Dear Folks,
We made a couple of predictions last month about how to prepare for 2012. If you missed it, we suggested you focus on Ammunition, which we are going to concentrate on in this article.
So, for a quick update: specifically, over the last 30 days, while we were following our own advice and preparing for 2012, we have observed that the ammunition manufacturers productions are at an all-time high and that the customer demand for ammunition is going to more than likely supersede the 2008-2009 “Election-Year Bubbleâ€.
I checked in with one of our bright kids here to find out just what he was getting from his contacts in the industry â€" what he was hearing â€" and here is a condensation of what he told me.
General Industry Sentiment â€"
During the SHOT Show we began to hear rumblings that ammunition was heating up and that scarcity would likely be a concern as the year progressed. This has begun to manifest itself in major ways already. A few examples:
A great friend of ours reported: “Just returned from all the buyer-group shows and they were crazy busy. It’s starting to look like 2009 over again; we’ve been overwhelmed since December 1st. If it continues at this pace, we are going to see some major holes in inventory. The ammo guys are talking about shortages in .223 already . . . here we go again.â€
Additionally, we have heard directly from one of the most prominent ammunition manufacturers who is reporting that they are a minimum of 60 to 90 days out on new purchase orders as of today.
Quantities of .223 and 5.56 that seemed to manufacturers at the SHOT Show like they should be plenty for the year are depleted already. Another great friend of ours had an entire warehouse of 5.56 go out in ONE purchase order!
....snipped the advertising out