Posted on 11/25/2021 9:11:42 AM PST by Right Wing Vegan
Soaring demand for guns and ammunition comes from a range of demographic groups
Just two companies, Vista Outdoor and Olin Corp, meet the bulk of America’s demand for ammunition, and chiefly through two long-established brands. Remington, part of Vista, was founded in 1816, and Winchester Ammunition, owned by Olin Corp, started in 1866. Because of soaring demand for bullets, both firms are enjoying the sort of heady growth that only new businesses usually enjoy.
Three times a day, queues of pick-up trucks appear outside Remington’s ammunition plant on the outskirts of Little Rock, Arkansas, to bear away the fruits of round-the-clock shifts. It is a sharp reversal from last summer, when Remington went bankrupt for the second time since 2018. Production had been reduced to a trickle of bullets made from whatever raw materials could be coaxed from suppliers, who had no certainty of being paid.
Even as Remington languished—it was then owned by a private-equity firm, Cerberus Capital, which appeared more focused on complex financial transactions than on expanding the firm’s sales—the ammo market took off. The biggest factor was covid-19 and associated restrictions, which encouraged millions of people outdoors to hunt and target-shoot. Background checks on gun purchases, a measure commonly used to track the market, had been increasing annually, but last year they shot up by an unprecedented 40%.
Remington has been able to increase prices seven times. It has unfilled orders worth billions of dollars. Retailers of ammunition surveyed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), a trade group, said they could have sold three times more ammunition during the first half of 2021 had it been available. Vista, Remington’s new parent, has infused working capital and increased the size of its workforce. The unit’s operating profits this year are expected to be similar to the $81m that Vista paid for the business. As for Winchester Ammunition, its revenues for the third quarter nearly doubled year on year, to $400m, and its gross operating profits nearly quadrupled.
The ammunition and gun industries pray the good times will last. In the past demand surges came when gun-owners—mostly white and male—feared new restrictions. Now it is about new demographic groups. A survey by the NSSF shows that the proportion of recreational shooters who are female has increased from 19% to 25% between 2006 and 2019. By now 28% of gun owners are Hispanic, 25% are black and 19% are Asian. Gun clubs are springing up for every niche. The Pink Pistols, for example, a shooting and social group for sexual minorities, has 48 chapters across America. Its motto: “Pick on someone your own calibre”.
Political opposition to firearms remains strong, causing businesses to shift operations of late to places that might be a tad friendlier. Remington’s licensed firearms division is moving from New York to Georgia, where gun laws are more permissive, and Smith & Wesson, another legendary brand, has recently said it will up sticks from Massachusetts to Tennessee. But customers for guns and ammo seem to be popping up everywhere.
Old news. Supply is getting better.
Cerberus Capital...same company that owned Dominion voting systems...
...and the military contractor DynCorp...
Our club ordered several pallets of ammunition from the Winchester factory in January. It was finally delivered in August and September.
L
Some useful information as well.
Some calibers are still not available.
Our shop has no .38 special, .44 magnum or .30-30.
“Cerberus Capital...same company that owned Dominion voting systems...”
But they got only $81M for Remington in selling it to Vista...and Vista earned that $81M back in ONE YEAR, serves Cerberus Capital right!
As a handloader, I don’t understand why the manufacturers can’t meet the demand for bullets (projectiles), especially lead bullets. It’s the simplest component to make, isn’t it?
45 Long Colt,,,
Forget about it.
Prices are still nutz
For .22.
Surprisingly we did get some .45 Colt in, quite expensive as you point out.
22LR is back at double the price it was.
I am staying out of the market until prices drop, if they ever do.
The only lead smelter in the US was shut down.
Yea? Try finding ANY hunting rifle caliber. From 22LR on up it is unavailable except at a hugely inflated price. Even black powder components are hard to get.
I don’t know if it’s a factor here, but the United States no longer has working lead mines.
Thanks to the EnviroTards all our lead is either recycled or purchased from foreign suppliers.
I just did a search, and it looks like the last lead smelter shut down in 2013. But there’s still demand in the U.S. for products other than bullets, so we must be getting it from somewhere.
I loaded up on 22 long rifle during the last dip between Democrat caused crisises. Outside of an occasional trip to the range with the 9 mm handgun to stay fresh with it, I’m doing my rifle target practice with the 22. I’d like to shoot the bigger guns, but I just can’t bear cost of the ammo I have to buy to replace what I have. Realistically, as they teach us in the Appleseed Project, you can do a lot of useful practice for any caliber rifle using a 22. The same fundamentals apply.
Since I had plenty of 22 ammo I thought I would pick up a 22 handgun and do some of my practice with that. Well, when I looked at the prices I said nevermind.
In Kentucky it’s not a huge problem. I can get plenty of Magtech 9mm — at $24/50. I get 22lr at around 11 cents/round. I see hunting calibers, but since I don’t buy them, I don’t know how reasonable they are. But they’re available.
I have come to believe that the Democrats’ goal is to move production of anything we have to have to foreign suppliers. This is because they want to destroy America’s independence and what used to be our superiority.
I honestly think they truly want us to be held hostage by foreign suppliers.
Browning Buckmark, well worth the money.
Not much better.
I did find and buy a single box of 30-30 ammo this week (it was 150gr, which I did not have). Hunting season started November 1.
All I really need? Some more primers. Have the rest under control.
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