Walked into Sportsmans Warehouse on Saturday. Ammo supply appeared down somewhat. Turn the corner and the powder and primer shelves are EMPTY. I think, "Great, another panic run." Turns out the fire department did an inspection (shouln't they be getting a cat out of a tree or something?) and told management that primer and powder have to be stored behind the counter. Oddly, plenty of highly flammable/potentially explosive stuff on the shelves of the paint, cleaning and pool supply sections of the Walmart next door.

To be honest I would never have displayed them out like that in the first place and I have never seen a gun shop do that. What most do is take some empty containers and show them as what they have available. To me there is no need to poke the bear.

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Vaya con Dios

All the gun shops I used in Ohio had their primers and powder out on on the shelves, including cases of 5000 and 8# jugs. I haven't found anyplace in IN yet that even stocks any reloading supplies.

Bass Pro here has both out together along with all the reloading supplies, brass bullets, presses. Heck I could grab some and start reloading.

Ammo is out on the shelves or is is shelf's?

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Still Running Against the Wind

My LGS has it visible but out of reach (behind counter).

same here, have to tell them how many and what kind you want.

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UNDER THE CONE OF SILENCE

In Texas, it's both. Cabela's has promo powder and primers out where you can grab them. The bulk of it is behind the counter.

The LGSs are mixed also - depending on shelf space.

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But then, what do I know?

Where I am in IL it is out on the shelf for you to help yourself. At gun shows it is stacked out on the table.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

I suspect this will vary depending on the paranoia of your local fire inspector.

The one in Tucson on Costco drive by any chance?
I was in there last Friday and noticed the same thing.

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Hold my beer and watch this!

73% of all regulations are made up on the spot, as are 86% of all statistics.

Back when we had a Sportsman's Warehouse a few years ago, they kept only empty powder cans on the shelf as display items, with full cans in the back. But the primers were out where you could get them. By the way, at the gun show this weekend, it seemed that primer prices were up $3-$4 per thousand over last month's prices. I couldn't find any under $35/K, and some dealers were asking over $40. Last month, I bought some there for $30/K, including tax.

Chicken Little effect again.

No, the one in Mesa.

Our LGS has both primers and powder on display on a shelf behind the counter. The powder cans are full: when you want one, the salesman grabs it off the shelf and hands it to you. Of course, this is El Paso which is 15 years at least behind the times. Fortunately we don't still have gunfights in the streets; the guys across the border want things quiet here so they can transship their drugs.

(edited to add) I forgot to mention that Ron Peterson's great gun store in Albuquerque has their powder and primers out on shelves accessable to the public. You pick them up and take them to the counter to pay.

The Fin, Feather and Fur in Ashland, Ohio. I drop in once a month. No shortages here. This is their basement floor reloading department.

Four rows of powder, four rows of bullets (plus the bulk bin) and one full row of primers.
That's brass along the back wall and reloading manuals on the far right.

I didn't take a photo of the other half of the place. 180 degrees from this picture there are five full rows of reloading gear: one row of Lyman, one row of RCBS, two rows of Hornady and one for Lee.

Uh, no smoking - okay?