A message from Hodgdon

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If you’re just now becoming a “prepper”, you would be known as a “panic” buyer.

A prepper is the guy that has his life jacket on before he gets on the boat. The guy that’s trying to get on top of people wearing life jackets, after the boat has sunk, is in panic.
I'm a prepper
He's a prepper
She's a prepper
Wouldn't you like
To be a prepper, too?

For heavens sake, people, distribution channels for every product shipped by truck and warehoused in "hard-lock-down states" are so messed up by the plandemic debacle it will be a year before washing machine parts and integrated circuit boards catch up to smokeless powder. We can't get medical equipment shipped across the country because traditional trucking firms have cancelled routes that go through states that quarantine when the driver crosses the border. Add to that several MILLION new gun owners, several MILLION new ammo purchasers, several MILLION new reloaders... we went from being a small community to nearly half the country over-night. And then there are the things we can't discuss on this board because it's a dot-org and not allowed to permit those discussions without shutting down threads...

It's going to get worse before it gets better. I'm sorry if you were the happy, care-free grasshopper instead of the diligent, hard-working ant but that's life. Even I got caught a little short on some supplies and have excess of others because my income ran short and my non-shooting-related bills ran way long in 2019/20. It happens. Don't buy from scalpers but don't complain about the guy who does. Live and let live.
 
Primers are the only extreme shortage I've encountered. Local reloading store seems to have had a fairly good supply of powder, at least the type I use....HP-38. He did say, a couple weeks ago, that the two cans of HP-38 I bought were his last and no idea when a new supply might come in. Not sure of other types but his showcase seemed to have a number of diff cans.
 
Primers are the only extreme shortage I've encountered. Local reloading store seems to have had a fairly good supply of powder, at least the type I use....HP-38. He did say, a couple weeks ago, that the two cans of HP-38 I bought were his last and no idea when a new supply might come in. Not sure of other types but his showcase seemed to have a number of diff cans.
Once the powder left my area (Memphis) I haven't seen any come back. We have had a few deliveries of primers but zero cans of powder of any type. There is an avery outdoors that has powder at prices I'm not willing to pay.
 
Maybe if places would limit the amount per customer to 1 instead of ten

Have to disagree with this. Hazmat and shipping makes buying powder and primers online in small quantities not cost effective. If you buy 1 pound of powder for $30, then have to pay another $30 for hazmat and shipping, you've effectively paid twice as much. It only makes sense to buy those materials online in bulk.

If you're talking about in store, most places already do limit powder and primers.
 
Have to disagree with this. Hazmat and shipping makes buying powder and primers online in small quantities not cost effective. If you buy 1 pound of powder for $30, then have to pay another $30 for hazmat and shipping, you've effectively paid twice as much. It only makes sense to buy those materials online in bulk.

If you're talking about in store, most places already do limit powder and primers.

I think that's the point. Limits make sure people who need the powder can get some, too, not just the people who camp out in front of Academy for hours or write bots to buy the max every time it comes in stock, just to flip it.
 
I disagree. Cases can be reused many times, and it's much easier to make your own bullets than anything else. There's a reason primers and powder are the bottleneck in a panic.

Nope all components are equally important. You can reuse brass, but you have to have it in the first place. You can make your own bullets assuming you have lead, but almost all of the equipment(furnace, molds, & sizing dies) is sold out or back ordered just like everything else.
 
Brass is the most abundant resource I have for reloading. Lead being #2 and can be reused more times than a case can. I have made my own black powder but have only read about making smokeless powder and primers.
 
The entire concept of being a “preper” is having everything you need before they become scarce. One of them would need powder now as much as they would have needed toilet paper last year. It’s the unprepared and new to the game, that are circling the places to buy powder now.
I had to go to the LGS to do a transfer and saw they had .22LR for $16 for a 50 rd box and was glad every time I bought ammo online prior to 2020 I bought a brick of CCI for $25.

I just wish I had splurged and bought cleaned Walmart out of ammo in December 2019 when I was there even tho it would have cost me a grand.
 
Nope all components are equally important.

Sorry bud, but that just isn't true. Cases are abundantly available. I've never had a problem finding cases, and rarely have had to even pay for them. Lead is also abundantly available and reusable, as pointed out above. The equipment will be back in stock long before we can get primers and powder regularly.

Again, there's a reason primers and powder are the bottleneck. Every. Single. Time. They are disproportionately more important to stockpile than cases and bullets.
 
I just wish I had splurged and bought cleaned Walmart out of ammo in December 2019 when I was there even tho it would have cost me a grand.

Same. I think back at all the people who bought pallets of ammo when Walmart changed their policy, and it makes me envious of the people who spent the money then.
 
In the past, my assumption has been all this product never makes it to the shelves.....gets picked off before it gets there. That may not be true. As of this morning, 1 pound of IMR 4350 is selling (actual bids, not offers to sell) for $100 a pound. That may or may not include the haz mat shipping. That is about 3X retail. So there is a profit incentive to sweep the shelves clean and resell on GB. Until that incentive dissipates, I'd expect folks to keep doing the same......with all components. Fixed and consumables.

BTW, LR primers on GB have stabilized in a range of 15 to 20 cents per 1,000. More in smaller lots, in the range of 12 to 15 cents in lots of 5,000 or more. If what Vista is saying is true.......using all production to make live ammo, then source of primers would remain private stash. But there is an awful lot of it available......for 20 cents each. When that drops to 10 cents or less, I'd expect the profiteers to stand down.

Hopefully all that starts in the following weeks and months, and to the extent that the K-Rona was complicating production, I'd think that ought to start fading away as well as the K-Rona numbers drop for whatever reasons.
 
Another category I'm watching is the fixed hardware associated with reloading. Presses, powder measures, powder scales, dies, etc.

A month or so back, there were about 6 to 8 Forster reloading presses on ebay, from $600 up to $795 or so. A week or so back, one sold with multiple bids for around $500. As of this morning, two are going begging.....no bids yet, for $450 and $475, plus others all the way up to $675. I'm seeing the same with dies, scales, etc. An abundance of stuff is starting to show up....still a higher prices, but limited amounts selling at those prices.

Nature of markets is when prices have peaked, demand dries up......prices still high, but no buyers at those prices. Then once prices start coming down, a few will step in to buy, but unless there is a dire need, there is no reason to try to catch a falling butcher knife. Let it hit the floor first, then pick it up safely.

To the extent scarcity and shortages are the result of profiteers buying low and selling high, if you can't sell, it may remove the profit motive, so profiteers will leave stuff on the shelves for end users. Do that and I can scratch my itch in a hurry.
 
I was an Alliant only buyer, but after how things were going I bought some powders on Midway last year that I was intrigued in and all that was available was Hodgdon. I wanted to try Red Dot for .32's and I needed more Unique, a lot more Unique and nothing was available, so I ended up buying a bunch of Hodgdon powders and I'm glad I did because 700x is awesome, Titegroup has its moments, Lil' Gun is good for some rifle applications, and now I cannot wait to get some 800x in the future.

If you like weighing every charge, and using a powder trickler, you will love 800x. Myself, I enjoyed lighting what was left of my container on the 4th of July. The worst pistol powder to measure in my RCBS Uniflow measure I have ever tried to use. YMMV.
 
The entire concept of being a “preper” is having everything you need before they become scarce. One of them would need powder now as much as they would have needed toilet paper last year. It’s the unprepared and new to the game, that are circling the places to buy powder now.
A LOT of people become 'preppers' WHEN the scarcity hits.
 
If what Vista is saying is true.......using all production to make live ammo, then source of primers would remain private stash.
I’ve been able to buy a few bricks from sportsman’s warehouse throughout the shortage including a few days ago. Vista must still be putting out primers just not in the amounts they were before the shortages.
 
Well folks it's not just reloading/ammo that is MIA or priced out of reason. Building supplies like nails/fastners are MIA and 2X4's or plywood are now 3Xnormal pre covid cost. Common replacment parts in the automotive industry ditto. My GF's 2016 jeep has increased in resale value by 5K since last year due to lack of used tradeins. Something to think about is nobody I know has had any sort of raise in wage at the same time.
 
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