Submariner
12-28-07, 06:34
Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then:
Ammo expense
Ammunition, particularly ammunition for practice or competitive shooting, is a commodity. Like soybeans. You can invest in soybean futures but not in ammo futures. If you could have invested in ammunition futures in 2006, you would have become rich in 2007. This was when ammo prices went through the roof. A combination of factors was involved. One was reportedly the huge demand for military ammunition by the United States Government and the Alliance forces for the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another was a skyrocketing increase in the cost of brass (for cartridge casings), lead (for bullets and shot pellets), and copper (for bullet jackets).
Readers of this magazine understand the first rule of frugality with such things. “Buy it cheap and stack it deep.” I did, and I’m glad. I’ve got enough ammo to get me through a couple of competition and training seasons, at least, and enough carry ammo that I won’t run out. Not everyone is so lucky. I know of police departments that have had to scale back training because of costs that went past a budget prepared last year, and even because of unavailability. One type of ammunition I wanted to order for the police department I serve is so backordered it won’t be available for almost a year, if I get the order in now.
So, lesson one: it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
But, let’s talk about lesson two. A lot of folks who came into shooting in the late 1980s and later have been spoiled. This was the time when Pan Metal Corporation (PMC) of Korea stunned the US market by importing cheap, generic, factory fresh ammunition that dramatically undersold the cartridges produced by our indigenous ammunition industry. In desperation, the local companies fought back with their own generic ammo, creating a price war from which the American shooter has benefited hugely.
CCI/Speer countered with their low-priced Blazer line with aluminum casings instead of brass, and more recently their Blazer Brass series. Federal Cartridge brought in their American Eagle economy line. Remington’s version was UMC, and Winchester’s, the USA brand whose packaging led it to be nicknamed “WWB” for Winchester White Box.”
You used to be able to buy a 100-round pack of 9mm WWB for $10.97 at Wal-Mart, before sales tax. It has, at this writing, shot up (no pun intended) to about sixteen bucks. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth about it on this and that Internet shooting forum.
I understand the sticker shock. However, I’m also old enough to realize that this isn’t price gouging, it’s simply an indication that the gravy train American shooters have been on since the generic ammo price wars started is simply rolling to a halt.
As I write this, a copy of the 1986 Gun Digest is sitting next to the computer on the desk where I’m working. It lists 115 grain 9mm full metal jacket ammo at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $22.50 for a box of 50 cartridges. Today’s price for the same stuff is $16 for twice that amount? Let’s have a little perspective here. The same publication lists .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) jacketed hollow point (JHP) defense rounds at $26.05 for a box of 50. Today, just outside Chicago, I spotted Winchester USA brand 230 grain JHP at a bit less than that for the same sized box at a Dick’s Sporting Goods chain outlet. 21 years of inflation later, I can’t honestly complain about that.
Personally, I’d rather buy my guns and ammo from a dedicated gun shop than from a chain such as Wal-Mart. Gun shop owners, as a rule, actively support our civil rights as gun owners, and big box chains, as a rule, don’t. OK, then two weeks ago I stocked up on Federal’s excellent 9BP load, their Classic line 9mm Luger 115 grain JHP—one of the most accurate cartridges in its caliber, and one of the best “man-stoppers” in a standard pressure 9mm round—at $12.50 per box of 50 at Riley’s Sport Shop, a famous gun shop in Hooksett, New Hampshire. In 1986, according to Gun Digest, 115 grain 9mm JHP was retailing for $22.50 per 50 round box. Tell me again how we’re being gouged by the ammo industry…
In 1986, by contrast, a pack of cigarettes would have cost you maybe a buck and a quarter or a buck and a half for a premium brand. Today, that same pack of smokes will go you five bucks most anyplace, and seven or eight in New York City…and there ain’t no tobacco shortage.
All things considered, ammo is a better deal. Besides, a cigarette is unlikely to save your life, but—depending how things go for you—a well placed bullet just might.
Keep your gunpowder dry and have plenty of ammo on hand. That was George Washington’s implicit advice to the colonists, and it is still good advice today.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob108.html
Ammo expense
Ammunition, particularly ammunition for practice or competitive shooting, is a commodity. Like soybeans. You can invest in soybean futures but not in ammo futures. If you could have invested in ammunition futures in 2006, you would have become rich in 2007. This was when ammo prices went through the roof. A combination of factors was involved. One was reportedly the huge demand for military ammunition by the United States Government and the Alliance forces for the efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another was a skyrocketing increase in the cost of brass (for cartridge casings), lead (for bullets and shot pellets), and copper (for bullet jackets).
Readers of this magazine understand the first rule of frugality with such things. “Buy it cheap and stack it deep.” I did, and I’m glad. I’ve got enough ammo to get me through a couple of competition and training seasons, at least, and enough carry ammo that I won’t run out. Not everyone is so lucky. I know of police departments that have had to scale back training because of costs that went past a budget prepared last year, and even because of unavailability. One type of ammunition I wanted to order for the police department I serve is so backordered it won’t be available for almost a year, if I get the order in now.
So, lesson one: it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
But, let’s talk about lesson two. A lot of folks who came into shooting in the late 1980s and later have been spoiled. This was the time when Pan Metal Corporation (PMC) of Korea stunned the US market by importing cheap, generic, factory fresh ammunition that dramatically undersold the cartridges produced by our indigenous ammunition industry. In desperation, the local companies fought back with their own generic ammo, creating a price war from which the American shooter has benefited hugely.
CCI/Speer countered with their low-priced Blazer line with aluminum casings instead of brass, and more recently their Blazer Brass series. Federal Cartridge brought in their American Eagle economy line. Remington’s version was UMC, and Winchester’s, the USA brand whose packaging led it to be nicknamed “WWB” for Winchester White Box.”
You used to be able to buy a 100-round pack of 9mm WWB for $10.97 at Wal-Mart, before sales tax. It has, at this writing, shot up (no pun intended) to about sixteen bucks. There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth about it on this and that Internet shooting forum.
I understand the sticker shock. However, I’m also old enough to realize that this isn’t price gouging, it’s simply an indication that the gravy train American shooters have been on since the generic ammo price wars started is simply rolling to a halt.
As I write this, a copy of the 1986 Gun Digest is sitting next to the computer on the desk where I’m working. It lists 115 grain 9mm full metal jacket ammo at a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $22.50 for a box of 50 cartridges. Today’s price for the same stuff is $16 for twice that amount? Let’s have a little perspective here. The same publication lists .45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) jacketed hollow point (JHP) defense rounds at $26.05 for a box of 50. Today, just outside Chicago, I spotted Winchester USA brand 230 grain JHP at a bit less than that for the same sized box at a Dick’s Sporting Goods chain outlet. 21 years of inflation later, I can’t honestly complain about that.
Personally, I’d rather buy my guns and ammo from a dedicated gun shop than from a chain such as Wal-Mart. Gun shop owners, as a rule, actively support our civil rights as gun owners, and big box chains, as a rule, don’t. OK, then two weeks ago I stocked up on Federal’s excellent 9BP load, their Classic line 9mm Luger 115 grain JHP—one of the most accurate cartridges in its caliber, and one of the best “man-stoppers” in a standard pressure 9mm round—at $12.50 per box of 50 at Riley’s Sport Shop, a famous gun shop in Hooksett, New Hampshire. In 1986, according to Gun Digest, 115 grain 9mm JHP was retailing for $22.50 per 50 round box. Tell me again how we’re being gouged by the ammo industry…
In 1986, by contrast, a pack of cigarettes would have cost you maybe a buck and a quarter or a buck and a half for a premium brand. Today, that same pack of smokes will go you five bucks most anyplace, and seven or eight in New York City…and there ain’t no tobacco shortage.
All things considered, ammo is a better deal. Besides, a cigarette is unlikely to save your life, but—depending how things go for you—a well placed bullet just might.
Keep your gunpowder dry and have plenty of ammo on hand. That was George Washington’s implicit advice to the colonists, and it is still good advice today.
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob108.html