The reality of gun availability during ECR

[AHM]

My folks were a little older than yours, but the worst thing was going to a restaurant for a family gathering..
Every salt, pepper, napkin, ketchup and marmalade packet made it into a purse or suit-jacket pocket...

You forgot sugar cubes (and even butter packets).

Which is how rare bourbon works as well.

Spoiler: As opposed to flavored liqueurs

It is absolutely amazing the number of people at my full time job that have asked me to get them xyz gun and the look of incredulity on their face when I tell them the current state of affairs.

Now I wonder whether ATF is going through a drought of prosecutions
for straw purchases, because there ain't nothing for straws to purchase.

COVID pandemic has severely impacted my billing volume for prostate exams.

Maybe if you moved to a drive through model like a lot of the COVID testing has.

Spoiler

The state closed that site.
And that other site.

 

[enbloc]

You forgot sugar cubes (and even butter packets).

I may have... but they never did.

 

[Spartan65]

I went looking for some 12 gauge slugs for deer last week. I was lucky enough to find four boxes but I paid dearly for them. When I asked when more would be in stock I was told “maybe never” . Crazy times.

 

[fshalor]

The only good reason to buy now is if you're New New, or you really think the ultimate Ban HAMMER is coming

Funky part for me is. Every time this crap happens coincides with when I have enough fiscal freedom to make a purchase. W t f.

P80 may be on the way today. I need another bolt action in the safe too. Might sniff out Cabellas. They have to have something in .308 or 6.5cr..

 

[Pyromancer]

Funky part for me is. Every time this crap happens coincides with when I have enough fiscal freedom to make a purchase. W t f.

P80 may be on the way today. I need another bolt action in the safe too. Might sniff out Cabellas. They have to have something in .308 or 6.5cr..

Thanks for helping the economy!
Try and support a local gun store. I get the feeling that some of them will go under, in spite of record high demand.

 

[snax]

Thanks for helping the economy!
Try and support a local gun store. I get the feeling that some of them will go under, in spite of record high demand.

Can't make $$ when you got nothing to sell.
I had a similar problem in my failed business. Tons of work available, couldn't find enough people. Eventually math took over as the amont of service I was able to provide couldn't get to the profit level I needed to make it worth it.

 

[VetteGirlMA]

I no longer predict availability. I no longer take deposits. I no longer "order" guns. I do my best to get interesting stuff into stock and sell it to people who come and give me money. If I do anything I list as "I no longer" then I would be doing YOU a disservice because there is no way I know when something will be available again.

Be kind to your FFL.

Some of us understand the value of other people's time and are willing to pay for it when it comes to something unique, interesting, collectible, etc. When I wanted to buy vintage stereo equipment I had a guy who did the research and then took his cut at the point of sale. It worked out for both of us when he managed to score an original new in the box turntable from the 1970s that had been sitting in the original packaging on a shelf for years. Not only did he get his cut on the sale he also did the restoration for me. I would have never been able to find that on my own, I simply don't have the connections. Likewise when I wanted to sell a Stenzel guitar a few years ago I sought out a local luthier who did all of the negotiations and sale. I got what I wanted, the seller got the cut that they wanted. Plus he got to drive traffic to his store from selling a very rare guitar.

If I walked into a gun shop and asked about a specific gun and the guy at the counter says he can't be bothered, then I leave and find another shop that will work with me. That's your loss not mine because in the end I still get what I want. If you want to offer only the handguns that 99.99% of all the other gun shops are going to carry and can be found trivially, then the next question is always going to be price.

 

[Pyromancer]

From yesterday's Smith&Wesson ER:
Mark Smith -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. I can help a little bit. I mean, I think we'll let you know that our inventory levels in the channel right now are right about one week worth of supply. And really, all that is, is the time it takes our partners to get the truck back in, unloaded, picked, and ship back out again.

As we've talked about many times before, our kind of our target level inventory in the channel, we want it to be about eight weeks. So, yes, there's a significant opportunity there. Eight weeks' worth of supply. So I think what's a little bit different even this time around in addition to the additional layer of new consumers, we got to refill the entire channel.

So you're right to be thinking about that, there's a significant work to do just to get the channel back up to where we want it to be.

 

[EJFudd]

From yesterday's Smith&Wesson ER:
Mark Smith -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. I can help a little bit. I mean, I think we'll let you know that our inventory levels in the channel right now are right about one week worth of supply. And really, all that is, is the time it takes our partners to get the truck back in, unloaded, picked, and ship back out again.

As we've talked about many times before, our kind of our target level inventory in the channel, we want it to be about eight weeks. So, yes, there's a significant opportunity there. Eight weeks' worth of supply. So I think what's a little bit different even this time around in addition to the additional layer of new consumers, we got to refill the entire channel.

So you're right to be thinking about that, there's a significant work to do just to get the channel back up to where we want it to be.

Part of that sounds as bad as a Joe Biden speech. Can anyone translate that into English?

 

[Pyromancer]

Part of that sounds as bad as a Joe Biden speech. Can anyone translate that into English?

Yeah, think Mark was answering a question.
My understanding: Smith and Wesson makes guns and ships them to distributors (part of this equation Manufacturer>Distributor>Gun Store>Gun Buyer). Normally the Distributors have 8 weeks of supply, rn they have 1 week of supply. S&W cannot make/ship guns fast enough to keep guns in stores in any meaningful numbers. They're basically sold as soon as they hit the Distributor. Nothing is sitting on shelves, trend is not getting better.

Smith also increasing prices 3%. Outsourcing more manufacturing to ramp production.

 

[EJFudd]

If I walked into a gun shop and asked about a specific gun and the guy at the counter says he can't be bothered, then I leave and find another shop that will work with me. That's your loss not mine because in the end I still get what I want. If you want to offer only the handguns that 99.99% of all the other gun shops are going to carry and can be found trivially, then the next question is always going to be price.

I think you need to take into consideration that these are very strange times... the strangest I have ever seen in my long, sorry life. I'm not sure if you are talking about brand new guns that are in high demand/short supply or hard-to-find collector guns, but I do know that shops tend to have their specialties (and dislikes) whether they'll admit it or not. I don't go to a modern plastics shops looking for a classic collectible revolver nor to I go to a high volume shop commodity shop looking for some very rare or scarce gun that they never heard of. There are exceptions, of course, but the point is that you generally need to figure out where you need to go to greatly increase your chances for success.

I do not hold it against a modern plastics shop for not wanting to attend auctions and estate sales looking for the rare classic I want. Likewise, I don't go to those FFL who do specialize in high end collectibles and estate sales to buy some commodity plastic wonder gun that FSGuns sells a hundred of in a day.

Let the FFLs do what they have to do to survive this current insanity... and don't take it personally if they can't help you out on some particular gun.

 

[Road_Clam]

Learned my lesson back in 2014 when i had to pay $75 for a brick of $hitty .22LR Thunderterds online. 6 years worth of disciplined biweekly small purchases , and deeply investing into reloading has net me about 90,000 rounds worth of reloading components. Independence feels dam good.

 

[bauer]

Part of that sounds as bad as a Joe Biden speech. Can anyone translate that into English?

Production is not keeping up with demand

 

[HuntMaine]

Waaaahhh.....im an FFL and my business has been interrupted. Guess what, everyone's business is teetering.

he wasn’t complaining he was explaining why you cannot order firearms as you have done in the past and the impact on the entire chain. In the meantime blow the moths out of your wallet and go green.

 

[JayW]

During a break for lunch yesterday and feeling a need to get out of the house I drove into Hudson to visit Cabelas. It was absolutely surreal. I mean I have lived through the Obama gun craze times and the post panic incidents of the past. Nothing is like what I saw yesterday. There was close to zero reloading supplies on the shelfs. The handgun ammo shelves are full of other stuff now totally unrelated to ammo itself.

I saw a few black powder revolvers. I briefly chatted with a woman behind the counter. She pointed to a 1911. She said "We got that pistol in yesterday. That is it. I have no idea when anything else will come into inventory for us here. Strange times were are living in sir." The 1911 was beautiful but I already have one and was not even remotely interested. I saw the $1,300 price tag and left. Strange time we are living in indeed.

 

[Pyromancer]

Production is not keeping up with demand

Or demand is outstripping production...haha
One NEW problem that I'm reading up on is materials shortages in the industry. It wasn't a problem before (contrary to what your LGS counter jockey says), but is now phasing in. Contributing to a potential 4th (?) wave of supply/demand imbalance...

 

[Fixxah]

Love it!

Makes me wonder how many steak knives have been pilfered from the Longhorn Steakhouse over the years...

View attachment 405208

They show up on eBay from time to time... usually in ones and twos.

There are some steak knives from outback in the drawer. Can't remember how they got here.

 

[drgrant]

If I walked into a gun shop and asked about a specific gun and the guy at the counter says he can't be bothered, then I leave and find another shop that will work with me. That's your loss not mine because in the end I still get what I want. If you want to offer only the handguns that 99.99% of all the other gun shops are going to carry and can be found trivially, then the next question is always going to be price.

During normal times this makes sense, but frankly right now be aware that "they can't be bothered" usually = "I can't get it for you anyways even if I wanted to, I'm going to focus on selling the stuff I can actually get, which right now, ends up being a random assortment of guns that changes from one week to the next, to the customers who want them. "

 

[VetteGirlMA]

Let the FFLs do what they have to do to survive this current insanity... and don't take it personally if they can't help you out on some particular gun.

I'm not knocking FFL and local gun shops. I'm just pointing out that when I am looking for something specific I'm always willing to pay people for their time. I never expect to have people do all kinds of research and do it for nothing. The next persons time is just as valuable as mine.

As an example when I bought my Ram pickup truck I was looking for a very specific color and package, so I let someone search dealerships all across the country until they found it and then had the dealer ship it to me. But I paid for it.

 

[EJFudd]

I'm not knocking FFL and local gun shops. I'm just pointing out that when I am looking for something specific I'm always willing to pay people for their time. I never expect to have people do all kinds of research and do it for nothing. The next persons time is just as valuable as mine.

As an example when I bought my Ram pickup truck I was looking for a very specific color and package, so I let someone search dealerships all across the country until they found it and then had the dealer ship it to me. But I paid for it.

I get the frustration. Believe me, I do. I'm getting nowhere with the particular guns that I want. 2020 has not been a good year for me (and in more ways than just that one).

I'm not sure the pick-up truck color and package thing works as an analogy, but what do I know? My rusty old pickup truck is 15 years old.

 

[Mesatchornug]

I'm not knocking FFL and local gun shops. I'm just pointing out that when I am looking for something specific I'm always willing to pay people for their time. I never expect to have people do all kinds of research and do it for nothing. The next persons time is just as valuable as mine.

As an example when I bought my Ram pickup truck I was looking for a very specific color and package, so I let someone search dealerships all across the country until they found it and then had the dealer ship it to me. But I paid for it.

I suppose the question is, if that truck doesn't exist - for any price - because the market is bare, do you still walk away upset at the dealer who tells you this? Let's assume you can trust said dealer - either through personal relationship or reputation - such that it's not a question of his just being too lazy?

 

[VetteGirlMA]

I suppose the question is, if that truck doesn't exist - for any price - because the market is bare, do you still walk away upset at the dealer who tells you this? Let's assume you can trust said dealer - either through personal relationship or reputation - such that it's not a question of his just being too lazy?

Me personally I just sit and wait and look for myself. I can be patient and ready to strike if something I want becomes available all of a sudden. There's plenty of ways to keep an eye on things. But no I wouldn't pay someone on an indefinite basis to keep looking for something for me. If it's not there, it's not there.

I'm reminded of a situation that happened to me about a year ago when I was looking for a very specific reel to reel tape deck and lo and behold, I get a pop up on my phone while I am driving home in my car. I could have pulled over in my car and bought it but I decided to wait until I got home and do it from the computer instead. When I got home it was already sold. Bummer. I still want one even today but I am very patient and waiting for a honest seller and not an equipment flipper.

 

[Road_Clam]

I have not bought a gun since 2017. I have too many as it is. Got every caliber and gun configuration niche covered. However back in 2017 i spent money on guns and NFA items like a drunk sailor ! Got a nice severance pkg from my employer of 23 years closing the doors, and had another job all lined up. So i bought an Uzi, a 1903-A4 , a 1874 Sharps 45-70, and 2 supressors. 2017 was a great year to buy gun stuff, very calm political atmosphere, and abundant gun supplies.

 

[enbloc]

Me personally I just sit and wait and look for myself. I can be patient and ready to strike if something I want becomes available all of a sudden.

I think that's how a Trapdoor Spider works...

 

[CrackPot]

I am going to bump my own thread here because we have newbies, or people who just crawled out from under a rock (or trapdoor) after a year and don't realize how the world has changed. Supply is the same or worse than when I posted this. I still spend 5x my old "normal" time sourcing product. I still can't "order" anything for anyone or predict availability and I seen no relief in sight. Prices only go up, not down. If it goes bang, it costs more than it did a year ago. The more desirable, the more its price went up. That is not changing anytime soon. And if Biden starts issuing EOs that limit importation, it will get 10x worse.

Maybe I need to start taking bitcoin...

 

[Odyssey Arms]

Maybe I need to start taking bitcoin...

You should.

 

[TPNES]

.

 

[connor]

Maybe I need to start taking bitcoin...

 

[drgrant]

"Such DOOSAN, so TILTROTOR, MUCH BITCOIN.... Wow. "

 

[connor]

"Such DOOSAN, so TILTROTOR, MUCH BITCOIN.... Wow. "

You should see the towtem grapples he has.
IIRC he sold his truck in bitcoin too. He's a long hauler not an investor. Got an old direct TV dish hooked up to a node for blockstream.