Anyone else perceive that ammo prices might be in the midst of a crash?
1) Prices have already softened considerably.
2) Availability is way up.
3) We're not (really) at war right now. Over the past 12 years, a lot of ammo went to the military because of the amount of training and live fire rounds being expended in war zones. That's no longer happening.
4) Energy prices have been in a free fall for a couple of months now. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was nearly $120/bbl back in June. Now it's $75 and it's not clear where the bottom is. We're suddenly awash in oil, propane, and natural gas. That makes almost all manufacturing cheaper.
5) Copper and lead are trading about 30 percent below their 2011 highs.
6) While there may still be a bit of pent up demand for 22LR, I think demand has dropped dramatically for most calibers. It's not that we're shooting less. It's just that everyone stocked up during panic buying. Gun sales have returned to normal or below normal levels, which suggests that consumer demand for firearms products in general is dropping. That carries over to ammo.
I don't have a crystal ball, but my gut tells me we're going to see substantially lower ammo prices than we're seeing now.
1) Prices have already softened considerably.
2) Availability is way up.
3) We're not (really) at war right now. Over the past 12 years, a lot of ammo went to the military because of the amount of training and live fire rounds being expended in war zones. That's no longer happening.
4) Energy prices have been in a free fall for a couple of months now. West Texas Intermediate crude oil was nearly $120/bbl back in June. Now it's $75 and it's not clear where the bottom is. We're suddenly awash in oil, propane, and natural gas. That makes almost all manufacturing cheaper.
5) Copper and lead are trading about 30 percent below their 2011 highs.
6) While there may still be a bit of pent up demand for 22LR, I think demand has dropped dramatically for most calibers. It's not that we're shooting less. It's just that everyone stocked up during panic buying. Gun sales have returned to normal or below normal levels, which suggests that consumer demand for firearms products in general is dropping. That carries over to ammo.
I don't have a crystal ball, but my gut tells me we're going to see substantially lower ammo prices than we're seeing now.
