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Posted: 3/19/2007 3:20:49 PM EDT
| Does anyone know if the trend for 7.62 x 39 ammo is getting cheaper or more expensive. I checked a few months ago and it was still spendy so I have been waiting. What have you seen and bought lately? |
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Well, here's my $5 answer: Recently, an unholy allliance of two factors has caused all the ammo buying and subsequent high prices. First, HR 1022 has served as a wake-up call to people that ammo and firearms you can buy today, may not be available tomorrow. (Not literally tomorrow, but you know what I mean...within the next year or two.) When this is combined with natural market conditions that have created low supplies of certain popular calibers of ammo, you get a sort of perfect storm for panic buying. Is some of the panic well-justified? In my opinion, perhaps some small amount of it is. After all, certain political winds are unpredictable. But I think people can overdo it too, and as a result they buy ammo as if it's never going to be available again (unlikely), thus purchasing more than they really need and can possibly afford. Basically, I think ammo will be around in the future if you want it, but at higher prices and with intermitttent dry spells. The laws of economics tell us that if there is demand, there WILL be supply (and vice versa). But that supply can be very tight at times, and can push prices up to levels not previously seen. As for actual shortages in the ecomomic sense of the word (in economics, a true shortage is when there is NONE of a particular commodity available at ANY price), I don't think we'll see that. After all, if 7.62x39 shot to $500 a case or something ridiculous like that, I'd sell a few cases that I have lying around! So would some others. The price would just keep going up until market equilibrium occured and there were an equal number of buyers and sellers in the market. (BTW, that was just an example. I absolutely do not think the price of ammo will go that high.) I also agree with Mrbullet, in that I think a recession is in store within the next year or so, and that people who encounter strained personal economic situations will be forced to unload some of their recent acquisitions (guns and ammo) onto the market. Combined with decreased demand due to less disposable income, this could bring prices back down to earth. Of course, I have no crystal ball, and could be entirely wrong about all of this. |
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Here's my question to you guys. Do you honestly think $150/case (going off of AIM's price for GT) is EXPENSIVE? That's 15 cents a round. That is CHEAP! Find me .30-30 for 15 cents a round for 1,000 rounds. Find me .30-06 for .15 cents a round for 1,000 rounds. Find me .308 for 15 cents a round for 1,000 rounds. Sure, prices may have gone up but that is still CHEAP for centerfire ammunition. Especially new production, non-corrosive centerfire ammunition. Garands used to be $60 a pop in the 60's. Now we have no hesitation to pay $425 for our shot at a Garand. Prices change. $150 is still cheap in the big view of things. |
its not cheap. the fact that you pay 1 dollar or more per "hunting" round is pathetic. these arent hunting rounds are arent reloadable. |
In the big view of things, I bought an AK because they're evil...and because the ammo is affordable enough that I can happily blast away. As the price of even the "cheap" 7.62x39 ammo goes up, that's less and less blasting. I gauge the prices I pay based on my experiences with like products - a 100% increase in price in ONE year on anything - potatoes, cable TV Rates, ammo...(at Cabela's anyway...) is pretty depressing. |
I agree. The price we pay on anything is all relative. Take gas for example. Just two years ago, I recall paying about $1.70 per gallon. When I filled up a couple days ago, it was $2.90. That is a huge jump, and leads many to proclaim how expensive gas is. But when you think about the fact that people in Europe have been paying $4-$5 per gallon for most of the last decade, all of the sudden $2.90 doesn’t look so bad in comparison. And when you adjust for inflation, you realize that $2.90 per gallon is actually cheaper than gas was in 1980! As for ammo, while $99 per 1,000 rds of steel-cased ammo was cheap, that doesn’t necessarily mean $149 for the same ammo is expensive. I’d agree that .15 cents per round, while not as cheap as .10 cents per round, is still pretty cheap. Especially when you consider that the price of carbon steel has just about doubled in the last two years alone. Also consider that, adjusted for inflation, paying $150 for a case of ammo today is the same as paying $55 for that same case in 1980. In a way, we’re lucky that steel-cased ammo in particular is still as cheap as it is! |
That's what I was afraid of. Good ol' capitalism. It was only a matter of time until our commie friends wised up. The only hope is that a prolonged period of high prices will cause demand to go down and the prices to stabilize. |
| FWIW, 5.45x39 (surplus) has been coming down a little bit in the past few months. It wasn't too long ago that it was nearly impossible to find and what was available was selling at a premium. 7.62x39 is in higher demand. Not just here but in hot spots around the globe so that may prevent it coming down in price like the 5.45. |
I've brought that up a few months ago. It certainly factors into the price, that's for sure. |
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