Is January always this Dead for Retailers & the Distribution Channel & Manufacturers ?!?!?

[ScipioAfricanus]

I haven't been into rifles for nearly as long as some of y'all have.

[I wouldn't be surprised if some of y'all served in 'Nam...]

But I don't remember it ever being like this.

Were all the rifles purchased as 2022 Christmas presents?

Did all the manufacturers furlough their employees for six weeks after Christmas?

Is the entire channel's output being redirected to the Ukraine?

Nothing on Gun Broker.

All of the retailers I know are sold out.

And when I contact my usual retailers about whether their distributors can source something, I get crickets.

Maybe it's just some weird confluence of events.

But surfing the internet right now, looking for rifles, feels kinda spooky, like you're walking into a wrecked Big Box store after a riot, where they stole all the toilet paper & the chicken & the eggs & ribeyes & the sirloins & the pork tenderloin & the designer sunglasses & whatnot.

Nothing left to purchase.

Spooky weird.

PS: Frankly there wasn't much BEFORE Christmas

Going back to late Summmer of 2022, I haven't seen many of the rifles I keep an eye on.

???????????

 

[iceng]

End of year..... SHOT show was just on... New models, etc... Normal. Annoying, but normal.

 

[E. Bryant]

I've got a few accounts with distributors, and they are flush with a bunch of stuff that customers don't want and are out-of-stock on anything desirable.