Just curious about what you members think about ammunition prices and availability now that we are in a rising inflationary period and also with the war raging in Ukraine and our country's leaders commitment to throw billions of dollars to help them despite the serious problems we have at home.

For a short time it looked like ammo was gonna stabilize, and actually, the current prices are pretty reasonable.

But if defense contractors ramp up production of weapons for Ukraine, it looks like materials will be in short supply for the civilian market as these materials will be prioritized for the war effort.

Are we going to experience high prices and limited availability again?

Will people start panic buying (again) thus compounding the problem further?

I think the above will happen again, although not sure as to what degree it will escalate to.  Some people were caught with their pants down (like me) and had to pay higher prices to keep shooting.

In my opinion, if you are not satisfied with your current stash of ammo, it might be a good idea to start purchasing some now.  I feel a bit more comfortable now as I've been purchasing here and there so not as anxious as I was previously.

But I guess most in the shooting community will be always wondering about availability and prices when it comes the time to replenish the stash.

What are your thoughts?

Just to be clear:

Stuff isn't getting more expensive, but rather we are getting poorer.

Thanks to Team Brandon our fundamental relationship with firearms is about to change in a way that resembles taking a step back in time. Hawaii does not have heavy industry which means more of an agrarian future in the post-tourism age. We will aquire hard goods from passing ships in exchange for food, ukuleles, straw hats, rum, or whatever else we can produce here. Rather than putting together a massive stockpile of ammo, I find it more useful to invest in the kind of skills and equipment that can produce goods and services which can be traded for ammo, because it also means I can trade for other necessities as well. Like it or not we are transitioning back to being a 3rd world nation, and unless you are a wealthy local warlord the age of mag dumps for entertainment is over.

Are we going to experience high prices and limited availability again?

Yes, and for a multitude of reasons. First interest rates are rising, with a 30-year fixed mortgage rate heading to 6%. Prime rate hikes are going to be ugly for companies. If some decide to cut back their manufacturing, then a supply reduction will affect the retail pricing. However, this could be offset by lower demand due to people not buying as much ammo as they did in the past. I was getting calls from SEC about 45 ACP and 357 Magnum recently, and it seemed like they had plenty to offer. Not sure if this was due to the unpopularity of these calibers, or overproduction. Important to stay on their waiting list because we have to keep our LGS stores in business.

Niche ammo like Eley Match and Tenex (22LR) have always been hard to find in HI. Since February, match ammo went from a sale price of $15.99/box to $21.99 (no sale) today. I jumped on the opportunity to buy it at the lower price in February, and Kaleo Arms brought it into HI for me. Jennifer is fantastic.

Every weekend I get sale notifications from Marco at FirearmsInternational. Dollar cost averaging of ammo makes sense to those who cannot afford to buy bricks of ammo. When you can pick up Norma ammo at a fair price, go for it.

with Bidenflation, all things are getting more expensive.  Ammo included.

I thought i was paying through the nose for ammo a month ago, but when I look at prices now, it got even worse.  I keep thinking "I shoulda bought more", but at that time I did buy as much as I felt I could afford, and then some.  still wish I had bought more.

I think there was a brief pause where some common ammo types stabilized for a while, but that's about it.  for garden-variety commodity 5.56, 9mm.

We took the wrong hobby to get into. Now we’re hooked to this s**t and we’ll pay for it just to keep going. Good thing I neva sell my ulua poles.. lol.. But wait, who cast poles these days, now there’s drone fishing. Aw s**t, more money to spend. I think it’s time to ask for raise.