Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Here we are again...

I know we talked about this on the blog back in 2013, but I have to remind folks that the ammunition supply chain is not set up for this sort of situation.

The vast majority of gun owners...as distinct from shooters...get to the range two or three times a year, tops. They buy a box or two of ammo, shoot it up, and go home. If you've ever bought an entire case of ammo at once, you are in a small minority. If you've ever bought multiple cases at once, you are a tiny sliver of that.

When all of a sudden everyone who owns a gun runs out to buy five or ten boxes, it will suck the supply chain dry, all the way back to the component level or even back to the raw materials level. Companies have just had to provide what would usually be a year or more's worth of normal sales all at once.

If you are a new gun owner, I'm sorry. Trust me, it's not normally this weird.

If you owned guns in 2013 (or 2008, or 2001, or 1999, or 1994) and aren't continually sitting on at least a rotating three month supply of your most-used calibers, I can't say I'm feeling a lot of sympathy right now.

Fortunately, it'll be a good while before my 9mm stocks are depleted enough to have to crack into this stash...