PDA

View Full Version : Who has been getting the primers?



jonk
08-18-2009, 03:55 PM
It seems like the primer shortage is slowly ending. However to ask another question-

The manufacturers say they've been running their lines 24/7 to meet demand. That means lots and lots of primers. Tens, even hundreds of thousands per day per company.

But no one seems to have been buying any. Where did they go? I don't know of ONE reloader who laid in a big stock anytime recently. Dribs and drabs at best.

Similarly ammo shelves have been bare and are only just starting to see some stock. Yet I don't know any shooters who ordered AND GOT big ammo orders- all backordered.

So do you personally KNOW anyone who actually GOT some of these primers? I don't.

It's starting to make me re-think my position and say there was a conspiracy or something, as if they were running production flat out, even if backorder lists were long, some folks should have been receiving HUGE orders. They weren't.

Woooo... [smilie=f:

Bill*
08-18-2009, 04:14 PM
There's no conspiracy. Two types of people got the primers. The ones who plan ahead and laid in a supply for their reloading needs, ( Iwish I had ), and the people who thought they could make a killing selling them for $100+/K and I hope end up selling them at cost when this shortage eases up. just my .02..........Bill

JesterGrin_1
08-18-2009, 04:19 PM
Well the sad part is even if they have to sell them at the same cost they purchased them for. They will still make money as the cost of primers have gone up as of late.

But I feel you are correct that many purchased them just to resell at an inflated price.

I was new at reloading when all this came about but was lucky enough to get a couple of K for each type of round I would shoot. Mainly SP/LP/LR so since I do not blow ammo much lol. It should last me a bit of time till this crazy stuff ends. But we have been saying that for what 8 months?

AZ-Stew
08-18-2009, 04:31 PM
Our local Sportsman's Warehouse received over 100K CCIs a couple of weeks ago.

I have 5K Remington 7-1/2 on a truck headed this way from Cabela's distribution center near Denver as I type this. If I'm lucky, I'll have them Friday.

Things are getting better.

Regards,

Stew

JesterGrin_1
08-18-2009, 04:37 PM
We had Two Sportsman's Warehouses in my small town of San Antonio TEXAS lol. And they are now both gone. Too bad I did like going there.

TAWILDCATT
08-18-2009, 04:57 PM
sounds like a conspiracy,BUT,ammo manufacturers turn out many millions of cartridges a day and were do they get their primers.primers are not made in speed that ammo is.there is a lot of hand work.and you dont want the workers killed or maimed.If win makes 1.600,000 45acp a day and have back orders for 200,00,000.the primers are going to WIN first and you second.look at all the new reloaders.we only see the tip of them. I do know how their made.to bad the little book by chrysler was not availabl to all. it is the history of the evenville ammo plant in WW2.the one that made steel cased 45 and 30 carbine ammo.it is a revalation.:coffee:[smilie=1:

watkibe
08-18-2009, 05:04 PM
I placed an online order for 1000 of each type of primer from Cabela's. They were backordered at the time, but they showed a date when they were supposed to be available. The website later showed them available, and then back ordered, all in one day, and I got no primers. The same thing happened weeks later, but this time I got an email saying my order had shipped ! It came in several shipments, but they only charged me one haz mat fee.

They had so many backorders that their whole order of primers was sold before they even got it. I just had to be patient to keep my place in line, and eventually I got my primers. BTW, they were about $30 per thousand.

So, I guess it was me who got the primers !

257 Shooter
08-18-2009, 05:05 PM
AZ-Stew, I hope you get them soon. I have CCI primers on back order from Cabela's since 6/13/09. Maybe I will get them by the end of the month.

Rocky Raab
08-18-2009, 05:51 PM
Yes, they are making primers as fast as possible. They are also making ammo as fast as possible, and those factory cartridges are using much if not most of the primer supply. There isn't much left for retail sale, which is pretty far down on the priority list.

That's the way it is. No conspiracy.

I was given a heads up that our local Sportsmans Warehouse got a shipment in today. They had Remington primers and a few types of CCI. The powder and bullet shelves were perhaps 40% stocked and they were putting out shopping carts of ammo as I watched.

I bought two thousand primers (their limit) at $30 per - and then the girl at checkout gave me a military discount when she saw my ID. I would have liked to buy 3,000 but was happy to get my more critical shortages filled.

wallenba
08-18-2009, 05:55 PM
There's no conspiracy. Two types of people got the primers. The ones who plan ahead and laid in a supply for their reloading needs, ( Iwish I had ), and the people who thought they could make a killing selling them for $100+/K and I hope end up selling them at cost when this shortage eases up. just my .02..........Bill

Ditto....

mike in co
08-18-2009, 06:49 PM
The manufacturers say they've been running their lines 24/7 to meet demand. That means lots and lots of primers. Tens, even hundreds of thousands per day per company.
[smilie=f:


where did you get that (mis)information ?

they worked 10-12 days, 5-6days aweek. i saw no reports from manufactures cliaming to work thier primer lines longer than that. direct phone calls to the plants.

now i understand why you "think" there is a consiracy.

i ordered 30k sm rifle, got them, have not ordered more, not likely to order more till things calm down.
a competitior got in fed, cci, woll, rem and win......lots of sleeves of each.

mike in co

Rocky Raab
08-18-2009, 06:54 PM
To possibly clarify, the primer companies are working their lines at 100% of capacity. That probably does not mean 24/7 because they do need time for cleanup, inspection, tool changes, machine breakage and such. But they are in fact working as hard and fast as possible. And they do produce primers at a rate of about a million a day per plant.

AZ-Stew
08-18-2009, 07:00 PM
24/7 is what I heard from several manufacturers at the NRA convention in May.

Regards,

Stew

TDC
08-18-2009, 10:30 PM
I guess we've been lucky in Oregon the last couple of weeks.

I had a back-order at our local Sportsman's Warehouse and they called me to pick up 1k of CCI large rifle and 1k of small pistol I had ordered many months ago. They honored all their back-orders with that one shipment and they have been dry ever since. They were $26 per k.

The Big R stores also got in a shipment of CCI primers and I also was able to pick up 1k of large rifles to replenish my very weak supply. They were $29 per k.

Last week the regional Bi-Mart chain got a HUGE shipment of Remington primers in all types and sizes. Each of their many stores was allocated so many primers it took them all week to sell them over the counter. They limited the purchases to 400 primers per person per day. As of yesterday some stores still had a few small rifle and small pistol in inventory but everything else was sold. Their standard Remingtons were $3.49 and magnums were$3.79. Still haven't seen a single Federal or WW primer for many months...

Now that we have primers the powder choices are still extremely limited at normal retail prices, but I was able to buy a pound of 2400 and a pound of IMR4227 a few days ago. I still haven't seen Unique, WW231, H110 or H4831 on the shelves for many months...

bruce drake
08-18-2009, 11:45 PM
I'm seeing my local shops starting to get their powder deliveries but the primers are still trickling in.

I'm looking forward to hoarders to eat their primers. Although I haven't heard anyone crowing about the bricks of primers they've got sitting on shelves back in their reloading room. Most people I talk to are hurting for primers just like I am.

Bruce

Frank46
08-19-2009, 12:27 AM
Well I managed to get 2000 win small rifle primers on saturday. Local dealer was at the gun show and that is what he had on the shelf. Wally world does appear to be getting some ammo on their shelves. notice I said some. I've been waiting since may for my order from cabela's so after I got the ones mentioned earlier I called and cancelled the order I had outstanding. I keep hearing about folks getting primers from cabela's ok where was mine?. Frank

anachronism
08-19-2009, 09:32 AM
I don't buy the ammo manufacturers angle because ammo has been is short supply too. Millions per day? The only way I'd buy into this is if the Gov't is creating a "strategic reserve" of billions of rounds of ammo. I'm still okay on primers, but would like to get a few thousand small pistol primers.

mike in co
08-19-2009, 09:45 AM
24/7 is what I heard from several manufacturers at the NRA convention in May.

Regards,

Stew
az,
factories may have been running 7/24,,,,,,,,,,primers is the subject, and they were/are not.

mike in co

Buckshot
08-20-2009, 01:32 AM
...........I suspect it will take awile yet for primers to become "Ho-Hum" commonly available again. There was the initial rush of people and companies that cleaned out the entire pipeline from manufacturer to retailer. So primers became spotty, if available at all but the panic type buying has calmed down. The situation has been tough now for some time and folks have cooled off to where a shop having a couple thousand primers doesn't produce a knee jerk "I'll take'em all" reaction, or phone calls to buddies about "So and so has a couple thousand (whatever brand primers) and you better get over there and get them!"

There (I'm sure, but guessing) remains a large number of people who have decided they will never be left in a primerless situation again, as I and several friends decided back in '94. I think that these are the folks who are out there now, buying in moderation but buying nonetheless, and ALSO buying more then they ever felt necessary or comfortable needing to have on hand before. Not panic buying like buying any type or brand, and buying everything on the shelf, but buying those they liked before. I really think that this has caused a lot of old reloaders and new reloaders to rethink their former ideas of what is a comfortable inventory of ALL reloading consumables.

I still believe we have a considerable ways to go yet before this situation returns to a semblance of the way it was pre summer 2008.

.................Buckshot

WILCO
08-20-2009, 01:49 AM
I recently read in G&A that there is the gov. contracts to be filled first and then everyone else second...........I just got 2,000 recently. Large and small.

JIMinPHX
08-20-2009, 02:10 AM
I got enough for my current needs a few months ago, but I'm not really shooting all that much these days.

TDC
08-20-2009, 02:23 AM
Buckshot is absolutely right!!

We all know why there was a rush on primers and the opportunistic hoarding of them this year. The rush to "grab what ya can" now seems to be diminishing, but I think we're seeing a new phenomenon.

I'm hearing from stores and component marketers that serious shooters and hunters are doubling or sometimes tripling there usual supplies as a hedge against not only future shortages but price increases as well. 20 or 30k added to our usual personal inventories would last many of us the rest of our lives, and that intention and conclusion appears to be driving at least some of the prolonged shortages.

If this is accurate, and I believe it is, we'll have primers on the shelves again, but only after the usual marketing pipelines fill up which may take several more months... At least we'll know primers are being purchased by shooters now and not some opportunist. In the long run that will benefit all of us.

JesterGrin_1
08-20-2009, 03:34 AM
Well I will also throw this out there. I went to a Gun Show here in San Antonio Texas 3 weeks ago and it was no longer a MADD house. It has slowed down a bunch. Not to the normal level but cut in half at least then a couple of months before. And I spoke with a few vendors and they informed me that people were not using there credit cards much now as most sales were cash only. So I also think things are a bit tite now and that people that went crazy really put a hurt on there credit cards due to OH NO Shopping.

So I may be odd but I think that how things go in Gun Shows show a bunch on the public at large and how things are changing. But there was still one vendor that was still trying to get $175.00 per 8 pound container of powder and $45.00 per K for primers. But he was not selling much. And besides a few that were friendly that were only looking for powder I informed them of a few places they could purchase it for a far cheaper price. And what was odd is they had no idea.

And I also informed them of this site :)

cajun shooter
08-20-2009, 07:51 AM
I will agree with the posting by Buckshot on this one. I have a fellow officer friend who has a reloading store in Baton Rouge. He and I both think that what primers are being made are going to the military first then the manufacturers are using them for their own ammo before turning any loose. He received some of the one million primers he has on BO but they are Wolf brand. They work but did see a friend have FTF with them in Cowboy guns. I'm very low on my Match LR's that I use in loading my 45-70 rds. I think it might be Xmas before I find any.

bigdog454
08-20-2009, 10:00 AM
I see that there seems to be a shortage of J-Bullets also. Midway and Shooters supply are posting a lot of "out of stock" on their bullets. Mainly 30 cal and 22 cal, maybe I missed this earlier while looking for primers. It seems that anything associated with reloading or shooting is coming up in short supply.

peter nap
08-20-2009, 10:21 AM
Even though the stores don't have much, I've had good luck finding them at gunshows. Large pistol primers are in shortest supply here and I bought 2000 a couple of shows back. Federal, but they work fine, just don't drop them too hard.

I bought another brick of large rifle primers but don't shoot up as much rifle ammo as pistol.

I don't need small anything primers. I do hope the gougers loose their shirts.

I am glad I don't own a .380. That's impossible to find in the stores and I've seen it go as high as $77.00 a box at the shows...and the damn fools are buying it.

DeepSouth
08-20-2009, 10:27 AM
I'm still waiting on 5,000 LR primers from Grafs,order these on 4-1-09 still haven't shown up yet.Called them about 2 weeks ago said that they were getting them in,and were working down the line of BO's.I just got into reloading when all this started.I only needed LR primers for what I reload,then I bought a SSMarlin in 44Mag now I need LP primers.It just never ends,wish I had a money tree.

No_1
08-20-2009, 10:34 AM
Surprise, surprise! Just opened a case of WLP (Win Large Pistol) primers I pick up a while back and guess what I find.... It has WLR (Win Large Rifle) in it. This is kind of a yeah-boo. I can always use more large rifle but I shoot more large pistol. Lesson learned, check your order when you recieve it.

Robert

nascarkent
08-20-2009, 04:00 PM
I had to wait almost nine weeks to get my order. They came and life is good again:drinks:

AZ-Stew
08-21-2009, 11:23 AM
My 5K Rem 7-1/2s showed up yesterday from Cabela's. They were ordered on 7-13. It appears that Cabela's is getting them on a fairly regular basis, it just shows them as "backordered" on their web site. As they come in, they fill the backorders. They just haven't gotten caught up with demand yet. Place your order and wait a few weeks. I can't really complain about 5-week delivery.

Regards,

Stew

69daytona
08-21-2009, 11:38 AM
My gun shop has been getting a lot of primers in for the past month, I have had no problem getting whatever I want, maybe not the brand I want but the size just for asking. and bullets are starting to show up there too. Rifle bullets, I havent started casting for my rifles yet.
Sacramento.

Rocky Raab
08-21-2009, 01:00 PM
Pure coincidence, but here's the first paragragh of a PR email I just got:

WINCHESTER AWARDED DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CONTRACT

Winchester® Ammunition was recently awarded a contract by the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security to supply a maximum of 200 million, 40 cal. rounds over the next five years.



So that one contract will suck up about 40 million small pistol primers a year. Add to that the huge 9mm ammo contracts and their other ammunition making requirements, and one might begin to see why the flow of primers will be a trickle for a while yet.

I still say this: buy what you really need, but not all you can. Leave a few for the next guy, just as you'd hope the guy before you would do.

AZ-Stew
08-21-2009, 04:01 PM
I purchased 5K primers for two reasons:

1) I'm working with my "new" (less than 1K rounds fired) AR, looking for accurate loads with several bullets for varminting and 500yd F-Class comepetition. I wanted a long-term supply of primers with consistent performance (single lot). These will last me for several years at the rate I use them, so the remaining supply over that time is available to everyone else.

2.) To amortize the HAZMAT fee.

I didn't buy them to hoard. I haven't seen many primers in the Phoenix area over the last few months, so I mail-ordered them. I waited 5 weeks to get them and I'd do it again if there were other sizes I needed. I'm not a high volume shooter, so the small supply of other sizes I have will last me for a while. Almost all of what I have was purchased prior to the panic. If you're willing to wait a few weeks, you should be able to get what you want.

Regards,

Stew