Sounds like a joke doesn’t it? Well this morning I went to my local dealer that stocks A few loading components. I stop in from time to time for supplies and noticed they had several kinds of powder, none of which I use though. The store was elbow to elbow with buyers panic buying guns and on my way out I asked a clerk if he had any primers. To my surprise he said he just got some so I asked the price. I said I’d like two boxes of small pistol and one magnum small pistol. He returned in a couple of minutes with three 100 packs and I said no I’d like boxes of 1000.

Foolish me, he said no deal so I said how much for the 100’s. Well I shouldn’t have been shocked but I was when he said $30/100. When I pulled myself up from the floor, I said you’re kidding, right? Again he said no, this is the price. My last words as I walked out were, no way! That’s nuts!!!

$300/thousand seems to be getting more and more common.

I drive up the dead end road into the forest. At the end is my LGS, his home overlooks the mountains.

The shop is off to the side and there is a truck in front. I go inside and look around. One other person.

Ammo in most calibers is stacked as deep as you'd like to see (.223 is limited) and a prices a little higher than this spring, but very reasonable compared to the horror stories I read about..

Got 2000 LPP a few days ago.. $49.95 / 1000... thought that was high, but wanted a few extra..

Hopefully you didnt buy the powder. Local guys that do this are cutting their own throats. Why I pretty much have always bought online.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I have plenty of powder and primers but I’m always on the lookout for more. I live in a very small Town with three gun stores but only one has any (overpriced) loading supplies. No one around me carries much more than two or three pounds of powder and a few primers when times are good. I used to buy from another dealer who had to order it when he got enough orders to make it worth while but he’s cut his shop in half and doesn’t get any loading supplies anymore.

I started buying on line but you know the story, none to be had there either. I’m good for some time but always on the lookout for more.

You pay that price, they'll keep asking that price . . . and more.

I've been looking for .22 Magnum for the last several days, found one box of 200 rounds of CCI today at a gunshop I rarely visit. Price was $80 for 200 rounds, or $.40 per round. I took it, but shook my head the whole way out of the store.

Went in 3 different gun stores today, all Mom and Pop stores. It looked like Christmas Eve at Macey's in all of them. people lined up at the counters, ID in hands and filling out paperwork, with rifle and pistol boxes all over the countertops. I can sort of see why there's no ammo available with so many people buying guns, but have these new buyers thought for a minute what they are going to feed their new toy with?

They aren't thinking about it. They will worry about that later.

I stopped at a store and noticed a box of federal match large rifle primers on the shelf (i.e., 10x100). As I reached for it to look at someone else grabbed it.

Gun show price this weekend for small pistol primers was $20 / tray of 100.

I, however, have been stocking up for several years. Every time I went to a gun show, I'd come back with a brick or three of primers, at $35 / 1000. So now I'm sitting on a pile of them.

Most dealers hold back a box or two of ammo to sell to a new gun buyer. The panic buyers aren't going to shoot a lot. A box or two may last them a long time. I saw a guy buy a new AR yesterday at my LGS. He bought 3-30 round mags and 120 rounds of .223 55 grain and some cleaning supplies. I figured he'd try 10 rounds per mag, clean it, and put it away. I know people who bought ARs and AKs right after the first Obama election and haven't fired them since. I was at the range with one of those folks a week ago. He'd bought a GI mag, loaded it to the top, and let it sit for 12 years and, of course, the firearm jammed. I let him use one of my magpuls and we were off to the races.

Thank goodness I reload and have a stock of supplies.

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SWCA 3417 HF 642 NRA-TC

Man, I thought the $200 per brick I saw at the Lakeland show today was outrageous. But $300 a brick? I’d be picking myself up off the floor too. At a LGS, no less. Gouging/scalping is what I expect from individuals and on gunbroke, but it seems so unethical for an established dealer to do it. And why is there such a disparity in price? I’ve seen a lot of posts in threads where quantity was limited, but prices are in the $45-$50 per brick range.

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USS Brewton FF1086
SWCA#3597

Ya got teeth dontcha?

A year ago I thought $30 for a brick was insane.

When everything calms down I think prices will come down. Right now it’s all about supply and demand but eventually producers will get caught up. There’ll be a glut then and prices will come down. They might settle a little higher but prices go up constantly anyway. When I was a kid in the mud 60’s we bought Winchester super X for under 50 cents a box at the hardware store.

When supplies and ammo were plentiful I stocked up. I’d buy primers when I saw them cheap and take $100 a month to Walmart and buy 5 boxes of bulk Federal LR’s. I’m in good shape for quite a while but keep my eyes open for a bargain.

I bout that most of the people panic buying guns will make a hint of shooting. I’m guessing they want a couple boxes for self defense and when things calm down they’ll stick their guns away and never buy another box of ammo. Hopefully people will calm down.

I don’t usually buy factory ammo but when Walmart sold off their handgun ammo I bought a bunch. This week I sold my dealer several boxes of 380 at a reasonable price and made enough to buy a new toy. My dealer had some of it sold before I left the store.

Same ... every show for 5+ years I came home with 1 or more bricks. So glad I forked out the money then. The price tags on my CCI SPP show $24 to $25.

Looking on the top shelf of my supply cabinet I can see two cartons of primers. One is Remington large pistol primers, 5000, unopened. The other is CCI small pistol, 3000 remaining. A couple of opened boxes that I have been using over the past few months.

I used to think my gun safe held some high dollar stuff! I should probably call my State Farm agent and make sure my homeowners policy is up to date.

$30 per hundred? I remember $0.89 per hundred!

Next thing we know someone will tell us the Dow Jones Industrial Average has topped 30,000, or regular gasoline costs more than minimum wage.

Probably should have held onto that first house, on the old Macon Road near Columbus, Georgia. Cost me $9300 with a no-money-down VA loan at $88 per month and darn near scared me to death at the time. I probably couldn't afford that today.

[QUOTE=LoboGunLeather;

Probably should have held onto that first house, on the old Macon Road near Columbus, Georgia. Cost me $9300 with a no-money-down VA loan at $88 per month and darn near scared me to death at the time. I probably couldn't afford that today.[/QUOTE]

But working in Colorado would have been a long commute each day. Larry

Two reasons! First there are all kinds of flukes happening everyday all over the world but they don't happen too everybody everyday. Second not everybody tells the truth. Larry

What someone is willing to pay depends on his forecast for the future.

Some people think the present pricing/availability is temporary and that prices will before too long return to levels not much higher than they were a year ago. Those people aren't going to pay the present prices. They are rolling the dice and will **** out if the situation gets worse and they find themselves unable to get any supplies when they need them.

Then you have others who think it highly likely that the situation will stay about the same if not get worse for a long time, years maybe. I'm in that group. I've been buying as many primers as I'm allowed at $15/100 recently as I think that before long that's going to look like a very good price. I'm also rolling the dice and if I'm wrong all I'm out is the money I spent unnecessarily. But I'll have ammo.

One of my favorite LGS where I trust the owner more than my family got a flyer from one of his largest distributors. They are expecting a shipment of primers by end of month and taking pre orders. His cost $150/k. Not sure where all the price raising is going on, but sometimes, me included, are too quick to blame gouging on the local dealer

If prices stay up when I’m out of supplies I’ll sell my guns and just shoot my pellet gun. Shooting is just for fun for me and I get just as much fun shooting cans with a pellet gun as I do with a 22 or anything else.

A first time gun buyer(reloader) buys a 9mm plastic bottom feeder(reloading kit)from a LGS and pays $35-$40 per box of ammo($15-$20 per 100 primers)! Us old timers refuse to pay those prices! The next time that first time buyer goes to the LGS the prices are the same so he thinks this is the normal price! Guess who the LGS is going to cater too ? ! ? US old timers must realize the prices will NEVER be what they were two years ago! Years ago, when I was shooting competition, I bought SPP at (approx.) $75.00/5000 ! Those days are LONG GONE! ! !
jcelect

Everything goes up in price. In the 60’s I paid 17.9 cents a gallon for gasoline during gas wars. There was a place in town where there were a bunch of gas stations together and they were always in a gas war. The highest price for regular at that time was 24.9 cents. It cost me $4 to fill my 65 Plymouth. Plug that in an inflation calculator and until the last few weeks gas was still equivalent to 1965 prices. Disclaimer, I live in East TN where prices have always been low.

Just saying that it’s all relative.

Edit: I was a sophomore in college in 1968. I started a business and made $14,000 a year clear money. Today you have to make a little over $104,000 to equal that after inflation is figured on.

Reading about all these crazy prices sure makes me glad I have a decent supply of components on hand already. But it also makes me sad that last year at this time I didn't invest $5000 in primers; just think how much money I could be making nowadays, selling them at $30/100.

I get the biggest grin on my face when I open a new brick and find my old receipt inside.

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"Tastes just like chicken"

That's the reality for everything. All the pricing theories, models, doctoral dissertations on price theory, are Bravo Sierra.

This is nuts. That's all I have to say.

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Expect the unexpected

Supply and demand, and competition are the factors in play. Right now demand is high, supply is down with suppliers are running full tilt. We've all read this ad nauseum.

Suppliers are charging high prices because they can. Run the prices way up and things still sell, so why not? If demand falls off they won't invest in more production capability; they weathered the spike. If demand continues, they'll eventually invest in increased capacity to increase overall revenue. Until either event happens, demand outstrips supply and prices remain high. Once it eases, they'll aim for the optimum production level where price per unit and production quantities yield the most revenue. High price and few units means low profit. Low price and high quantity means low profit. Somewhere in the middle is the most profit. Once they increase production or demand falls off, prices will fall. They will aim for the optimum sales price to maximize overall profit. Sooner or later one supplier will try to undercut the competition and we'll have the equivalent of gas wars as mentioned above.

What stifles all this is lack of competition. Consolidation of suppliers is a long term concern. If you have a corner on the supply and no one to compete with you, your prices can be far higher. There would be even more concern if we were taking about essentials. At least we can decide to hold off or not buy. Can you imagine if utilities like water and electric were unregulated monopolies? No realistic option except to pay the price, however high.

Other than my emergency stash, the last brick of SPP that I bought cost $25.00. I thought that was outrageous. I would be happy to pay that today. Hey, I got two 9mm machineguns that I have to keep fed.



I do have 20,000 rounds of 22LR that I bought at 80 cents per box of 50.

I probably have 13k primers right now. I may have paid $28 or so for the last spp and bought 3000 Federal match LPP for $45 per 1000 last year as they were getting scarce. I’ve accumulated powder the same way. I have enough to load more than I’ll shoot in several years and have a bunch loaded in each caliber that I shoot. I’ll typically load a 1000 rounds of one caliber then switch my press over to the next caliber I’m running short on and do a 1000 of those. I hate switching the press back and forth. I’d rather take some time and get it done then go play.

I made a big mistake six years ago. I decided to retire and move across the country to AZ. I sold off all of my powder and primers and one of my presses. As S..t happens, I was diagnosed with a serious illness ( since recovered ) and only moved a short distance. I sold nearly 10K SPP and 20+ pounds of 231 and 540. That’s one of those things you eventually regret. I won most of that powder in pistol competitions and had nothing in it but the fun winning it. S..T happens!

The LGS has a right to price gouge, but I'll never go back to that shop ever again. One large Houston gun range/LGS and CTD jacked up prices last go'round and I've never returned. Those jackarses aren't supporters of 2A and the shooting sports. Screw 'em.

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Μολὼν λαβέ
NRA Life Member

Factory ammo is pretty much unavailable and when you can get some, high prices make reloading with expensive components look good , if you can find all the required components. I am trying new powders, cases, and bullets . May not be the best combinations but they will go bang and do the job. We may be in for some tough times as shooters and I am too old to waste time waiting for things to get better.

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

Powder availability is spotty. I use HP38/231, HS6, CFE Pistol, a little unique, H110 and Bullseye. HP38/231 was available a few weeks ago and I picked up a couple more bottles. Prices were pre insanity prices. A couple of months ago I bought more HS6 and CFE but everything seems to have dried up again.

At the dealer that wanted $30/1000 for primers he had several pounds of WSF and Nitro 100 Accurate. He also had don shot shell powder but I’m not up on those.

Cast bullets are available if you know where to look. I just ordered 2500 hi trek coated bullets with a 5% discount and flat rate $17 priority mail shipping. Jacketed and plated are more scarce. Acme was pretty much out of everything and Missouri has a 15-16 week wait for shipping and 9mm is longer.

I’ve started preparing for 4 years of hard times. I actually started months ago. I’ve read that one certain person we’ll leave un-named wants to stop internet sales of gun parts so I loaded up on recoil springs for all my 1911’s. I bought multiples of each weight and size I use and a couple extra guide rods for my Kimber Ultras. I also ordered spare 10 round ( read 10 round ) magazines for my Ruger 10/22 and clones and my Ruger Precision. I competed for years in USPSA and have a load of 8-10 round magazines for my 1911 so I’m good there.

It doesn’t look like the panic is ending anytime soon.

I know that I will be over run long before I run out of ammo I also know that a lot will go before I do. No reason to stock 50K rounds when You will be lucky to use 1K maybe and very lucky to use 2K. Remember it's not Ma and Pa coming at You. Nuff said.

I’m not worried about being over run, I just want to be able to continue shooting during the bumps. Like I said earlier, if supplies run out I’ll fall back to my pellet pistol. Shooting is shooting in my book.

I agree that higher prices don't necessarily mean the store is gouging. I believe what my favorite LGS tells me since he's still selling powder at near pre-panic prices and his firearms aren't outrageously priced either. He told me the price of powder has been creeping up and he will have to raise his prices as current stock runs out.

Like everybody else he didn't have any primers for a while but got some in a week or so ago. He was apologizing that the price was $15/100 but said his price went up quite a bit and that's what he needs to sell them at. When he got the invoice he thought there was a mistake till he saw the price of the primers. Even at his selling price he has a limit of 200/customer, and they are selling out pretty fast. If all he cared about was profit he'd price them even higher and remove the limit, as that would maximize his profit.

Prices may or may not come down from the current level in the future but I highly doubt they'll ever get back to the pre-panic point.

I don’t blame most of the dealers for charging high prices and limiting purchases.

If they don't, the fast buck guys that are not in the business will come in, buy everything they can at the lower prices, take the goods down the road to another gun store or desperate acquaintances, mark the prices up, and make a handsome profit. If someone is going to make extra money off the current new normal situation it should be the storefront dealer who may have a business loan, employee costs, taxes, utility and insurance expenses, etc.
Recreational shooting is quickly becoming a thing of the past.
People that have ammo need to start keeping it locked up like they do their guns because the thieves know it is the easiest type of goods to move right now, and for the foreseeable future.
And for God’s sake, don’t be bragging in-person or on any sort of electronic communication platform about your stash and how much you have. That’s begging for trouble from several directions.
There are lots of people that can figure out who you are and where you live by your digital footprint in about 20 to 30 minutes.
And that’s just the junior high school-aged crooks.

You are a braver man than I about putting that information out there in the digital universe. Hope it doesn’t come back to bite you someday.

I wouldn’t be holding my breath.

Tonight at Sportmans Warehouse, $25/1000 with tax.

Watkins Glenn, my ex was from Skaneateles and been by WG many times. Beautiful area in the summer but not to fond of it this time of year.

Unfortunately it’s a little far to drive tonight.

But, this shows prices from the manufacturer haven’t gone up. Middle men distributors may be jacking prices up but not the manufacturer. For me this indicates a return to more normal prices eventually.

Thanks for posting!

Personally, I've never seen primers at $25/1000.... Much less now!

Not doubting anyone, jus' sayin'... Things are much different out here on the Left Coast!

P.S. Do they take mail orders?

Until the covid came around last year primers we’re running anywhere from $24 to mid $30’s for match primers. It’s a LOT CHEAPER in the south east.

I have several thousand Winchester primers, that I acquired several years ago, I was just going to throw them out as I use nothing but Federal primers. But now with the way things are going, I am going to save them.

So where is the best place to buy primers and powder these days?

I walked into my local reloading shop on Tuesday. They had the small pistol magnum primers I was looking for. Their policy was to only sell primers if you buy an equal number of bullets. They didn't have any .38 bullets. No wonder they have primers... I never even got to the question of cost.

Jim

As I said in another thread, cci, federal, Winchester build components and ammo. There’s more profit in building and selling ammo now with all the new shooters wanting to play with their new toys and of course the paranoia of not knowing what the democrats might do. Everything is dependent upon what the president and congress do. If they do little or nothing fears will relax and demand will drop, shelves will gradually fill back up. When that happens component backorders will get filled. I can see a federal component or ammo tax, but any kind of forced confiscation would result in the complete destruction of America. Post#41 gives me hope.

I was fortunate enough to get 1000 small pistol magnum primers at LGS a week ago. $65...ok, so last evening, I pushed the small pistol primers out of 200 pieces of 357 brass and installed the small magnum primers. These 200 and some others I rounded up, leaves me with about 700 small pistol primers and about 600 small magnum primers...that should keep me for a bit.

Robert

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Because of this scarcity of ammo, two of my good friends have asked me to teach them how to reload, along with their sons. Happy to do it, and happy to let them have a hundred or so primers and whichever powder is used. Our LGS gets in a few of this and a little of that from time to time, and while scarce and not inexpensive, it is not unavailable. I have enough powder and primers to open a store - I bought it for me a few years back before the insanity spread but I won't be giving it away or selling it willy-nilly. I'll leave that to my daughters as my executors...

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Maj, USAF, ret