Primer Shortage?

[jmpgfoto]

Powder, powder everywhere, BUT NO PRIMERS!

2/10/2013 Got the urge to reload a bunch of 38 & 357 but found that no one has primers (or bullets, but I have plenty of those). No primers within 100 miles and only one online retailer with high prices, a limit of two boxes, and higher Haz-Mat fee than anyone else! Seems the shortage has several reasons. People are buying firearms and ammo at panic speed so local retailers have to limit ammo purchases plus firearms are in short supply. Manufacturers are sucking more bullets and primers out of the market to make loaded ammo and reloaders (like me) are also in panic mode and trying to buy everything we can get our hands on! This makes ALL small pistol primers scarce as hen's teeth. On the forums I see people talking about using small rifle primers or magnums instead of SPP, something that (in my opinion) can screw up your loading and be dangerous in some cases. Most retailers I talked with think this will pass and supply will return to normal (at higher prices) but estimates run from a week or so to many months! I understand component manufacturers are running at maximum output but dont' want to expand personnel or machinery since they don't know what Uncle Sam will do (new laws) and they don't want to invest in more manufacturing capacity that might sit idle in the future. I guess we'll all either have to pay the price to opportunist sellers who have stock or sit back and wait for supply to catch up with demand. It is kind of bummer when you're in the mood to reload and can't get the parts!

 

[jmpgfoto]

Might be unhappy if that ever happened but most likely many will be illegal! Supreme court has already spoken and outlawing firearms is a no-no. They basically said government can make rules and regulate but not outlaw!

 

[jmpgfoto]

I tend to agree. Eventually demand will decrease and supply will catch up. Of course those people who panic and stock up now at exorbitant prices may end up with a lot of expensive stock in their reloading closet. Biggest bummer is wanting to do a bunch of reloading and not being able to get the components!

 

[Skip Sackett]

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHH CRRRRRRRUUUUUUUDDDDDDD!

I knew I was forgetting something! I need a "DUR" tattoo on my forehead!
I forget so much stuff anymore, I am wondering if it isn't the onset of dementia!

I opened a cabinet that I haven't been in for a while and low and behold, right there, sitting on the shelf, 4000 MORE PRIMERS! UUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHHH!

They are a bit old, from 2007, but they are also Federal. 2000 small and 2000 large pistol primers. Man, what a dipstick!

Well, I did remember a friend of mine though. I saw that he had put on Facebook that he had used the last of his small pistol primers while loading some 40S&W for his Glock 22. So, tomorrow, when I am in the factory where he works, I am going to gift him 200! I bet he falls off of his chair! hahahaha

If he does, I will post a picture of him falling!

 

[ladyT]

It's on on GB & other auction sites being sold by the hoarders....

And gun shops. Lets not forget those LGS's that choose to sell on gunbroker to the exclusion of their customers who come into their shop only to be told that their ammo can be bought on gunbroker.

One thing I know for sure is many shops will close because they have mistreated their customers.

 

[richeyo2]

You mean those that are making use of our free market system, right?
Because, anything else is akin to communism. If someone didn't watch the political scene and begin to prepare back in June or July for last November, they deserve to be gouged and taken advantage of. Most likely, they were caught with their pants down in 2008 too and NOW, it is someone else's fault that they cost so much.......stupid.

Is it a retailer's business to keep things at a price that you like to pay for things when they get scarce or is it your job to be prepared in the eventuality of a shortage?

And, no, us hoarders are not selling anything........that's not what we do, we hoard. I have yet to sell the first primer that I own. I am adding to my collection of them though.........hoarding....

I have no problem w/people buying all they want. I understand the free market & have no problem w/that. I've been buying ammo for years using what I call the "box a week plan".

I used the hoarding word incorrectly. Hoard all you wish as well as I will.

My only issue is like what's happening around here/me. You have LGS owners going into a Walmart buying up all the stock & turning around selling it at double to triple the price. You also have people (some that don't even shoot) that get in good w/store managers or associates & get them to hold back supplies so they can scoop it up in order to flip for a profit.

I guess I don't consider that free market when you're getting things put back through connections in order to make a huge profit. I believe that type of activity is wrong & also I'm pretty sure that would be against most companies policies. If you're buying it for you through sources everyone has I see no problem, but that's not what's happening around me anyways. Workers are getting paybacks for holding items in the back.

Maybe I'm wrong, but wanted to just voice how I really felt about the situation & correct how I used the term hoarding.

 

[Dave T]

Is it hoarding to stock up so you don't run out?

As for the claim that they (manufacturers) are shipping all they can make, why then have all the on-line dealers and suppliers (at least those I do business with like Powder Valley & Berry's Mfg.) refuse to take orders or even back orders. If you can't buy anything where is all this supply we're told about going?

The Constitution is on it's last legs, thanks to the Democrats tactics and the Republicans spinelessness. When they finally kill the Second Amendment this republic is done for.

Dave

 

[Rollbar]

Just bought 1k of CCI LArge Pistol primers. $38.99

They had a whole lot of them in CCI/Federal and rifle/Shotgun primers at the local store.

 

[blujax01]

When President Obama makes the expected announcement in March that the United States has signed the Small Arms Disarmament Treaty with the United Nations, and that possession of a gun after 30 days will be a felony conviction punishable by three years in a FEMA Labor Camp, all the folks sitting on thousands of dollars of ammo and hundreds of guns will be quite unhappy.

Unhappy, yes.

But not for the reason you intimate...

 

[blujax01]

Just bought 1k of CCI LArge Pistol primers. $38.99

They had a whole lot of them in CCI/Federal and rifle/Shotgun primers at the local store.

Good on ya! Now start crankin' out those 45's.

*I used to wait for the $29.99 sales. Now anything under $40 and I'm on it!

 

[Skip Sackett]

When President Obama makes the expected announcement in March that the United States has signed the Small Arms Disarmament Treaty with the United Nations, and that possession of a gun after 30 days will be a felony conviction punishable by three years in a FEMA Labor Camp, all the folks sitting on thousands of dollars of ammo and hundreds of guns will be quite unhappy.

Not near as unhappy as those without them! Just to put things in perspective. I plan on keeping both and NOT going to a FEMA Labor Camp.

Oh, and there is this little thing about Congress ratifying treaties that is still part of the Constitution. They cannot even pass a budget. Do you think they will pass a treaty as volatile as this one?

 

[Skip Sackett]

Using reloading components as bartering chips has begun!!!!!

My taxidermist and friend needs to load 2000 9MM, he has no primers! I laughed out loud when he told me! Then a thought came to me: He is doing two deer heads for you this year, silly, give him some primers and have him take the value off of the mounts.

He went to a local gun store and they had them for $70/1000 and he didn't want to pay that. I bought these Federal Small Pistol primers in '07 for $20/1000. When I asked what he would take off of the mounts for 2000 of them, he said: I don't know, what do you want for them? I told him $40/1000 and that was almost half price of what he could get them from an LGS for. He said: "Okay, THANKS!" I told him he was welcome.

 

[imashooter2]

Suppose I shoot 5,000 large pistol and 5,000 small pistol a year and suppose I've lived through the last decade or so and further suppose I have a couple of dollars in my pocket and the bills are paid...

Why wouldn't I maintain 15 - 20,000 primers on hand? They won't go bad and they won't get any cheaper in the future.

I like to shoot and I've made sure that I can continue to do so and ride out any temporary shortages or panic buying. This panic will pass and I will refresh my stores at my leisure.

Folks morally opposed to such "hoarding" are free to sit at home complaining while I shoot.

 

[Old Seabee]

Primers

Gander Mtn had 2,000 Mag small pistol $ 3.99 a pack wow ! Bought 3 hundred will wait to see if they will come down soon ? Wrong

 

[Ceapea]

Shortage?
It all depends on where you live! For the record, I live in a "shortage" area.
A guy that I work with, said a friend of his was in a store "down south", Tennessee I think, and they had pallets full of primers. He called my friend and my friend and his father said "pick me up 10,000 LPP"! (He didn't say what they paid though.)
The guy did, and now they have primers "up north".
They're out there (primers that is), you just gotta know where they are.

 

[oldman10mm]

At the 2 gun shows(Medina & Berea) in Ohio today,primers were plentiful,typically 36-40 a brick for the common ones-SP-LP-SR-LR and 45-50 a brick for CCI #41-5.56 and CCI #34-7.62. Powders seem to be getting in short supply.

 

[fyimo]

Actully primers can still be found where I live but expect prices to be $45 to $50 a thousand or nearly double what they were before. I've even heard that at some gun shows prices being $75 a thousand. I do think in 3 to 6 months the prices will drop a lot as the manufacturers respond to the current shotage. I worked in manufacturing all of my business career and if there is demand companies respond by ramping up production and will pay overtime to try to reach the demand for their product.

 

[Old Seabee]

Primers

Maybe should have bought all but if price is going that hi will look again in AM . I hate this sittuation . I feel like a no legged dog covered with fleas.

 

[SMSgt]

Using reloading components as bartering chips has begun!!!!!

My taxidermist and friend needs to load 2000 9MM, he has no primers! I laughed out loud when he told me! Then a thought came to me: He is doing two deer heads for you this year, silly, give him some primers and have him take the value off of the mounts.

He went to a local gun store and they had them for $70/1000 and he didn't want to pay that. I bought these Federal Small Pistol primers in '07 for $20/1000. When I asked what he would take off of the mounts for 2000 of them, he said: I don't know, what do you want for them? I told him $40/1000 and that was almost half price of what he could get them from an LGS for. He said: "Okay, THANKS!" I told him he was welcome.

I'll see your deer head and raise you 2000 primers.

 

[jmpgfoto]

Like most things these days there are too many rumors and too few facts. For anyone desperate for primers and other reloading supplies, they are available on GunBroker.com but you won't like the prices. I've talked with Federal, a number of gun shops and reloading specialists and most have the same story. The manufacturers are running full capacity 24/7 but can't keep up with demand. Panic buying and hoarding are keeping the shelves empty. It's not a government conspiracy but does have a lot to do with Obama and the anti-gun zealots talking about bans which has pushed people into a buying frenzy. All the LGS have nothing to sell! Most firearms are sold out, no ammo for popular calibers, and little in the way of reloading supplies. A few sources are quoting 20-36 weeks before primers will be available but that is only their guess. Federal said they ship daily but things sell before they hit the shelves. Their only guess is that the shortage will continue until people stop hoarding!