Where Are All The Primers?

[Rockindaddy]

A friend called several weeks ago and asked if I had primers. So I asked and he said he was out! Told him I had plenty as I bought them when they were on sale over the years. Told him I was down to 40,000 various rifle, pistol and shotgun primers. I gave him a bunch so he could keep loading and shooting. Started looking around and saw that primers are $30~$40 a thousand. Wow! Started to read up and found that there are a couple of new primer factories starting up. That's a good thing. Started digging through my stash of primers and found a pack of CCI large magnium pistol primers with an outlandish price of
$1.39 !! I can remember when they were $ .49 a hundred. Started loading for my $35 Trapdoor Springfield when I was 16 years old. Powder and primers were cheap. Making lead styphnate paste and filling the small brass cups and adding an anvil to make a primer is a process I watched on a video. The paste has to cure in the primer cup. It is quite ingenious to watch the primers being handled and packaged. Hopefully they will be more plentiful and the price will come down.312754312755

[jdgabbard]

I'd like to know where you're finding primers for $35-40 a thousand today. Try $100ish, sometimes more. I haven't seen primers at that price in several years....

[Shawlerbrook]

I assume the $35-40/ 1000 primers are listed on the internet sites we never heard of and only take Venmo or Bitcoin as payment .

[BLAHUT]

Just saw and bought a brick of shotgun primers for $60.00/1000, I don't need then, well maybe a hundred or two, just to have, so if friends have a need, I can share ??? Have seen small rifle primers, price ?, I need and want Large and magnum rifle primers, haven't found any yet. Did find some 5744 so I picked up 3 lbs. so to have on hand or incase someone needs ???

[Willie T]

I have seen more primers showing up locally in the last month. For close to 3 years now I have been shooting out of the stash I accumulated in good times. I have been able to refrain from buying the $100+\brick plus shipping and hazmat that has been what is available. My stash is down to around 35,000. In the last month or so I have started seeing them locally again. Prices are coming down some. Still about double what they were prior to this latest cycle of shortage. In the last month I have started to peck away at replenishing my stash. I have bought 5 bricks from a LGS. $77/brick out the door. I think they will come down some more as supply catches up and may have started buying early. When I see where prices settle, I will fully replenish my strategic reserve in preparation for the next shortage, which will surely come again. For the young and new reloaders that got caught with their pants down during the current shortage, these cycles repeat themselves. When supply catches up prices will settle to whatever the new normal is going to be. At that time prepare yourself for the next shortage. Remember who the price gougers were during the time of short supply and give your business to the outfits that did their best to take care of their customer base as best they could.
Willie

[daengmei]

Early summer last year I asked a local gun shop about selling him what I had. He of course said he had to look at them and the current wholesale price for him was $35-45. Any primers on his shelf were normally $120 or more. I would make $10 or so for a thousand, he would make $50 or more. That was my last trip to that store.

[dverna]

A friend called several weeks ago and asked if I had primers. So I asked and he said he was out! Told him I had plenty as I bought them when they were on sale over the years. Told him I was down to 40,000 various rifle, pistol and shotgun primers. I gave him a bunch so he could keep loading and shooting. Started looking around and saw that primers are $30~$40 a thousand. Wow! Started to read up and found that there are a couple of new primer factories starting up. That's a good thing. Started digging through my stash of primers and found a pack of CCI large magnium pistol primers with an outlandish price of
$1.39 !! I can remember when they were $ .49 a hundred. Started loading for my $35 Trapdoor Springfield when I was 16 years old. Powder and primers were cheap. Making lead styphnate paste and filling the small brass cups and adding an anvil to make a primer is a process I watched on a video. The paste has to cure in the primer cup. It is quite ingenious to watch the primers being handled and packaged. Hopefully they will be more plentiful and the price will come down.

No good deed goes unpunished. Hope I am wrong.

[barnabus]

Early summer last year I asked a local gun shop about selling him what I had. He of course said he had to look at them and the current wholesale price for him was $35-45. Any primers on his shelf were normally $120 or more. I would make $10 or so for a thousand, he would make $50 or more. That was my last trip to that store.

the very reason i dont buy anything from a lgs

[pergoman]

The way I see it, primers will not get much below $80 per thousand anytime soon. They are 3 times what they cost a few years ago but so are a lot of other things. Cans of Progresso soup is on my grocery store's shelf at $4.39 today. It used to be a dollar. Pasta is $1.59 per pound when it was $.89 just a year ago. Bush' beans were $.99 3 years ago and are now closer to $3.
I'm still buying primers and shooting as much as ever. Our years are limited and I believe in doing what you can while you can.

[M-Tecs]

A friend called several weeks ago and asked if I had primers. So I asked and he said he was out! Told him I had plenty as I bought them when they were on sale over the years. Told him I was down to 40,000 various rifle, pistol and shotgun primers. I gave him a bunch so he could keep loading and shooting. Started looking around and saw that primers are $30~$40 a thousand. Wow! Started to read up and found that there are a couple of new primer factories starting up. That's a good thing. Started digging through my stash of primers and found a pack of CCI large magnium pistol primers with an outlandish price of
$1.39 !! I can remember when they were $ .49 a hundred. Started loading for my $35 Trapdoor Springfield when I was 16 years old. Powder and primers were cheap. Making lead styphnate paste and filling the small brass cups and adding an anvil to make a primer is a process I watched on a video. The paste has to cure in the primer cup. It is quite ingenious to watch the primers being handled and packaged. Hopefully they will be more plentiful and the price will come down.

The eastern China bug, the Floyd riots, copper prices, politics and panic buying lead to this. Current going rate is $80 to $120 per thousand. The prices before all of this $30~$40 a thousand when ordered in bulk from place like Powder Valley.

[405grain]

Primers don't even exist around where I live. Luckily I stocked up when times were good, but in about a year or two I'll be either out or on starvation rations. When they do come back I'll be stocking away two bricks a month, and won't stop for at least a year. 24,000 primers is about the minimum that I'd expect to cash, and a lot more would be better.

[Evoken]

I have been able to buy about a brick a month or so from our local reloading shop. They are staying consistent at 70$ a brick.
I did pay the 100$ fee for a few brick from a couple different places a few years back just to sure up my stock. I figure the iron is useless if I don't have anything to feed it, so it is what it is.
If prices come back down to 50$ or less I will surely stock up. I am seeing many components become more available in my area at least.

[Half Dog]

Cheddite has kept me shooting. I guess they are too busy to add rifle primers to their manufacturing process but 209 primers aren’t hard to find. When other 209 primers become available I’m planning on staying with Cheddite.

[45workhorse]

Just saw and bought a brick of shotgun primers for $60.00/1000, I don't need then, well maybe a hundred or two, just to have, so if friends have a need, I can share ??? Have seen small rifle primers, price ?, I need and want Large and magnum rifle primers, haven't found any yet. Did find some 5744 so I picked up 3 lbs. so to have on hand or incase someone needs ???

I saw 5744 the other day in Charleston SC, $60.00 a pound! NO it did not follow me home.
$30-40 I can deal with, not happy but I can deal with that. The store had the biggest selection of powder i had seen in a long time. Sportsman Warehouse.

[reddog81]

The way I see it, primers will not get much below $80 per thousand anytime soon.

I got an email Thursday for $63 per thousand for Servicios Aventuras Small Pistol Primers . Once people stop panic buying at inflated prices the prices will continue to fall.

[Kraschenbirn]

I got an email Thursday for $63 per thousand for Servicios Aventuras Small Pistol Primers . Once people stop panic buying at inflated prices the prices will continue to fall.

From where? SA aren't my first preference (had 2 FTF out of 100 yesterday) but will do for practice/plinking.

Bill

[Shawlerbrook]

I do hope I am wrong, but primers will never get below $50/1000 and probably more likely to be around $60-80/1000. And if November 2024 goes bad be prepared for more triple digit gouging and continued scarcity.

[littlejack]

Just this last week, Sportsmans Warehouse had Fiocci small pistol primers. First time I've ever seen any. There was a 2 tray limit per day, but, these are in 150 count boxes, another first for me. I managed to hit them four days. So, I wound up getting 1200 primers. Price figured out to be $5.66 per 100. That's not bad these days.

[reddog81]

From where? SA aren't my first preference (had 2 FTF out of 100 yesterday) but will do for practice/plinking.

Bill

Tacticalstuff.com. Only “stuff” is a word that will get an infraction if used here.

[376Steyr]

Where are all the primers? They are going into 9mm and 5.56 ammo. We won't see plentiful primers until the ammo makers clear up their enormous back-orders for loaded ammo. I see the price of bulk 9mm is steadily declining, so this is at least a hopeful sign.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

Lots of primers for sale in my area.

[parkerhale1200]

Started looking around and saw that primers are $30~$40 a thousand. Wow!

WOW....in the Netherlands IF there are availeble....big IF: 130 to 150 euro a 1000....
Last batch i bought was for 31 euro a 1000...4 years ago

[jimb16]

Stopped at a LGS yesterday. They had plenty of primers and that was no surprise; not with what they were charging! 80/1000 for cheapest shotgun and 90/1000 for cheapest rifle or pistol. $40/# for powder. I doubt much was being sold at those prices.

[wyowillys46]

I'm continually amazed that people are still crawling out of whatever cave they've been in, somehow ignorant to the economic events of the last few years, to bemoan how expensive reloading components are.

[BBarrett]

Don't go to Gun Broker, they will rape you with prices on primers.

[BBarrett]

Brownell's claims they have primers at $96.00 per 1000-ouch

[openbook]

I've been seeing small rifle and small pistol filtering back into stores for around the past 6 months. Several months ago, one LGS, that was selling cards, let drop that they were selling bricks behind the counter. I picked up one brick, the first (brick) I've seen (in stores, besides 209s) in a couple of years. Most places are selling cards at $17 to $21 per card.

I wish I'd been there when powder existed at the prices some of you guys talk about. I watched for years before I got a chance to lay hands on some Unique. I see people saying $50 a pound is too expensive. The best stocked brick and mortar store I know of probably has 60 powders on the shelf, the most expensive is $75.

[Tonto]

If shooters keep paying those prices, then the prices will remain high. It’s the market, not the politics.

[Wag]

Target Sports USA has small rifle and small pistol primers but prices are no better than anywhere else. I think they do free shipping if you hit a large enough order which should be easy with those prices.

Ugh.

--Wag--

[rintinglen]

Primers are more available: but not very much more affordable. Right now, the cheapest I have seen primers going for is 80.00/1000 or .08 a primer. You can buy .22's for less. I have been conserving my primers, shooting about the same--5,000 rounds a year--but I shoot 3 to 4 times more rimfire than centerfire. For most of this century, it was the opposite, in fact for several years, I didn't fire any rimfire cartridges.

[Willie T]

Where are all the primers? They are going into 9mm and 5.56 ammo. We won't see plentiful primers until the ammo makers clear up their enormous back-orders for loaded ammo. I see the price of bulk 9mm is steadily declining, so this is at least a hopeful sign.


If shooters keep paying those prices, then the prices will remain high. It’s the market, not the politics.

I respectfully disagree. Politics are driving the current shortage. Politics drove the previous shortage. Politics will drive the next shortage as well. The number of new first time firearm owners in the last few years is astounding. Politics are the main driver for that movement. Factory ammunition is what the masses and virtually all first time firearm owners shoot. As reloaders we are minority consumers. The primers we buy are mostly production overages for suppling the manufacture of military and factory ammunition.
Willie

[farmbif]

my gut instinct gif that is any indicator or not is that prices will not come down from what the big legit sellers like powder valley, Grafs, mid south and midway are charging.
Jeff Bartlett had sm rifle primers last time I looked at $350/5000
and a whole bunch of powders including varget is now just about $50/lb wherever you might actually find it available.
also got a feeling it will be quite a few years to maybe never to see primers as clearance items like Grafs had unixgines primers several years ago for $120/5000 or Tula or seller beloit for similar prices like it was a dozen or so years ago.
the past is history and retailers seldom if ever lower prices unless they are strapped for cash.

[jimb16]

Just a couple years ago, I was buying Cheddite 209 primers for 24/1000. The other day they were 80/1000. I find it hard to believe that the cost to make them more than tripled in two years.

[Hogtamer]

Lead shot at $70 is what ‘s killing me.

[Willie T]

Just a couple years ago, I was buying Cheddite 209 primers for 24/1000. The other day they were 80/1000. I find it hard to believe that the cost to make them more than tripled in two years.

Broaden your view a bit. The dollar is buying about 1/2 of what it did just a few years ago.

[huntinlever]

I haven't seen anything but small pistol or small rifle for months, unless it's Outdoor Limited charging $140/1000. Shooting bot shows no one has any, but them. I've worked with some people seeking fair prices on GB, but only for bullets. Brass or primers, won't work with those sellers capitalizing on a bad market and hammering reloaders.

[jdgabbard]

As a side note, if anyone is in NE Oklahoma and needs 209s, or LP Primers, I have a brick 209s I'd swap you.... I need SR Primers, as I'm currently down to my last two sleeves. The local shops are still out, and I'm not going to pay $100 + $50 shipping/hazmat for them...

[dtknowles]

Broaden your view a bit. The dollar is buying about 1/2 of what it did just a few years ago.

I kind of disagree with that. The price of gasoline has not doubled. The price of houses has not doubled. The price of my favorite beverage has not doubled. The cost of my car insurance has not doubled. My property taxes have not doubled. I could replace my truck for only a little more than I paid for it 8 years ago but the price of primers and powder have more than doubled. Lead is unchanged, still a dollar a pound been that way for decades.

Certain things have gone up a lot but not everything. Mostly things that the supply chain thinks it can get away with.
Tim

[Willie T]

I kind of disagree with that. The price of gasoline has not doubled. The price of houses has not doubled. The price of my favorite beverage has not doubled. The cost of my car insurance has not doubled. My property taxes have not doubled. I could replace my truck for only a little more than I paid for it 8 years ago but the price of primers and powder have more than doubled. Lead is unchanged, still a dollar a pound been that way for decades.

Certain things have gone up a lot but not everything. Mostly things that the supply chain thinks it can get away with.
Tim

Milk, eggs, loaf of bread, beef, land….

[john.k]

With all the new primer producers coming online in the next 12 months ,possibly to coincide with a recession.......its not the time to buy more than what you need.

[jdgabbard]

With all the new primer producers coming online in the next 12 months ,possibly to coincide with a recession.......its not the time to buy more than what you need.

Agreed. I know the prices won't ever be back where they were. The manufacturers never lower the prices back to the old numbers. But with more competition coming into the market, and the current economical situation, not to mention the war, it's probably best to only buy what you need. I plan on buying a few cases of 9mm plinking ammo. I'll save my SP Primers for use in 38/357 loads that I use less of. And my LP primers will probably sit there, as I don't shoot 45acp a lot these days. I've got more than enough LR Primers to keep me shooting for another few decades. I'm all but out of SR primers, so I will have to either buy or trade for a few thousand of those at some point. I don't even load shot shells anymore. I don't shoot enough of them to bother with it, so I can always go without my 209 primers unless I get into BP hunting....which isn't likely as I barely rifle hunt these days. I'm still sitting pretty good even without having bought any primers in a decade. The only area I'm hurting is in SR primers. And once I load up the rest of this 5.56 I have to load I probably wont need any of those for another few years. It's nice to have a few thousand rounds in stock for any given caliber....

[anothernewb]

where has all of it gone...It's been said more times than I have education to derive a number for.

Everything is unprecedented lately (hate to use that word because it's closer to a 8 years now). level of demand, levels of resources, levels of taxation and regulation. All of it.
The number of new reloaders since just the few years I've participated is crazy. The number of people I train in handgun use and carry permit courses has exploded. We've run capacity classes all year for 10 years+ - and we're not the only one, everyone else in my area that offers a course tells me the same thing. A conservative estimate tells me that together we've permitted more than the entire population of my county (50k) in the last 6 years. All of them are stockpiling unprecedented numbers of ammunition. I've contributed myself - I got caught without 22 in the obama days and since then with all the constant anti gun pressure - I've decided to have a reserve supply of not less than 2x my annual use.

The sheer number of firearms, ammunition, and components that have been stockpiled by the American people in the last decade is simply staggering. I'm willing to bet it's on par with - if not in excess of - the small arms consumed in WW2.

[jdgabbard]

I've contributed myself - I got caught without 22 in the obama days and since then with all the constant anti gun pressure - I've decided to have a reserve supply of not less than 2x my annual use.

I found myself in a similar situation back in the first panic buys back around 2010. Only had a few hundres 22lr, and several guns to feed. Now days I keep no less than 2k of 22LR on hand. Matter of fact, just dedicated a 30cal ammo can to 22LR just this past weekend. Wouldn't mind buying one of the buckets, but I cant put a 2nd mortgage on the home to afford it...

[reddog81]

Powder Valley has Small Rifle Primers on sale for $71.

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product/unis-ginex-small-rifle-primer-1000-ct-box/?utm_source=PV&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ODS%20&utm_content=UnisGenex

[jdgabbard]

Powder Valley has Small Rifle Primers on sale for $71.

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product/unis-ginex-small-rifle-primer-1000-ct-box/?utm_source=PV&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=ODS%20&utm_content=UnisGenex

Now go check what they cost with shipping and hazmat added in. Even at $71 that is more than twice what they were priced at a short time ago. Add $50 in shipping and hazmat and now we're looking at $120 for a brick. Sure it gets cheaper as you buy more. But even if you ordered 5 bricks to bring down the average you're still spending close to $90/1000. Thats not a deal.

[charlie b]

I kind of disagree with that. The price of gasoline has not doubled. The price of houses has not doubled. The price of my favorite beverage has not doubled. The cost of my car insurance has not doubled. My property taxes have not doubled. I could replace my truck for only a little more than I paid for it 8 years ago but the price of primers and powder have more than doubled. Lead is unchanged, still a dollar a pound been that way for decades.

Certain things have gone up a lot but not everything. Mostly things that the supply chain thinks it can get away with.
Tim

Most things have. Go through your grocery store. My beverages (soda) have doubled, including bottled water. My property taxes are limited to a small percentage per year by law. House value is almost double ($150k to $280k in 4 years). Insurance has gone up almost that same percentage. Car insurance is up as well.

Cars and trucks have gone up quite a bit, when you can find one. No, not double, but, mine are both $10k more than when I bought them. Oil/gas are controlled commodities. OPEC manages the prices based on what their profit.

Some items have gone up even more.

So, no, none of these prices will come down much at all, if ever.

[reddog81]

Now go check what they cost with shipping and hazmat added in. Even at $71 that is more than twice what they were priced at a short time ago. Add $50 in shipping and hazmat and now we're looking at $120 for a brick. Sure it gets cheaper as you buy more. But even if you ordered 5 bricks to bring down the average you're still spending close to $90/1000. Thats not a deal.

You ever buy powder and primers online? That's kind of how it works... Hazmat and shipping charges aren't new .Buy some powder and other primers to make it feel better.

[jdgabbard]

You ever buy powder and primers online? That's kind of how it works... Hazmat and shipping charges aren't new .Buy some powder and other primers to make it feel better.

Actually, I've almost always purchased online. But buying primers at $35/1000, or $175/5000 + $50 Hazmat/Shipping is quite a bit different than what we're talking about here. $90/1000 is a far cry from $45/1000, and that is buying in bulk. Not everyone has the cash to order those for that price. So when you say so-and-so has primers at $71/1000 that is not a deal. Honestly, I don't think we'll get back to the $35/1000 primers. I understand how this game plays out. But twice the price plus Hazmat isn't a deal....

[inspector_17]

Cheapest primers I've seen is Rem for $80 per k.

[reddog81]

I understand how this game plays out. But twice the price plus Hazmat isn't a deal....

It's fine to reminisce about the good old days, but people have been paying $100, $120 or more for most of 2020 to 2022. $70 is a good deal if you've been paying 50% more than that.

There have been people on this thread talking about how we will never see primers for less than $80/1000. I got an email last week for primers at $63 per thousand. Prices are going down.

Personally I'm holding out for the $50 range before buying in any significant quantity. I had a 5+ year supply when this all started and have bought small quantities over the last year to replenish what have I shot.

[Ed K]

When supply comes around enough that we see them on the shelf I won't predict $75 or $50 however expecting $35 or less is really hard to believe. Regardless of whether inflation is one figure on eggs or another on a pickup, it is present to one degree or another on just about everything. Why would primers be exempt? Brass cases are higher, powder is higher commercial bullets are higher. Reloading presses are higher, paper targets are higher, range fees are higher... somehow primers are going to be $35 or less?

[Texas by God]

Nailed it, EdK.
I’m hoping to see Large Rifle primers again some day before too long. Hopefully they’ll be less than $100.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jdgabbard]

When supply comes around enough that we see them on the shelf I won't predict $75 or $50 however expecting $35 or less is really hard to believe. Regardless of whether inflation is one figure on eggs or another on a pickup, it is present to one degree or another on just about everything. Why would primers be exempt? Brass cases are higher, powder is higher commercial bullets are higher. Reloading presses are higher, paper targets are higher, range fees are higher... somehow primers are going to be $35 or less?

Yeah, I don't expect them to be $35/1000. I'd _LIKE_ them to be the $12/1000 for Wolf/Tula that I used to buy. But that isn't happening either. But anything over $50 is highway robbery in my mind. Like I've said, I'm not even worried about loading 9mm right now. You can buy a case cheaper after shipping than the justifiable time I would put into loading them along with the cost of components. Little different story for other calibers. Biggest savings right now is on rifle ammo. At the end of the day I think the new manufactures are going to be the go-to cheaper primer suppliers. I anticipate theirs will land somewhere between $45-50 once things settle down and they get up and rolling.

[dondiego]

I recently bought a 1000 round case of 9 MM for $300 shipped to my door. I have an MP 40 full auto. It eats up ammo. I do reload 9MM too though when I have time.

[waco]

Stocked up on primers when Trump was in office and they were $30-$35 per K
Same with powder. I feel for the guys buying primers at even $70 per K
If and when prices get back down to somewhat normal, stock up while the getting is good.