Crazy prices on reloading supplies

[jeeptim]

Things are crazy!! people are in a buy'in frenzy, It's good for me but I worry about down the road. Let me give you an example. First off I AM A BRASS RAT!! yes at the range i will scrounge EVERY case I can (yeah I;m that guy) so I end up with lots of brass I keep the stuff I want scrap the bad and sell the excess, I don't make much but it pays for powder, bullets and primers. So here's the tale.... I sell on Gunbroker up untill the 14th I could hardly get scrap price for 223 2000 cases $71.00 lil more then scrap a fellow shooter gets a deal all is good. Had a few auctions end today 500 223 o/f case mostly commercial $109.22, 4 20rnd boxes of Hornady tap 60gr (nice stuff) $125.00 thats double what I paid a year ago. And 100 primed, sized and trimmed F.C. 308 brass was getting about $25 to $30 today $48.00 Now the last item i have posted and have had for a long time is 53 7mm mag o/f for $12.00 can't hardly give em away still not sold. Here in Kaliforinastain went to the local Big-5 not 1 223, 7.62x39 or 9mm round on the shelf no assault rifles all sold out. Is it just here? I have seen buy'in frenzy's in the past but nothing like this. I did order some .308 147gr bullets from midway back ordered late Feb.
Like all Frenzys this to will pass just wish I had more brass I'm willing to part with. Oh yeah when I post things for sale I always list a low price most times just above scrap or around what i paid for it.
So the lesson here is if you been horting brass NOW is the time to sell.
I am so not the the guy that will gouge but the buy'er pays what he's willing to pay, If they were not lazy and would just pick up thier own brass well you get it.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Prices are going up, yet every time I go to the range it seems like I bring home 50-100 pieces of .223/5.56 brass. I guess I'm just fortunate. Maybe the people at the range I'm a member of don't handload .223.

I'm one of those brass rats too.

As far as ammo shortage, yes the .223 and 7.62x39 is gone for the most part. However, it doesn't seem to be the case with handgun ammo in my neck of the woods. I was at Wally World yesterday and while there wasn't a single firearm in the case, there was an abundance of .45, .40, 9mm, .38 and .357 in the ammo case.

 

[jeeptim]

Hey Paul 50 to 100 when you come home! If I only come home 100 of someone else's brass it's been a bad day. We go to a few spots in the national forest shooting and camping i bring my lil jeep and plan a day of clean up I always come home with at the least 1 5gal bucket full and my best day was 3 lil over 150lb.
If it weren't snowing up their now I would in the woods packing a 5gal bucket and my 3ft grabbers (so I don't have to bend over) fixed up the grabbers to pick up 6 cases at a time.

 

[Walkalong]

I haven't seen any increases in the average reloading brass or bullets other than the usual small increase here or there.

I do read where once fired .223 brass is being jacked up by some people. To buy it now at over priced levels would not be wise, because it won't be banned. It will still be plentiful next month and next year.

 

[GaryL]

Some of my internet buddies are seeing shortages in different parts of the country. They were simply buying to replenish as usual and are having trouble finding components now.

 

[1SOW]

For pistol, primers and bullets are getting harder to find; and bullet prices have started to increase.
SD bullets are really scarce.
Two major internet suppliers have suspended taking ANY orders with a posted sign saying "Due to the backlog caused by demand and delays getting supplies..........."

 

[Sb1911]

Just went to order some .308 fmj's and out of stock no back order. Things are getting crazy fast. I don't look forward to another primer shortage. Hope this scare buying blows over but I don't think so.

 

[GLOOB]

This whole scare thing is good. It means I might actually save money by reloading, instead of just shooting more.

During this election season, I haven't bought anything I didn't already need. Which means I haven't bought anything.

I reload so I can have a lot of cheap ammo on hand when and if I need to build some, and not worry about glitches in supply and demand. Mission accomplished.

If prices don't come back down, I suppose what I have on hand could feasibly last my lifetime. If I had this much loaded ammo on hand before I became a reloader, I would have felt like I had a lifetime supply, anyway.

 

[Grassman]

I haven't seen any increases in the average reloading brass or bullets other than the usual small increase here or there.

I do read where once fired .223 brass is being jacked up by some people. To buy it now at over priced levels would not be wise, because it won't be banned. It will still be plentiful next month and next year.

Take it from me, as I've been scouring the net for .223 brass all night, not all but maybe half have jacked prices up significantly. I did find a couple places to buy brass, but it was like $300 per 1000, I'll pass on that.

 

[1SOW]

If prices don't come back down, I suppose what I have on hand could feasibly last my lifetime. If I had this much loaded ammo on hand before I became a reloader, I would have felt like I had a lifetime supply, anyway.

I'm glad for you GLOOB-really.

I also understand that others don't have that kind of discretionary money available . Bullets, cases and primers are expensive for regular shooters. Being a year ahead can mean a fairly big investment/chunk of income no matter how much it will "save" in the long run.

It's unfortunate that politicians can cause so much needless stress using only their mouth and a sympathetic media.

 

[Reefinmike]

Wow, I'm going to have to start picking over my range for profit. I usually keep a thousand range pickups on hand for myself, collect each one I shoot and discard them after 5 reloads and pick up some more to replenish my stock. When I was picking up masses after last shot was called and between range closing(20 minutes), I would easily pick up 400 pieces. Mostly lc and equal parts fc, rp and pmc. Rarely have I come across a reloaded piece of brass on the ground

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I usually keep a thousand range pickups on hand for myself, collect each one I shoot and discard them after 5 reloads and pick up some more to replenish my stock.

Why do you discard after 5 loads?
Is it rifle or pistol brass?

Rarely have I come across a reloaded piece of brass on the ground

How do you tell if the brass is reloads or not?
Not trying to be a prick, just really curious.

 

[JLDickmon]

HAW!
Bought any small primers lately?

I didn't think so. Midway quit taking backorders.
Powder Valley has a few SRM the last I check, which was nearly a week ago..

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I would love to find brass like many of you do. While 9mm and 40 S&W brass and recently .380 Auto brass is plentiful on the handgun range it's very rare to find any rifle brass at all at the two local public ranges where I live.

 

[Otto]

HAW!
Bought any small primers lately?

I didn't think so.

As a matter of fact these were delivered to my door 2 hours ago....
There are other vendors that sell primers besides Midway and PV.

 

[mmorris]

There are other vendors that sell primers besides Midway and PV.

Names, please.

 

[dragon813gt]

Names, please.

Google is the only one you need. Do people really not search? Or do they just not know how to do it? Threads like this, which haven been popping up since well before the election, just add fuel to the fire. If you didn't stock up in advance there is nothing you can do except pay the current prices. We are our own worse enemies when it comes to creating runs on products. Primer stock has been up and down all year. They have them for a few weeks and then gone for a few weeks. I will admit that there is definitely shortages of certain products at the moment. But we are causing them. Production hasn't stopped so they will be back in stock in due time. The manufacturers most certainly want to cash in right now.


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[hardheart]

Google is the only one you need. Do people really not search? Or do they just not know how to do it?

So you don't know either, cool. Google has been helpful in letting me know that Natchez, Midsouth, Midway, Grafs, PVI, Sinclair/Brownells, Lucky Gunner, Gamaliel, Ballistic Products, Wideners, Target Sports, Precision Reloading, Top Brass Reloading, The Bullet Works, Cabelas, and Bass Pro are dead ends for SPP.

Looks like you can get CCI 500 by the 100 for 3.95 at Bucks & Jakes, if their inventory is current. There are a few other shops from 20 pages of google results I looked through that I will contact tomorrow. Depends on if their pages are current, and if they ship or only list what they sell in store (not specified on page, and no shipping charges listed) If I find anything, I'll post it.

 

[sellersm]

Can we please stop blaming each other for the shortages? Have you not noticed that there's a HUGE, RECORD-SETTING trend going on right now in the country? Has anyone bought a firearm in the last week and waited DAYS for a background check? Anyone seen the stats: the NCIS system is 11K behind! Projected 6+ days wait for background checks to clear... Has anyone NOT read the notices from manufacturers and distributors/wholesalers that their supply will be MONTHS behind?

While I agree that if you're caught unprepared right now, then it's your own fault. However, let's stop pointing fingers at each other for causing a shortage...

 

[soloban]

Reloading prices are still somewhat normal here in N. Alabama. Purchased a couple boxes of .223 53gr Sierra Match Kings for $21/each and a bottle of H322 for $29.99.

 

[Nanook]

Powder prices haven't gone nuts here in northern IL, but there isn't quite as much as there usually is.

I picked up 1 lb of H335 for $29.99 the other day. Not much Varget on the shelves in any store carrying reloading supplies.

Primers are hit and miss. Winchesters may be out of stock, but the store will have CCI, Remington, and Federal on the shelves.

Jacketed bullets for say, 55 grains, are gone. You can still find 69 grain SMKs, but only in 500 round boxes online. Smaller amounts are gone in most places.

 

[Clark]

I went to a gun store yesterday and it took an hour before I got to fill out form 4473.

The parking lot was full. I had to park someplace else.

There were guys all over the place buying guns.

I have been going there for 15 years, and the place has always not been crowded or busy for this.

 

[docsleepy]

It's a wonderful problem, isn't it? Sure sign of a new firearms owner: I found oodles of 380 and 45 brass sitting in the collection can at the range last week.

 

[mdemetz]

2 weeks ago at Big R I got a pound of H335 for $19.99 minus 10% for a powder sale they had.
They had a 25% off ammo sale the following week(Fed 525 bulk 22 was $21.99 regular price). All 22 bulk was gone before the end of the week.
They had Federal primers at $3.99/100 since they opened. I don't think they sold many at that price. At the end of that 2nd week they were all gone.