Guns, Holsters and Gear has a table showing a comparison of ammunition prices over the past two years. The price increases are staggering. An extreme example is Wolf .223 55 gr FMJ which has gone from $2.48 in January 2007 to $7.97 this month (November 2008)!

My prediction is that price increases will ease off by the end of 2009 and prices may decrease by the end of the following year (2010). My reasons for this are two fold:

1) The Afgan, Iraqi, and US ammunition dumps should be pretty full by then, or full enough to ease off on the purchasing, thereby decreasing demand and price.

2) With the global economy as it is, copper, lead and steel demand should drop off. The Gun Nut reports lead is dropping, although lead represents only a small percentage of the price of ammo.

Maybe my predictions will be way off. I hope not!