AR hoarding slowing down

[Quentin2]

Friend of mine picked up a Palmetto State Armory M4 yesterday for $800. No idea what they were priced at pre-panic, but that seems like a reasonable deal.

That's pretty good for today. Late last year I put together PSA parts on my own $100 stripped lower and came in around $700 including sling and magazine. MBUS2 rear sight capped it off for about $750.

He got a great AR for the money so yeah, he did well.

[Justice06RR]

$800 for that PSA is a good buy, esp if it already came with sights and a mag.

I built a Spikes Tactical AR15 during the panic for less than $900 with some Magpul parts included. its definitely great to see factory AR's come back to normal prices.

My LGS has had M&P15 Sport for $839 and DPMS around $750, and an AK sporter for $699.

[RodTheWrench]

Ammo here in Utah is hardest to come by, the LGSs have ARs in stock but like was mentioned, everyone that wanted one has bought one by now. I too think here in 4-6 months folks will unload the rifles they couldn't really afford before the panic but "had to have" during said panic.

5.56/.223 can be had for about 50 cents a round in the stores. 9mm, 40 and 45 are harder to come by. Gunpowder for reloading is scarce still, primers as well.

[Geoff7]

Sportsmans Outdoor Superstore has the Colt LE6920 MOE in FDE for $1150 (before shipping & FFL fee). I'm pretty sure this is pre-panic pricing, and they've managed to keep it in stock for at least half a day.

Seeing this stick around at this price seems like a very encouraging sign!

[deepcreek]

I went to another gun store last night they had about 20 ARs at semi-inflated prices they also had SKSs at inflated prices I think they will have them for a while. I would say the AR frenzy is winding down around here for sure.

They had rifle ammo but no pistol ammo to speak of.

[Fishbed77]

I went into one of PSA's brick and mortar stores yesterday, and saw many ARs on the racks, as well as some SCARs and other juicy items. PSA has been pretty good about maintaining prices that at not too terribly inflated over pre-panic prices, and they were still moving ARs. 5.56mm/.223 ammo was plentiful on the shelves (though not a great variety), as was 7.62x39mm. There was even some Federal solid noce Gane-Shok .22LR priced BELOW pre-panic prices ($6.99 per 100 rounds), and NO limits on ammo purchases. I grabbed the last few boxes they had left. Still no 9mm, though.

Went to another gun store in town (that I usually avoid because of over-priced stock and annoying staff), and they had more ARs and AR accessories than they have ever had. My guess is that their greed go the best of them, and they hoped to cash in on the panic by buying up lots of stock. Now their high prices are ensuring that most of it just sits on the rack.

[CTS]

My LGS has Anderson stripped lowers for $99 and Palmetto State LPKs for $99 also. 9mm fmj ammo, didn't look at the price cause I don't shoot it. No AR's in stock at all. .45 Auto FMJ in several brands from $22 to 30 per box. No .22LR but plenty of Shorts.

[444]

As many of us know, this is far from the first gun buying panic in the not too distant past. I have now lived through several of them. And, I participated in a few of them.
During each one of them, it was predicted that many of the people who bought guns during the "panic" would later decide they didn't really want or need the guns they bought during the panic. I personally never saw this happen. I think that most of the people who panic buy, do so because they wanted the item for awhile, put if off for one reason or another, then when faced with the possibility that this might be their last chance at it, they went ahead and purchased it. And, for the most part, were happy that they did.

I don't have a whole lot of well stocked gun stores in this area. This area is more the type of place where we have relatively small gun shops with perhaps 50 or less guns on display. And, I don't regularly visit them. However during this "panic" I did start checking them out to see what all the fuss was about. I didn't really see any lack of AR15s. I am not really up on what they typically sell for, and I can't honestly say I looked to see what they cost. I do know that guns in general went up dramatically in price not just within the last year, but within the last few years. And, I in no way think a dealer is dishonest, or shady in the least by selling his merchandise for whatever the market will bear. I see various posts on line about a dealer selling stuff for more than the guy posting thinks it's worth and the poster says something like, he will never go back there. Let me ask you a question: if you were selling a car that you honestly thought was worth $1000 and a number of people offered you $10,000 for it, would you turn them down ? Would you think of yourself as a thief if you accepted 10X what you thought something was worth if someone of his own free will offered to pay that kind of money for it ? I seriously doubt it.

The market is what sets prices. People run businesses to make money. If you can sell an item today for more than you could last year, that is a good thing if you are in business. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

[CTS]

The market is what sets prices. People run businesses to make money. If you can sell an item today for more than you could last year, that is a good thing if you are in business. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Very true but, in the case of my LGS, he depends on repeat customers, he doesn't advertise, many people don't even know the store exists and yet he can barely keep the shelves stocked because he has customer loyalty. He doesn't price gouge or even try to "get in" on the hysteria and make some extra cash because of it. The only time I have seen him raise a price on anything is if the distributor raised the price on him. I know that this type of business is not he norm and so do the rest of his customers. That is why he gets nearly all my business.

[draidt]

My LGD just sold me a New Frontier Armory LLC Model LW 15 and a dedicated 22LR with a 2 piece quad rail CMMG upper for $ 692.00 before tax and transfer fees.

[deepcreek]

The market is what sets prices. People run businesses to make money. If you can sell an item today for more than you could last year, that is a good thing if you are in business. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

When their is a temporary shortage of a product and people jack/gouge/inflate prices, it is not really "market" prices it is temporarily inflated prices.

Price Gouging - pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available

A couple of stores around here have doubled or tripled the prices on ammo, to me it just shows greed. A couple of stores have kept prices the same out of respect and courtesy to their customers.

At certain times you really do see people qualities shine through. I support what I want the world to be like.

[Palmetto-Pride]

Cheaper Than Dirt is a perfect example of price gouging they are still trying to sell a M&P15OR for $1700.00......

[Fishbed77]

Cheaper Than Dirt is a perfect example of price gouging they are still trying to sell a M&P15OR for $1700.00......

Indeed. It's hard to call CTD's behavior anything but gouging.

In addition to wildly inflated pricing and their constant attempts to incite panic with their endlessly exaggerated "news stories," blogs, and e-mail blasts, they were revealed to be sitting on inventory with the hopes of artificially driving up prices.

[Palmetto-Pride]

I have a correction to make.....CTD has lowered the price of the $900.00 M&P15OR AR from $1,700.00 to $1,495.00.....http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/GUN-811 What's wrong CTD this normally $900.00 rifle wasn't flying off the shelves at $1,700.00 well good luck at $1495.00 Also they have a Colt LE6920http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/GUN-6920 for the everyday low price of $2,595.00....lololololololololololololololololololololololololololol When did CTD get into online comedy......lol All that advertiseing on Glen Beck must be costing them a fortune.....

[ttheel]

Not exactly "cheaper than dirt." Gouging at its finest. Buds is also doing their fair share. Noticed an LE6920 for $1899 on their site a couple of days ago.

[444]

"Price Gouging - pricing above the market price when no alternative retailer is available"


I am not an educated man, but I think that is the definition of supply and demand.
Again, as a layman, if there is only one retailer (as in your example), doesn't he determine the market price ?

[Plumbnut]

Why is it ok for a manufacturer to set a price that absolutely ridiculous but not a retailer???? I wont name names here.....

[444]

Maybe we should see if we can get the government to step in and tell businesses they can't charge any more than we want to pay ?


Another question that occured to me:
Is a price ridiculous if someone is perfectly willing to pay it even if you arn't ?
If so, ridiculous to who ? The two parties that are actually involved in the transaction or to the people sitting in the stands ?

[CSG]

It's the ammo that's remaining an issue. If you can find it it's double to triple what it was the last couple years. I have a large stash left from the old days before that guy was elected but I'm not shooting it until I can replace it for a reasonable cost. If I can't replace it then I'll save it for zombies and such.

[Model12Win]

If their isn't anything to feed my AR, it isn't going to get shot as much as I would like. I refuse to pay 80-90 cents or more per round of what used to be 30-40 cents a round before the shooting. I'm waiting and hoping prices go down, but in the meantime, I will be training with more economical firearms.

[deepcreek]

I am not an educated man, but I think that is the definition of supply and demand.
Again, as a layman, if there is only one retailer (as in your example), doesn't he determine the market price ?

Most peoples definition of a "market" ends when the market has been obviated by something like hurricane, war, riots, consumer panic, It is not a market anymore it is a panic where people pay whatever.

Panic prices are not sustainable they are just a blip in market prices.

[Alabama Shooter]

Not exactly "cheaper than dirt." Gouging at its finest. Buds is also doing their fair share. Noticed an LE6920 for $1899 on their site a couple of days ago.

For the $1100 Walmart gun? What a deal.

[Wag]

It's not gouging if you have the option to buy elsewhere or, more importantly, not buy at all.

When natural disasters occur and people still REQUIRE water, food, fuel and can't get outside their locale to get it, price increases are considered to be gouging.

While the current administration is considered by some to be a disaster, it really doesn't qualify because we can sit on the sidelines of this mad rush for product and be unaffected by it since we have the option to do so.

--Wag--

[Mausermolt]

im all for free market capitalism, but when you charge 100$ for an AR mag that was 20$ the day before. that is just dishonest and shameful IMHO
ill pay maybe 30-35$ because of the lack of supply...but $100? CTD is not a business that i will give my money too

[sailskidrive]

They are still extremely sparse here in Maryland as every one and their brother rushes to purchase one before the official October 1st ban takes effect.

Buying one out of state and doing a transfer is pretty difficult because alot of the local FFLs are packed to the gills, meaning out of storage space and not accepting transfers.

Mean while the Maryland State Police have a 60 day back up processing regulated applications (on a normal 8 day transfer). Since you have to wait 30 days between taking possession of a regulated firearm before you can purchase another (plus the current 60 day background check backlog), most folks wont be able to buy more than two guns before the ban takes effect.