I tend to agree especially given the article that starts this thread but I’m still left wondering why are there ammo shortages? There are definitely shortages in my area, I know that for a fact. There may not be any hard numerical data to support this claim, but it’s almost like a situation of “who are you going to believe, the Govenrment and industry or your own lying eyes?”
So why is there a shortage of ammo? Anyone know this answer?
I would not be surprised if the ammunition shortages are at least partially due to difficulties in obtaining brass and copper at reasonable prices.
China has been buying up immense amounts of US scrap copper and brass for years. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also used up large quantities of raw materials.
It certainly isn’t the whole problem but I believe it is part of it.
Because civilian consumers started to buy more than their historical usage based upon all the internet rumors. That lead to a shortage which has fed upon itself. Then the hoarders got involved. They consisted of panicked sportsmen, would-be profiteers, doomsday kooks, anarchists and an assortment of low information folks.
You can't reason with the kooks. They only believe what they want to believe, regardless of the indisputable facts staring them in the face.
Nobody has yet coined a name for the ammo conspiracy kooks, but they operate just like the man-caused global warming hucksters. Pay them no attention.
For the record: The American ammunition industry is currently producing rimfire ammunition at an annual rate of 9.3 BILLION rounds! The government purchases of rimfire ammo is close to none.
So why is there a shortage of ammo? Anyone know this answer?
“So why is there a shortage of ammo? Anyone know this answer?”
Simple. Supply and demand.
Before the shortage, manufacturers made just enough to keep the sales pipelines filled. No point in making significantly more product than your customers will buy, and no point in putting lots of capital into manufacturing equipment, lines, and personnel if you’re not going to make that much.
Then a large percentage of buyers, spooked by political situations, started buying more than usual to stockpile it. A LOT more than usual. Like “I usually buy 200 rounds a month, but looking at what I’ve got I want to buy 10,000 rounds RIGHT NOW. And 1000 per month after that until my wife gets pissed off at me.” And the buying spree kept going for years.
Given something like a 2x to 100x increase in demand overnight, the supply chain got emptied immediately, and any ammo that was manufactured was bought up immediately (like, say, Walmart getting a 3000 rounds of 9mm in at 7AM and the first customer saying “I’ll take it...all of it!” every day). Squeeze having started and continuing, those who really need it in large quantities see the trend, see their plans, and make arrangements to buy vast quantities well before it’s even available.
Manufacturers can’t just increase production by that much that fast. Turn all the manufacturing lines on 24/7, and it’s still not enough to meet all that mundane demand. “Build more!” you’ll say, but that takes a lot of time and a lot of money, and will cost a lot if all the new machines & personnel go idle not long after the demand spike subsides. Ergo, they’re reluctant to do so until assured that it will pay off.
So, yeah, if customers suddenly demand a lot more product than production can produce, and demand continues for a long time, it’s gonna result in a long term shortage until either demand wanes or production increases.
No need for silly conspiracies akin to the Department Of Health solving obesity by buying up all the potato chips.