Good stock at the fun show, at least relative to any previous show this year.
Ammo prices continue to fall and stocks are on the increase, at least with the larger specialized ammo retailers. The sad pandas in this department were the little one- and two-table guys who had obviously gone deep on ammo for resale back in the teeth of the drought. These dudes were now sitting on a case or two of budget brand 9x19 that they still had hopefully marked at as much as $0.60/rd or more, when all over the show you could buy to your heart's content at $0.38/rd or less for a 50rd box and corresponding price reductions for larger quantities.
Evil black rifles are way back down again, and availability is almost at oversupply.
Everybody had huge boxes of Gen 3 P-Mags.
Stopped at the bank on the way to the show and deposited some paychecks, so I treated myself to a budget-priced Webley & Scott .32 auto to keep its larger sibling company. I'd been eying it through a couple of previous shows but this time around the owner had big red "SALE" tags on about half his stock, so I bit. It's homely, but I'll get some pictures up here in the next day or two.
Passed up a couple nice nickeled 6" S&W .38 Safety Hammerless revos. I might have just been able to eke one out with a bit of haggling, but went with the Webley instead. Because .32 pocket auto.
Bulk-pack .22 was a thing again. Plated stuff was all veering dangerously close to $0.10/rd, but at least it was there. Even though it was only in the middle of the pack, price-wise, I bought a 400 round brick of Federal American Eagle from a dealer I like so that he keeps liking me. (Repeat patronage is good; I want my favorite dealers to associate my smiling face with the jingle of the cash register.)
I'm about ready to start asking folks in areas with .22LR to send me some...
ReplyDeleteThey are having one across the river in Portland but I am busy with my Dad's wake.
ReplyDeleteMy Sister in law went but I haven't talked to her yet.
She did bring me a 555 box of .22LR I see and the wife says I owe her $22.50.
That's a better price than the one I picked up at BiMart last week.
I have also noticed the price of EBR's dropping off a cliff lately which makes me a happy camper.
There is still a long ways to go before we see anything close to last years prices and availability but I am getting close to declaring the Great Ammo Drought of '13 about over, finally.
So unless it's a Typo, Federal is selling a "Brick" with 400 rounds in it? Funny thing that. For decades, weren't "Bricks" 500 rounds? Then we went to the 525 "Block." Now Federal has downsized it to 400. Betcha the price per round is higher than a standard "Brick."
ReplyDeleteOh, well, at least it's available.
Bubblehead Les,
ReplyDeleteFederal American Eagle .22 has come in 40-rd boxes and 400rd bricks for as long as I can remember.
Yeah, different brands and different packages.
ReplyDelete.22 is still a rare and elusive creature here in OK, being scarfed out of the pens as soon as it appears. And last show I attended still had people trying hopefully to get panic-prices for now-more-available-at-normal-prices ammo.
Tam, you once mentioned 'you didn't pay too much, you just bought it too soon'; at this point I'm thinking it's also 'You didn't buy too much, you just bought it early.'
Went to a different local fun show yesterday. Only two vendors had .22LR CCI MiniMag (copper plated RN) ammo. Both wanted $20 per 100 rounds, which is $0.20 per round. If they had it at $0.10 a round I would have bought it. I just chuckled at the price, as $0.20 per round is more appropriate for bulk 9mm ammo, not .22LR.
ReplyDeleteThere were no lines to fill out BATFE 4473 transfer forms at some of the bigger vendors, unlike there were in the past year.
The only bargains I saw were for items like the Ruger LCP, Kel-Tec P3AT and .380 S$W Bodyguard. A DPMS lower receiver parts kit was selling for $50, were they had recently been at a much higher price.
ECON101 in action!
Went to a show in Allentown ,PA.. Ammo vendor who is usually well stocked had no 22LR of any type at all. Oh well...there's always next time...
ReplyDelete