Firearms supply chain woes....worst ever...

[farscott]

Yesterday I went into an LGS for the first time since February. I have really avoided the places because I have no needs, and I did want to avoid the crowds at close quarters at the cost of losing my browsing and bargain/treasure hunting habit.

They were poorly stocked for them (no surprise) but the owner who I have done business with for 35+ years pulled a handgun off his gunbroker list at my request and held it for me.

In our short discussion through our masks, I was joking with them about the coming "sell off" from all these panic buyers. His prediction to me was that by the first week of December, our area will be awash in $99 deals on used but never fired Mossberg 500's....

He said he was planning extra storage space, possibly even rented shipping containers, for the things they expected to take in once this craziness is over and people need cash for Christmas, regardless of who wins the election. I found that an interesting perspective on what is to come.

I expect he is correct about a selloff, but I believe the timing is more dependent on the amount of civil unrest. If there are more disturbances like the looting in Chicago last night and this morning throughout the fall, those shotguns will stay in homes. If things calm down as they should as temperatures cool, those firearms should hit the market.

I have shotguns on consignment with a local dealer and sent a whole bunch of pistols to my liquidating dealer in Texas to fund a 9x23 SVI six-inch wide body and a WC EDC X9. Prices on the higher-end stuff do not really drop. But the prices will fall on the stuff I am selling.

[Stephanie B]

I suppose that the silver lining of the pandemic has been that there has been little opportunity to shoot very much, so that even if ammo prices are through the roof, I don't need to buy.

(I bent my stiff neck and took advantage of Walmart's selling off of pistol ammo; picking up a goodly amount of .38 range fodder.)

[okie john]

I expect he is correct about a selloff, but I believe the timing is more dependent on the amount of civil unrest. If there are more disturbances like the looting in Chicago last night and this morning throughout the fall, those shotguns will stay in homes. If things calm down as they should as temperatures cool, those firearms should hit the market.

I have shotguns on consignment with a local dealer and sent a whole bunch of pistols to my liquidating dealer in Texas to fund a 9x23 SVI six-inch wide body and a WC EDC X9. Prices on the higher-end stuff do not really drop. But the prices will fall on the stuff I am selling.

The post-Christmas selloff comes around every year. People need to pay for the presents they bought and some of those who got a firearm as a gift will sell the old one that it replaced. There's usually another one just before taxes come due.


Okie John

[fatdog]

the silver lining of the pandemic has been that there has been little opportunity to shoot very much

We sort of have the opposite down here. Most of the shooting ranges, public ranges and private clubs, here are outdoors, not indoors, and crowds at all the ones I belong to have been at an all time highs since Spring....one of those activities deemed COVID safe from the beginning, and never restricted at all....now that football season may get canceled I am dreading it. That will mean they are packed on Saturday's this fall when the weather is ideal.

My secret strategy is to always take one of my cap and ball revolvers. After I have touched off the second cylinder of that stuff the other people in my bay usually pack up and go to one of the other bays at the range and leave that one to me.

[Stephanie B]

We sort of have the opposite down here. Most of the shooting ranges, public ranges and private clubs, here are outdoors, not indoors, and crowds at all the ones I belong to have been at an all time highs since Spring....one of those activities deemed COVID safe from the beginning, and never restricted at all....now that football season may get canceled I am dreading it. That will mean they are packed on Saturday's this fall when the weather is ideal.

My secret strategy is to always take one of my cap and ball revolvers. After I have touched off the second cylinder of that stuff the other people in my bay usually pack up and go to one of the other bays at the range and leave that one to me.

The one thing I didn't do when I had access to nearby outdoor ranges was get a cap & ball revolver. Ah, well.

The nearest range (25 minute drive) is indoors. The Pit of Despair and Indoor Gun Range is 40 minutes away, if nobody has wrecked their dumb ass(es) on I-95.. The nearest outdoor range to which I have access is at least an hour-fifteen minutes. So I've not been shooting.

[fatdog]

nearest outdoor range to which I have access is at least an hour-fifteen minutes

Sadly I am sure in the crowded NE it is not possible to apply the AL solution to that...get some people together, buy a 5 acre plot in the country that backs up to a big hill, rent a bulldozer to build a berm and incorporate your private gun club....

[OlongJohnson]

(I bent my stiff neck and took advantage of Walmart's selling off of pistol ammo; picking up a goodly amount of .38 range fodder.)

The amount of money I spent that day seemed ludicrous at the time. Now I wish I'd bought ALL the ammo.

[vcdgrips]

Went to a Walmart in OK on the way back from dropping my son off to school. Bought the last two boxes of 325 Ct .22 LR @ 17.00 ish a box and was blessed to get it.

Went to an Academy Sports in the extreme southern KCMO Mo side suburb. That had a total of 4 boxes of handgun ammo sat @1930ish- ( 2 boxes of 22 shotshells and 2 boxes of 44 mag.) As I have not need for 22 shotshell and I do not own a 22 44 mag , I left it for somebody who could use it.

Should we ever come out of this season, my loadstars of ammo on hand will change by a 2x at least.

[farscott]

Stopped off at the LGS to drop off a few more pieces to be sold to fund the SVI and build up my fun account balance. The LGS has a ton of Glock pistols, mostly service-sized. I even saw a new G19X. Smaller carry pieces were hit pretty hard. I did not see any SIG P365 or Glock 43/43X models. Handgun ammo was better than I expected but still hit pretty hard. Shotgun ammo was wiped out; 5.56 was decent.

[Lex Luthier]

Closest LGS was still wiped out on defense shotguns and had about 20% of the pistol cases filled. They do seem to be able to get S & W products in with some regularity. There is still *one* lone H & K VP9sk for sale, at list price.
They also had two Daniel Defense AR pattern rifles on display at their usual prices for this shop. (They are not the cheapest, but are not really gougers in any sense.)

Still hard to get any 9mm or 5.56 around, unless it's Magtech ball, which is distributed from here in MN. Federal is filling in a little- I was lucky to find Flite Control 8 pellet 00 Buck in 12 gauge there, though they would only sell two boxes per customer per day, at $7.99/5. A fellow customer was ecstatic to find boxes of 9mm HST available at all.