Graf & Son has limiled supply of SP primers: best price hands down

[oldhenry]

I don't know if this is the correct place to post this or if it has been posted elsewhere.

Graf & Son has small pistol primers. Fiocchi brand: 12,000 for $798.00.

Adding their flat rate $12.95 shipping+ HAZMAT of $24.50 + tax my order was $899.83: that's $.075 ea delivered.

I'm splitting the cost with my son.

These will go quickly. I was on their list to notify if they were ever available again.

Henry

Spelling corrected

[Bmi48219]

I saw the email notice yesterday but thought they had a four box (6,000 primers total) limit. My math could well be off but I figured 8 cents each after taxes, hazmat & shipping.

[oldhenry]

I saw the email notice yesterday but thought they had a four box (6,000 primers total) limit. My math could well be off but I figured 8 cents each after taxes, hazmat & shipping.

You may want to review that email. They're senting me 12,000 primers (confirmed by invoice copy & email). According to my math the delivered price is 7.5 cents each.

All other sources I've checked would cost at least $.09 ea + shipping, Hazmat & tax.

[35remington]

We are certainly living in hard times when 7.5 cents per primer is considered “good.”

[reloader X]

Sportsman's Warehouse has some in store only limit 200 for 5.something

[reloader X]

We are certainly living in hard times when 7.5 cents per primer is considered “good.”

well they got ya by the balls when you have everything else

[35remington]

Lived through three primer panics. Nobody has me by the cojones. Laid in a very large supply when they were reasonably priced. If you are over 30 this shouldn’t be happening to you.

Live and learn.

[eastbank]

what 35 remington said/. live and learn/.

[dverna]

Just saw Ginex for $365/5k. Some powder at less than $40/lb with free HazMat at the same place. Nice to see prices doing the right direction.

[376Steyr]

We are certainly living in hard times when 7.5 cents per primer is considered “good.”

2.5 to 3 cents apiece was the normal price, before the shortages, not too long ago. Considering how much inflation has happened since the Happy Times, I think five cents per primer will be the new "normal" price, even when we are once again drinking the free Bubble-Up and eating our rainbow stew.

[Iron369]

Lived through three primer panics. Nobody has me by the cojones. Laid in a very large supply when they were reasonably priced. If you are over 30 this shouldn’t be happening to you.

Live and learn.

I’m well over 30 and didn’t see it coming. I’ve not been reloading my whole life. Not everyone comes from the same place as you.

[gpidaho]

Picked up 200 at Sportsmen's Warehouse the other day for $6 a hundred Ok deal for these times but I'm not driving over there for more unless I'm in the neighborhood for another reason. Gp

[smkummer]

Fiocchi has a plant in St. Louis and was better set up to provide the need for primers only over the new start up called Expansion industries in TX. In these times, I keep buying what I need in small quantities knowing it’s only a matter of time that supply will more than catch up with demand. Yes, I know I am being optimistic but when a product doubles or triples overnight, it’s only a matter of time before it comes back to reality. If .05 is the new normal in the near future, that’s OK but don’t be surprised one of the manufacturers has excess inventory and offers it at .035 ea.. Then it’s time to buy a lifetime. Just my .02. I’ve been reloading for 45 years and have seen a lot in that amount of time.

[Froogal]

I’m well over 30 and didn’t see it coming. I’ve not been reloading my whole life. Not everyone comes from the same place as you.

Same here! I am 72. Been reloading for only a few years now. Never saw a need for stocking up because primers were ALWAYS available when I needed them at the local gun shows.

[charlie b]

I keep my SHTF stockpile, always have. I will cycle it to keep it 'fresh' but I never touch the total. The rest is for recreational purposes. That stock goes up or down depending on what I am shooting most of. I was 'lucky' that 1) I had a recreational stock that would keep me going for a year or so, 2) I was able to buy what I needed every now and then throughout the 'panic', 3) I standardized my rifles for SR only (got some .308 brass that uses SR primers), 4) I don't mind paying the current prices. I didn't mind paying the price for CCI match primers before the panic (around $5/100) and I don't mind spending the current price (~$9/100). I only shoot a few thousand rounds a year so it just isn't an issue.

FWIW, our Sportsman's just put a LOT of primers on the shelf. Much more than they would ever stock before the panic. I didn't count but there are over 50k primers out there, mostly CCI and Fiocchi small pistol but there is more than 5k CCI SR BR primers as well. Prices are $5 to $10/100. Interesting too cause I had never seen Fiocchi primers before this.

[dverna]

I keep my SHTF stockpile, always have. I will cycle it to keep it 'fresh' but I never touch the total. The rest is for recreational purposes. That stock goes up or down depending on what I am shooting most of. I was 'lucky' that 1) I had a recreational stock that would keep me going for a year or so, 2) I was able to buy what I needed every now and then throughout the 'panic', 3) I standardized my rifles for SR only (got some .308 brass that uses SR primers), 4) I don't mind paying the current prices. I didn't mind paying the price for CCI match primers before the panic (around $5/100) and I don't mind spending the current price (~$9/100). I only shoot a few thousand rounds a year so it just isn't an issue.

FWIW, our Sportsman's just put a LOT of primers on the shelf. Much more than they would ever stock before the panic. I didn't count but there are over 50k primers out there, mostly CCI and Fiocchi small pistol but there is more than 5k CCI SR BR primers as well. Prices are $5 to $10/100. Interesting too cause I had never seen Fiocchi primers before this.

I have a similar approach. SHTF stock is never touched. Most of my primers are SRP, SPP and 209's. I have a case of LRP that will last a lifetime as I do not plink with those calibers.

I did the same "rationalization" with powders and can make do with four powders for everything I shoot.

Very easy to know what I need and to buy in bulk when prices are good.

[dogrunner]

Dunno about never touching one's supply.........I use mine, prudently, and I intend not leaving a damn thing to a posterity that I will not be here to enjoy.......what's left they can fight over and figure out their own way to get theirs, as did I.

Personally I'd put my bet on SMKUMMER's post.......at 82 and 60 plus in this game I too have seen an awful lot

[frkelly74]

Cabelas in Saginaw has CCI small pistol and small rifle. $89.95 per M. Also some federal primers not remembering what sizes $94.95 M. I was there today.

[FISH4BUGS]

I’m well over 30 and didn’t see it coming. I’ve not been reloading my whole life. Not everyone comes from the same place as you.

Well, there is a lesson to be learned here.....listen and learn grasshopper..... :)

[Iron369]

Well, there is a lesson to be learned here.....listen and learn grasshopper..... :)

I happened to get close to 20k spp and srp in an estate sale bundle when all I was after was the lead that was also in the sale so I’ve been stocked up through the shortage. I started reloading because of ammunition shortages but supplies were commonly available. I have learned that reloading supply shortages can follow ammunition shortages.

I sometimes come across abrasive even if it wasn’t my intention. I do get irritated when people act like their experiences aren’t unique to them and everyone on the planet has lived through them.

[35remington]

Here is how to pay attention:

Watch politics and current events. Figure that there is now a guarantee of depleting impulse and panic buying on recurrent intervals from now into the foreseeable future. Bet on it. Because that is what has happened, and relatively recently. And also over a period spanning nearly 30 years now.

There were runs on guns, ammo and primers multiple times, just in the last ten years.

Sandy Hook was bad. Fears that a Democrat president would be elected on a couple of occasions. Threats of gun control followed these events and drove up impulse buying. George Floyd. Covid. You name it, unrest and disunity cause it. Repeatedly. Multiple times in the last ten years, as stated.

This all started in 1994 with the first primer panic proximate to the assault weapon ban.

If you are caught short now, resolve never again.

Primers are the last thing to return during such events. And yes, if some attention was paid to unfolding events and their recurrence the old guys don’t have much excuse. You now know primers are a commodity more valuable than money and smooth the bumps in supply when the next panic occurs.

And it will.

[35remington]

The other thing to note is shelves depleted of ammo divert primers primarily to factories trying to make more ammo to supply the demand and reloaders get last place in the soup line. No ammo means no primers for awhile and high prices.

Ironically in 1994 the run was on primers while there was plenty of factory ammo available which was puzzling….but it still happened. That one caught me a bit short but it didn’t last quite as long as it has recently.

This has been happening on a more frequently recurring basis as that 30 odd years has gone by. More often in a given period of time as we get closer to the present day, longer periods of low supply. The last ten years or so has been particularly bad.

Sandy Hook served notice that some particularly tragic event would launch an especially strong impulse buying spree in reaction to particular fears. The pace of how this appears in the news cycle has also increased along with the more frequent media focus on “mass shootings” whether the event was in fact actually that or just gang members tuning each other up. We are now all primed, so to speak, for this to happen practically all the time.

And that, gentlemen, is known as a clue.

[LeonardC]

Picked up some CCI sp primers today. $5.99 per pack limit of 2 packs total. I asked the clerk why their web site says $5.03 per pack and local is charging $5.99. He said "Shipping" with a straight face. I told him I was just glad they had some in stock and I got some.

Yes, I have some stuff stashed away. I seldom pass up reloading components when available and I have $ in my pocket.

[FergusonTO35]

Listen to 35Remington, he is a wise man. I'm shooting primers from 2016 now so I could go for awhile without buying any. I do buy a couple of trays from my local shop every time I'm in there just to replace what I shoot, but I would have to find a heckuva deal to buy in bulk. For some cartridges it's fairly cost effective to buy cheap factory ammo, pull the bullets, and reload with your slug of choice. That's what I do with .223 FMJ, put a good Hornady or Sierra soft point in them. Awhile back I found some .308 FMJ at 2000's prices and bought several boxes. Going to pull the bullets on those, reduce the charge a bit, and reinstall soft points.

[billmc2]

Listen to 35Remington, he is a wise man. I'm shooting primers from 2016 now so I could go for awhile without buying any. I do buy a couple of trays from my local shop every time I'm in there just to replace what I shoot, but I would have to find a heckuva deal to buy in bulk. For some cartridges it's fairly cost effective to buy cheap factory ammo, pull the bullets, and reload with your slug of choice. That's what I do with .223 FMJ, put a good Hornady or Sierra soft point in them. Awhile back I found some .308 FMJ at 2000's prices and bought several boxes. Going to pull the bullets on those, reduce the charge a bit, and reinstall soft points.

Are you reusing the powder that was originally in those cases or are you using your own powder. If you're using your own powder what are you doing with the powder that was originally in them?

[FergusonTO35]

On .223 I just leave the factory charge as is, only replace the bullet. I think these .308's are warm, they have very sticky extraction and flattened primers in my BLR. I'm going to drop the factory charge around 10% on them. For the excess factory powder, I put it in a clean plastic container and note the manufacturer, caliber, bullet weight, and original charge on the label. Then save it for experimentation. I always reduce the load from the factory charge when I use these powders.

[LeonardC]

Picked up some Winchester SPM primers today. $4.99 a pack, limit of 2.

[murf205]

The ONLY thing I can thank Barrack Obama for is that he showed me how and when to buy primers. Of course there was not a zilloin new hand loaders in the mix in 2009.

[FergusonTO35]

Picked up some Winchester SPM primers today. $4.99 a pack, limit of 2.

Sweet, sounds like progress!

[reddog81]

Sweet, sounds like progress!

Probably Sportsmans Warehouse. They haven't raised prices as high as everyone else but they have a limit of 200. Smart move by them to get people in the store and spend money on other stuff.

[deces]

Is that new primer company putting out product yet?

[ddeck22]

Is that new primer company putting out product yet?

Nope, doesn't seem like it will happen:

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?457006-Expansion-Industries-Primers