primer update, tell your story

[45shootr]

Just thought I'd post on the primer "crisis". After all, what good are boolits if we can't shooot them? I live in central Ohio, near Danville. The local outdoor store had no small rifle primers, and few large rifle primers. The price, (for large rifle primers) was not excessive considering the geography, around $3.59/100. I figure if enough of us report their local situations we can get a handle on the supply vs. demand/price equation. In other words, are we getting ripped off. Any input from the rest of America? Good Shoot'n. Thanx. Chris

[dale2242]

No primers on the shelf here. They go out as fast as they come in. There are a few shotshell primers. dale

[Nefarious Cohort]

In western colorado where I am the stores other the Sportsmans Warehouse that stock them have them but have signs out limiting customers to one sleeve per visit.

It is getting crazy out there tho, Just for giggles I put a sleeve of small and large rifle primers on gunbroker with a buy now price of $85 each, they both sold in 3 hours time.

glad I bought them cheap and stacked them deep

I am starting to think its a lot worse then 94 and its gonna last longer too

[SciFiJim]

Just got back from a local gun shop in Central California. They had one sleeve of large pistol magnum and one sleeve of large rifle magnum. Both prices at $37.95 per/M

While I was there the owner was actively calling around for more but there were none to be had from any of her suppliers.

[Slinger]

In western colorado where I am the stores other the Sportsmans Warehouse that stock them have them but have signs out limiting customers to one sleeve per visit.

It is getting crazy out there tho, Just for giggles I put a sleeve of small and large rifle primers on gunbroker with a buy now price of $85 each, they both sold in 3 hours time.

glad I bought them cheap and stacked them deep

I am starting to think its a lot worse then 94 and its gonna last longer too

Are you saying you put them up for $85 a thousand, on Gunbroker?

[skeet1]

I thought it was very interesting today. About one week ago I was at powder Valley and bought 1000 LR CCI primers for $22.00 (they had just come in). Today I was at Dong's in Tulsa and while there the owner of Dong's got a call from Powder Valley evidently they buy from them. While there I checked on the price of CCI SP primers $34.00 per 1000 and was told that that price was not going to come down. I find it very interesting that a week ago the price at Powder Valley was $22.00 per 1000 and at Dong's it is $34.00 per 1000 a difference of $12.00. Now I don't mind someone making a profit but this is ridiculous. I think we are all being cheated.

Skeet1

[targetshootr]

The wholesaler where I get mine also charges us $22/1000 since last year and when I checked last month his price hadn't changed. Some presidents are very profitable for people who sell guns and supplies and then when you go into their shops you have to listen to them complain about politics.

[BowHunter252]

How are so many people selling them on Gunbroker? I thought you couldn't ship them without a special liscense of some kind?

[Catshooter]

With the manufactuers running on overtime, you know that alone will drive up prices.


Cat

[TC66]

Found 4000 LR primers today $25 per 1000. Figured I better buy them incase I need something to trade if I run out of LP or SR.

My totals as of right now.
LR 11500
SR 2500
LP 3700
SP 1500

[Nate1778]

Last few stores I had been in had the primers I needed at a fair price compared to shipping them from online. Talked to the last guy at a mom and pop shot when I picked up some Win 209s for $37 and he said it was 90's all over again. He said it would come back down, he has been in it for a while from the looks of things so I trust him. He also said he has noticed a growing number of reloaders, even before the election. Said he had heard complaints from ammo availability, to price of ammo, as well as the falling off of quality of the ammo at the big box stores. Reloading has become reasonable for people because of the cost of the equipment coming down, but also the cost of ammo going up. The old adage of reloading isn't cost savings anymore is becoming the opposite again, where someone can save money and control the quality.

[adkpete]

I also wonder how the Gunbroker sellers avoid the haz-mat charge and what would be the penalty if they got caught?

[Ole]

I haven't looked for primers in a while.

I have all I need in my storage cabinet. (at least 1000 of every kind I use regularly)

After 1994, once I would break into my final 1000 primers of any kind, I'd make a note and get another 1000 next time I bought something at the gun shop.

[snaggdit]

Yeah, what do you think the penalty would be? I have my FIL tasked to look for SR for me. He found (and bought) 600, but I told him hold off until he can find me a box of 1000. At that point, I told him to bubble wrap and UPS it to me. I'm in Wisconsin and he's in Texas. Same shortages there. He does go home to Arkansas on the weekends. Maybe I'll have him look there, too.

[Bladebu1]

graf and sons finelly called me today
the 5 k I ordered in march 1 of cci 41's are ready to ship finellly
now all I need is the 5 k of cci 500 and I will be ok for a while
if I every get my stuff from Lee presion FACTORY supply one of the online dealers listed on lees site I still am waiting on a pro pot and one more press and some small stuff I ordered in Feb factor supply is taking for ever I should have just stuck with Graff and son's

[Grampie not Grumpie]

My local shop has been out of primers and powder for several months. After telling me not to hold my breath he finally got a shipment from Hodegons of powder and last week he got a shipment of Winchester primers. I am now pretty well stocked up. Prices were higher than they were last fall however. That is probably just market driven.

Grampie not Grumpie

[Jeffery8mm]

Bought the LAST [2400] federal 100 sp primers that the local shop had today. 34.99 per 1000
They had no other primers save for a few lr and lrm.
Jeff

[Idaho_Elk_Huntr]

Im not buying anymore. I had a large freezer full before all this started and have been adding to it every chance

[Jon K]

I looked online and looks scarce..........but I called my local friendly dealer and had him check for Wolf large rifle primers.......the distributor had em, got 5,000. Just realized last nite I broke open my last brick of Wolf small rifle primers, made a phone call this morning, he checked and shows good stock, told him to get me a case, so I'll pick up 5,000 of them tomorrow.
Pricing on them is good, and Wolf primers have a tested good for me.

Jon

[geargnasher]

My local hardware store sells primers 100 per person, per day, and won't let on to how many they have stashed in the vault. No large rifle whatever for months. The rationing started about 2 weeks ago, also they are sold out of most of the more popular powders and have been backordered from their supplier for a while. Afraid I've been caught with my pants down proverbially, been doing other things last couple of years like building my own home and didn't pay attention to the panic buying going on, just watching building material prices like a hawk. Now I can hardly find wheelweights at any price.

[454PB]

I went in to my local Bob Wards store today, just to see what they had. There were primers on the shelves, but the clerk said loaded handgun ammo for the popular calibers flies off the shelves. He had one box of Win. .38 Special for $30, and about 10 boxes of 45 Colt. Powder selection was about 25% of what was there a few months ago. The rifle racks were full, including any black rifle you might want, but handguns were slim pickings. Only high end ($600 and up) available.

[Nefarious Cohort]

Are you saying you put them up for $85 a thousand, on Gunbroker?

That would be correct, have you been on gunbroker lately? Its getting as bad as evilbay for some items. I am watching one auction for one hundred 50bmg brass and primers starting price is $150.00 no takers yet but I bet its just a matter of time.

[tommag]

I drive feom Seattle to Boston twice a month and stop occasionally at various stores. I see the same thing everywhere.
Last year, when it became apparent that the race would be between John McCain and either Hillary or Barak, I put in an order. I have enough for a while. I didn't want to go through what I went through in the early 90's again.
Even brass is getting scarce. I have a 17hmr bbl that I want to get re-chambered into .17hebee, but can't find any 218 bee brass. Heck, I'd even settle for 17 A hornet if I could find a supply of Win. 22 hornet brass.

[Slinger]

[QUOTE=Nefarious Cohort;535220]That would be correct, have you been on gunbroker lately? Its getting as bad as evilbay for some items. I am watching one auction for one hundred 50bmg brass and primers starting price is $150.00 no takers yet but I bet its just a matter of time.[/QUOT

That's a shame that you stooped to the level of the rest of these leeches. Of course that's the American Way, huh?

[nighthunter]

Maybe I got wise about 3 years ago. Whenever I had a little extra money I would buy 10,000 primers and a couple of 8 pound jugs of powder. I have enough of each to last a long long time. Just let things settle down for a couple more months and the dealers shelves will again be full and the prices will return to more normal levels. The folks on here who have been reloading for a long time have been through this more than one time. Heck ... in the early 90's people were so scared of the supply that some were willing to pay $5.00 for a hundred primers. Just sit back and wait a little more. You'll be glad you did.

Nighthunter

[Nefarious Cohort]

That's a shame that you stooped to the level of the rest of these leeches. Of course that's the American Way, huh?

Slinger
I guess that is one way to look at it, But the truth of the matter is that we have no idea where this road will lead and what legislation will follow, If you want to think of me as a leech when you actually do not know me at all, well that is your choice.

But there is a real possibility that there may end up being a person out there a few months from now happy that he got his primers for 85$ rather then at twice that cost or not at all.

I did it to test the waters, to get an idea how far this dry spell is headed.

Hopefully for us all it will settle back down in the near future, and I surely hope that like Gas, Cheap SKS's and .308 surplus that what we are seeing is NOT the creep of prices most did not act on before they got to where they eventually stayed.

I do hope I can contribute more to this community to sway your present opinion of me.

Nefarious

[Down South]

Even brass is getting scarce.That’s true too. I’ve been buying new and used brass when I could find a decent deal on it. Most of the new brass that I’ve bought lately has been Star Line for my handguns plus I’ve bought some new WW brass for one of my rifles. I’ve bought a bunch of used brass at good prices.

[jonk]

Talked to grafs today. They are estimating another shipment in about 6 weeks of Wolf, no idea on US....just a heads up.

[JeffinNZ]

I have an idea. How about we all stop talking about the 'primer crisis'?

The more talk there is, the more panic buying takes place, the more the primers become short in supply. Thing is that folk are now stock piling for no good reason and some shooters are missing out/paying too much or both. The only winners here are the manufacturers/distributors.

[Willbird]

[QUOTE=Nefarious Cohort;535220]That would be correct, have you been on gunbroker lately? Its getting as bad as evilbay for some items. I am watching one auction for one hundred 50bmg brass and primers starting price is $150.00 no takers yet but I bet its just a matter of time.[/QUOT

That's a shame that you stooped to the level of the rest of these leeches. Of course that's the American Way, huh?

I guess he could have sold them cheaper, to a guy who would then put them on gunbroker for $85

[Horsemen]

I was in the local Rod and Gun last month, Payed 80.00 for two full boxes of large pistol primers.(That was the last primers thay had and have had for a month)The price has dubbled sense last year!!!! The powder is the same.

[Whitespider]

Well, the situation is definitely getting dire.
I took inventory tonight; I’m as low on primers as I ever remember.
I don’t have a single Remington primer in the house.
The count...

Small Pistol
1030 CCI #550
1591 Federal #100
1000 WSP
163 WSPM
Large Pistol
749 CCI #350
1640 Federal #150
1000 Federal #155
14 WLP
Small Rifle
55 Herters #6½
740 WSR
Large Rifle
60 CCI #200
516 CCI #250
1020 CCI #BR2
158 WLR
Shotshell
37 Winchester #209
73 CCI #209M

Grand Total = 9846

A quick count of ammunition boxes shows I have over 6000 loaded rounds.
I’ll be shootin’ for a while yet, but primer inventory is pretty thin in some areas.

[Jeffery8mm]

Why do I not feel comfortable putting my primer/ammo/gun inventory online??? All I will say is that if all hell breaks loose, I can supply several buddies with alot of ammo. Although most of the folks I run with already have alot of ammo.

J8

[oldhickory]

A person who works for a large east coast sporting goods wholesaler told me that they're getting about 60% of what they used to get on primers and only about 50% of what they got on powders...And it's all sold the moment it arrives.

[rickomatic]

How are so many people selling them on Gunbroker? I thought you couldn't ship them without a special liscense of some kind?


Bingo...................

As for the penalties.............here you go.............

Federal Penalties for Illegal Hazmat Shipping (http://http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2006-12-26-E6-21850)

Just like with a lot of things, peoples greed gets in the way of their common sense. I doubt that $85 per 1,000 is going to look that great when faced with the fines and imprisonment levied against people caught shipping the stuff without proper authorization. And, no, a regular guy cannot go in to the USPS, FedEx, or UPS and ship Hazmat.

[Nefarious Cohort]

How are so many people selling them on Gunbroker? I thought you couldn't ship them without a special liscense of some kind?

No special license is needed at all, all UPS requires is that
1) you have a daily pick-up account
2) you have had some kind of Haz-Mat training, either thru your job or they will give it to you
3) that you sign a haz-may contract with them stating that you have had the Haz-Mat training and because you are responsible for the packaging of the item being shipped, they will not package it for you.

Not really that big of a hurdle to get over.
If your friendly with your local gun shop guy you can as in my case toss him the 10$ he charges for a nics check to put the package in with their outgoing ups pile

If you have any doubts you can call UPS Hazardous Materials Support Center at 1-800-554-9964 choose the small package haz-mat option

Hope that helps!

[Idaho_Elk_Huntr]

Better not take advise from people that think they know. You better know for sure. A gun shop had no more right to ship than an individual if he isnt hazmat certified. Read thru the UPS website. Then maybe the Federal DOT regulations


http://www.ups.com/using/services/accs/hazmat/hzm_home.html


I. Introduction
Shipping hazardous materials is regulated by several governmental and non-governmental, consensus development organizations. Penalties for non-compliance with the rules are significant and could result in the following fines:
• Up to $250,000 and up to a year jail sentence for individuals.
• Up to $500,000 per incident for organizations.
Hazardous materials shipping regulations administered by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the US Department of Transportation (DOT) are the most comprehensive and widely applicable. Some shipping companies have developed specific rules, which are stricter than DOT and/or IATA regulations. Examples of these companies include the US Postal Service (USPS), Federal Express (FedEx) and United Postal Service (UPS).
Hazardous material regulations are extremely complex; a minimum of 24 hours of professional training, repeated every three years, is required to be certified to ship hazardous materials. [/quote]

[revolver junkie]

local gun shop has wolf large pistol maybe 4-5 boxes on average. about $27 per 1k. few 209s but thats it nothin else to be had.

[Nefarious Cohort]

Idaho
Why would you assume that a gun shop that sells components would not be certified in todays economy online sales are almost as good as walk in sales,

Your Quoting IATA International shipping, not 49CFR above domestic shipping of haz-mat would fall under 49cfr

I ship Haz-Mat material for my work all time with fed-ex (Gas plant samples to labs) I called UPS because The actual shipping rate was cheaper and needed to know what UPS's own restrictions were and we dont have a daily pick up service at the job(apparently this is not a fedex requirement), I apologize if I came across as all knowing, that was not my intention.

Primers fall right up there in the haz-mat code with used Carberators and other car parts. I recommend that anyone wanting to ship primers call the Number and ask what is required of them to do so, hear it for yourself and make your own decisions

[exile]

I hear people talking about a "sleeve" of primers alot. Is that 100 primers or 1000? Not important I know, but it confuses me. Regarding the primer situation, whether it is really a shortage or just people buying a lot (my guess is it is both) I do not think the situation is going to get any better. This is not 1994 with Bill Clinton and a Republican congress. This is 2009 with B.H.O., a Democratic congress and the media solidly behind both.

So my feeling is, if you are buying ammunition and reloading supplies because you plan to use them, regardless of how much you buy, more power to you. However, if you are buying them to make a profit on it later, how can you be sure it will be legal to sell? I mean if you want to take that risk that is certainly up to you, but will it be worth it. My feeling is, I am not buying anything I am not willing to use myself, that way I don't feel like I am taking it from another guy who might need it. Just my two cents worth.

exile

[mtgrs737]

I think a sleeve is a box of five 1000 primmer packs or cartons that typically have a cardboard sleeve around it. Anyway that is the way the come when I buy them. 5000 primmers to the sleeve.

[vonnieglen]

Fortunately, I have enough primers to last for the next couple months and others that are back-ordered and due to arrive before I run out. If I were out of them I would probably be willing to buy primers through gunbroker if I couldn't find them anywhere else. Even at $85 per thousand it is still cheaper to reload if you already have the brass, powder and you cast your bullets. I wouldn't hold a grudge against anyone making them available to me at that price either. Personally, I don't think I would sell the ones I've got left for $85 a thousand. I have a habit to feed, when I run out of primers the shooting stops.:Fire:

[rhead]

Exile: I do not have any for sale but for those that do, they are taking a risk. Risk taking is the nature of Capitalism. The reason that I don't have any for sale is that I have a use for all of my inventory( no storage space for a significaant amount). The fact that it might be illegal in the future is just another risk that they are taking. If there were no risk involved what would create tha possibility of profit? The ones who did not stock up are also taking the same level of risk. What if the remain legal but the price continues to rise. Then the ones that sold now and the ones that did not buy lost.
The man down the road becomes a hoarder if his purchases might have made it more inconvient for me to increase MY INVENTORY.

[testhop]

while i never planed it i like to buy large .i bought 35000 primers when a gun store was
closing its doors.and 55lbs of power price primers was 14.00 a 1000 and powder was cheep to but i cant recall the price but i had to take it all to get the price .
oh yes it was back it 1990 or so . dont we wish we could go back to the good old days.

[Slogg76]

Not many primers to be had in central WV. CCI magnum primers are encountered here and there for $32 a thousand, but I can not find standard LP or LR primers anywhere. Shotgun ammo and primers appear to be cheap and abundant. A local, small sporting shop got a handful of primers in and sold them at $25 a thousand. Some places have a great deal of powder, some have none. Powder has gotten a great deal more expensive everywhere though.
After talking to people all over the country and even seeing large differences in prices locally, I am pretty sure folks are taking a reaming on prices. True, it's capitalism, and supply vs. demand and all that, but there is some tremendous ripping off happening. I am nearly out of standard LP primers (down to just a few hundred), but I have thousands of rounds loaded. I think I will be waiting a while before I start looking to buy ammo or primers. I'm very curious to see what will happen once this panic buying subsides and sporting goods shops are sitting on tons of reloading components they can't sell.

[drumgool]

I made a post a couple of weeks ago or so about price gouging on reloading suplies . So the next time I was in the the local gun shop I ask the owner what was going on with the prices. He told me that Winchester has not raised there prices but was backlog with orders for a year in advance . He was having to buy from whomever he can just to get some on the shelf . Small rifle primers are real scarece .He is having to pay more so where having to pay more . He said it will take a 12 -18 months to sort out.

[Boondocker]

Local shop gets a stock order every friday. I went in this afternoon and got 1k win lrp and 1k win spp. 25.00 for the lrp and 24.00 spp. Had 5k lrp 3 k spp 2 k lrp mag

4 k lpp. They where rreal busy so I did not chit chat but I am sure they dont have them all out. I am going back mid week to purchase shot shells and 22"s for the club raffles. Thats quite the bill for 7 cases and 2 cases. I"ll ask then.

[ktw]

I made a run down into northern Wisconsin today. My favorite shop had fewer primers than normal but I could have bought 5k of most any size I wanted except for small rifle which he was out of (mostly CCI, some Federal). Old stock (mostly magnums) were still priced around $21-22/k. All recent stock was priced at $30/k.

Owner said he was putting less out on the shelf so that people wouldn't buy so much at one time. He was holding back 5k LR to trade with another dealer for 5K SR. Owner said people were buying a lot more than normal. He was hoping he'd be all sold out by the time the buying binge stopped because when the same thing happened back in the early 90's he didn't sell another box of primers for almost four years. Said his lead shot pricing was coming down. Expected to be selling it for #25/25 lb bag after his next order.

He had plenty of powder in the range of powders he normally stocks. Old stock rifle powders were priced around $18-20/lb. All new stock rifle powders were priced around $23/lb (at a couple of different stores).

Made it to the Antigo, WI gun show. There have never been any powder/primer vendors at this show to my recollection. Good crowd but not overwhelming numbers. Didn't seem to be any shortage of black rifles for sale. Lot of generic, white box ammo (local loaded, not milsurp) was moving fairly briskly. Lot of "Buy it quick before we are all sold out due to the big buying binge" signs.

Didn't find any deals on guns. Prices up somewhat, at least on the items I pay attention to, from last year. I don't track the 'tactical' stuff. Saw more high end guns (C Sharps, Merkel, Browning 1885/1886, etc) this time around than I normally do at his show.

-ktw

[Slinger]

Just got my phone call. 5,000 Large Pistol primers @ $29 a thousand are waiting for me. I've had my order in for about a month. The guy said he got half of his order and is limiting each sale to 5k. This guy is a small time, so if he can sell them @ $29 a thousand & make money, the rest are ripping reloaders off big-time.

[Tom W.]

Went Yesterday.. saw some foreign made 209's, nothing for rifle/pistol at all. One shop I went to had only five cans of powder, no primers or bullets at all.....no load manuals, nothing...

[Aegis]

The big box sporting stores are starting to cash in. 4.99 pr 100 on primers and 49.99 on RCBS reloading dies. They had any primer you wanted but a 100 primer limit.