Online component ordering?

Pretty much anywhere has Hazmat shipping of $20-$30, but that is the same fee if you buy 1 lbs of powder or 15 lbs of powder.
I've only ordered primers once back in the early Obama days and I needed a specific primer and it finally came in stock enough to fill my backorder and was out of stock withing minutes.

Grafs. $7.99 shipping and $10 hazmat.

1. Depends on the minute.
2. Once in a while. Nothing you can set your calender by.
3. Depends on what promotion they are running.
4. Depends on the shipper.

You have to do the research and do some comparison shopping. For me, unless there's a sale and free shipping or hazmat my local shop is hard to beat. CCI primers are $30/1000, powder prices are within $1-2 a lb of online.

Sometimes Graf's will have free hazmat if you order four lbs of Vectan powder. It's actually a complete crap shoot.

Beware of places like Midway which will ship primers and powder from different locations and hit you with two hazmat charges.

Sign up for promotional emails from as many online reloading component company's as you can. They will send you an email when they have a sale going on. Many will offer a discount on hazmat fees or wave it altogether if you buy a certain amount.

Warning, so not order primers and powders the same time from Midway USA, you will incur a double hazmat charge. Midway ships recliners but drop-ships powder from Powder Valley.

Sometimes a signature is required depending on the carrier and seller, you have to check with them before you order.

Last but online order I made was from Powder Valley, it was over $500 and before the shortage and price hikes.

If you buy 2X 8lb jugs of powder and 5K primers with a $25 hazmat fee you only add $1.20 to each pounded powder or 1K of primers. If you buy 10K primers it drops to under a dollar per item.

1. Varies, post on where reloading supplies on this site is handy. Midway and cabelas often have good prices on 5k primers. Grafs has 10 dollar hazmat now.
2. I see one every month or so.
3. Some want 4 lbs powder. Most vary.
4. I believe so. I ship to work.

Plus you probably can buy with no tax so that is a 8 or 9% bonus right there.

Natchez shooting supply has no hazmat promo through today on orders over $99.00 I believe. I was looking at primers. A lot of them were on sale.

There are times when one vendor's hazmat fee is offset by the higher prices at the no-hazmat places. If you're ordering a large quantity, places like Powder Valley (which usually has moderate hazmat fees) often come out cheaper than places doing "no hazmat."

And, yes, you (or another adult) have to be present to sign for hazmat. Somehow, FedEx always comes when my wife is out running errands, so I usually end up going to a distribution center to pick up my stuff. You may want to figure out where that is if you think there's a good chance that someone won't be home for the 3 tries on 3 days FedEx gives.

Was going to suggest your local Cabela's right till I looked at Varget for $40 a pound and abandoned that.

Online shopping can be good but it goes like everyone mentioned as to your questions. You really have to just look for sales and free HAZMAT or shipping over a certain dollar amount. I generally get emails from distributors I have dealt with announcing sales and free HAZMAT. Normally if I buy, I buy a bunch at one time to make it worthwhile. If there is any one single best distributor I have yet to find it.

Ron

What bugs me most about the hazmat fee, they don't do anything special for that fee, no special handling. It's just another way to pick our pockets.

ArchAngelCD said:

What bugs me most about the hazmat fee, they don't do anything special for that fee, no special handling. It's just another way to pick our pockets.

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They accept risk. That's a perfectly rational thing to want to be paid for.

ATLDave said:

They accept risk. That's a perfectly rational thing to want to be paid for.

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IMO wrong! That's what insurance is for.

Sorry for going OT.

Uh, insurance costs money. (But FedEx and other large carriers are likely self-insured.)

In the commercial/non-retail world, one party to the transaction being paid to hold risk is absolutely standard. Very, very common in the business world. Consumers are just so used to seeing everything rolled together and announced as "the price" that seeing stuff unbundled freaks them out.

I can understand a hazmat fee for the risk, but why the big variation in cost. Grafs seems to be usually $10 but other places are 20 and even 30. I would think the shipping companies charge about the same and the sellers just pass on the cost, but it doesn't seem to work that way.

Good question. I suspect that some may be subsidizing it, others passing it straight through, and still others using it as a small profit center/offset to their own risk of carrying that kind of inventory.

Pricing strategy, man... who even knows how it works?

Funny they charge hazmat fees for primers and powder, but when you buy the whole bullet ( which has powder and primer in it) there is no hazmat fee..... Go figure !

Yeah, I think that's funny, too. But I suspect there really is some difference in the risk of a big fire or outright detonation.

ohihunter2014 said:

I have never ordered reloading supplies online so I have a few questions.

1) Who has the best prices on primers and powders along with Hazmat?

2) How often, if any, free hazmat or shipping occurs and from which websites?

3) Is there a minimum price that gives free hazmat and shipping?

4) Do I have to be home to sign for the shipment?

I have a mom and pop shop ( almost 70miles round trip) that I usually buy from, but I see powder valley beats the mom and pop prices by a lot but they want $30 for hazmat and shipping.

Mom and pop shop is $32-34-1k primers and $30-32-pound for Varget. I need a few bricks of primers and 2-3 pounds of various powders.

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I have almost exclusively now used Powder Valley. Even when they dont have free hazmat and shipping. I try to bunch up my purchases to at least 5000 primers at a time and I try to order powder in 8lb jugs when it makes sense. I found that even if they dont have the free hazmat which they run occasionally (sign up for there emails) they seem to have much better prices than everyone else that it negates the free shipping from elsewhere. and they ship fast too!

I'll either pay the shipping or the hazmat but not both. My last order was 20,000 WLP primers and 16 pounds of WST. I paid the shipping. I buy projectiles in batches of 2250 (200g .45 SWC) from precision bullets about every 5-6 weeks. Brass is free as a lot of people leave the buckets at the range full of their spent cases. I did order a bunch (3000) of Starline .45 ACP used brass just recently; cost with shipping was $0.06 each. This winter has slowed my shooting (to much snow) so I'm reloading a bunch for the upcoming season.

For the rifles I have casting a bunch bullets for the 30-30, 45-70 and 40-82. I have also been loading a bunch of "Test" rounds for the .308 and 30-06. I can't wait for spring to arrive.

~g

Grafs shipping and Hazmat fees are usually the lowest from my experience. Powder Valley's prices are hard to beat and who I use to judge other vendors prices. The way to really save on Hazmat fees is to get a few buddies together and order the maximum, which last time I checked was 50 lbs. You can mix different powders and primers to get to the 50 lb limit. When I was buying I'd check Powder Valley, Grafs, Midsouth Shooters Supply, 3rd Generation, Brownells and Wideners. Wideners doesn't sell powder or primers now but they used to have screaming deals on Alliant powders. Good advice to get on the email lists to get notices when sales are on like reduced Hazmat or free shipping. The only problem with free shipping is they use snail mail and I'm not sure powder and primers would be eligible. Midway will surprise you once in a while. Several years ago they had Rem 7 1/2 BR for $24/1000. I stocked up

Termite I said:

Wideners doesn't sell powder or primers now but they used to have screaming deals on Alliant powders.

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They are also under new management and prices have of course gone up!

ohihunter2014 said:

I have never ordered reloading supplies online so I have a few questions.

1) Who has the best prices on primers and powders along with Hazmat?

2) How often, if any, free hazmat or shipping occurs and from which websites?

3) Is there a minimum price that gives free hazmat and shipping?

4) Do I have to be home to sign for the shipment?

I have a mom and pop shop ( almost 70miles round trip) that I usually buy from, but I see powder valley beats the mom and pop prices by a lot but they want $30 for hazmat and shipping.

Mom and pop shop is $32-34-1k primers and $30-32-pound for Varget. I need a few bricks of primers and 2-3 pounds of various powders.

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1. Powder Valley is #1 on my list. Haz-mat was about $19 + $14ish for shipping.
Midsouth Shooters is close to Powder Valley except for Alliant powders were more.
2. Sign up for their emails to get free hazmat alerts. Usually it is tied to buying a certain brand of powder.
3. Unless there is a hazmat/free shipping special, the hazmat and or shipping goes to the max of 65 lbs. I believe.
4. Is it is shipped UPS, I have never had to sign for. Fedex usually has required my signature. But I think that is ultimately up to who you buy it from.

Termite I said:

Grafs shipping and Hazmat fees are usually the lowest from my experience.

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I believe the code 'boom' will get rid of the $7.95 shipping. Hazmat is $10, IIRC. Watch for sales.

I buy most of my reloading stuff from Black Hills Shooters Supply. They require an FFL, which I have, and all prices are delivered prices. The more you buy, the less things cost per unit. I will get all my friends together and make a large order. If you have a local dealer who doesn't stock reloading supplies, see if he will place the order for you on his license. They are excellent to deal with.