Quote of the day—Chris Metz

We currently have over a year’s worth of orders for ammunition in excess of $1 billion. With demand far outstripping supply and inventory levels in the channel at all-time lows, we see strong demand continuing, and this metric informs our viewpoint of what a recovery or normalization could look like.

Chris Metz
CEO of Vista Outdoor Inc.
November 5, 2020
Vista Outdoors reports ammunition backlog of over $1B
[We live in interesting times.—Joe]

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8 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Chris Metz

  1. Fascinating. And we’re told all is fine, nothing to worry about and yet there is a backlog of billions of rounds of ammo. Likely tens of billions. That’s a lot of ammo going into safes and closets. For what purpose, the media may ask? But won’t because the answer would force them to advertise truths they don’t want known that Americans wants and will keep their guns.

  2. It isn’t just ammo. It is primers. I don’t know how many companies actually manufacture primers but I’d love to know just how backlogged they are and just how many primers are being manufactured.

    I might not be able to get a handle on total number of rounds manufactured per year, but number of primers is likely to be a good indicator as it includes reloaders and all the small scale ammo producing manufacturers.

  3. One of the biggest bottlenecks is in powder. As most is produced outside the US. Why? When we consume more than the rest of the world combined?
    I worked in a gun store. Almost every can of powder on the shelf was made in Belgium, Canada, or Australia.
    I can’t say for sure. Might be some large ammo producers make their own just for themselves?
    But I so enjoy the thought of a good conspiracy!

  4. Another thing to keep in mind is that in previous years, ammo manufacturers were supplying tons of ammo to law enforcement agencies. With all the defunding going on, I would imagine that most of the big metro (blue) cities aren’t spending much on ammo now – although maybe some of the slack is being taken up by smaller, red cities. I’d be interested in seeing a graph showing the relative purchasing between private and governmental agency ammo purchases.

    • I can buy that theory but I’d want to see some confirmation. Remember that some of those cities are hard blue strongholds and disapprove of officers doing any practice with their duty weapons (was it NYC where each cop got issued one box — fifty rounds — per YEAR for practice shooting?).

  5. Our sales at UltiMAK this year are double those of last year. That’s in actual units, too, as our prices have remained the same. We still have a significant backorder list, which is not yet counted in the sales figures.

    Each sale we make represents someone upgrading a semi-automatic fighting rifle to improve targeting speed and expand low ambient light targeting capability , with the Kalashnikov being the most common platform thus enhanced.

    So yeah, I think it’s safe to say; it’s not about duck hunting.

    And if you’ve been a gun owner for some years and didn’t already have a supply of ammo AND some reloading capability, prior to this year, you’re doing it wrong. Let the newbies fight over the low inventories. Some of us can wait this out with no issues.

    By all means be armed, but understand at the same time that our guns aren’t going to save us or this country.

  6. The news is not good, in either the large or small picture. I would like to think that it can only get better, but we can hardly be certain of that. Our principle peril at this time is neither the Holy War nor the stock market, but rather a general loss of character evident in public life at all levels. “A nation without God does not have a prayer.” That may be our problem. — Col. Jeff Cooper

    Martin Luther’s way of speech, as I see it, was strikingly similar to that of Cooper, but Luther would have said, “That IS our problem”. They were both soldiers, of a kind.

    We must understand however that if “god and guns” were the secret to liberty, peace and prosperity, the Middle East would have been the most liberated, peaceful and prosperous region on Earth for many generations. And so we have to discuss which “god” we’re talking about; the one of the Bible, or the one imposter behind the various and sundry counterfeits. And so it is one thing to acknowledge that “we need God”, as many do, yet it is quite another thing to get it right. Jesus told his disciples, “Take heed lest any man deceive you.” The actual guns are at best ancillary.

    Cooper was apparently unaware of prophesy, which tells us things will get better, even unimaginably so, but only after they get much worse, the grand prize as it were going to “he who overcomes the world” (rather than being a part of it).

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