As I write this article bullets, missiles bombs and tank rounds are flying all around the Ukraine. What seemed inevitable happened this morning as President Putin threatened the West not to try and stop them as the invasion began in what is reminiscent of a blitz krieg style attach from multiple fronts. Very quickly the Russian forces crippled Ukrainian Air Defenses and decimated the Ukrainian Navy.
Now ammo sales and prices are going through the roof in the USA.
As in the beginning of a Dukes of Hazzard episode, this is when the announcer says “You may be wondering how we got here, how does Russia invading the Ukraine bring on the Russian Ammo Panic part deux?”
First let’s remember that we are still bogged down in an ammunition supply chain nightmare fueled by past panic buying, first time gun buyers, a pandemic and a global shortage of components like Primers. Yes, recently things started to seemingly get better. You could find 9mm brass (new) for under 30 cents. .223 and 5.56 were coming down to below fitty cents and 7.62×39 was back to it’s traditional 20 something cents. American brands were occasionally being found in the wild at box stores and gun shops alike and the shooting world was settling into a new normal.
Even Russian Ammunition had come back to around normal after the panic that ensued after the Russian Ammunition Sanctions placed by the Biden Administration in August of 2021.
Then this happened. We woke up this morning to WAR! Then boom, pow, bang, Ammo Prices are climbing all day and distribution is drying up.
What is happening to cause ammo prices to soar and stock to plummet?
1. As the Biden Administration applies more sanctions to Russian finances, many industry leaders believe that imports other than what is already landed or on the water will be cut off. This can happen based on a multitude of scenarios with the largest one being the cutting off of Russia from the SWIFT Banking Wire System which would make it impossible for importers to pay for their ammo shipments
2. Many non-Russian imports are coming from Eastern European countries like Serbia, Turkey, Bulgaria and more. These countries will most definitely redirect ammo shipments and allocations to Ukrainian Defense Forces and Insurgent Militias.
3. Ammunition that has already arrived in the US is being prepared to be re-exported to Ukrainian Defense Forces and Insurgent Militias (we have heard from major defense contractors and ammunition distributors that they are freezing commercial sales in the US for this very purpose.
So Russian ammo makes up 40% of the US ammunition supply and it may be gone. American manufacturers are years behind on backorders and can’t keep up with stateside demand due to component shortages in primers and powders. Eastern European Countries will divert shipments from the USA to Ukraine. All this while Americans begin once again to panic buy and hoard ammunition in attempt to stock up now before prices get higher and also because they see what is happening in the Ukraine and deep down believe that it is not impossible to think that the way things are going they may need ammo in the not too distant future to protect their families, communities, nation etc.