I read that .22 mag is only produced maybe once a year, right now it seems .44 mag is slim pickings, even .45 auto seems to be hit or miss. Are calibers only produced a couple times a year?
You would think staples have their own production line and run flat out, maybe I think production is larger than I assume. When one site brings a caliber in stock and I’ll use .44 mag as an example here, with in a week it shows up at many online retailers.
Yes, several cartridges are only done in short production runs. it’s a matter of time and cost for retooling the production line for a particular cartridge.
For instance 25-20 and 32-40 are still produced, but only one run a year. So ya gotta git it fast and as much as you can afford.
As far as being seasonal I’m not sure. Could be the production is the same but the demand and availability varies with the season (hunting) or they adjust for that. There are probably many other factors depending on the manufacturer.
Regarding it showing up at retailers at the same time, I suspect they get from the same distributors. When the distributor gets it they split it up and ship it all out to the retailers at the same time. Maybe some retailers are closer than others or list stuff for sale before they actually get it.
Hopefully as conflicts subside there will be more availability.
Would one think that 9mm has its own line and runs all year long? I guess without knowing the amount of orders, that really couldn’t be answered.
Hunting rounds I can see being one or two production runs, just seems odd that a round I’m waiting on, once in stock at one retailer seems to show up everywhere. And once gone, it’s gone everywhere.
If production lines need to be retooled then it makes sense for the boom and bust cycles.
Sam at SGammo will give some insight into the business with his blogs on purchases he makes, how he makes them and when he makes them, seems he is always waiting on the factory, didn’t know if it’s just, they can’t keep up with orders or everyone is waiting for production to start up again.
35 Remington is a good example of this. It’s the kind of cartridge shooters will put 20, maybe 50 downrange per year, but mostly used for hunting.
300 WinMag is another example of a popular round but with low usage. Most hunters will pop off three, maybe five rounds to sight in at the beginning of the season, and then use another few rounds during hunts. Then the rifle just sits for another 10 months.
During the peak of ammo shortages, some manufacturers do not retool at all. 9mm lines were not retooled for .380, leaving .380 shooters hung out to dry.
Hunting Shot shells are definitely seasonal. Ran my case dry one year and it was a bitch getting more.
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