Weep for your lost hobby of shooting practice. Weep for the fact that your compadres, and patriots everywhere, will not be able to practice much with their guns. Weep again that few will be able to afford the new prices of guns.
Item: Note this CDNN advert. There is actually an AR-15 advertised in it! Good. That means that the pipeline for ARs is beginning to show some life. The Bad news? The reason you have that crying towel in hand? Look at the price. Last November, this same AR was selling for half that price, if I recall. In that short period of time, inflation is NOT a factor.
Item: Look at the Cheaper Than Dirt advert. Note the ammo prices. Defense loadings for 45 ACP at $1.75 per round? You've got to be kidding me. I USED to be able to buy Federal Gold Medal Match for .308 Winchester for that. In the same advert, PNW practice ammo for the 45 ACP is a seventy cents a round. I'm supposed to expend $200 bucks for a modest practice session?
What's going to happen here is that people are not going to practice. When they don't practice, bad habits creep in to their gun handling techniques, and bad habits + loaded guns = accidentally DEAD people. A rising gun accident rate, of course, is fodder for more gun laws, range restrictions, etc.
If there WERE any reloading components available, we could see just how much price-gouging is involved in this apparent doubling of the price of ammunition almost overnight. I'm sure that there's some gouging, but I can't quantify it. I'm guessing that everyone in the industry figured out that that they can hide behind "the law of supply and demand", which law is not really even definable because of so many other economic factors, regulations, tarriffs, etc. Every time I get on my gunny High Horse about price gouging, some commenters will try to remind me of "the law of supply and demand".
I remind those who tolerate this price-gouging that the "law of supply and demand" is outdated, has been replaced by engineered markets, etc, and doesn't apply any more, to ANY commodity. Need more proof: look at pricing in the Oil Business. With per-barrel prices hovering in the low $90s, gasoline ought to be selling for the low $3 range, maybe $3.25. Instead, it's edging up toward $4. Why? Because they can.
So, why have gun and ammo prices doubled in 5 months? Because they can. Just don't give me "supply and demand", because I might have to point out to you that your trousers are aflame.
