Priorities

[cynicrit]

I'm sick of hearing about new whiz-bang calibers/loads/ammo/rifles etc. How about the ammunition and firearms industry devote all of their "genius" to getting ammo and other mundane resources to us. I helped a friend, who came from a gun hating culture, to see the light and purchase a handgun (and to join our 2nd Amendment culture). He bought a nice self defense pistol in .380 (and all of you who are snickering about that being a "mouse gun"?, may you rot! ). Now we can hardly find ammo for his pistol. What we can find is often the very lowest grade of crap. At the same time we're constantly hearing about new calibers being SAAMI certified (.277 Fury? Who gives a **** but some geeky writers and wildcatters?) If a fraction of the money that was spent marketing the 6 and a half Crapmore had been spent wisely, there would be the infrastructure to get what's needed to the 2A family. How about you esoteric types go get yourselves a treehouse and start a club? Get me some ammo! Make the already excellent firearm choices more available! I'm constantly seeing ads for the very latest hotshot hunting loads and rifles. That's great, but I've killed big-assed bucks for years with a Sierra BTSP from an early 80's vintage rifle, and I've done just fine, thank you very much. What I see is the same mercantile ****ing contest that we see with shampoo or trash bags. How about we get our s**t in one sock and stop redecorating the dining room on the Titanic? Get guns and ammo to the the lawful people and stop thIs dry-humping in the industry.

 

[Skimbleshanks]

Thats LEAN manufacturing. It saves the companies money by not having huge inventories and warehouses, but it makes it difficult to accommodate the massive spikes in demand that the shooting industry goes through. As far as them pushing new stuff. I think its cool and the inovations are important. Maybe they need to find a better balance of releasing new stuff and producing what is alerady out there. Election years maybe just focus on production. A year later give us something new.

 

[SteelBanger]

Progress and new innovations are never, ever, bad things. At the same time there have certainly been significant shortages dating back to at least the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 (you could argue the supply chain has lacked even beyond 2012) and it's unacceptable the industry hasn't responded and corrected their ability to fill demand ... there's no excuse for it.

Sandy Hook was actually the event that pushed me to finally invest in reloading equipment and I have never gone without ammo since then. Sure it can be difficult to find reloading components at times but I've always had enough to fill my need so I'm not complaining. Parts manufacturers are no better, I've been waiting on a back ordered set of Seekins rings since July 1st, not to mention several parts for a couple AR builds I have in progress.

 

[FrogFire7]

I really don't think that dumping a company's whole marketing and R&D budget into product manufacturing is wise... no new advancements or awareness of their products in the marketplace is going to eventually lead to one less manufacturer of the products you are complaining about not having.

What we should be doing is buying ahead in times of plenty. I know, I know- that doesn't help new shooters, or the ones who are currently out of supplies. It is a little similar to living paycheck to paycheck though, if you always count on supplies being on the shelf. It's just become "the American way", I guess.

These panic runs happen at a minimum every four years.

 

[Kimber7man]

Wrong answer. Marketing a new round is not causing shortages.

Pick again?

 

[birdiemc]

I steer friends and family toward guns I would actually shoot therefore have plenty of ammo for, so if for some strange reason I actually had a friend who didnt own a gun already, and helped get them interested I would be able to supply them with ammo through the shortage. It's easier to just not make new friends lol.

 

[Gwine]

I believe one major aspect can be traced back to the '08 recession. Pre recession, anything you wanted was in stock, (auto parts, building supplies, reloading, etc. you name it) if not at the vendor, in a warehouse somewhere. That inventory provided a buffer for reduced production or increased demand as needed. When the economy came back, the retail and manufacturing sectors realized that that inventory was not necessary as the customer was willing to wait for a backorder. Now, any anomaly in production or demand is felt almost immediately in the market. (All markets)
Combine the current climate of reduced production due to the pandemic with an increase in demand like we have never seen before, this is a sad time for anyone that has not created their own inventory.

 

[Axl]

You missed your chance a while back. You could have purchased the Remington ammo plant and run it the way you wanted to. Would have probably been cheaper than starting from scratch, which is still an option...