Primers... The good, the bad, the ugly.

[reddog81]

But how many should stockpile? Not too long ago I had twice as many as I thought I would need for at least one year, and when 1/2 of those were gone I would just buy more. THAT was the plan. It never occurred to me that there would EVER be a shortage of reloading components.

I shoot for a 4 year supply (pun intended...). I figure that way I can keep shooting at my normal pace for at least one year and then re-evaluate the situation with out worrying about running out. If after 2 years the market is still in panic mode it'll be time to cut back some. I don't have the funds or space to buy and store enough components for 100,000 rounds like some people but 10 to 20 bricks of primers and the corresponding lead and powder isn't too hard.

[Gewehr-Guy]

I have found the best time to buy anything, is when your in the store,and the product is in front of you. Many of my primers were bought at $20 a thousand, and powder when it was on sale also. Had a neighbor tell me he could not find canning lids, I told him that he could have all he wants, I bought plenty over the last few years. Every time I walked by them in the store I would pick up a few extra boxes, sometimes even on sale. Thats how you build a comfortable supply of anything.

Now this is off topic, but right now is the time to be thinking about getting that bigger propane tank, or laying in some extra fuel and winter supplies.

[dverna]

But how many should stockpile? Not too long ago I had twice as many as I thought I would need for at least one year, and when 1/2 of those were gone I would just buy more. THAT was the plan. It never occurred to me that there would EVER be a shortage of reloading components.

It sounds like you are relatively new to this. My goal was to have a 10 year supply. I sold about half my guns and invested in components and .22LR. I currently have a 20+ year supply of primers and powder.

My advice is to start with an achievable goal....say three year supply. Once that is achieved stock up for 5 years, etc etc.

Recreational shooting is fun but your priorities should be to insure you have what you need to defend your family if the SHTF....and NEVER fall below that level.

We cannot predict what will happen in terms of political changes, or supply. I have assumed the worst. It may be a silly assumption but it is a safe one. YMMV

[Froogal]

It sounds like you are relatively new to this. My goal was to have a 10 year supply. I sold about half my guns and invested in components and .22LR. I currently have a 20+ year supply of primers and powder.

My advice is to start with an achievable goal....say three year supply. Once that is achieved stock up for 5 years, etc etc.

Recreational shooting is fun but your priorities should be to insure you have what you need to defend your family if the SHTF....and NEVER fall below that level.

We cannot predict what will happen in terms of political changes, or supply. I have assumed the worst. It may be a silly assumption but it is a safe one. YMMV

Correct. I have been doing this for only about 5 years, but in that time I have gone several thousand primers, both small pistol and large pistol. I do cowboy action, so the primers I have on hand will be used for reloading .38, .357, and .45 Colt. If the stuff hits the fan, I own a couple of 9mm semi-autos, and enough new, unfired ammo, as well as reloaded 9mm to get me out of a jamb, or at least go down fighting.

[Shawlerbrook]

Living here in New Cuomostan, we have learned(the hard way) to have a strategic stockpile of all things related to shooting. The way things are heading, certain hard commodities will be more valuable than paper money.

[Tenbender]

I have a ton of primers. Mostly small pistol. I'm 75 miles from JC

[dverna]

Correct. I have been doing this for only about 5 years, but in that time I have gone several thousand primers, both small pistol and large pistol. I do cowboy action, so the primers I have on hand will be used for reloading .38, .357, and .45 Colt. If the stuff hits the fan, I own a couple of 9mm semi-autos, and enough new, unfired ammo, as well as reloaded 9mm to get me out of a jamb, or at least go down fighting.

Good for you!! Cowboy action is a ton of fun and not too ammunition intensive. BTW, I wasted a lot of ammunition in training when I was doing it...would shoot 250-400 rounds a week during decent weather.

I found I could learn to shoot fast by using dummy rounds and not even leave my living room. Not the fun as shooting but a lot less expensive. Good way to conserve components if you get low and what to keep your skills sharp.

[Froogal]

Good for you!! Cowboy action is a ton of fun and not too ammunition intensive. BTW, I wasted a lot of ammunition in training when I was doing it...would shoot 250-400 rounds a week during decent weather.

I found I could learn to shoot fast by using dummy rounds and not even leave my living room. Not the fun as shooting but a lot less expensive. Good way to conserve components if you get low and what to keep your skills sharp.

Shooting fast is something I need to work on. At our last get together, I shot two stages clean. No misses, but a few other shooters did the same, but they were faster, so my total score was still not that great. Not that I really care, because I still had a bunch of fun.

[FISH4BUGS]

I made a 2 hour round trip to buy another 1000 LP primers.
Selling 1000 per customer max.
I now have 2000 LP in stock with all my LP primer ammo loaded.
Rebuilding inventory after loading 1500 cast 44 specials and 1500 cast 44 mag.
By the way....$39.95/1000.
I'll go back again Saturday for another 1000.
I'd like to have 5000 in reserve.

[icebox]

I agree on the buying when you see it,
you can't count on the normal supply chain to act like it's normal,
over the weekend I found small rifle primers at an archery store that had a muzzle loading section,
A nice surprise, as I started looking for bow wax

[Engineer1911]

If you didn't learn about shortages of critical reloading supplies during the Clinton or Obummer years, you just don't get out very often.

[FLINTNFIRE]

I advised people to stock up , but people for the most part do not listen , however this latest famine has hit almost all aspects of our sport , is not just primers and powder bullet and brass , it is firearms and parts , I was still finding a few good buys as the panicdemic carried on , and there are still deals or supplies here and there , Friend bought a pair of plain jane rock island 45 acp from bimart last month $389 and he picked up primers for me from his local sportsmans warehouse , to add to my hoard , evil smile insert here , but this drought is going to be here for awhile .

Meanwhile I need to get up to range and mine the berms and melt into ingots .

[Buckshot]

................ I'm 67 years old and have been partial to firearms for most of that time, and this Chinese virus/Civil Outlawry isn't my first rodeo. I realized early on, that most everything you're going to buy will NEVER be less expensive then it is now. As a consequence if I liked something I bought a lot (Or as much as I could afford) at any particular time. In fact I had a shooting buddy that'd come over (That's when I had my machining business) on occasion. He once said, "You must have had an insecure childhood". Nothing could have been farther from the truth. I was as simple as, "If I liked something, I liked to have a LOT OF IT".

When Winchester Dynapoint 22lR ammo came out, that was supposed to be a 'Brand' that would be exclusive to K-Mart. That's where I first bought it. Howsomever, K Mart was beginning to have trouble with Walmart's' invasion, and we all know what happened. In any event I'd done a test of all my 22RF rifles, and the various "Inexpensive - Obtainable - Common" 22 rf ammo, and it turned out that the best overall was Winchester DynaPoint. Wal-Marts' sporting goods dept would order stuff for you, and since they'd let themselves run out, I'd place an order with them. Winchester Dyna-Points were $98.50/case of 5000 rounds (10 bxs/500 = $9.85 each).

Turned out that very first order they'd screwed up as it was Winchester Dyna Point 22RF MAGNUM, but it all got ironed out. I STILL have several bricks dated 6-04. Sometime later the Dynapoints at Walmart disappeared but they were selling the Federal 550 pack and cases of THAT was $118.00 so I ordered a couple of those. I STILL have an unopened case of that dated 4-2008, and that's about when 22RF became unobtanium.

During that time and before I was shooting with several guys every Tuesday. We had a match each Tuesday where we'd each kick in a buck and whoever shot high score won the pot. I suppose we didn't realize what a uniques situation we had going. We all cast lead, we all obviously reloaded, and we all pretty much liked the same shooting irons, and plenty of milsurps between us. The shooting match we called the "Burrito Invitational" because up the road and across the dry wash was a shopping center with a Mexican Restaurant that made the best Chilli Relleno burritos. Not everyone had one of those, but that's what we named the match. I used to make a post on Wednesday called, "Tuesday at the Range".

FOUND ONE!!! http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...tational+match

Just copy and paste the addy above into your browser. It's from 2006.

We valued that time together so much, ALL our families knew NOT to plan anything for Tuesdays until at least 1700 in the evening. Another benefit was that since we all cast, and we all reloaded we could put together some nifty orders. Graf and Son had a deal that if you ordered 96 lbs of Surplus or regular powder, they'd ship it via truck freight free. WE took advantage of THAT every time it was offered. It had to be shipped to a commercial address so we had it shipped to the range. Due to the group we got to take advantage of several very nice deals.

As I said, it'll never be cheaper then it is now

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

[robg]

i picked up 2k cci spp yesterday white boxes marked not for resale instead of the usual blue boxes.

[Idaho45guy]

I simply don't shoot much due to work schedules. I work a graveyard shift and when you get up at 3pm, there isn't a whole of daylight left to go shoot. So I might shoot once every 3 weeks or so. And those range sessions are for sighting in something, or testing a load. I don't think I've ever shot more than 200 rounds at a time.

My handgun combat skills don't seem to get rusty, or ever really improve much with increased range time, so I never really made it a priority. I could go to a match and outshoot guys that shot 500 rounds a week and place in the top 3 by getting my only range time for the month in at the match.

I checked my components and current stockpile amounts, and while they pale in comparison to most here, I could shoot at normal levels for about 4 years. I figure things will quiet down in November when Trump wins. By January, there will be cheap primers and components again.

But, I also think that when Trump wins, there will be a huge surge in riots and violence across America and it may very well be at my doorstep. Then, how do you calculate how much ammo you need for civil unrest? My primary cartridges for defending my home and family are 9mm and 5.56, and then .40 S&W and .308. It's tough to figure out how much is adequate without going to a very dark place, mentally, and imagining the unimaginable.

[Tenbender]

Its not about the " I don't shoot much anymore factor " Its about shooting at all. Primers is such a small investment in prolonging our sport or protecting our home. No matter if Trump wins this November the liberals are coming. You think they are bad stupid this year just wait 4 years.

[Froogal]

I am still under the impression that an evil force, who has absolutely no need or use for primers or powder is buying up as much inventory as possible and just hoarding it, so that we can't have it. They can't take our guns away from us, but they can take our ammo.

[Winger Ed.]

I am still under the impression that an evil force, who has absolutely no need or use for primers or powder is buying up as much inventory as possible and just hoarding it, so that we can't have it.

After the factories get caught back up on producing loaded ammo-- primers will be back on the shelf too.

[Lloyd Smale]

its got so bad that the guy who owns the gun shop in the neighboring town offered to swap me 500 rounds of 556 ammo for a gun. Told him I don't give others my reloads because of liability, selling them is illegal and my ammo right now is more important then another gun. So I bought the gun and kept my ammo. he said 556 9mm and any primers are impossible for him to find. He said he even shakes his head at his 9mm pistols flying off the shelf to people who cant even buy one box of ammo for them around here.

[762 shooter]

I have changed my strategy. I now assume that what I have on hand might be all I get. Society, economy, politics, pandemics are unpredictable.

762