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Out "N About: Bad news on prices may not be so bad

January 18, 2009|BUD BARNARD

I have received some news that, while I don't have it in black and white, can be taken as the way things will happen, at least for the time being.

Because of what I found out from a friend who attended a trade show this last weekend, the outlook for the shooting public might not be as dim as it has looked for the last several months.

This friend is telling me that because the U.S. economy isn't the only world economy that has tanked as of late, the raw materials, specifically those used in the manufacture of ammunition are not as much in demand, and those countries that are sending us ammunition as imports are going to slightly decrease their prices overall, or at least that is what I'm hearing.

Two of these foreign ammunition suppliers are PMC of Korea and Wolfe of Russia. That doesn't mean that the domestic ammunition companies are going to decrease their prices, but it surely means that their prices will not rise to the significant amounts we were all expecting. The ballpark figure I'm hearing is about a 3 percent increase.

I have another friend that has received his Cabela's shooting catalog, and the prices in his catalog reflect all of the significant increases that we all thought were going to come about at the beginning of the year. Let's just say that all of the prices were significantly higher. He was incensed at some of the prices.

Will this all happen the way I'm stating? I can't say that it will, and I can't say that it won't. We will all just have to observe for ourselves what happens.

However, I do know that the raw materials prices are rising again, and that these prices will increase. How much is anybody's guess.

I have also heard that gun prices are not going to rise as much. Maybe the panic buying can be curtailed somewhat for the time being, anyway.

I talked to another gun dealer the other day who confirmed that he thought the panic buying was slowing down to a crawl, that it was about over with, as he put it.

There were ARs in the racks in all but one of the stores that my friend and I visited week before last. So, I guess that those that were going to buy bought, and those that were not going to didn't.

I believe we have some respite for the time being. Maybe things won't change as much as we have all been told that they will. Then again, maybe we are in the eye of the storm.

* * *

I talked to someone recently about the ducks and geese in the area, and he opined that the cold weather would have a negative effect on the birds that would be in this area now.

Because the colder weather would freeze up all of the open water, except maybe for the main lakes, the birds coming down from northern climes would push on through the state of Kentucky and fly farther south to warmer climes.

This person said that the birds here now would probably also leave soon.

Both seasons will end this month. You should keep checking the dates to make sure you remain legal.

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