Phoenix is a Desert for Handloaders?

[pcmacd]

I lived in Commiefornia for 40 years. There were a dozen or so places one could find reloading components close by.

In Commiefornia!??!! Yeppers. In Commiefornia.

I move to Greater Phoenix 5 or years ago.

I whined online about this place being a desert for handloaders (much to my surprise?)

Then somebody reminded me that Bruno's was in the area.

Bruno's is a 50 mile drive from my extreme EAST valley home to north Phoenix. But today I happened to be at the Mayo Clinic hospital, perhaps ten or so miles from Bruno's, so I visited the place.

It was over 100F outside, and I'd wager it was 85F in their modest showroom. It was like being in somebody's GARAGE? Well, it practically is a garage when you consider the building and where it is located.

The thing that REALLY impressed me were the dozens and dozens of Krieger barrels for sale.

They had the usual vast array of propellants, and a truly impressive stock of dies.

They did not have gas checked, nor inexpensive projectiles for the 30-30, nor the 32 Special. Bummer. That's why I went there.

Time to buy some bullet molds.

I remain astounded that Orange County, Commiefornia is a friendlier place for handloaders than greater Phoenix?

This TRULY DOES bewilder me??? It makes my head spin.

--->>> A firearms friendly place has practically no resources, while a gun grabbing place has resources out the wazoo?

I'm just sayin'.

...

[Rick B]

Between the Cabelas, Bass Pro and Sportsmans Warehouse, it's made it difficult for the smaller shops to compete. Bruno's is the exception. They are best resource for barrels, actions, powder and jacketed bullets in the valley right now. Sportmans for primers when they have them.
Rick

[armoredman]

Brunos is VERY proud of their stuff, and the prices reflect that. Been shopping at Bass Pro, and Sportsmans for years. Legendary Guns has stuff, as well as a lot of the smaller shops - you just have to call to ask. CAL Ranch in CG also usually has reloading components - I shop there all the time. if it's not powder or primers, I order online, MidwayUSA comes to mind.

[deces]

I have enjoyed going to CAL Ranch ever since being turned onto them, they have tools, hardwear, & powder. Neat place.

[atfsux]

Buying out Laredo Bullets' machines and inventory next week. (Owner retired.) Hoping to be part of the solution here within the year.

[bedbugbilly]

50 mile drive? Hey . . . for some folks in some places in AZ that's a trio to the grocery store. :-)

Glad you were able to find some things.

[pcmacd]

The last time I was at Sportsmans Warehouse, I stood in line for 45 minutes to buy primers, while the guys behind the counter were showing guns to lookie lous and just generally wasting time shooting the breeze.

I'm old and have back troubles. That was sheer misery for me. I nicely told the man who finally waited on me that NEVER in my long life have I taken 45 minutes to buy primers, and that I would not ever be back. I suggested they have a separate line for components instead of just a cluster you know what at that counter. He agreed, and said he only worked there.

I'd rather pay a hazmat fee than wait in line for 45 minutes. Why can't the fools who run that store consider that?

[jonp]

Brunos is VERY proud of their stuff, and the prices reflect that. Been shopping at Bass Pro, and Sportsmans for years. Legendary Guns has stuff, as well as a lot of the smaller shops - you just have to call to ask. CAL Ranch in CG also usually has reloading components - I shop there all the time. if it's not powder or primers, I order online, MidwayUSA comes to mind.

I see Bruno's pop up on a few sights like ammo seek but their prices seem high to me

[charlie b]

I grew up in Phx (Glendale). Back in those days there were plenty of shops. Even Smith's had guns and reloading gear next to the grocery section. That was when the Phx population was only 600,000. Not really a metro area since there were miles of farm between towns.

Two things happened to Phx. California immigrants and the big box stores. It is a small version of LA now.

When I was in my 30's I went back to go on a fishing trip. I was still a resident (military) so showed my drivers license. The clerk said, "Oh, you're a double native." I asked what that was. He said there were so few natives in the city that anyone who had lived there over 15yrs was considered a native. When I told him how dumb that was he was a bit irate since he considered himself a 'native' having moved there from CA. I have only been back for funerals.

[armoredman]

I have never heard that 15 year native thing before - my son and I were born in the same hospital in Tucson, so according to Webster's definition, we are natives. It is funny how many people have moved here, though.

[deces]

A lot of people have moved to AZ since the early 80s. I hate it when people act shocked when they meet a native. Keep your patronizing to yourself please.

[charlie b]

It's ok. Just glad I don't live there anymore :)

[jimb16]

Did you bother to check at Dillon? Last time I was there, I picked up a replacement part for my 550B and they had a lot of stuff on the shelves. I picked up some .32 SWCs as well as the part that I needed. That was a while back before the pandemic, but I'd give them a call and see if they still stock reloading stuff.

[atfsux]

Did you bother to check at Dillon? Last time I was there, I picked up a replacement part for my 550B and they had a lot of stuff on the shelves. I picked up some .32 SWCs as well as the part that I needed. That was a while back before the pandemic, but I'd give them a call and see if they still stock reloading stuff.

Dillon often does have stuff,...but they are all the way over in Scottsdale. So unless you live in that area, getting by there to check out inventory is a PIA. That's pretty much the story no matter where you are in the larger Phoenix metro area, which in surface area is on par with or even larger than L.A. That seems hard to believe if you haven't been to both places. But part of what put Phoenix on the map was that for decades land was cheap and taxes were low, so rather than building up, during the building boom from 1960 to 2000, everything just sprawled outwards. Only now, as the relatively easy to develop flat land at either extreme end of the valley is drying up, is anyone seriously looking at how to promote denser housing utilization. But traffic here can be sooooo bad that it takes me 2 hours to get from my place in the NW Surprise area across the county to one of the best gun store over in Apache Junction. Slightly longer if I'm trying to visit Magma Engineering down in Queen Creek. And the only time the traffic eases up enough to allow for the travel times to reduce by 40% is when everything is closed. So in essence, the Valley Of The Sun is so crowded now that, essentially, it is no longer one place, but several distinct regional subdivisions simply connected to each other. Those could be loosely defined as West Valley/ East Valley/ South Valley/ North Valley. And unfortunately for small independent gun shops, the cheaper rent retail spaces are not out at the leading edge of the building boom (which is where the customers who freely spend their money tend to be), but in the older more run down interior towards the middle. From where I'm at, the closest "Big Box" gundude retailer (Cabelas) is 40 minutes away. But the nearest Mom & Pop gun shop worth anything is 90 minutes away. And it is just going to get worse, it seems, since Scheels is hitting town here in 2 weeks, with their huge new store going in at the junction of the 101 & 202 freeways in Chandler. For me, I now am always trying to plot in my head wherever I travel across the Valley when I happen to be nearby one of the gun shops, so I can divert for a few minutes and pop in to have a quick look to see if anything I can't live without has turned up in their used inventory.

The ease of shopping on the internet has a lot to do with the demise of local gun shops too. Nobody sells off their excess stuff to a local shop anymore, and instead post it online on a local gundude forum or (if allowed) on Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp or Craigslist. In fact I just today went and picked up a nearly unused and almost new Lyman single-stage press I found on OfferUp for just $50. In decades past, I would have been looking for that sort of thing in the used reloading gear pile at a local shop. In fact, Mesa Gun Shop used to be my favorite haunt for cheap used gear like that. But they're gone now.

[greybuff]

I've been in Phoenix for 60+ years and yes it has become a desert for loading supplies. I've been fortunate enough to score stuff off of CL and other Forums where people have listed stuff near me or my buddy in Tucson. So far it's all new unopened.

[armoredman]

CAL Ranch just dropped their primer purchase limits...

[firefly1957]

My father was stationed at LUKE AFB when I was 5-10 (1967 ) years old I used to run the desert I picked up and saved a lot of brass during those years .45 acp was quite common I even picked up a few nickeled .44 magnum cases and rifle cases . It was many years before I started reloading but I had a start on brass! I have no idea about gun shops back then I think my father bought most of his ammo on base I do remember him buying 20 gauge shells at Sears in Phoenix.

I wonder how much of that area if any is open today?

I also found some Mexican coins out on the desert most were valueless copper pesos however I did find one 1930's silver Peso I think it is a full ounce of silver. I forget the stated value of a couple gold colored small Mexican coins from the 1950's I found it has been years since I have opened the box they are in.

[atfsux]

I wonder how much of that area if any is open today?


You wouldn't recognize any of it. The area has grown so much that all the desert surrounding Luke AFB has filled in with homes, to the point that the base has been in danger of being chosen to be closed for decades now, with worries about not having enough vacant unoccupied area for a crippled aircraft to crash without killing people on the ground. John McCain used his significant influence while he was alive to prevent that. There is even housing development on the other side of the White Tanks mountains. There is still some open desert between Phoenix and Tucson, but it just might happen within my lifetime that the urban sprawl of both those places meets up in the middle. The same with Black Canyon City to the north. INSANITY!!

[Tim357]

You wouldn't recognize any of it. The area has grown so much that all the desert surrounding Luke AFB has filled in with homes, to the point that the base has been in danger of being chosen to be closed for decades now, with worries about not having enough vacant unoccupied area for a crippled aircraft to crash without killing people on the ground. John McCain used his significant influence while he was alive to prevent that. There is even housing development on the other side of the White Tanks mountains. There is still some open desert between Phoenix and Tucson, but it just might happen within my lifetime that the urban sprawl of both those places meets up in the middle. The same with Black Canyon City to the north. INSANITY!!

To add further to the discussion, Prescott and Prescott Valley are nearly indistinguishable one from the other. I came here in 93 courtesy of Uncle Sam's AF. The amount of sprawl has been un****ing believable. I too miss the smaller gunshops.

[charlie b]

When growing up we used to go to Saguaro lake. Some guys put up a mobile home and a big fountain in the middle of the desert and started selling property. We thought he was nuts. That is now Fountain Hills, a huge community.

Queen Valley was a real estate deal that went belly up several times. Now it is another huge community.

We use to go shooting at Thunderbird park. Now it is dead center in the middle of more housing.

Until the Indians give back the reservations there will always be an open space between Phx and Tucson. But, I bet when it gets to that point there will just be a few more big casinos put in there.


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[pcmacd]

When growing up we used to go to Saguaro lake. Some guys put up a mobile home and a big fountain in the middle of the desert and started selling property. We thought he was nuts. That is now Fountain Hills, a huge community.

Queen Valley was a real estate deal that went belly up several times. Now it is another huge community.

We use to go shooting at Thunderbird park. Now it is dead center in the middle of more housing.

Until the Indians give back the reservations there will always be an open space between Phx and Tucson. But, I bet when it gets to that point there will just be a few more big casinos put in there.


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I worked for Hewlett Packard years ago while living in Orange County, CA. The GM proving grounds near Queen Creak was my customer, and every time I went down that way I would stop into Magma Engineering and pick up some of their blue lube.

I asked the guys there where they went shooting and they told me to follow Ocotillo east towards Rittenhouse. There was this rough country north of the road where everybody used to go blasting.

Nowadays this same place is Crismon Heights or thereabouts. When I move here 5 years ago and made a trip to Magma E, I just could not believe how much the area had changed.

[WRideout]

I am also a California expat, and could never go back. Unfortunately, a great many California residents have moved to other (cheaper) states and brought their habits with them. California is in many ways schizophrenic. It is the land of Gavin Newsome and Jerry Brown, but also Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, and Arnold "the Guvernator" Schwarzenegger. As is usual in most states, the big voting blocks are in the major metropolitan areas, while the rural parts, with significantly different issues have much less clout.

When I was a kid growing up in Oxnard CA, it was a blue collar town whose primary industry was agriculture and the beet sugar processing plant owned by the Oxnard brothers. Most of the adult men I knew were WWII veterans, and the Korean war was still going on when I was born. Surplus weapons were everywhere. I remember stacks of Springfields, Enfields, and Arisakas stacked like cordwood in bins at Sears. The 45s were kept in the glass cabinets. If you had cried that guns are just for killing, the response might have been "True, what's the point?" It was not until the 1960's that things began to degrade noticeably.

During the 60s as Californians began to amass vast fortunes from high-tech defense industries, high finance, and a real estate boom, luxury became normal, and the citizens became more and more urbanized. Farmers and ranchers who decried the loss of influence by the once powerful Agriculture Industry could not resist the temptation to sell of their precious lands for housing tracts, at millions of dollars profit. Blue collar families found that they could no longer afford housing. Faced with the repeated boom and bust cycles that went on for decades many left California. The working class left for jobs and housing, while the upper class sold homes to finance an estate in a more pleasant environment. Vehicles with Oregon license plates had bumper stickers that said "Don't Californicate Oregon."

When aerospace took a nosedive in the late 1980's, I lost my job at Vandenberg AFB. The company moved me to Oak Ridge Tennessee, where I worked on the nuclear clean up at the original research facility that prepared the atomic bomb. In the late 1990's the Department of Energy pulled the plug on much of the clean up work, and I once again was looking for work. This time I ended up in Pennsylvania, which is definitely swimming against the current. I am beginning to think that I have a gift for finding dying industries.

Now that I live in Butler PA, I am surprised at how much it resembles my home town in Southern California during the 1950's, (except for the weather.) It is a medium-sized town, close to a major urban area, but in the middle of an agricultural region. We do have decent gun stores here, even with the plague of big box stores. Deer hunting is a religion, and the State Game Lands provide public hunting for everyone. There is a general sense of "leave well enough alone," and so far the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has not tried to protect everyone from everything (Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are exceptions.)

When I meet people, I will explain that I am from the State of California, not California PA, and ask that they withhold judgement of me.

Wayne

[firefly1957]

ATFSUX thanks for the update I kind of figured the same One of my classmates (class of 75) moved out near Litchfield said the entire town was brand new! From the way she described it it was where a third grade classmates father owned a cotton gin . He used to tell stories of how all the illegals kids would stay in their house when Immigration came around and the parents "took a vacation " closing the mill for a week or two. Some things (illegals) seem to be the same .

During the big Phoenix lights news stories I saw the surroundings of the LUKE A F B gate where we used to pick grapefruit and grapes was all houses!

I could not understand the big deal about the phoenix light either I remember being blasted out of bed late at night a few times by a F-104 heading to Phoenix as the lights also showed on radar and set off a alert which was very serious during the cold war. Those F-104's where breaking the sound barrier back then and probably fully armed as well . Those alerts seem to be forgotten by everyone ?

Maybe staying in Michigan was not so bad we are losing people so I should be in the stick for years to come!