Primer purchase help needed

[bbogue1]

My son lives in Washington State. He's down to about 20 small pistol primers. In the last month he has called an ever widening list of possible local spp suppliers. There are none to be found. Apparently the state's new inspection process has made it nearly impossible for the vendors to warehouse primers and powder. He's now looking at buying them from a source that ships them. I know he'll have to pay a hazmat fee and shipping. I see there are suppliers that have specials or discounts available. This brings up the question, Who do you buy primers from based on price, hazmat fee, shipping quality and fee. In other words for someone who punches holes in home made targets for fun who would you recommend?

Admin: If this post is in the wrong place feel free to move it.

[Huskerguy]

Look at Powder Valley. They often run specials on various components. They have everything related to reloading and sometimes have specials when they wave the haz mat fees. They are in Kansas so I gather lots of orders and make the trip and only pay the sales tax. Really good people to deal with.

[Camper64]

If you keep an eye on some of the sites below, they will have free shipping and/or free hazmat deals. Most require a purchase of X dollars to qualify. I just purchased CCI small pistol primers from Graf and Sons that had free hazmat if you purchased $150 worth of primers and/or powder.

Graf and Sons
Brownells
Midsouth Shooters Supply
Midway USA

I'm sure others will chime in on some of the other vendors.

[bbogue1]

Thanks, Actually Powder Valley is on the top of the list. Without a sale they seem to be a little high. Go to their website and take a look at all the primers they list as out of stock. There is practically no CCI available. The free hazmat is interesting.

[GoodOlBoy]

Midwayusa
Ballistic Products

They sometimes run discounts, but honestly if he is down to 20 primers he is pretty well sunk on discounts at the moment. It might even pay him to drive to another state.

God Bless, and good hunting!

GoodOlBoy

[2A-Jay]

My son lives in Washington State. He's down to about 20 small pistol primers. In the last month he has called an ever widening list of possible local spp suppliers. There are none to be found. Apparently the state's new inspection process has made it nearly impossible for the vendors to warehouse primers and powder. He's now looking at buying them from a source that ships them. I know he'll have to pay a hazmat fee and shipping. I see there are suppliers that have specials or discounts available. This brings up the question, Who do you buy primers from based on price, hazmat fee, shipping quality and fee. In other words for someone who punches holes in home made targets for fun who would you recommend?

Admin: If this post is in the wrong place feel free to move it.

Where in WA does your son live? I have found SPP's lately at Ace Hardware In Long Beach.

[Cheeto303]

Try this. I don't know shipping and hazmat is as I live 25 miles away and do free in store pickup. Keep an eye on Midsouth as they will offer free hazmat a lot. https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.c...000-count-case

[shaune509]

I too would like to know were he is in this state? Washington is known to change rules/codes/laws with out telling the public but if on the west side may be more county/city that is the cause. I've not been to a gun/reloading store in a few months but last I saw [October] it did not seem limited here in the conservative east side.
Fire code has been the excuse for not having real BP in places like Sportsmans warehouse but the local outdoor discount has been the only place to get BP for the last 30+ years.
Shaune509

[bbogue1]

Just west of Tacoma. I think that used to be a common commodity at hardware stores. He never had a problem buying at Sportco in Fife which created complacency, we all do that, probably too often, but, now he can't find them anywhere. I did find a great website thanks to this forum. Wikiarms.com It will search 100 other sites for guns and related merchandise. Problem is when I go to the website of my choice from Wikiarms most of the primers are out of stock. Found a good discount at Brownells and sure enough Midsouth is having a sale, too. Each have spotty choices of primer brands. I like the lists from Camper 64 and GoodOlBoy Most I have checked I will look into Balistic Products. Thanks for he info, We'll remain alert.

[bbogue1]

Midwayusa
Ballistic Products

They sometimes run discounts, but honestly if he is down to 20 primers he is pretty well sunk on discounts at the moment. It might even pay him to drive to another state.

God Bless, and good hunting!

GoodOlBoy

In talking about this he's decided to allocate $80 to $85 per month to primer and powder purchases. After a 2 months he should have enough to stop buying monthly. He should have about 2,000 primers and 2 pounds of powder. If he shifts his purchases to, say, quarterly he can reduce expenses by waiting for sales. I

If I was a few states closer I could give him some of mine. I actually looked into shipping some to him and we found it was roughly the same price to buy them with either a reduced hazmat or reduced shipping. This is something I don't buy often so, I thought asking this great bank of knowledge would help. It has for sure.

[lightman]

I use Powder Valley pretty often. I'll get a group order together and order the max weight that they will put in one box. We split the shipping and hazmat charges.

[dverna]

I have rarely paid a HazMat fee as I shop the sales. But sometimes the HazMat cost is worthwhile if the sales price is attractive. I once bought 50,000 primers IIRC for $16/1000 and paid HazMat. It worked out to less than $1/1000.

If he has buddies. or others at the gun club, look into splitting a group buy. Most places will ship powder and primers together. In the last 25 years, the only primers I have bought retail was a carton of S&B to try them out about 8 years ago.

Also, I was a member at two gun clubs that organized groups buys with distributors. One was AJ Reloading and the other Dawsons...both in Ohio.

[richhodg66]

Sounds like a time to take a vacation and make a road trip out of state.

I have been having good success the past few years buying them at gun shows. Not sure if that's an option or now.

[Tom W.]

Small rifle primers will work just fine.....

[rbuck351]

Save his money for a few months and take a road trip to Oregon or Idaho. Also might try calling sporting goods stores on Indian reservations. They often have things that are difficult to get and are cheaper from lack of taxes. Another option might be sporting stores in Wenatchee or Spokane. Best option would be to move to Idaho or Montana although I realize that may not be a real option in his situation. We moved from Washington to Alaska in the early 80s to get away from the leftist developing state and then retired in Montana. I understand Washington is almost as bad as California and rapidly getting worse. Call around and see who has what and make a road trip.

[gwpercle]

Go on a little over nighter with the wife in the car .... adjacent state with fewer restrictions , do a little (or a lot) of shopping and drive back home .
Is another primer and powder shortage looming ....? Election jitter's...?

The "new inspection process" sounds like a slick way to ban ammo components ...explain the process and why it creates a shortage of primers and powder .
If you can pass laws to control the components ...then pass an amendment to control the ammo ...you don't need gun control .

Also check the thread ..."Today's Best Deals" in this section , for any sales .

[Rich/WIS]

RECOB'S target shop in WI will ship. Not sure of shipping costs and HAZMAT. Show CCI SP in stock at @$150 for 5K, probably other brands as well along with powders.

[Dapaki]

Natchez has the CCI #500 SRP for $28.99 a brick of 1000, on sale now.

$19.99 hazmat plus shipping, leaves you about where they retail.

[gwpercle]

Natchez has the CCI #500 SRP for $28.99 a brick of 1000, on sale now.

$19.99 hazmat plus shipping, leaves you about where they retail.

He's looking for Small Pistol Primers !

[Dapaki]

My bad, I fixed it, #500 are SPP.