Free Republic

Comments made during the Vista Outdoor June 6 quarterly investor conference call indicate the shortage on certain cartridges and loads may continue to be significant for some time. Chris Metz, CEO of Vista Outdoor—the company that owns Federal, CCI and Remington Ammunition, among others—told those on the line that, “We’ve seen continued and steady demand for ammunition, even as firearm indicators have slowed.”That fiscal year ended on March 31 and the next public update from the company will come later this month, although enthusiasts should expect only modest improvement. “As we said before, traditional firearms-related indicators are not necessarily correlated...

Now Biden is seeking to punish gun owners and at the same time chastise Russia by further banning the importation of firearms ammunition even as the country faces the greatest shortage of cartridges it has ever seen. “New and pending permit applications for the permanent importation of firearms and ammunition manufactured or located in Russia will be subject to a policy of denial,” the U.S. State Department announced last week. The start date for the “ban” would begin on September 7, 2021, while the sanctions are expected to be in place for a minimum of twelve months. The sanctions were...

Last week, the White House announced that it would stop approving new permits to import Russian-made firearms as well as ammunition. The ban, which is part of a new round of sanctions against the Russian government over its alleged poisoning and imprisoning of dissident Aleksey Navalny, is set to go into effect on Sept. 7, 2021. “Pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 (the CBW Act), the United States will impose a second round of sanctions on the Russian Federation over its use of a ‘Novichok’ nerve agent in the August 2020 poisoning...

Last year Vista Outdoors paid $81.4 million for Remington’s ammo business, after the Remington Outdoor Company – the nation’s oldest firearms manufacturer – filed for bankruptcy. Part of the acquisition of the Remington brand included the 750,000 square foot of manufacturing space on 1,200 acres in Lonoke. The facility in Lonoke now employs a little more than 1,000 people, and has been looking to even hire hundreds more. To keep the lines running, the plant has implemented a social-distancing protocol, which includes staggered break times to reduce crowd size. Additionally, a full-time nurse is at the site to ensure that...

The shuttering of its ammunition factories contributed in part to this year’s ammunition shortage. Production had been halted at the start of the pandemic, and then remained idle during the bankruptcy. However, the Remington brand name was bought by Vista Outdoors, which now produces several types of ammunition. It took several months, but the old Remington facility in Lonoke, Arkansas is now up and running, almost at full capacity, Outdoor Life reported. It hired back hundreds of former and new employees and is now producing upwards of a million rounds every day.

Normally August and early September are when sport shooters and hunters head to the range to prepare for the upcoming season, but this year that could be a problem. Firearms sales have remained strong this summer, dipping only slightly from last year’s record-breaking sales, but the problem is that ammunition has continued to remain in short supply. “Everything is difficult right now,” Dave Larsen, manager of Doug’s Shoot’n Sports of Taylorsville, Utah, told local news channel KUTV.

Last month a survey of American firearms enthusiasts found that seventy-nine percent of respondents said they’d cut down on their shooting-related activities due to the ongoing ammunition shortage. The survey, which was conducted by industry research firm Southwick Associates, further found that four out of five consumers had encountered “out-of-stock” situations.

The great ammo shortage that began last year will likely continue at least into early 2022, or perhaps even later. Shelves at firearm retailers have largely remained empty, and ammunition continues to sell out as fast as it comes in. It isn’t uncommon to see customers lined up at large retailers and even trekking to remote gun shops in the hopes of finding any ammunition. Increasingly, the lines for ammunition have become to resemble holiday shopping for that must-have toy of the season. The situation is not any better online, where retailers also quickly sell out of their stock. In...

Dutch soldiers have apparently been shouting “bang, bang” when they shoot their weapons because of an ammunition shortage.

In recent months ammunition has slowly begun appearing on store shelves at major retailers in the United States. But after nearly two years of shortages that had ammunition manufacturers running their factories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week because of consumer demand and massive government purchases, it appears that another supply pipeline may have been cut.

As gun sales break records—partly because of fear of coming gun control from the Obama administration—supplies of ammo ran so low that gun stores and ranges have to ration ammunition. Meanwhile, rumors of mass purchases of ammunition made by government entities began to fly around the Internet. Making all this even worse is that fact that it hasn’t been a short-term supply problem. Now well over a year since the shortages of popular types of ammo began there are still empty shelves and rationing here and there around the United States.

A boatload of Lapua cartridge brass has crossed the Atlantic, cleared customs, and is now in warehouses. Many large vendors report that they have ample supplies of Lapua brass in stock now. So if you need some cartridge cases, place your orders today.

Over the past year and a half, the Department of Homeland Security has put forth solicitations for nearly 2 billion rounds of various ammunition over the next few years. Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives voted to stop DHS from entering into new contracts for purchases of millions more rounds of ammunition until they provide reports to the Congress on the cost and need for ammunition. “Given this large purchase, the American people and members of Congress rightfully had concerns and questions,” said Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC), who proposed an amendment to the DHS spending bill for 2014 that would...

Quick run down on budget management in the federal government: 1. Prior to the start of the year, you made a budget request 10% higher than last year's budget 2. At the beginning of the fiscal year you are given a budget target to spend for the year 3. During the year, if you are running short due to demand you put in requests for supplemental funds 4. As you approach the end of the year, if it appears you are going to still have money left. You have to spend it, you look for items that aren't perishable and...

Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.

FLORENCE - Every day, Darren Newsom's three Bitterroot Valley Ammunition facilities crank out 300,000 rounds of ammunition. It's not nearly enough. “I'm going about 100,000 rounds in the wrong direction every day,” Newsom said. “We probably have about six months of back orders right now.” Newsom has been in the ammunition manufacturing business for more than 20 years and he's never seen demand this high. Fearful of the Obama administration's potential to tighten gun control laws, people from all over the country are stocking up on guns and ammunition. “I went through the Clinton years and there was a bit...

Some more ruminations on the ammo shortage... Die Time: In comments yesterday, Ed Foster mentioned "die time". This is exactly why you can't get, for example, .380 right now. At most manufacturers, the machinery they use to load .380 (which uses different "dies" to load different calibers) is only used for that purpose for a small portion of the year; the rest of the time it's used to load more high volume stuff, like 9mm. They churn out .380 for a couple of months, say, at the end of the year, and it's enough to hold the market over 'til...

An answer to the question of why Hillary hasn’t gone after him over it: Because, like me, she’s heard enough old stories of troops being underequipped not to doubt any new ones too strenuously. Even the Pentagon is skeptical but Jake Tapper was put in contact with the captain by Obama’s campaign and corroborated most of the details with him. The guy commanded the platoon back when he was a lieutenant, which explains the odd incongruence between rank and unit; the ammo shortages were related to grenade launchers and to .50 caliber machine guns, although only during training (problems with...