Assault Rifles Selling Out, The feverish demand for military-style rifles and high-capacity ammunition magazines is outstripping supply, ahead of legislative efforts to ban them in the wake of mass shootings.
"Our phones are ringing every 10 seconds and people are saying, 'Do you have any assault rifles?'" said Dennis Pratte, owner of My Gun Factory in Falls Church, Va., a store that also sells products online. "They've sold out of just about every gun shop nationwide and just about every distributor is out of stock."
Online retailers are running out of semiautomatic rifles -- known variously as assault weapons, tactical rifles or modern sporting rifles -- and magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.
Brick-and-mortar gun shops are also working furiously to meet demand. Semiautomatic rifles, which fire one round for every pull of the trigger, and high-capacity magazines are flying off the shelves.
"The retail market is completely sold out of anything with high-capacity magazines," said Pratte. "We get people 20-deep waiting to buy."
Pratte said that he sells AR-15s as soon as they arrive at his store, before he even has the time to display them on the wall. Handguns are also hot commodities, especially from popular makers such as Smith & Wesson (SWHC), he said.
He said that prices are soaring, and not just for guns. High-capacity magazines, particularly the popular 30-round magazines, are going for $100 apiece on Gunbroker.com, a bidding site like Ebay (EBAY, Fortune 500). He said they used to sell for $15.
"Ammunition is hard to come by, as well," Pratte said, noting that ammunition for military-style semiautomatic rifles has tripled in price to about one dollar per bullet.
Online retailers have depleted their stock of magazines containing 30, 60 or even 100 rounds.
"Due to tremendous demand, high-capacity magazine orders will be delayed," reads a notice at Surefire.com, which has sold out of $179 banana-shaped magazines capable of holding 100 rounds.
Likewise, the ungainly-looking 100-round dual-drums, which resemble a pair of cans stuck together, have sold out at Cheaperthandirt.com and Impactguns.com.
Even the manufacturers are running dry. Beta Mag makes 100-round dual-drums for rifles and even handguns, including a drum for Glock, which was featured in the latest James Bond movie, "Skyfall." But it has gotten difficult to order them through the company's Web site, where the high-capacity drums are listed as "available for purchase" but "back ordered."
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"Our phones are ringing every 10 seconds and people are saying, 'Do you have any assault rifles?'" said Dennis Pratte, owner of My Gun Factory in Falls Church, Va., a store that also sells products online. "They've sold out of just about every gun shop nationwide and just about every distributor is out of stock."
Online retailers are running out of semiautomatic rifles -- known variously as assault weapons, tactical rifles or modern sporting rifles -- and magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds.
Brick-and-mortar gun shops are also working furiously to meet demand. Semiautomatic rifles, which fire one round for every pull of the trigger, and high-capacity magazines are flying off the shelves.
"The retail market is completely sold out of anything with high-capacity magazines," said Pratte. "We get people 20-deep waiting to buy."
He said that prices are soaring, and not just for guns. High-capacity magazines, particularly the popular 30-round magazines, are going for $100 apiece on Gunbroker.com, a bidding site like Ebay (EBAY, Fortune 500). He said they used to sell for $15.
"Ammunition is hard to come by, as well," Pratte said, noting that ammunition for military-style semiautomatic rifles has tripled in price to about one dollar per bullet.
Online retailers have depleted their stock of magazines containing 30, 60 or even 100 rounds.
"Due to tremendous demand, high-capacity magazine orders will be delayed," reads a notice at Surefire.com, which has sold out of $179 banana-shaped magazines capable of holding 100 rounds.
Likewise, the ungainly-looking 100-round dual-drums, which resemble a pair of cans stuck together, have sold out at Cheaperthandirt.com and Impactguns.com.
Even the manufacturers are running dry. Beta Mag makes 100-round dual-drums for rifles and even handguns, including a drum for Glock, which was featured in the latest James Bond movie, "Skyfall." But it has gotten difficult to order them through the company's Web site, where the high-capacity drums are listed as "available for purchase" but "back ordered."
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