The Great Ammunition Shortage of 2009
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 9:54 AMAmmunition Shortage of 2009
The Great Ammo Shortage of 2009
Anywhere USA - -(AmmoLand.com)- In every corner of the USA, at every gun show and at every gun club meeting we are hearing the same question. Where is all the ammunition?
It seems we are in the dust bowl of all ammo shortages. Store shelves are bare and when new ammo does arrive it is over priced and still sells out in a flash.
We have been flooded with reports of retailers gouging shooters by hiking up the prices. A box of 45ACP on average now goes for $22.00 a box up from $15.50 just one year ago. That is if you can find it.
Even 22 LR ammunition of all things is hard to find.
The real reason is a combination of events. Let look at a few.
The New Administration:
With the new election of President OBama and his appointments of one radical gun banner after another, combined with his lust for reinstating the assault weapons ban, has many normal everyday people who would never have had any concerns about their 2nd amendment rights lined up at gun stores and gun shows across the USA to make sure they have the guns they deserve before the new president can implement some form of new gun bans. With every new gun purchase you now have new shooter who want to fire their new firearms and are each buying a 1000+ rounds of ammo.
Fear of Ammunition Bans:
Combine that with the existing shooters who under the same political outlook fear that restrictions on ammo would be the same as a gun ban and they too have been buying and stock piling ammunition at record levels.
Increased Military and Police Demands:
Another huge impact on the availability of ammunition and the US ammunition industry has been the war on terror. With our military in need of the most popular ammo for training and the war effort the DOD is modernizing its three government-owned ammo plants that were built in 1941 with an infusion of $93.3 million since 2001, but that isn’t enough to keep up with the demand. “Commercial producers within the national technology and industrial base have not had the capacity to meet these requirements,” says GAO. “As a result, DOD has had to rely at least in part on foreign commercial producers to meet its small caliber ammunition needs.** Even with US Ammunition MFG’s working around the clock they are having trouble meeting the demand for the military’s ammo requirements and that means making ammo for retail sales is 2nd on MFG’s to-do lists.
International Influences:
With China’s booming economy, and the massive amounts of raw materials used to manufacture ammunition, especially lead, being purchased by the Chinese this has also contributed to the rise in ammo prices and the lack of raw materials for ammunition production has slowed down the delivery of ammo for ammunition stores.
Other influences include the Israel Military Industries, an Israeli ammunition manufacturer linked to the Israeli government, which produces the bulk of weapons and ordnance for the Israeli Defence Force. The Pentagon reportedly bought 313 million rounds of 5.56mm, 7.62mm and 50-calibre ammunition last year and paid $10m more than it would have cost for it to produce the ammunition at its own facilities or purchased from USA bulletsmiths.***
The End is Near:
The end of the Great Ammunition Shortage of 2009 that is. All sources claim that this is just a temporary shortage and that with the increased production coming online at ammo manufactures in the private and government sectors that we should start to see increased availability in the next few months as the supply stream catches up to the demand.
Sources:
**www.manufacturingnews.com
***www.independent.co.uk
