$100 a box .380s

[196kirka]

Saw something interesting while browsing through a flea marktet a couple of days ago.

Saw a table that had a box of Winchester white box bulk pack (100 rd box) of .380 FMJ ball. I looked at the price and it was $100. I asked the guy if that was correct. He said that ".380s are hard to get". Wow, a buck a shot. I bet the box was not even full.

Saw a guy that had a box of Remington 8mm Mauser. The price was $10. I thought that was good and looked in the box to see if it was full. All the rounds were foreign military FMJ with 50s headstamps. I did not get it because I got plenty of Romanian and Yugo 8mm. I think you can still get corrosive mil 8mm for less than $10 a box of 20. The guy did say that the rounds WERE Remington.

Everybody is out to make the big buck.

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[0311Shooter]

Not surprised. Gun show last weekend, huge crowd. Walking through I kept hearing "no .380 ammo".

Obvious that most people have ramped up their personal protection and the usual choice for many guys, and to equip their wives, is a concealable 380.

Sure glad that I have a pretty good supply that I "hoarded" a couple years ago.

[conductor]

It's interesting what people say about current prices on ammo. I posted a mesage on another board concerning a local gun store that had some .380 ammo priced at $31.95 a box. They only had 5 boxes, and all were sold within an hour. One of the regulars on that board claimed that the store owner was "price gouging" by selling the ammo for $31.95 a box.
At a large gun show last weekend, I saw .380 selling at $60 and $70 a box. The guy at the table next to mine sold 4 boxes at $60 each, and the buyers were happy to get it.
When you consider the fact that .380 is nearly impossible to get, and the dealer has to pay over $25 a box for it, then $31.95 ain't too bad.
Some people, though, still want to buy it at $12 a box. And they don't seem to understand that a dealer can't sell stuff for less than he pays for it and still stay in business.

[Ken C.]

I would like to say I saw it coming, but I didnt. I bought a bullet mould and loading dies for the .380 a year or so back, figuring it would probably be a P.I.T.A. to reload the little buggers, but willing to give it a try. After reading this thread, Im glad I did.

[RoninPhoenix]

I would like to say I saw it coming, but I didnt. I bought a bullet mould and loading dies for the .380 a year or so back, figuring it would probably be a P.I.T.A. to reload the little buggers, but willing to give it a try. After reading this thread, Im glad I did.

.380 isn't hard to reload, and those little 95grain lead bullets work just fine.
lee makes a little mould for about 15 bucks. I have also used a 9mm 124grain cast lead bullet in the .380 in a keltec and it also worked.

[Ken C.]

".380 isn't hard to reload, and those little 95grain lead bullets work just fine.
lee makes a little mould for about 15 bucks. I have also used a 9mm 124grain cast lead bullet in the .380 in a keltec and it also worked."

I discovered that, Ron. I did wind up loading about 6 boxes last year and they were no problem after figuring out the best die adjustment.The little stingers work nicely in the .38 Special, (and probably the 9 m/m) as well as the .380, depending on how they are sized, and would probably do okay in the .357, but I dont know. At any rate, I was in the Dicks Sporting Goods store today and out of curiosity asked about .380 ammo. As it happened, they were out of stock, but their current price for 50 was 18. bux, not so much different than the 14. something I paid over a year ago.

[phil441]

While on the subject of 380's.
I have a yellow box of CCI LAWMAN 380 Auto 88Gr JHP given to me some time ago.
I opened it up to do an inventory and found that the foam rubber inside the box had turned to goo. The hollow points were filled with the stuff and the bullets were coated with it.
Emails to Omark and Speer were never answered. Guess they're just interested in selling the new stuff. 'Can't blame them......
Does anyone have any ideas on how to clean up this mess without rendering the cartridges useless?
TIA, Phil

Should I start a new thread? I don't know how many folks would be interested in this problem.
Any thoughts????

[JB White]

Lighter fluid on a rag and wipe wipe wipe.

A reloader I dealt with recently mentioned he was inundated with requests for 380's from local police departments. They can't even find factory bulk for range practice.

This will all level out as it always does, so don't expect the manufacturers to ramp up production to meet this most recent demand. It makes much more sense to maintain current production within certain parameters. Parameters that don't allow for extra tooling, staff, and warehouse space etc. They can raise the price at the retail level and increase profits without any increase in overhead.
By not meeting the temporary extra demand, there is no need to increase their demands on raw materials either. That means the rising costs of metals and chemicals will not artificially rise for them either.

Once the Chicken Little panic fizzles, then hoarding stops and the demands level off. There will not be staff layoffs, idle production equipment, or surplus stockpiles taking up valuable storage space awaiting distribution. Raw materials will still be at near pre-panic levels for them.
However, the market has already shown it will tolerate higher prices and those will for the most part stay in effect. People will then cheer for sale prices that are actually yesterdays list prices or higher.

Those who had the foresight to buy stock in munitions companies will turn out in much better shape than those who stockpiled the "perishable" goods.

[joem]

A couple of weeks ago I loaded 500 or so .380's. Maybe I should start selling them.

[196kirka]

Back around the end of March I went to a gun show. Got there when the show opened. I went immediately to a couple of tables where some guys always sell powder, primers, cast bullets and reloaded rounds. There were no .355, 100 gr. cast bullets, no reloaded .380 rounds. Other tables that sell factory and "remanufactured" ammo had no .380s (they did not have any 9mm, 40 S&Ws either). Found one table where a guy had a zip lock bag with supposedly 50 rounds of reloaded .380 with 100 gr. plated bullets. He wanted $36 for the bag. I would imagine he sold that bag long before the show was over. Funny how you could buy a new or used .380 pistol at the show (if willing to pay the price) but could not find ammo to do any shooting or plinking with. I have loaded up 100 rds to do some 15 yrd shooting. I will not be shooting the little Mak and Llama as fast as I used to.