Originally posted by: rgwalt
Originally posted by: spidey07
rgwalt, my buddy is a FFL dealer so we talk about this about every week or two.
The demand is down, slightly but not by much. The supply is up markedly from the manufacturers. It's settling down somewhat price wise but there is still a good premium, the gouging/hoarding seems to have died down.
Well, I am a fairly new gun owner and hadn't paid much attention until just as the craze was getting going, so I don't have a good feeling for what a standard complete AR would go for from a company like Bushmaster or DPMS. I do know my buddy bought a Bushmaster for $1K back in Feb, and he could probably get the same gun now for $900. I saw stacks of ARs at the last gun show I was at (about a month ago). They weren't flying off the tables. I saw ARs from DPMS for as little as $900, and upgraded versions for $1100. Literally stacked 5 or 6 deep at various tables. I am willing to bet that the dealers took a least a few of their ARs home after the weekend.
Like I said, I don't have a good feeling for what those guns should cost, but I think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I doubt AWBII is realistic before 2012. BO has to think about getting re-elected.
This being said, ammo is still in extraordinarily short supply. You would not believe what the dealers wanted for a box of basic 9mm or 45ACP FMJ brass... They were jacking the prices up by factors of 2-3. The ammo scarcity is being caused by these dealers camping out at the big box stores, cleaning them out of shipments, and then marking it up at the gun shows. The worst part is that people are buying!!! I'd rather not buy and not shoot.... Every so often I can find a decent price on some pistol ammo, so I buy it up. But then I go shoot it, so I guess you can't fault me for hording!