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Thread: Primer cost

  1. #1
    Boolit Master


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    Primer cost

    I help an old Cowboy buddy to reload his .44Mag Cowboy Loads. I do all the case prep, and cast, PC & size his bullets. All he has to do is set down at the Hornady L-N-L, put in a bullet and a case and pull the handle.

    He buys, lead, powder & primers. We're OK on supplies for quite some time to come.

    He bought some primers yesterday.

    $135 plus tax for 1,000 primers.
    I am stunned, this is from a retail distributor with 4 Retail locations. A very Large seller. It's disheartening to see a reputable establishment take such huge advantage of the current situation.
    Needless to say, I'll never shop in their stores or shoot at their indoor range again.
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  2. #2
    Boolit Master Thumbcocker's Avatar
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    I walked away from some last Saturday for $100 per thousand.

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  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    And I got them for $3.97/100 for LRP, SRP, SMPP yesterday afternoon.
    I believe WE are supporting these prices that you're witnessing. Maybe slow down on your plinking, bet that they'll be within normal soon.

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  4. #4
    Boolit Buddy
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    Just curious as to what parts of the country are seeing primers on the shelf at stores. No one near me or anyplace that I’ve visited in the south east has seen primers on a store shelf since last fall.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master

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    no one around here has had primers for a year, so I rather imagine there are a few around here that would gladly pay that.
    if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    They were $60/1000 last week at Scheel's though you were limited to 200.
    "If everyone is thinking the same thing it means someone is not thinking"

    "A rat became the unit of currency"

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master
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    No primers at the LGS for at least six months.
    Don Verna


  8. #8
    Boolit Master

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    No primers locally at any price for a year now.
    Ammo is around but expensive. Read where the number of 4473 forms submitted in 2021 is up over this time in 2020. Strong Firearms sales for 2021 could exceed last year, ammo sales will likely follow suite.
    Domestic ammo manufacturers will need even more primers to fill shelves emptied by the Russian Ammo ban. I’d be surprised if we see a good supply of primers before next summer.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master
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    I've pretty much used up all my large rifle primers and have started to dip into my supply of berdan primers. Luckily some of the calibers I shoot are mil surplus and have berdan brass available which I pack ratted from range brass. The whole ammo shortage has slowed down both my shooting and reloading. Since berdan primers are found in most military ammo and is made over seas I don't think we will see any more of them for a long time which is a shame since some of the berdan brass is really nice quality.

  10. #10
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    The guy who works the gun counter at our local chain store asked me if I'd sell him some primers for his personal use. They normally carry reloading primers, bullets and powder, but now there's just fishing gear on the shelves that used to hold those items. This chain has a lot of stores, with some serious buying power, but they can't get any product at all. When they do occasionally get a pallet of loaded ammunition in, it's usually sold out within a couple of hours, even with a two box limit.

    If there's one thing I've learned from the shortages of 1968, 1994, 2000, 2008 and now, it's to try to stock up for when the supply chain breaks down. When this shortage ends in the next year or two, prices won't be going back to pre-shortage levels, since inflation is on the rise, and will most likely continue for some time. My wholesale primer supplier has 3/4 of a million primers on back order from Federal, with no estimated delivery date. Federal stopped taking back orders a few months ago, and I would venture a guess that the rest of the manufacturers have done the same.

    There are no companies who make primers strictly for the retail market. All the primers we used to buy were surplus to the needs of the ammunition manufacturers. When they made enough primers for the loaded ammunition they were making, then we got the surplus. Now, there's no surplus in this market. Sig just announced that they're going to build a primer manufacturing facility to fill their needs, since they've been depending on the major players for their supply, too. Hornady is in the same boat, but they haven't announced any plans to make their own primers. MagTech and S&B haven't imported any primers to the U.S. in several years, and that's also impacted the market.

    I don't look for the primer shortage to ease up any time soon, at least not this year........

    Hope this helps.

    Fred
    After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. - William S. Burroughs.

  11. #11
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cosmic_Charlie View Post
    They were $60/1000 last week at Scheel's though you were limited to 200.
    My buddy said our local Scheels has the same price on CCI 400s last week...not sure on the limit, but the same price.

    He needs them but left them at that price.
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  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy

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    Traveling last month, I bought primers for $6.70/100 at Cabelas in Washington state. Limited to 5 per customer.

    I can’t find LP or SR primers anywhere in Southern California.
    “If we lose freedom here, there is no place to escape to. This is the last stand on earth.” - Ronald Reagan

  13. #13
    Boolit Master
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    A number of things that were inflated by COVID/Fed stimulus are never coming all the way back down. I find it interesting there are a number of folks that feel confident we will be purchasing primers at $25-30/K in the not too distant future.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master

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    I learned a long time ago to not get put off be price increases. For example, back in the late '90s I used to buy a little precious metal. I do mean a little; I was "economically impaired" back then, but whenever I had a few extra dollars, I'd buy a couple ounces of silver. One year I bought a Krugerand, think it cost me about $350. Silver was under $4/oz. In 2000, I got my first good paying job. I was still young and single, and suddenly had money coming out my ears. I figured it was a good time to buy some more coins, but when I saw that the price of silver and gold had risen, I didn't. $6/oz for silver?! Too much! I'll wait until it comes back down to $4. We all know how that turned out.

    Like all of us here, I hope supply catches demand at some point soon, but I also expect that could be a while. In the meantime, I'd have no problem paying $60/k for what I need. I don't like it, but it's really just a couple extra cents per round. The actual dollar cost to keep doing what I like to do is pretty minimal. I've found that often it's the numbers rather than the actual dollars that bother us. For example, I've known guys who would go to a gun show, spend hours searching and haggling to get the absolute very best deal on a new gun, then get into their $60k truck and drop another $100 at a nice restaurant on the way home.

    Was it the money or the numbers that had him haggling his new hunting rifle down to the last penny? An extra $20 wouldn't have affected his checkbook in the slightest, but he sure "felt good" about getting a "great deal".

    I bought several thousand LP primers a while back, was glad to get them at $50/k. The only thing I'm a bit low on now is SP primers. I'd jump at the chance to buy a couple thousand at $60k, but I haven't seen any for sale around here in quite some time for less than double that. I'm not quite ready to pay that much, just yet. Maybe when I get down to my last box.

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy
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    Cabela's had primers for $6.50 a hundred. Nope, let them sit.

  16. #16
    The Brass Man Four-Sixty's Avatar
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    My question to you all would be; if primers did go back to $40 per thousand, how many would you see yourself keeping on hand?

    I would not mind having 100k or so
    Last edited by Four-Sixty; 09-04-2021 at 08:43 PM.
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  17. #17
    Boolit Master
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    At $40 a thousand I personally buy enough to outlast me.
    "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government..... When the people fear their government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people, there is liberty." Thomas Jefferson

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Four-Sixty View Post
    My question to you all would be; if primers did go back to $40 per hundred, how many would you see yourself keeping on hand?

    I would not mind having 100k or so
    If they were $40.00 per hundred, I'd give up reloading when my present supply runs out.

    On the other hand, at $40.00 per thousand that makes it $200.00 per case of 5,000, which isn't that far off the mark from what retail prices were before all this started. I'd buy a few more cases at that price, just to tide me over until I go to the reloading bench in the sky.....

    Hope this helps.

    Fred
    After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn't do it. - William S. Burroughs.

  19. #19
    The Brass Man Four-Sixty's Avatar
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    Yes, I meant thousand. Woops!
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  20. #20
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Four-Sixty View Post
    My question to you all would be; if primers did go back to $40 per thousand, how many would you see yourself keeping on hand?

    I would not mind having 100k or so
    I would buy 10K of small and large pistol.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check