Powder & Primer Price Gouging

[drumgool]

I live in east Tennessee . I went to a acouple of local gun shops this weekend to get some powder for a new load. I could not believe the price of powder and primers . $ 26.00 for 1Lb. IMR 4227 & $ 38.00 for 1000 primers up $8.00 in two week. I was just wondering if any of you guys local shops are gouging prices on reloading stuff.

I done a little searching on the net found some powder for 6-8 dollors cheaper per lb. & primers 16.00 cheaper at Powder Valley Inc. At these prices I think I can afford to pay Haz Mat Fee. Where do you guys buy powder online.

[MT Gianni]

Gouging is defined as hoarding a product to control a price. When demand for a product exceeds supply prices rise until no one pays the asking price any more, We have not hit that price yet. Posted internet prices do no good if the product is not in stock. This makes load development tough when you only want 1 lb to try instead of an 8 lb keg. I would advise you to go in on a buy with a couple of friends and make the buy big enough to pay for haz-mat fees. Buy it where they have it not where they state the lowest price. Good luck, Gianni.

[mike in co]

i keep see guys crying about gouging and such.
consider the other side of the coin.

you make your living selling reloading supplies.
you make $1 on each pound of powder you sell.
you normally sell 100 lbs a week,, so $100 profit.
now you reorder and the supplier tells you no powder for 4 weeks.......$400 lost( can't earn)
and no one will come into the store when all your powder is gone. what to do ?
raise the price.
its called supply and demand. its basic economics.
if you cannot wait till the supply returns, pay the going price , or do't buy.

now consider this is going on with his primers, powder, was on bullets and may still be on ammo and bullets!
this guys livelyhood is on the line.
support him, or when you want something next time, he may not be there, and you will have to pay shipping and hazmat and the other guys price.....
powder valley has good prices, but stock varies day to day, sales amounts are rationed, and they are runing about two weeks behind in processing.

so just how bad do you need to develop that new load ??
no one is picking on you

mike in co

[hpdrifter]

I sure got lucky last weekend. I went to the local Gander, knowing that their prices are usually way high. But, that's all we got around here. Nothing but mag primers and temped to go ahead a buy a k of them, but held off. Peeking the powder bin and it was quite bare. Sitting over in a corner was a 4 lb keg of Unique. No 1 lb-ers. I usually just buy a pound at a time. When I saw that 4 lb Unique, a $100 bill flashed thru my mind. I got half way out of the store and thought to meself....powder is scarce; You can always use Unique ...so I went back a looked at the bottle to see a price. None on it, so took it to the register and asked...can you tell me how much this is? $70...........I'll take it.

Maybe hi by normal standards, but this day and time AND AT GANDERS, it was a steal.

[targetshootr]

No doubt some retailers are gouging people but the firearms industry should get the blame. They're the ones who whipped up all the hysteria to get people to the polls last year. If I had money to invest I'da bought stock in gun makers last year.

[drumgool]

Well I don't mind a quy turning a profit That what makes the world go around . But I quess what what I intended this post to be was mabee some of you might know of some good prices on the net for powder and such that some of us may not no about. I not crying or mad just don't want to spend more than I have to .

[jhrosier]

I haven't seen any gouging that I could prove, but I haven't seen any discounts in a while either.
The days of getting a couple of boxes of ammo thrown in with a gun purchase seem to have passed also.
The only deals on components in my area are from a gunshow dealer who sells hundreds of pounds of powder and dozens of cases of primers per week, when he can get them.
I bought his last two thousand small rifle primers this week and didn't even ask the price. I needed them. The bill came to $228 for four thousand primers and five pounds of powder.
I've got about a five year supply of most powders and primers that I regularly use. I have serious doubts about accumulating another five years worth, within my means, until the current buying surge ends. The original plan was to go into retirement with about tens years supply of components at hand, but I didn't start stocking up until a couple of years ago. Bad planning, it turns out.:(

Jack

[DGV]

Look over at gunbroker. 1000 large pistol primers went for $110.00 All the primers are going at insane prices. This happened about ten years ago, but nothing like this.

[RayinNH]

I went yesterday to a shop. Plenty of powder on hand. I bought a pound of Unique for $15.95. Primers were scarce though, they only had small pistol both mag. and regular and plenty of shotgun...Ray

[2TN Mules]

My shop here in middle TN has powder and primers last weekend. Powder was 19.99 to 21.99 lb. Large and small pistol primers were 33.00/K . Don't think their prices are out of line.

[eka]

I haven't really figured out what all of this panic buying is all about. I know Obama was elected President, but for heavens sake. Are these folks trying to stock up to fight a civil war or trying to amass a lifetime supply? They're practically fighting each other when Wal-Mart gets ten boxes of cheap 9MM. I haven't seen anything like it. Me and several guys were doing a group buy at Powder Valley. Nothing was in stock that we needed and their log of back orders was crazy. To add insult to injury, UPS increased there haz-mat charge by $2.00 more, so as not to miss getting in on the action. Personally, I just said the heck with it. I'm not biting. I have a little stock, but I'm gonna be very frugal with it until things stabilize. In the mean time, I took the money I was going to use for the powder buy and bought some new arrow shafts. Man, I can shoot all day long with my recurves for free. So, I'm gonna step aside and let you guys take my place in the primer and powder line for now, just don't let me catch you fishing in my favorite smallmouth spot though.

Keith

[EDK]

My shop here in middle TN has powder and primers last weekend. Powder was 19.99 to 21.99 lb. Large and small pistol primers were 33.00/K . Don't think their prices are out of line.

I bought WOLF LP for $20 and RED DOT for $16 at the Belleville IL gun show Saturday. WINCHESTER were as high as $32. Not much in stock in the local shops. Primers were $28+ (if they had any) and powder up to $22 in singles; 4 or 8 pound bottles were close to GRAFS web site prices...but it was the less poplular powders.

If you aren't fairly well stocked by now, either get out your wallet or you'll do without for awhile. I'm low on SP and LR and could use more powder. GRAFS has PROMO for $86 for 8 pounds and I need to run up for two bottles; 130 mile round trip versus HAZMAT. (GRAFS web site showed OUT OF STOCK for a variety of primers last night!)

:cbpour::redneck::Fire:

[oldhickory]

My local shop seems to have plenty of everything and while prices are a little above what I was paying, (primers, around $22-$24 1000, powder, $16-$19lb.) no big deal. The Gander mtn in the city though, I won't even walk through the door!

[atr]

thank you eka !!!

I'm with you on this issue. I like to shoot (especially in the winter),, but I won't get sucked into this buying frenzy nonsense.
With spring coming on my shooting will be taking a back seat to the garden, fruit trees and berry bushes.

[JW6108]

I am shooting a lot more .22 rimfire than previously.

Had kind of forgotten how much fun it was, so maybe this cloud has a silver lining.

[rrob692326]

Don't feel too bad, here in Hilo powder $56.00 a pound primers $54.00 per thousand . That's the normal price for last three years!

[LeMat]

Paid $14.00 a pound for Unique a couple of years ago............. just paid $26.00 and that was after waiting a month. There was none to be found in NW Montana.

I'll stick to Red Dot for my 45 Colt loads thank you very much (at least it's still $16.00).