when will you buy primers?

[Cdog]

I can get imported SP & SR primers locally @ $80/K. No I don't feel comfortable paying that for them, but I still pick up a box or two when buying bullets or powder.

As I have been buying new factory loaded 9mm for less than $250/K, I have all but stopped loading them. This leaves me more breathing room for .38 Special, .357 and .38 Super.

I have plenty of most primers. Likely more than I will shoot in my lifetime. LP & LP magnum are the least populated on my shelf. I load standard pressure .45 Colt, .45 ACP, and .41 Rem Mag. on a regular basis, so I'm always on the lookout for those. I've been fortunate enough to trade a couple thousand LR for more LP in the last year or so.

Today if I find any I can use in the $50 range I'll likely buy all they'll sell me.(or all my wallet can take.)

 

[tops]

I have always shot more .22s than center fire so now I'm shooting more and more .22s. .22s are cheaper than primers and since I'm not reloading I have more time to eat ice cream and watch old westerns on tv. Larry

 

[Nevada Ed]

As a matter of fact, I just picked up a 1,000 Rem SPP from one of the members
for a trade for a flat, with ten one time opened factory boxs and a bag
that had 255, one time fired, factory .410 hulls.

Sometimes money does not have to trade hands, if you have the right stuff.

Back to loading 9mm, 38 & 357 again.

Can't wait untin the snow melts and the outdoor range has dry footing again, for all my guns !!

 

[Luke Duke]

After we quit supplying the Ukraine with small arms and ammunition!

 

[mike campbell]

My last trip into Cabellas they had plenty of ammo and primers but they were selling them at gunshow prices. I Think they found out what we will pay and the price won't come down far. I remember the Arab embargo in '73-'74. gas went from 35 cents a gallon to 80+ and has never come back down.
SWCA 892

Really?
According to titemax.com:

In 1973 the national average was $.39 ... that's $2.59 in today's dollars.

From 1990-2003 the national average ranged from $1.89 to $2.58 in todays prices. That's 13 consecutive years of cheaper-than-73 gas.

In 2020 the national average of $2.45 was cheaper than 1973 gas.

 

[Rpg]

I'll buy primers when I need them.

Price won't matter, unless prices are so high as to make me abandon shooting entirely.

There are a significant number of shooters that think they haven't had a good day shooting if they don't burn through hundreds of rounds in each gun.

I'm not very sympathetic with these shooters. They'd be much better shooters if they'd bring no more than a box of ammo and focus on sight picture, trigger control and breath control.

The shotgun shooters that participate in one of the shotgun disciplines such as skeet or trap should bring enough ammo for two rounds of shooting.

Shotgun shooters that want to play with buckshot, shooting short barrel guns with cartridge holders on the stock, won't develop much in the way of gun handling skill. Shotgun skills in this context are measured by performance on moving targets, not by performance on large, stationary targets.

In summary, lots of folks want to shoot up a lot of ammo each time they go to the range. This approach doesn't aid skill development: it just burns a lot of ammo.

The availability of low cost primers impacts the blaze away shooter, not serious shooters.

 

[AlHunt]

When we started this conversation 2 and a half years ago, the question was "will we see primers again at any price?".

Primers are available. If you don't have at least a cushion right now, you are making an enormous mistake.

I bought in the eye of the storm at 80 to a hundred bucks a thousand and they haven't dropped significantly since. I don't regret buying at all.

Ask yourself this question - in a few years, when primers are again unavailable at any price, which will you miss more - the money you spend now or the primers you don't have then?

 

[tlawler]

I bought 5K SPP at a gun show yesterday for $400. $80/K seems to be a good price in this day and age. I'd rather be shooting than not shooting.

 

[tankpondman]

Not any time soon.

Prices are slowly coming down. When they get
between $50 & $55 I'll get some.

 

[Spencerivey101]

I bought two bricks of CCI SPP today. Was running low and Scheels had em in stock. Last month they were $89 a brick. Today they were 84. Guess they're headed in the right direction.

 

[Amp]

Bought sp match to load bullseye loads.

 

[austintexas]

gunsow

I stumbled on some primers at a gunshow today. A vendor had an old Crisco can full of Winchester primers that were so old the primers were in wooden trays. He said his neighbor was cleaning out his garage. the box was full of old shotgun shells, paper that were rolled at the end not crimped. really old stuff. The primers were actually rusty. He said make an offer, I said I'd pass then I found a brick of green CCI small pistol primers, very dirty. He said make and offer again, I offered $50.00 and he accepted. The primers inside the box looked good so I guess I'll find out if I did OK or a bust.
SWCA 892

 

[dogdoc]

Purchased some csr Turkish primers to try. Have plenty of others but I just wanted to try some for the future. Pretty hard primers. Need full power springs in revolvers. Have not tried in autos yet. Paid 70.00 per 1000. Really wasted some money as I have many others but I like to experiment.

 

[CH4]

When I need them. Have plenty, but will buy if I find them under $60.

 

[Skeet 028]

BTW I have loaded Remington 5 1/2s in the 218 Bee and 22 Hornet...they worked well in both. In fact, I have 3 or 4 boxes loaded with max fill of L'il Gun Powder under 40 gr Nosler B tips. Very accurate in my Ruger 77-22H

 

[ArchAngelCD]

BTW I have loaded Remington 5 1/2s in the 218 Bee and 22 Hornet...they worked well in both. In fact, I have 3 or 4 boxes loaded with max fill of L'il Gun Powder under 40 gr Nosler B tips. Very accurate in my Ruger 77-22H

In reality the Rem 6 1/2 primers are rated for only the 22 Hornet although I have used them for light .357 Magnum ammo.

I still have 400 to 600 Rem 6 1/2 primers left (can't remember exactly how many) and I'm saving them until I really need to use them because my supply of primers got low.

Remington has always confused me with their primers. Why in the world do they continue to produce a SRP primer which the recommend for use in only the 22 Hornet? Then they have their 7 1/2 SRP which are labeled Match primers but they are actually their only SRP which is magnum pressure rated. IMO, Strange

 

[Skeet 028]

The 6 1/2 was the original primer for the 222. I still load 222 with 6 /2sas well as 25-20 and 32-20. Essentially the 5 1/2 and 6 1/2are the same or so the DuPont people told me long ago. I still load 222 with 4198. If I remember the 7 1/2 was developed for 222 Mag/223 but I've loaded the mag with 6 1/2 with light bullets ie 40 yr Nosler and V Max

 

[slickracer]

$50/1,000 is when I'll buy.

 

[BB57]

Pre-Covid primer prices were around $31 to $33 per 1000.

Three years of inflation since 2020 works out to an inflation adjusted price of $35.80 to $38.11 for those $31 to $33 primers.

Anything above that in the new "normal" price will just be price gouging by retailers.

I'll start buying at $40 per 1000.

——

Way too many folks will not just buy but stock up at higher prices, and enough people doing that will convince retailers they can just increase the margin on primers because handloaders will pay more. Right now, those folks selling primers for $80 per thousand are perceived by the people buying them as selling them at a "good" price when they are still selling them at a price that is still 100% over and above the price where they are still making a healthy margin.

Many of those folks may well think that's ok as it's just a "free market" and "capitalism". But it's also, intentionally or otherwise, back door gun control. We would all object to a 100% tax on primers and see it as gun control. yet many of us are happy to sit back and just take the same hit when it's done by retailers who are essentially price fixing.

For its part the anti gun community also gets the same clear message that a 100% sales tax on primers won't slow down primer or ammo sales, so there targets for any future legislation will start at 500%, 1000% etc.