While we may worry about the price of .22 ammo, the dems are working day and night to eliminate the amendment that preserves freedom.
Simple , if you elect a Democrat to office the first thing they say is their going to take your guns and ammo. This cause those people to rush out a buy anything and everything they can lay their hands out thus causing a comtrived storage . This in turn lets the manufacturers to raise the price up so high that the average shooter can’t afford to buy ammo or guns. Back off relax and let the prices come back down and we will be better off but as long as those people are waiting at the door for the next shipment to come in so they can buy the 3 boxs of 25 at $40+ a box we will continue to see this shortage .
What ammo shortage?
According to Hornady the shortage will last through 2022 “at least”. This from an interview I read last week.
One year ago (July 2020) I ordered 2000 Winchester 124gr 9mm rounds (advertised at about 26 cents a round in cans). My latest delayed delivery date is now for July, 2021 – a full year later. However, today, you can buy the exact same Winchester 124gr 9mm in 50-round boxes for around $1 a round. So, in a full year, my good-faith order for 2000 rounds apparently has yet to make it onto Winchester’s production schedule. To suggest that these manufacturers are just some innocent bystanders here, helplessly caught in some “demand” spike is laughable. Funny how Winchester’s manufacturing schedules can fill boxes at $1 a round but not honor orders they accepted – a year ago – for bulk ammo at 26 cents a round. Demand does drive prices up, but it is obvious that manufacturers are picking and choosing winners (themselves) and losers (customers) here.
Take an Economics 101 class and get back to us.
Distributors buy in large bulk orders release it a little at a time and sell it for triple the cost and only idiots are buying it . Quit buying and drivee down the price.