To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. Massad Ayoob Explaining Today’s Ammo Prices To Customers C ustomers are screaming in shock tion to military efforts in the War on train their personnel with the new guns. and anger at the rise in ammo Terror, the situation has led to price Among the private citizens who conprices. Yes, it helps to explain why increases and severe shortages. stitute most of your customer base, things prices have jumped, but it’s more imporThe problem has become so significant are bad, too. Look on the Internet gun tant to put the new prices in perspective it has made national news. Police departboards. The search function at — and show you’re still delivering top ments, whose ammo budgets were largely www.gloocktalk.com, www.thegunvalue for your customers’ dollars. set in the fiscal year before prices started to zone.com, www.thefiringline.com and Over the last few months, a lot of gun skyrocket, are taking a big hit. Law www.thehighroad.org, to name a few, dealers have heard: “The price of that ammo enforcement agencies are reducing the will show long threads of discussion is how much? That’s outrageous! devoted to consumer frustration It’s a rip-off! I won’t pay it!” over the suddenly peaking ammo That’s a tough thing to hear prices. Such viewings will also when your livelihood depends give you an idea of how the on customers purchasing the shooters are dealing with it, little products you sell. If you were in of which is good news to you. the business of BSing your cusMany are doing a lot more tomers, you would have gone of their shooting with inexpenbankrupt or you’d be selling sive .22 rimfires instead of censomething else. So, it’s agreed, terfire ammo. Lower priceyou aren’t gonna blow smoke. points equal lower profits. Fact: You are not an apoloSome are talking about investgist or a shill for any ammo ing in soft-air equipment for manufacturer. training and practice instead of Fact: The problem, however, live ammo. Some firearm is still there sitting in front of instructors are considering allyou — customers won’t buy a soft air classes, because so product whose price has risen so many students say they can’t precipitously it smells like a ripafford the quantity of ammo it off or, at best, makes them feel takes to attend live-fire classes. With the surge in prices, dealers are finding their ammo they’re not getting at least fair A lot of shooters are turning to department is less visited. However, today’s ammo is a bargain. value for their dollars. reloading, many for the first time. So, how do you deal with that? This is not all bad news, since The logical and ethical way: by sharing number of shooting qualifications per year, many gun shops carry reloading equipfacts and perspectives with your customers. and reducing the number of shots fired per ment and components. However, it has qualification and during training session. been my experience that a great many Scope Of Problem Some have delayed placing newly acquired more shooters buy reloading items via the Blamed on increases in raw material patrol rifles out into the field because they Internet, thus diverting profits from storeprices and the diversion of ammo produc- don’t have enough ammo to completely front dealers. Today’s Ammo Is A Bargain I t may be time to present your customers with some perspective. The fact is, ammo prices in terms of defensive ammunition have been held down very well during the last score of years. Practice ammo has actually been proportionally cheaper for most of that time. Healthy competition is the reason. Let’s look at some numbers. Some of your most enthusiastic shooters are young guys who just recently graduated from air guns or soft air to real guns. They don’t know what factory ammo prices were before they were born. Some of your geezer customers PMC (early production box of .38 Special shown) created the “generic ammo price wars” in which customers became accustomed to dirt-cheap ammo. (in my age group) do remember, but we’ve been spoiled by the flood of cheap, generic practice ammo. I recently reread the 1986 edition of Gun Digest, published the year some of your 21-year-old customers were born. In the section on ammunition, it lists suggested retail prices. Let’s take a look at some of those. As you compare the prices, remember that generic full-metal-jacket ammo was just hitting its stride in the marketplace. The ammo was pioneered continued on page 35 32 www.shootingindustry.com • SHOT SHOW SUPER ISSUE 2008