[Unclenick]

It's all the above. The dollar is lower, but not enough to account for 2:1 differences in metals prices. Remington and Winchester are importing more from overseas contractors, so the weak dollar probably affects them more than the 100% domestic makers.

At the same time, competition for metals by both China and India are through the roof. They a getting copper for wire and lead for batteries as cars begin to become more common in those places. A fellow at Sierra told me that when the last shortage due to military orders started in late 2006, Sierra thought it had two years of metal stock left and could wait out the metals price jump and didn't get in the pipeline. When the shortage hit and the hoarders started to panic, he said their two year supply was gone in four months and they had to order at the new, much higher (double for copper, I think) spot market prices, and wait for it to get through the pipeline, making the shortage still more acute.