Returning to normal.....slowly

Powder Valley had small pistol primers (CCI) for a few minutes today. I regret to say I was too late.

brewer12345 said:

Unless the market experiences another exogenous shock. Banning Russian ammo imports would do it.

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Shhhh! Don’t give anyone ideas.

This morning, I rode with a buddy who was returning a Ruger magazine to a gun store in Pocatello. While we were there, I was looking at the 12 gauge ammo the gun store had on the shelf. They had some, but $45 for a box of 20 was a lot more than I'm willing to pay for it. And seeing as how I'm 73 years old, I doubt I ever will be willing to pay that much for 12 gauge ammo.
BTW, while my buddy and I were there, I "overheard" (actually, I was eavesdropping) a conversation between one of the sales guys and a 60ish gentleman who was apparently buying his first handgun. I don't know what kind of handgun it was, but I heard the sale guy tell the gentleman that the background check was being "delayed," and it might take 2 or 3 days, instead of the "usual" 10 or 15 minutes. The 60ish gentleman seemed okay with that, and he left after the sales guy told him they'd "call" as soon as the background check came back.

Found SP,SR at Our local store this past weekend. 2 sleeves per customer. $7.99 & $6.99 per. Powder available too, not what I was looking for. Some brass and good supply of bullets were available.

Before they stop.....until the next pay day you mean?

AJC1 said:

I herd him talking about not building new ammunition plants and this may be a splitting hairs thing. Adding additional primer capacity might be a smart move considering that people will over buy for a while after this thing is over. I'm guessing people on here will have at least 20-50k before they stop. That's a lot of forward production. They are small and dont take up.much space unless you buy federal... I hate their packaging but that's a different debate.

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Hrbie22 said:

Before they stop.....until the next pay day you mean?

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Never enough. I dont remember federal limits but 50k seems to be a tipping point.

Does Remington make powder?
If not, then ammo and primers might come back but powder will be harder to find.

Unfortunately in portland things are very scarce.

I haven't seen a new "reloading primers" thread in days.

Gotta be a good sign...

All good things have to come to an end. I have been rather enjoying having all my favorite shooting spots to myself.

Nephew is closer to a retail store that stocks reloading components than I am, and have had him on watch duty. He called yesterday to report store has some powder and primers. Powder at $33 per pound (said YES!) and primers at $155 per thousand (said NO).

But "available" to even be able make the choice is a new and refreshing development.

I was in a shop that had primers for $ 185 per thousand . Folks were snatching them up fast . Nobody complaining about the price . The shop owner was smart, he had them labeled as " consignment " . Told me that is his built in excuse if someone does say something , said he had sold cases of them without a bad word about the price .

With all the crazy prices lately, I've been playing a lot of golf. When the prices calm down, I'll start reloading again.

I don't golf, but maybe I should.

Just picked up 3 bricks of SP for $64 each and 4 sleeves of LP for $7.49 a sleeve. Powder was on shelf but didn’t need it. They had SR and MR on shelf too.

unwashed said:

This must be regional cause in my neck of the woods (Northeast) shelves are still empty. I also find online pretty bare too. I would imagine the midwest/west to get supplies first since the shooting community is much larger. Can't find a Scheels anywhere east of Indiana.

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It is regional. Around N. Florida we're still seeing bare shelves at the few places who bother to carry reloading supplies.

Would all the folks posting, "What shortage? Why, I just bought 10 million small pistol primers this morning!" please post where you are (region or state, please) so we know where the supplies are going to and where they are being withheld? I have this theory that all of the supply is going to anti-gun cities and counties to supply the scalpers and drive people away from wanting to own guns. If ya'll are getting stocked while places traditionally very gun friendly are getting shorted, we might want to know why and have our industry rep's explain themselves.

The Cabela's in Dundee, MI has reduced the shelf space for the reloading section. It has been pretty bare for a long time now. Even stock of the plastic 100 round flip top boxes has been decimated. I'll know the shortage is over when I walk in and see anything on the shelf there.

There are a few local (-ish) shops that had some powder at slightly raised prices. Still, it was less than paying shipping + hazmat for a pound, so in the end it's a decent deal. No primers.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

I have this theory that all of the supply is going to anti-gun cities and counties to supply the scalpers and drive people away from wanting to own guns. If ya'll are getting stocked while places traditionally very gun friendly are getting shorted, we might want to know why and have our industry rep's explain themselves.

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Just because you are acting paranoid doesn't mean the powers that be are NOT out to get you.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

Would all the folks posting, "What shortage? Why, I just bought 10 million small pistol primers this morning!" please post where you are (region or state, please) so we know where the supplies are going to and where they are being withheld? I have this theory that all of the supply is going to anti-gun cities and counties to supply the scalpers and drive people away from wanting to own guns. If ya'll are getting stocked while places traditionally very gun friendly are getting shorted, we might want to know why and have our industry rep's explain themselves.

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I doubt the supply chain is political (more than it normally is, anyway). I believe they are fulfilling the big contracts as high priority and the little guys are being left with the scraps. I'm sure the big box stores have computer algorithms that help divert stock to stores in regions where it sells the fastest, so scalpers may be feeding the algorithms by buying it up super fast.

Hooda Thunkit said:

Just because you are acting paranoid doesn't mean the powers that be are NOT out to get you.

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Amen, Brother, and pass the ammunition.

Once is happenstance.
Twice is coincidence.
Three times is enemy action.

WeekendReloader said:

I doubt the supply chain is political (more than it normally is, anyway). I believe they are fulfilling the big contracts as high priority and the little guys are being left with the scraps. I'm sure the big box stores have computer algorithms that help divert stock to stores in regions where it sells the fastest, so scalpers may be feeding the algorithms by buying it up super fast.

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I went by BP on Saturday (now that they have folks working there who customer oriented) and saw a sign that they had ammo in: 6mm CM, .338WM, .475Linebaugh, and .458WM. I remarked to the guy behind the counter it was good to see they were at least getting some ammo in. He said, "Oh, yeah, it's wonderful they're sending us stuff nobody in Florida has any use for. It'll never sell and because it doesn't sell we won't get orders filled for ammo that will sell. I don't know who's making these decisions but they got their head up their..." (collective caboose). Strange an outfit like that - that big and that business savvy - would send big, dangerous game, long range rifle ammo to N. Florida - where we haven't seen a elephant or rhinoceros since Ringling Bros. were in town and the average deer (all 150 pounds of 'em) is shot at less than a hundred yards. Now, I'm, not saying there's a conspiracy or plot or anything, just stupid decision-making and maybe some bad-actors deliberately skewing the data. That's why I'm trying to gather my own data. Right now, all I got is a string of coincidences without any supporting data. The darned distributors won't share they're internal data and anecdotal data is the most unreliable kind there is but, if it's all you got, work with it.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

Would all the folks posting, "What shortage? Why, I just bought 10 million small pistol primers this morning!" please post where you are (region or state, please) so we know where the supplies are going to and where they are being withheld? I have this theory that all of the supply is going to anti-gun cities and counties to supply the scalpers and drive people away from wanting to own guns. If ya'll are getting stocked while places traditionally very gun friendly are getting shorted, we might want to know why and have our industry rep's explain themselves.

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Central Mississippi. Most of the stores here have supplies coming in with limits on how much You can buy. Bass Pro had Primers. No powder

Simple fact is the popular ammo is all sold out and the not so popular stuff is all they can get or it's just leftovers that did not sell . Cashiers and associates often think they know more about biz than the folks signing their paychecks.