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

[MrWolf]

My LGS said I could make a small fortune if I sold. Nope. Everyone has different views on what is enough. I dont sell my guns nor my supplies.

[richhodg66]

I'm not sweating it this time. I have enough to last a while at the rate I shoot, though not nearly as much as a bunch of guys on here have apparently. Not gonna pay scalper prices either, didn't do it last time either.

If I get below what I'm comfortable with, I'll start shooting less and find other things to do, maybe get started back into archery of get the motorcycles back out again.

[Idaho45guy]

Its not about the " I don't shoot much anymore factor " Its about shooting at all.

I believe it is very relevant to the situation.

For someone that shoots a thousand rounds a week, my supply would run out in a couple of months. For those that don't shoot much, it will last years.

But I get your point about not being to shoot at all if you run out of primers. But when that happens differs greatly based upon how much you shoot.

[FLINTNFIRE]

It means I will find less brass left in the woods till after the shortage is over , I myself do not get t go shooting as much as I would like , I may have plenty to shoot till this is over and will share with those whom I shoot , and will stock up when I can again .

[Lloyd Smale]

It means I will find less brass left in the woods till after the shortage is over , I myself do not get t go shooting as much as I would like , I may have plenty to shoot till this is over and will share with those whom I shoot , and will stock up when I can again .

I don't shoot at the local range I have private one but I drive past it a couple times a week and its been a ghost town there. Cut off the factory ammo and shooting comes to a screeching halt. Probably less then a half a dozen handloaders in town and im probably only that many with progressive presses and a good supply of ammo in the whole county. Only ammo on the shelves around he is deer rifle ammo and even that is slim pickings. Guy asked me the other day to make him some 243 because he couldn't find it. I told him to check midway.

[Idaho45guy]

My 80yr old father is completely unaware of the components shortage. He is a subcontractor for a cast boolit supplier and can cast just about any rifle boolit you could want. I believe he cast about 40,000 boolits last year.

I told him about the lack of primers nationwide and he asked what I needed. I told him I was just fine, but small pistol primers were worth their weight in gold right now. He said that was too bad; didn't have those, but said I could have a few thousand of anything else and it would hardly put a dent in his stockpile.

[Idaho45guy]

Only ammo on the shelves around he is deer rifle ammo and even that is slim pickings. Guy asked me the other day to make him some 243 because he couldn't find it. I told him to check midway.

My LGS is fully stocked on all rifle calibers except 5.56, 7.62x39, and .308. Everything else is stacked deep and normal prices. I stopped by there a few days ago and I noticed a clerk stocking the shelf and small crowd formed. He was stacking 5.56 from Frontier for $8.99 a box. Limited to 5 boxes per customer. By the time I was able to grab my five boxes, there were only eight boxes left. I don't load for 5.56, but am considering getting some dies and bullets for it since it seems to be in high demand, and I have a couple of ARs chambered for it.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Local range I belong to is private and most there reload , so never much brass there , up on the state timber lands is where the brass is fired and left , and then when there is a shortage of factory ammo they have none to shoot , wasteful , I pick up what I find and I keep casting for future use , and to maintain a ready supply , life is good .

[Lloyd Smale]

My LGS is fully stocked on all rifle calibers except 5.56, 7.62x39, and .308. Everything else is stacked deep and normal prices. I stopped by there a few days ago and I noticed a clerk stocking the shelf and small crowd formed. He was stacking 5.56 from Frontier for $8.99 a box. Limited to 5 boxes per customer. By the time I was able to grab my five boxes, there were only eight boxes left. I don't load for 5.56, but am considering getting some dies and bullets for it since it seems to be in high demand, and I have a couple of ARs chambered for it.

no way i could afford to feed my ar habbit with even 9 buck a box ammo. At that price i could probably buy a new truck for what i have stacked in ammo cans. Even with the amount i have i find myself being conservative with it. Thank God for 9mm ar15s. I can cast for them and load for about the price of 22 shells today. In my early days i was a 9mm basher. Still think theres better choices for ccw and for a gun fight but if i had to pick a favorite round it would be 9s just because theres nothing that gives a better bang for the buck at the range. Shoot an ar in 9mm with a good set of ear plugs and it even recoils about the same as a 556. My 16 inch cmmg 9mm will outshoot many 556s at a 100 yards to boot. But then if you dont load 9mm isnt easy to find right now either and if you weren't smart enough to keep stocked small pistol primers are about impossible to find. But theres plenty of all of it at Lloyds house. Personaly when i order a new gun that i dont already reload for at least one mold and dies are here usually before the gun. I can count the boxes of factory ammo ive bought in the last 20 years on one hand. Well i guess thats a lie. I load for the 762x39 and even have molds but dont bother much. Years ago i accumulated about 10 cases of wolf ammo back when it was around a 100 bucks a case. I think ive shot about 2 cases now. I dont shoot it all that much. Its mostly just a gun i take to camp to be able to blast in the field and not pick up brass. But when i bought that ammo it was cheaper then i could load with brass case and buying jacketed bullets. But in a real pinch i have a 1000 bullets and about that many cases i could load if i had to.

[WRideout]

When I turned (ahem) 68 on Saturday, my beloved wife gave me a brick each of SP standard and SP mag primers. I love that woman!

Wayne

[RogerDat]

Another pointless panic buying spree. I would buy some more if there had been gun shows in the spring but we are mostly talking a thousand or two of this or that size primer.

Election of a president shouldn't make much if any difference UNLESS ability to get legislation through Congress exists. Then Congress has to introduce legislation that has a meaningful negative impact. Legislation has to have a shot at passing. Then it will be time to panic. But of course by then it will be waaaay to late.

People will adjust their consumption to the availability of supply and value of that supply. Like the joke says, pre-covid-19 I would spin the toilet paper roll like I was on Wheel of Fortune, now I turn it like I'm cracking a safe. Value of toilet paper changes, consumption habits change.

My guess is many will shoot 50 rounds of 9mm instead of 100 rounds at a range trip. Lower their remaining available supply that can't be replaced goes the less they will shoot. The smart ones have a multi year supply on hand of normal rate of consumption that will last many years if their consumption drops. Of course that does depend on financial ability to carry inventory without undue hardship on themselves or family. Components are sort of expensive cumulatively. 10 boxes of primers gives one the warm fuzzy feeling but is also well over $300 out of the family budget.

[RogerDat]

I should add for those of us no longer young some items are a bit more limited in their ability to be resold in our estate. Finished reloads for example. Or items that require Hazmat shipping. Something to consider. Would my widow rather have $5000 or a primer stockpile that cost $5000?

Do I have family that will use those supplies after I'm gone? Or will I only need a supply for one of my surviving family members and need to take that into account in dispensing of my property? If I leave $5000 worth of supplies to one child I should consider what of comparable value will I bequeath to my other kids.

A friend can ship your lead, molds and equipment can be sold. Powder and primers are probably going to require local sale. I would expect either a lot of smaller transactions with the accompanying work required to do them or one or two larger ones at a discount from what the purchase price was to encourage the buyer to spend a lot of money in one shot. Probably taking some brands or flavors they really don't need in the deal. Not to mention ones all time favorite powder for a load may not be a powder anyone else values having. E.G your Varget will find many buyers, your BL-C(2) maybe not so much.

Last but not least, as I get older will I shoot as much? More? Or less. Hanging out with fellow shooters at the range with a thermos of coffee can be an enjoyable way to spend some time, doesn't require as much ammo as practice for competition one might do in retirement but then taper off later in life. A lot of members have joint issues that make reloading light loads and limiting their shots fired the only way they can still enjoy shooting. Not the only way they can enjoy the shooting sport however. Just some ways don't require as much ammo or components.

[rbuck351]

Shortages of one component or another have been happening since before I started reloading almost 60 years ago. More will happen in the future. It doesn't take a prophet to predict this. If you are short of components, wait until this one is over and buy all you can afford when components become available again. And don't forget food, gas, TP and other things you don't want to be without. And while you are at it, pick up some new skills and start doing your own home and car repairs.

[bakerjw]

Not to veer off topic too much...

Election of a president shouldn't make much if any difference UNLESS ability to get legislation through Congress exists. Then Congress has to introduce legislation that has a meaningful negative impact. Legislation has to have a shot at passing. Then it will be time to panic. But of course by then it will be waaaay to late.

It is well known that mail in voting is going to be rife with fraud. If the fraud drags one particular candidate across the victory line, it will drag many house and senate races along with it. One party has stated their desire to do away with the filibuster meaning that legislation in the senate will require a simple majority. If they have the house, senate and white house, you can sure as hell be guaranteed that HARSH gun control legislation will some through as soon as there is another major shooting. FWIW, I believe that will happen in February if not late January.

[Rex]

I'm really low on primers but not a big deal. I put the revolver and rifles away and went back to shooting blue rock. Don't reload shot shells but they can be bought anywhere. It doesn't take much to amuse old men.

[ACC]

Rifle and pistol primers.
The good. I have quite a few.
The bad. I don't have enough to fill a few thousand rounds of 5.56 or 9mm.
The ugly. No one has any in stock anywhere....

Darn these times are strange eh?

There are 3 gun shops that sell reloading items here in San Antonio, Texas. 2 of them have jacked up there prices and I will never do business with them again. The other has raise the price a little, like $1.00 on a thousand, and when this is all over I will continue to do business with them.

Go here if you want a good opinion of primer shortage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pk2434-O6k

ACC

BTW I buy primers by the 5000.

[Idaho45guy]

Not to veer off topic too much...


It is well known that mail in voting is going to be rife with fraud. If the fraud drags one particular candidate across the victory line, it will drag many house and senate races along with it. One party has stated their desire to do away with the filibuster meaning that legislation in the senate will require a simple majority. If they have the house, senate and white house, you can sure as hell be guaranteed that HARSH gun control legislation will some through as soon as there is another major shooting. FWIW, I believe that will happen in February if not late January.

Not to mention Biden vowing to make ARs illegal and appoint a "gun czar" that stated he is absolutely going to seize our "assault rifles", which Washington state libs have designated as ALL semi-auto rifles, including the 10/22.

Anybody that still thinks the dems are not much different than the Republicans is about 10 years behind the times. The left has become radicalized and are vowing to destroy America as we know it.

[richhodg66]

I'm really low on primers but not a big deal. I put the revolver and rifles away and went back to shooting blue rock. Don't reload shot shells but they can be bought anywhere. It doesn't take much to amuse old men.

This is something I have thought about since I started shooting a couple of rounds of trap once a week. I still see shotgun primers for sale and like you say, just about every place that sells ammo has cheap shells in 20 and 12.

I've been shooting a 16 so that could present a minor problem, but I have a lot of stuff to reload them except for shot. Just haven't done it yet.

Worst case, I still have a few recurve bows.

[JimB..]

I loaded a little 45acp yesterday, the brick of CCI LPPs was marked $6.10 which would have been mid 1970s.

Pretty sure that I’m dying a lot faster than I’m reloading right now. My kids don’t shoot, at least not yet.

[richhodg66]

I should add for those of us no longer young some items are a bit more limited in their ability to be resold in our estate. Finished reloads for example. Or items that require Hazmat shipping. Something to consider. Would my widow rather have $5000 or a primer stockpile that cost $5000?

Do I have family that will use those supplies after I'm gone? Or will I only need a supply for one of my surviving family members and need to take that into account in dispensing of my property? If I leave $5000 worth of supplies to one child I should consider what of comparable value will I bequeath to my other kids.

A friend can ship your lead, molds and equipment can be sold. Powder and primers are probably going to require local sale. I would expect either a lot of smaller transactions with the accompanying work required to do them or one or two larger ones at a discount from what the purchase price was to encourage the buyer to spend a lot of money in one shot. Probably taking some brands or flavors they really don't need in the deal. Not to mention ones all time favorite powder for a load may not be a powder anyone else values having. E.G your Varget will find many buyers, your BL-C(2) maybe not so much.

Last but not least, as I get older will I shoot as much? More? Or less. Hanging out with fellow shooters at the range with a thermos of coffee can be an enjoyable way to spend some time, doesn't require as much ammo as practice for competition one might do in retirement but then taper off later in life. A lot of members have joint issues that make reloading light loads and limiting their shots fired the only way they can still enjoy shooting. Not the only way they can enjoy the shooting sport however. Just some ways don't require as much ammo or components.

I've been pondering the same things lately. When we moved my mom and dad into assisted living, I inherited a lot of stuff. I have very seldom cast since then as I h ave been shooting up his inventory of bullets and I still have a long way to go before they're gone. I live on my own range so I likely shoot more often than most and if I was still having to drive to a range when it was open, I'd never shoot them all.

I didn't get many primers from him, did get some powder and brass. I don't hoard like some on here, but have enough stuff that will be difficult to sell off for someone who doesn't know much about it that I really don't want to leave all that behind when I'm gone for loved ones to deal with.

I'm not dying yet, but I'm not going to put off downsizing my stuff as late as Dad did. Had he not had sons who handloaded and shot a fair bit (I and my youngest brother are the real enthusiasts) it could have left a mess for survivors.

I guess the point is, how much are you realistically gonna use up? I'm just not gonna worry about it, I won't let thing run completely out to where I have guns and no ammo, but if the shortage gets bad, I can do other things to keep myself entertained besides load and shoot.