Seriously, where are the guns?

[327 FM]

I went to six gun stores this weekend and they all told me the same thing......"We can't get any guns".

So if the gun manufactures are making guns, where are they? Who is getting them? Who's getting the ammo? Who's getting the primers?

[TeamTurpin]

I had a long conversation about this with my gun guy last week. As I understand it, orders for guns are placed by distributors and large retailers a year in advance. Factories are cranking out firearms at their highest capacity, but they are still filling the orders placed last year. On rail spurs right now, there are boxcars being loaded with new firearms, but they aren't really related to 2012/2013's desperation buying. As distributors run out (and they're just about completely out now), they just have to wait on last year's ordered guns to come trickling in. Last year, who would have predicted this year's demand?

And, with the political climate, not many firearm manufacturers see investing in new gun making plants as a wise move.

As for reloading supplies, the supplies that we have historically found on shelves and at online retailers are basically the supplies that aren't needed by ammo manufacturers. Right now, ammo makers are using it all up. (It doesn't help that the Federal government is buying billions of rounds right now and their orders go to the top of the list.) I hear that it may be nine months until anything resembling normality returns.

[Mello2u]

Supply and demand.

Supply seems to be the same, but demand is much higher. So, the supply is depleted quickly, thus no inventory in stores.

Same thing happened four years ago when I could not find guns, ammo or reloading components for about two years.

Where are all the guns? In the tight fists of the people who bought them.

[NESHOOTER]

Lots of them here in the midwest (the real midwest the heartland). All can be found and had now pricing is at peak panic prices if you want it your can find it. Good luck to you

[Pyzon]

orders for guns are placed by distributors and large retailers a year in advance

As retailers sell what they have on the shelf, the pipeline to refill the shelves is empty. Why is that ?

Well, if the local store is a small independent operation, they were never able to place large volume orders like the big guys do. Even worse, they have been forced for a few years now to accept only less desirable models that the bigs did not want, and maybe an occasional popular one that trickled in, one here and there. My local shops remark that they are surprised every day when the UPS driver carries in something, as they expect almost nothing.

The big retailers like Cabelas might routinely place orders for 1000 of a model a month to be spread around their locations, leaving the mom and pops and the folks that shop there out of luck. This applies to ammo and accessories like high-cap mags and everything else.

[g.willikers]

There's a chance that supplies of guns and accessories, at least, will increase in the near future.
There's something called phantom orders, where dealers order the same thing from different distributors, hoping for some action.
If or when the order is actually filled, the remaining ones are cancelled.
Anyone know about this?

[rlc323]

I was watching an online gun auction that included the liquidation of a small gun store in my area. The guns were on site at the auction company and they were also accepting bids via Proxybid service from the internet.

The prices were unusually high for any semi-auto rifle, or handgun. Just high for shotguns and bolt action rifles.

A NIB Ruger LCP went for $375, add in the tax and 15% buyers fee and you have a gun that Gander offered for $299 list last week over $450.

[shafter]

If you go to a supermarket before a big storm and see empty shelves it's because people bought all the bread and milk before you did. It's not because they stopped making it.