The problem with ammo and component supplies, some new facts

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Based on some discussions we've had recently today I picked up the phone and called someone I know at Vista Outdoors. One thing my career provided me was an unlimited list of contacts in the industry and once in a while I break out my black book.

We spent a little over an hour on the phone and I learned a whole, whole lot.

Some basics everyone is interested in.

As I suspected ammo sales nationwide are at record highs. Federal alone has seen a 40% increase in each of the last two years.

As I knew, when it comes to components he confirmed that yes, there's a priority list. First on that list is their own factory ammo, next comes their committed contract buyers for whom they also provide ammo. Following those are the huge vendors like Cabelas/BP, SW Midway, Brownell's and Midsouth.

The only thing that makes it to the shelves for reloading components are overruns and excess so from primers to powder to bullets reloaders are at the bottom of the pile. The one exception to that is the powders that none of their contracts or their own proprietary ammo uses but of course, those are the last to be produced.

Because of this huge increase in customer demand they have also changed how they produce. Until the last few years they'd run say 2 million rounds of a given bullet, at a given weight on a regular schedule, same with ammo that way there was a fairly constant supply of a broad range of ammo and components.

Due to demand however if they've got six million cases and one type of bullet in a given cartridge, they'll run six million of that specific combo because it's already sold no matter how much they produce. Once that run is done, they'll move to the next in that same line if they have the components, if not they'll retool and run something else until they run out of components and on and on.

Yes, there are some supply chain issues which can sometimes affect the production schedule but if they are lacking one thing they just produce something else and then will rescheduled that skipped run once the necessities are available.

Bad news. I was told not to expect any large runs of Magnum Primers to start showing up on the shelves for the next 12-18 months as they simply cannot produce them fast enough.

Good news, they are very soon going to be doubling their primer production capacity. They are however so far behind on contract orders for both loaded ammo and primers it's still likely to take at least 12 months to get caught up.

We covered me topics and some of these in a more in depth way so feel free to ask questions. If I have an answer I'll provide it.
This was a very interesting and I suspect accurate retelling of the supply chain issues. It seems to be missing several key points i here regularly in manufacturing.
1) Covid policy - COVID policy is putting incredible strain on workers and companies. I didn't hear about COVID illness or tracing shutting down production areas or suppliers. Unvaccinated people are getting and giving COVID at high rates. The tracing wipes out production areas for 5-10 days. This is real, IME.

2) Shipping = global shipping and ports are a real issue. Many powders are made overseas.

3) chips - this is greatly impacting equipment up time, especially electrical controls. It also greatly impacts production volume increase projects.

4) Expansion/Ramp Up - Are these companies reacting to demand? Investment? Ramp up? Adding workers?

5) workforce stability - are the same people from top to bottom running things that were 2 years ago, or are they in rapid succession mode and massive hire/quit/hire more mode?
 
This was a very interesting and I suspect accurate retelling of the supply chain issues. It seems to be missing several key points i here regularly in manufacturing.
1) Covid policy - COVID policy is putting incredible strain on workers and companies. I didn't hear about COVID illness or tracing shutting down production areas or suppliers. Unvaccinated people are getting and giving COVID at high rates. The tracing wipes out production areas for 5-10 days. This is real, IME.

2) Shipping = global shipping and ports are a real issue. Many powders are made overseas.

3) chips - this is greatly impacting equipment up time, especially electrical controls. It also greatly impacts production volume increase projects.

4) Expansion/Ramp Up - Are these companies reacting to demand? Investment? Ramp up? Adding workers?

5) workforce stability - are the same people from top to bottom running things that were 2 years ago, or are they in rapid succession mode and massive hire/quit/hire more mode?
1, is no longer much of a problem as all the lockdowns have pretty well ended across the country but it was certainly a major contributing factor in backing up production and orders for at least 9-12 months.

In an industry where the demand pretty much always exceeds supply, even the smallest hiccup in production and shipping can have a major rebound effect.
 
You ment to say vaccinated, right. I see more vaccinated getting covid then non vacced.
I believe the vaccine is the cause of the spread.
Anything the government pushes so heard can't be healthy.
The closer you get to 100% vaccination rates the closer you'll get to all new cases occurring in the vaccinated population.

That's probably not a rabbit we want to chase to far here.
 
I have found plenty of sources and the NRA definitely backs Feinstein. I'm done with the NRA. They continually backslide on every issue when it comes to gun control. They have lost a lot of members over the past few years because of their unwillingness to stand up for the second amendment.
Nothing the NRA has put out supports that claim and they are demanding Feinstein retract he claim that the NRA is supporting her proposed bills.

What are the "sources" you're finding to the contrary? Links?
 
The issue is that other groups such as the GOA are getting more done in the courts with significantly less funding and no shady executives like LaPierre spending ten of millions of dollars in donations on frivolous stuff instead of using it to expand gun rights. If the NRA had the tenacity that the GOA has then people would be more willing to donate to them.

They do a lot to support the shooting sports but on the legal side they aren't doing much to help us out.
There's no data anywhere that actually supports that claim.

The "other gun groups" seem to feel like their path to success is by tearing down the NRA with lies.

They are no better than the anti gun democrats who have been attempting to do the same thing for thirty years.

The NRA-ILA is completely separate from the parent organization for it's finances too, they run on money donated to the ILA and attorneys providing pro bono services to help the cause.

LaPierre and his cronies are a stain that should have been removed long ago and his/their days are now numbered.
 
Post em if you got em….
I suspect it's going to be a long wait. I can't find any source anywhere to confirm that claim other than a few anonymous posters on various discussion boards.

The first reaction when people make extraordinary claims is to see if there's any verifiable data anywhere to support it.

So far, I can't find anything at all confirming this to be true.
 
The closer you get to 100% vaccination rates the closer you'll get to all new cases occurring in the vaccinated population.

That's probably not a rabbit we want to chase to far here. Fure
You're right about that rabbit hole. It goes deeper than hell 🔥.
There will never be 100% vaccinated.
 
Look up American Firearms Association on Youtube.
You made the claim, it's up to you to provide a link to the story. "Go Fish" is intellectually dishonest and that's what you are now doing.

I wasted better than a half an hour looking for something confirming your claim to no avail.

The value of an unverifiable claim is 0.00 dollars and .00 cents.
 
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