Winchester President Discusses Ammo Shortage .. also Jason Hornady

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/we-got-caught-guard-winchester-president-discusses-ammo-shortage-emily-miller

"We Got Caught Off Guard": Winchester President Discusses Ammo Shortage And What's To Come

“I'm highly disappointed we can't offer every consumer a good experience in buying ammunition. It’s not fun for us to have a situation where a customer wants to go out and hunt or shoot or buy ammunition for personal protection but can’t. It’s frustrating for us as well,” he said.

“What they need to really understand is that Winchester and every other ammunition manufacturer are doing everything we can to get more to that consumer. Just like they got caught off guard with this level of demand, we got caught off guard too. It just takes a lot of time to be able to get to the level of production based upon the level of demand today. So, hey, we’re frustrated as much as they are. We do not like disappointing our customers.”

Flaugher points to three factors that led to the dramatic increase in those early months that depleted the back stock of ammunition. The first thing that caused the supply chain to dry up was the increased level of concern that people have for their personal security because of the pandemic and civil unrest.

The second factor was the increase in people doing shooting sports, hunting and outdoor activities. The third issue is the public’s heightened concern about new gun-control laws and actions by the Biden administration and a Democratic-controlled Congress that would limit their ability to buy what they want.

The ammo demand matches gun sales. The NSSF adjusted NICS checks show that 21 million firearms were sold in 2020, of which about 9 million were sold to first time gun buyers. “Every time someone buys a gun, what do they buy with it? Ammo,” said Flaugher. “It was all in just a short period of time — that so many new gun owners went into the market.”

Like their competitors, Winchester is trying to do things to increase output. They’ve added equipment to their factories. They have hired and trained hundreds of more people.

Q: Why can’t Winchester make enough shotgun shells for the market?

Flaugher: “People are outdoors shooting traps, skeet, sporting clays -- all that recreational activity is driving a huge amount of demand for us that we just can’t keep up at this point,” Flaugher explained. “Then you have high school shooting teams on top of that for shotgun shells.”

Q: What percentage of ammunition goes to governmental agencies?

Flaugher: “On the conspiracy theories, there is not one theory that I’ve heard that has an ounce of truth to it. Winchester is the primary supplier to the U.S. government’s military. And if anybody would know if the government was buying historically more than they have in previous years, we would know. They’re not.”

Q: Which calibers are in the greatest demand?

Flaugher: “Well they are all in a very very high level demand. But the calibers I would tell you are in the highest demand are 9mm pistol and 5.56 - those two more than any other.”

Q: What about supply and costs of raw materials and components?

Flaugher: “Winchester manufactures all of its own components- the bullet, brass and primer. We get our propellent from a third party.”

“Our key raw materials are lead and brass and resin. We are not being affected by supply of key raw materials, but — there’s a big but there — but supply has been tight, and we continue to manage that, but it has not affected our ability to produce.”

Why are primers out of stock?

Flaugher: “Primers are at high demand for the same reasons that loaded ammunition is at high demand. There are more people buying them. There are more people loading them. There are more people shooting. Participation is up. It’s no different, but with one little element, the fact that we have to use more primers because we are making more ammunition. That’s a minor part of it. Most of it is just because demand is high.”

He added that, “I think they’ll see better supply down the road.”

https://www.emilypostnews.com/p/interview-with-jason-hornady-about

Interview with Jason Hornady about the Ammo Shortage

“Everyone thinks it's a conspiracy not to ship more. They think we’re lying about not selling a box of ammo,” Hornady told me on the phone while driving across Nebraska from a meeting to his home. “We have two years on order today. I promise we are making more. Everybody is.”

“It’s the same for all of us in manufacturing. No one has an extra factory sitting around waiting for that big of an increase,” he explained. “We were able to sell and ship 30 percent more last year from our plant by throwing more people and hours at it.”

Hornady said demand has tripled in just a year and a half. He said their business had been flat for four years until December 2019 when Walmart stopped selling guns and ammo due to the civil unrest around the country. Demand continued to increase when the pandemic began in early 2020 and has continued to increase since then.

“Everybody has a subliminal low-level paranoia that they will have to fight for food and guns and gas,” he said about the COVID lockdowns and restrictions.

I said it seemed like people were panic buying ammo, like they did toilet paper and hand sanitizer.

“Exactly, throw that on top,” he replied. “The customers aren’t going in and buying one box or two. They buy cases. And now they buy whatever is there. They call it shortage, but it’s a self fulfilling prophecy.”

The civil unrest in 2020 contributed to demand. “They watched all this scary stuff happen and heard politicians say, ‘Defund the police,’” said Hornady. “What do you think people are going to do? We all think the police will be there, and now you want to defund them? Have you lost your mind?”

Hornady explained there are several other factors that have gone into driving demand to two or three times normal. There are an estimated 6-8 million new gun owners in America since the pandemic lock down and all of them need ammo to train and for home defense. He said another compounding problem is the freight shortage — truck drivers and capacity on routes are all short. Also, the supply chain is messed up from the bottom, so even getting things like cardboard boxes and tape is a challenge.

I asked him about the conspiracy theory that the federal government was buying all the ammo to keep it from people. He said that Uncle Sam is just 2 percent of all their business.

What about the primer supply issue that people keep asking me for reloading? “We too are having a hard time getting primers. And we’re trying to get more than ever before , while those guys are trying to keep up with their own ammo companies.” He explained to me that a manufacturer that also makes primer will try to fill the ammunition orders first, which is why primer is harder to get now. “You can’t blame them,” he added.

Looking to the future, Hornady predicts the ammo shortage will continue for a while. “I think we are in this for another 18 months to two years because the problem perpetuates itself. They can't find it, so they keep buying it. Then one day they will walk out and look in their garages and see they have plenty and move on to the next thing.”

Winchester President Discusses Ammo Shortage .. also Jason Hornady (Read 1232 times)

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