Price increase on primers

[straightarrow]

I live in Iowa and have been buying CCI pistol primers for $30.00 a thousand at Scheels. I purchased some less than a month ago for that price. I went there last week to buy more and found the price is now $35.00 a thousand. Is there a reason for the large jump in price other than they are trying to stay in line with Cabelas and others?

[Old Caster]

Get together with friends and buy them at Hi Tech. Right now they are the cheapest that I know of. $120 for 5K of small CCI and $130 for large. They also have Federal pistol for a little more. $135 a K I think.

[lwknight]

Hi Tech contact info???

[mooman76]

http://www.hi-techammo.com/

[ph4570]

You might consider Ruskie primers. Last I looked they were under $20/thou. If I run out of my $12 CCI stockpile I may go to the Ruskie stuff. I have sampled them and had no problem.

[sirgknight]

For my money the Wolf/Tula primers have suited all of my needs. Very dependable, much cheaper than all others. Less than $16/1000. I refuse to pay inflated prices for anything that I have control over.

[mpbarry1]

Where do you order your russkie primers from sirgknight?

[bwgdog]

Group of us just got 20K of Wolf primers @ $16 K at Widners. All others have gone up in price.

[sirgknight]

The only two places we order from is Wideners www.wideners.com and Powder Valley www.powdervalleyinc.com. There are eight of us who make group purchases to save on hazmat and shipping.

[captaint]

I got an email from Midway or Graf's yesterday. CCI smp primers/23 per thou if you buy 5 thou. Not bad at all. I only use Fed smp primers right now. So, there's plenty for you guys. enjoy Mike

[kampfkubel]

Prices have gone up a similar amount at my local supplier(s) as well. Just the way of the world, you know. It's a captive market (as only a small proportion of shooters hand load)....so easy for this sort of thing to be gotten away with. I'm still wondering about the massive increase in bullet prices from a few years ago. The excuse was/ is metals prices.....but I've done the (math) analysis on that...and the price increases should have been only a few dollars a box.

"Whatever the market will bear".....that, like "situational ethics", has taken over. Fairness and proportionality seem not to exist, at this point in history. It seems that this is simply accepted, as well.....not decried as what it is - a degenerate phenomena. Almost makes me glad that I won't live another 20 - 30 years..... I'm not sure I want to be around for the trend to reach it's logical conclusion.

[milprileb]

http://www.dagammo.com/shop/

This is where I get my Tula primers. I am over 20,000 fired and flawless performance. Contact Dominic at this site if you want a good deal on primers.

I go further: He is a retired USMC vet and putting his kids thru college. Outstanding patriot and if you want to see your money go far in primers and go to a great Marine, its a win win for the USA.

Snooze You Lose , his prices are awesome // Skip

[lead Foot]

You guys have it good there in the US. I just paid $195 for 5k of Fed small pistol here in Austraila.
Lead foot;

[Baja_Traveler]

Bought primers just today, 5000 each, Winchester - Large Rifle and Large Pistol. $99 each at the gun show.
Primers and Powder are the only reason to visit our crappy gun shows here anymore...

[ColColt]

Bought primers just today, 5000 each, Winchester - Large Rifle and Large Pistol. $99 each at the gun show.
Primers and Powder are the only reason to visit our crappy gun shows here anymore...

That's my primary reason as well. You sure don't find any deals in firearms.

[SlamFire1]

You guys have it good there in the US. I just paid $195 for 5k of Fed small pistol here in Austraila.
Lead foot;

That Stinks!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v479/SlamFire/Misc/ThatStinks0001.jpg

[wrangler]

Leadfoot got ti right for Australia.Here in central coastal Qld. I paid $ 48.00 for 1000 Magtec small pistol primers. They were the cheapest. Made in Brazil. Only bought 1000 to see what they are like.
ADI powder [aussie made] is around $45 to$55 per half a kilo.Don't even ask what we are paying for lever guns.
Jim

[MikeS]

http://www.dagammo.com/shop/


Thanks for that link! At first I thought his prices were way to high, showing $93.00 for large pistol primers, I thought that was the price for 1000. When I saw that the price is for 5000 I could hardly believe it! The last time I bought large pistol primers, it was from Bass Pro Shops, and paid $43.00 for 1000!

I would love to find somebody selling empty 45ACP Tula 'brass' It's just as reloadable as brass, and sure would make picking up the empties easy by just using a magnet on a stick!

[sirgknight]

The owner of one of my local gun shops told me that primers are about to drop in price. His informants are telling him that the primer manufacturers are rapidly catching up on demand and that there will soon be a market-flood of primers. I hope his informants know what they're talking about. We need a break of some kind in this mad business.

[lead Foot]

Leadfoot got ti right for Australia.Here in central coastal Qld. I paid $ 48.00 for 1000 Magtec small pistol primers. They were the cheapest. Made in Brazil. Only bought 1000 to see what they are like.
ADI powder [aussie made] is around $45 to$55 per half a kilo.Don't even ask what we are paying for lever guns.
Jim

And our $ is worth more than the US $..............US 93c = AUS $1:veryconfu

[Harter66]

For.02 worth. I picked up CCI 500 at Scheels Reno the boxes were marked$ 35 but rang up at$ 29 . Nearly 8% tax though.

[jameslovesjammie]

Our Scheels is also $35/1000.

[GabbyM]

Looged onto my Midway USA catalog wish lits yesterday. Was a pop up with about five price increases listed for the items in my wish list. Like $2 increase on a box of J bullets. ouch.

[truckmsl]

Anybody have any chrono data regarding the consistency of the tula large rifle primers?

[straightarrow]

After some replies suggesting I try the Tula and Wolf primers I order 2k of the Tula small pistol and 2k of the Wolf large pistol from Powder Valley. I loaded up fifty 38 spec and fifty 44 spec. I had read that some guys had trouble seating the primers. I made sure each primer hole was cleaned and I thought the Tula and Wolf primers seat easier than CCI. I went out with the grand kids today and test fired both calibers. They worked great with zero problems. It almost felt like I had better accuracy with the new primers. I just placed an order for ten thousand more of these great primers. I should be set for a couple years. Thanks for the help.

[GabbyM]

Anybody have any chrono data regarding the consistency of the tula large rifle primers?

I found a pretty tight laod yesterday with Wolf LR primers in a 243 AI.
18.0 gr RX7 under 87gr Saeco boolit. 26" barell. Three shots over the chrony.

FPS ES SD
2040 6.54 4.00
2047
2045

17.2 grains gave an ES of 51.28 AT 1920FPS.
That's with a big Ackley 243 case that's less than half full with no filler.
I put three rounds over the chrony from my 270 win with Wolf primers 22.0 gr Rx7 under 150gr RCBS and showed ES of 40 fps. 1805, 1783, 1823. I'll try another grain of powder to see if it will burn better.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Lead Foot, if the loonies in Washington keep printing money at the rate they have been, currancy from Zembabwe will be worth more. I don't know if I spelled the country's name right but I really don't care.

[lead Foot]

Lead Foot, if the loonies in Washington keep printing money at the rate they have been, currancy from Zembabwe will be worth more. I don't know if I spelled the country's name right but I really don't care.

Close ~ Zimbabwe. I know what you mean. I try to buy Austrailan if I can but Austraila dosen't make much shooting gear anymore. Most of my guns and gear are made in the US. You should support local made ~ Wolf ~ Russia ~ REM, FED, WIN and etc ~ made in US. But then again your budget only goes so far. If it wasn't for the mining boom here our $ would be the same as Zimbabwe.

[truckmsl]

GabbyM - thanks for the reply. Maybe I'll give em a try.

[sirgknight]

here's my latest results:

Weapon: Springfield M1 Garand (30.06)
Powder: 36 gr. IMR 4895
Bullet: 311291, gas checked
Casing: Remington, no filler

1st clip

2292(H) 2133
2269 2107 (L)
2218 2134
2168 2148

2nd clip

2222(H) 2167
2212 2167
2128(L) 2184
2139 2175

1st clip average = 2184
2nd clip average = 2174

For those wondering about leading; there was none.

[44man]

China's hunger for metals might be the reason. They have little except coal so they buy everything else. Greed in this country removes all we need for ourselves. Sell to China first. There is little left.

[WildmanJack]

Last gun show I went to in Ft. Myers, Fl. the primers were priced at $35.00 a thousand for Winchester, and $25.00 a thousand for Wolff.. I bought the Wolff and they work fin in my Dillon and sure as heck work great in my Rock Chucker.. Besides they keep the group the same in my .30-06 so I'm gonna buy them when I can..
Jack

[milprileb]

Gentlemen,

Tula primers are outstanding. I recommend you go that route and find out what sterling performance they provide. THey replicate Winchester primers in all my pistol and rifle loads.

I load them using Dillon and RCBS priming systems and they feed perfectly. I have over 20K Tula primers used this past year and choosing this brand has performed flawlessly. The fit of primers to brass primer pockets is second to none... just perfect. Sure fire stuff and sure easier on my wallet !

Let see: supply is no issue, cost is great and I can shoot MORE FOR LESS. The Math is very good for my shooting addiction. I am consuming upwards of 2K of large pistol primers the last 2 months. Lubed / sized 2500 ea. 45acp bullets yesterday to catch up on logistical supply requirements. At this rate, it seems all I do is shoot, clean pistols, cast bullets, lube / resize bullets, load ammo, shoot............ ain't life great ??????

[41 mag fan]

The owner of one of my local gun shops told me that primers are about to drop in price. His informants are telling him that the primer manufacturers are rapidly catching up on demand and that there will soon be a market-flood of primers. I hope his informants know what they're talking about. We need a break of some kind in this mad business.


Prices drop...watch out there'll be 100k or better sitting in my lap, depending on how much of a price drop we're talking about.
With the things in Afghanistan kindda winding down there oughta be a surplus coming up on primers and brass.

[Pirate69]

Powder Valley has Wolf primers for as low as $15.50 per 1,000. Not counting the HM fee.

[milprileb]

Primers have been the long pole in the tent many times. For the old guys here, we had shortages under Clinton and that type thing has happened many times since. Powder remains abundant (although at times flavors of it might not be deep on market) but primers always become scarce at times.

It is intuitively obvious to the most casual observer that stocking up on primers is a good idea and keeping a large inventory is wise beyond words. If you buy and use primers as you use them, you will run into huge problems in supply availability.

Bite the bullet. Buy a good supply and keep that inventory on hand, rotate it out by use and replace accordingly. Buy primers on sale and seek to keep the average cost of them low as possible by wise buying and bulk purchases.

Snooze You Lose !!!!!!!!!

[michiganvet]

Back in the late 90's I was working in Appleton at the time Sheels was clearing out loading supplies for their move to the Fox Valley mall. I picked up large quantities of all sizes of CCI for $6.50/K along with good lots of various powders. Seemed like a good idea at the time, even better now. Primers and powder last indefinately if stored properly. Still get good results with stuff I bought in the 70's and 80's.

[Changeling]

It's greed, pure and simple!

[Lizard333]

Bought primers just today, 5000 each, Winchester - Large Rifle and Large Pistol. $99 each at the gun show.
Primers and Powder are the only reason to visit our crappy gun shows here anymore...

I just paid the same at a gun show show here in Phoenix over the weekend. Bought 5000 of the WSP, WLP, WLR, and WSR. Before that I was paying 29.00 a thousand and I thought I was being gouged. The shotgun primers are still 29.00 a thousand, but that is the cheapest I can find.

[uscra112]

Anybody have reliable data on where these Tula primers fall on the brissance and heat scales? Especially in the small pistol size? Makes a big difference to my .38 target loads. Rem 1 1/2 SPP are costing me as much as $40.00 per 1K around here.

[Shuz]

How about PMC primers? I bought 1M small pistol primers at a gun show for $19.00. So far they are working fine. Anybody else have any experience with PMC primers?

[felix]

I think Buckshot purchased a ton of them before the price went up across the board. ... felix

[Texasflyboy]

How about PMC primers? I bought 1M small pistol primers at a gun show for $19.00. So far they are working fine. Anybody else have any experience with PMC primers?

There are at least two versions of PMC primers. The early pre-1999 ones were marked "MADE IN S KOREA" by PMC.

The last batch I purchased had very tiny print "MADE IN RUSSIA."

Both versions worked flawlessly for me. I shot over 15,000 PMC/Russia small pistol primers in my Model 27 for my .38 Special Wadcutter load.

Not a single failure to fire. Loads were all done on a Dillon 550B.

[GabbyM]

Anybody have reliable data on where these Tula primers fall on the brissance and heat scales? Especially in the small pistol size? Makes a big difference to my .38 target loads. Rem 1 1/2 SPP are costing me as much as $40.00 per 1K around here.

$40! Well first you could click the Grafs dot come add banner at the top on this page and they have CCI and Remington primers on sale for around $22.

The Wolf / Tula and most other European primers use a different primer compound than used here in the US. It burns less brilliant but for a longer duration.

I’ve never used the pistol primers but in rifle they will light ball powers.

[BulletFactory]

$5.08 / 100 out the door, S.E. Michigan

Should never go above 5$.

Actually, a dollar would be more appropriate.

They keep this up, and we'll have to start reloading the primers too.

[crabo]

I just bought 2000 Federal small pistol for 29.99 a 1000, at Scheels in Grand Forks, ND. Everytime I am there, I try to buy some.

[uscra112]

$40! Well first you could click the Grafs dot come add banner at the top on this page and they have CCI and Remington primers on sale for around $22.


Actually $31.00/1K as of today. Even if I bought 5K, adding the HazMat and shipping to that and it gets mighty close to the $39.00 I paid at Cabela's for the last 1K of SP standard. I did not see Rem on sale, but I did buy a case of CCI 500's a few weeks ago from Grafs at $114 the case. Even that hurt. I've got SR primers in stock from a few years ago marked $13.95/1K.

If the Tula's are low brissance, that's what I'm after.

[Buckshot]

How about PMC primers? I bought 1M small pistol primers at a gun show for $19.00. So far they are working fine. Anybody else have any experience with PMC primers?

.............I suppose it was close to 6 years ago now (maybe 5?) but anyway it was a year or so before I was laid off in '07, one night I was checking out Graf's clearance stuff, and they had PMC primers listed. Standard LR were $53/5K so the next day I called them. The sales guy said no, they hadn't had any problems with them and in fact the high power guys at Quantico really liked them.

Apparently the importer, or distributer or whomever it was that Graf was buying them from didn't want to supply any more at the contacted price, and was giving Randy Graf gas over the deal. They said the heck with it and had a mutual agreement to terminate the contract, so Graf's was getting rid of'em. I told the sales guy to send me as many as would travel on one haz mat. I ended up getting 35,000 large rifle primers.

However that really wasn't a big deal as during the Clinton presidency there was a primer scare that lasted almost a year. I had sufficient on hand to allow me to keep shooting as per normal. At that time I was going to the range every Tuesday, but I WAS beginning to get low. A friend and I vowed we'd NEVER allow ourselves to get into that situation again. After that we'd make 2-3 of the big gunshows at the Los Angeles Cnty fairgrounds, and if nothing else, we'd buy primers. At the time MiWall had the best prices. At that time Win LR primers were $12.50/K and no tax. I just checked and I have 6 unopened sleeves (30K) Win LR primers left with the next sleeve dated Oct 1999. I'm pretty sure they were about $15/K then? I also checked the PMC's and they're dated 12-05.

I've only fired one deck of the PMC's and I don't recall what I fired them in or the load, but since I still have them I guess they must have been okay :-) The way it looks now, every time I open a brick of a thousand I'm saving between $15 and $20 :drinks:

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

[emorris]

I ran into a good deal at a local gunshow saturday. Winchester 209 primers for 15.00 a thousand, cci large rifle for 20.00 thousand, IMR 4759 10.00 a lb, hp38 10.00 a lb, IMR7828 15.00 a lb and a 8# keg of wc846 for 79.00 all of it seemed recent stock and I am running through the hp38 now. this has been the best deal I ever ran into at a gun show, but I didnt have any money left for gun.

[MikeS]

They keep this up, and we'll have to start reloading the primers too.

I vaguely remember reading something about a tool for making primers using a tool similar to the ones that make gas checks, then using toy capgun caps as the actual priming charge. I suppose if primers get too expensive, or hard to find something like this could be an option. Next thing you know they'll outlaw toy capguns!

As I think about it, I think this tool I'm talking about was for making percussion caps for muzzle loaders. Even so, it could probably be modified to either make berdan primers, or if the anvils from boxer primers could be taken out of used primers they could possibly be reused to make reloaded boxer primers. This sounds like an interesting project.

[evan price]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7nphPRG6JA

Can be done but very, very tedious.

[soldierbilly1]

I vaguely remember reading something about a tool for making primers using a tool similar to the ones that make gas checks, then using toy capgun caps as the actual priming charge. I suppose if primers get too expensive, or hard to find something like this could be an option. Next thing you know they'll outlaw toy capguns!

As I think about it, I think this tool I'm talking about was for making percussion caps for muzzle loaders. Even so, it could probably be modified to either make berdan primers, or if the anvils from boxer primers could be taken out of used primers they could possibly be reused to make reloaded boxer primers. This sounds like an interesting project.

get out on the net and see Ammosmith on youtube. He does make some primers out of the old style match heads. Yes, tedious, but they do work in a jam.
I wish someone would perfect a method for us "reloading" spent primers!!
billy