So I went to a gun show this weekend. Here were my observations and conclusions.

ARs and other rifles of that type were easily available both from private and FFL sellers. Most were overpriced and not selling. Pistols were overpriced as well. FUDD guns (non modern sporting weapons), were decently priced unless they were rare for some reason (Ruger take-down 10/22 for example).

556/223 ammo was readily available, prices were high. 75cpr for brass or higher. Steel was slightly cheaper. 9mm was available but expensive. At or over 50cpr. Same for 40 and 380. 22LR was available. Best price was 10.5 cpr and it was selling fast. By the end of the day the only 22LR in stock was the people who had 500 round bricks priced at 70+ dollars.

Primers were very hard to find. 65 was the cheapest per 1000 I saw, they sold out. Popular powders sold out. .224 projectiles were expensive and sold out.

Magazines were readily available. For ARs, used USGI could be had for 10 apiece if you looked. New USGI could be found for 20 all day. PMAGs were abundant but priced high. Cheapest was 30, highest was 60. Glock mags of almost any kind were hard to find unless you wanted to pay high. Saiga 12ga mags were hard to find and sold out by the end of the day. Ruger 10/22 mags were hot. I sold all I had within a couple hours. Especially the Ruger BX-25s, those were gone immediately. Promag and Butler Creek took a while.


Conclusions. AR market is saturated. If nothing else happens, the prices will continue to fall. Magazine market is saturated for ARs, some others are hard to come by. Same thing, prices will continue to fall. Ammo is still short, but coming down. At least the ammo is available now, but at a premium price.

I did not even bother to set up my table today. I sold out of all my 223 ammo except my match grade stuff in the first hour, sold all my 22lr, 380, 9mm and 40 S&W. I sold about half of my 300BLK ammo and kept the rest for myself. Sold all my mags except a few I kept for myself and about half my PMAGs. I did go back today and just browsed for some deals. Found a few hiding here and there and spent a couple hundred bucks.


Luke

I'm interested in some 223/5.56 ammo, do you ship?

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TEAM MAKO
Mako Spearguns
Dive Akamai!

I do but I am sold out right now except for my personal stash. When I get more in will let you know.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the report.
Got a line on any .308 range ammo for a good price? I can't find anything less than $1 per round.

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Capt. Sean Patterson

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Still looking for 40 and 9

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Chris Grauer- "To protect, promote, and grow the sport of spearfishing" www.spearfishingplanet.com

That sounds good, I'm looking for 1K-2K rounds.

Thanks!
Chad

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TEAM MAKO
Mako Spearguns
Dive Akamai!

If I'd have known you had BX25's I'd have bought several!

Thanks for the report. We just had a gun show up here and the prices are around the same. They even raised the price on gun show admission.

I am seeing deals on the local forums though. AR15s for $1000 now (a new DPMS). Plenty of people asking too much for guns which simply aren't selling. I just took my Glock 33 (.357) sig to sell on consignment at a local shop, but I get the feeling it won't move anytime soon.

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"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter, and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." A. Lincoln

I just watched this auction end on Gunbroker.

200 RDS 223 Ammo Remington UMC 5.56 AR15 : Rifle Ammunition at GunBroker.com

That jackass just paid $0.97 per round for .223
I was at Shooter's World last week and they had all you could shoot on the range for $0.54 per round. Nearly $1 per round for .223 is madness. People need to STOP hoarding the ammo and stop paying that much for it and it will drive the price down. Simple supply and demand...

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Capt. Sean Patterson

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Logic NEVER wins over emotional MADNESS....never.

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St. Pete Underwater Club www.stpeteopen.com

LOL, .54$ a round is historically rediculous for .223 also. I agree that the guys paying $1 per round are absolutely crazy

I remember, just a few years ago, buying a box of .223 for my powerhead for $3.99 on sale at BassPro

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SPUC
1988 Mako 20 with Yamaha 200 HPDI

Counting the minutes until meltdown!

I remember when I first joined the Wyoming Antelope Club a few years ago buying the Winchester white box 100 round value pack of 9mm at WalMart for $11.99 and the shelves were always full of them. I never considered saving brass or reloading because at $0.12 per round, it wasn't worth it.

By the way, I was at the Wal-Mart on 19 at Ridge Road in Port Richey last night and they had a SHITLOAD of Winchester white box .45
Very little of anything else, but a lot of .45

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Capt. Sean Patterson

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I had someone try to argue with me on the cost of the ammo I was selling. He said, I can't see paying XXX when I bought a ton of it at YYY last fall. I said, "I will buy every bit you have at YYY +25%, would you like cash or credit card?". He shut up and walked away.

Most Ranges will not sell it to you at that price though. It is for use on the range. Have seen that ALOT lately.

There are ants and there are grasshoppers. Some people always expect prices to remain static, supply to be available. These people are also the ones who starve and don't prepare for natural disasters.

Personally I keep a minimum supply for all the guns I own, and I don't cross under it unless self defense is the reason.

Wait til this shit happens over food. And it will one day, you are going to see some serious shit. The skin of civilization is about 7 meals thick. People start starving, shit gets real.

...well stated Luke. Well stated.

I agree with the ammo stash. I too have baseline reserve that I will not tap into. All of my shoot ammo is at current prices, whatever they may be.

Ok, so I have a question for you ammo stashers out there. By reading the above post, it seems to be that there is a separate partition of your ammo that you "will not tap into"
Does that mean that you don't rotate it out? How old is your ammo?

Perhaps it's just my personality or that I just shoot too much but I don't keep a hoard of ammo in my home. I have maybe a box or two or a magazine or two for every gun that I have. Maybe a little more in the popular calibers of .223 and 9mm but I don't carve out a selection to never be shot. I especially wouldn't tuck it away in the closet for 10+ years without at least rotating it out with fresh ammo.

Am I missing something here? Am I the ant or the grasshopper?

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Capt. Sean Patterson

Members and non-members only...

You can rotate it wouldn't hurt, but I have a bunch of old WWII .30 cal carbine and some old military 30-06 ammo that still shoots fine with no misfires, I don't know what the shelf life of ammo is, but it has to be a long time.

Stored properly, decent ammo has a hell of a shelf life. But by "tapping into" I simply mean, I won't go shoot if my level is below that line. Rotating is fine.

I keep different ammo for my AR though.

I have a couple of boxes of ammo purely for hunting. Usually a v-max or a soft point, fairly heavy, 62gr or bigger.

I keep a bit for self defense...generally Hornady TAP 75gr hollow point boat tail ammo. Or some other 75/77gr HPBT ammo.

I also keep some 62gr SS109/M855.

Finally I keep a good bit of M193/55gr FMJ for target shooting. This is what I shoot. The rest of it generally does not get shot.

One thing about rotating. Keep your mags loaded, or unloaded. Either way is fine for the mags. Unloading and loading them is what strains the springs. Personally I keep all my mags loaded...much more useful that way.