Are re-loading suppliers working the current market?

[MadMo44Mag]

I just received a shipment of powder.
4 -4lbs jugs, all different brands.
Everyone has a production date between August and November of 2008.
That got me thinking, so I pulled down some recently locally purchased powder and they are dated July and September of 2008.
So if the manufactures are really running at full scale and running behind the current spurt in buying and such, why are these powder manufacturing dates so old?
Are our component and ammo manufacturers using the current political atmosphere to manipulate prices and demand?
If so, this is capitalism at it's best. LOL!!!!

 

[robocop10mm]

I am not normally a believer is conspiracy theories, but that is pretty damning evidence there. If the manufacturers are not holding back stock, someone appears to be.

 

[Texas1911]

I just received a shipment of powder.
4 -4lbs jugs, all different brands.
Everyone has a production date between August and November of 2008.
That got me thinking, so I pulled down some recently locally purchased powder and they are dated July and September of 2008.
So if the manufactures are really running at full scale and running behind the current spurt in buying and such, why are these powder manufacturing dates so old?
Are our component and ammo manufacturers using the current political atmosphere to manipulate prices and demand?
If so, this is capitalism at it's best. LOL!!!!

There is such a thing as an order backlog, and you are getting both ends of it. Both at the retailer, and the manufacturer shipping late.

It's not in the best interest of any company to withhold stock. They want to sell as much as they can produce, otherwise they make no profit. A company will not survive if it withholds 4 months of profit and production.

 

[Tired Retired]

I do not (and will not) defend what is obviously some "supply and demand" incidents which have happened lately. However, I have purchased five or six 1-pound cans of powder over the last few months and the manufacture date has been within 2 weeks of the dates I bought it. The closeness of the dates is actually what made me note it. I have also had to go to several local shops across a 50 mile area to collect what I did buy.

An observation which does not back your question is this - in each of the shops I visited, they were "out of stock" of what they normally carry. I never asked them to order anything special (like a larger can) I just asked if they had it while I was in the store doing other shopping. I did notice in one gun store that was almost completely out of everything "reloading", that a sole 4-pound can of red dot was sitting in the shelf for $85. hmmmm, when I went back to the shop a couple of weeks later, the same can was still sitting there. I ask, they said no one had wanted to buy it. Long story short, I think yours is a situation where everyone was buying what was in stock locally, but the gun stores were only re-ordering what they normally stocked. I can see that the manufacturerer may have had a stockpile of larger cans because no one was ordering it or it was moving slower.

Is something going on? Yea, I have talked to a couple of different store owners THAT I TRUST over the recent shortages of everything. Yea, I get the latest rumors (no more primers to the public, serialized bullets, recording amounts of powder you buy, etc) and they vary from store to store. The there are a few things that I have heard coming very consistently from everyone I talk to: 1) gun sales are WAY up 2) everyone is buying large quantities of ammo to stickpile, 3) the flow of guns, ammo and reloading supply has NOT decreased from distributors (its just selling faster than its being delivered), and 4) no manufacturers (gun related or car or steel or anything) wants to increase capitol investment (i.e. increase production) in this repression/depression while credit is limited or shrinking.

The answer? I believe the answer is actually long term. If we, gun owners of America, continue to place a demand on the market, buy guns, ammo and reloading supplies at this continued HIGH level for an extended period of time, we will not only see supplies increase (due to a forced capitol investment of manufacturers) but we will also secure our Second Amendment rights because it will be our dollars and our manufacturing segment of the market that kick-starts the recovery of our economy. Imagine that, its the gun buyers that saved the whole economy - who would dare try to take gun rights away then?

ok, I'm off my soap box...

 

[Texas1911]

1) gun sales are WAY up 2) everyone is buying large quantities of ammo to stickpile, 3) the flow of guns, ammo and reloading supply has NOT decreased from distributors (its just selling faster than its being delivered), and 4) no manufacturers (gun related or car or steel or anything) wants to increase capitol investment (i.e. increase production) in this repression/depression while credit is limited or shrinking.

I work for a gun store in Austin and I concur with this assessment.

The answer? I believe the answer is actually long term. If we, gun owners of America, continue to place a demand on the market, buy guns, ammo and reloading supplies at this continued HIGH level for an extended period of time, we will not only see supplies increase (due to a forced capitol investment of manufacturers) but we will also secure our Second Amendment rights because it will be our dollars and our manufacturing segment of the market that kick-starts the recovery of our economy. Imagine that, its the gun buyers that saved the whole economy - who would dare try to take gun rights away then?

This is wishful thinking. Guns are not a necessity market in the grand scheme of things. They are a luxury that requires constant maintenance (ammo). As credit and other sources of income tighten up it will hurt the consumer the most. Manufacturers are not going to risk increasing production for a number of reasons:

1. Economic Factors - As the market cools the number of buyers may increase, but it is a short lived prophecy. Investment has to factor in a long-term picture.

2. Political Environment - This is the key. Gun manufacturers are not going to heavily invest into production if they cannot guarantee their market is going to be retained over the next decades. Millions upon millions to increase production requires 20 - 40 year investment paths.

3. Dept. of Defense Spending - Will be cut over the next 4 years. This means large manufacturers like Colt will be losing SIGNIFICANT amounts of their business.

 

[MadMo44Mag]

As stated I found it odd and puzzling that the powder I have purchased in the last two months (1lbs - 4lbs - toal in 2 months 16 lbs) all has old dates back to mid and late 2008.
These all came for different sources. Like most every re-loader out there, I am searching the county side for components.
It just made me wounder if anyone else had seen this or was this just one of those things.
I was in one of my local shops last night and every can I picked up was dated in February. They now have a "limit 1 per customer" sign
I am glad to see that. No one person can buy out their complete inventory and leave nothing for the rest of us.
I bought a lb and 1000 sm pistol primers and will go back tonight for a little more - I hope! LOL!

 

[MadMo44Mag]

Something is amiss????
A friend of mine just got 2 - 4lb jugs. One was Accurate #7 and the other was Blue Dot.
The Blue Dot is dated June 2008 and the Accurate #7 is date August 2008.
This weekend I bought two 1lb canisters, both had 2008 dates.
So whats up here?

 

[TAZ]

1. Economic Factors - As the market cools the number of buyers may increase, but it is a short lived prophecy. Investment has to factor in a long-term picture.

2. Political Environment - This is the key. Gun manufacturers are not going to heavily invest into production if they cannot guarantee their market is going to be retained over the next decades. Millions upon millions to increase production requires 20 - 40 year investment paths.

3. Dept. of Defense Spending - Will be cut over the next 4 years. This means large manufacturers like Colt will be losing SIGNIFICANT amounts of their business.

#2 is the biggest player in the firearms industries spike of glory. And that is exactly what it is a huge SPIKE brought on by the current political climate. Manufacturers wont invest in new equipment to churn out more guns or mags or ammo because they know that the high civilian demand will go down eventually. They are also pretty sure that DoD demand will also go down as Obama and company gut the DoD like Carter did. Then you add into the mix the anti gun belives of the adnimistration and you add an even bigger guarantee that the industry wont invest.

 

[MadMo44Mag]

Conspiracy ended!!!!

Well, well, got a e-mail this morning from one of the powder co., as I e-mail them with my question before I ever started this tread.
Per this e-mail there "WAS' an issue with one of the major wholesale suppliers not rotating stock that supposedly has been corrected.It seems I was not the only one that had noticed the dates being so old as they had received a number of e-mails asking the same question.
The powder manufactures want their product moved out as fast as possible with the most current date possible. Sort of like a "freshness" date sales tool.
It's nice too know I was not the only one questioning the dates and supply and demand issues.

 

[Texas1911]

#2 is the biggest player in the firearms industries spike of glory. And that is exactly what it is a huge SPIKE brought on by the current political climate. Manufacturers wont invest in new equipment to churn out more guns or mags or ammo because they know that the high civilian demand will go down eventually. They are also pretty sure that DoD demand will also go down as Obama and company gut the DoD like Carter did. Then you add into the mix the anti gun belives of the adnimistration and you add an even bigger guarantee that the industry wont invest.

Indeed, there are a number of smart cats looking to the long term. As a whole the gun industry is enjoying their Golden Era before the hard times. To them, this is the roaring '20s just before the big crash.