I decided to get into reloading a number of years ago...and failed. There was nothing available. Even loading dies were months back ordered. Some sites were advertising taking orders in March with expected September delivery dates. I passed. I wasn’t shooting at the time, so I figured I could just wait things out. When I started shooting again the price of ammo had risen dramatically. I used to buy a brick of 22LR for under $18.
A short while later I saw ammo reappearing...2 box limits, lots of aluminum cases. It was sad...but an indicator of improvement. Within months I could get reloadable ammo again...though 9mm was now $15 a box for plinking rounds. Still...my income had also risen from when I could get 9mm for $7 a box, and 45 for $12. So buy I did, and save brass I did (stupidly, I tossed all the 380ACP, and yes...even the 45 cases). Finally, in late 2017 I decided to take the plunge...sheer sibling jealousy led me to it...my near penniless brother had just been gifted a complete reloading setup by our father...and I figured if a genuine poor can afford to reload...so can I. I bought everything that my brother received, except I needed 9mm dies, so I bought them too. In January 2018 I made my first powder, primer, and bullet purchase, and began my reloading journey. In just over a year I began seeing the many posts of folks declaring they didn’t load 9mm any longer, as it was far cheaper to buy factory. I didn’t care...I was still on a learning curve, and wasn’t about to tell my wife I’d made this huge investment in reloading gear, tools, and components, but now I’ll just buy ammo. So I kept loading, and buying powders to try, and stocking primers, and adding tools, and calibers (now 380ACP, 9mm, 40S&W, 38/357, 45ACP AND 300BO). Then, my wife passed me a local coupon offering 9mm for $8.99/box, good for up to 20 boxes. Mind you, this was 2 weeks ago. I wasn’t hoarding, so I only bought 10 boxes. After all, that’s 500 rounds, and I already had 700 rounds loaded. Little did I know that in just 2 weeks I wouldn’t be able to buy ANY 9mm (or anything else) at any price!
So I have to say...I’m kind of in between here. A new loader that has some supplies just because I was still trying to find a favorite...powder, primer, brass, projectile...but a new loader that remembers I’m not an old loader because of severe shortages the last time around that kept me from becoming a new loader back then. We’ll see if anything actually ships, but I was able to place orders for projectiles before hearing about panic buying, and got in a decent sized order or primers before everything showed “out of stock”. Let’s see where this all goes from here. Side note: I didn’t get any as we have no Sportsman’s Warehouse around me, but they were advertising Remington primers at $1.99 per sleeve, and nearly all CCI for $22.99 a brick. Bet those prices won’t hold when product returns to the stores.