Flea or Tick? How much do we suck?

[Howa 9700]

Curious if anyone knows, what percentage of the US ammo market is accounted for by those that reload? Pistols? Rifles? Shotgun?

Say....out of their annual total, during "normal" times, what % of the primers used end up in reloader hands? Bullets?

Powders would be interesting too......out of the 170 to 180 smokeless powders available to US reloaders, wonder how much of that gets sold in cannisters and jugs?

Easy to say and think we are insignificant, but unless you know the number, it's hard to say for certain. Are we a tiny, irritating flea, or a big blood sucking tick?

 

[EricBu]

I'd say flea. In "normal" times, we live off their excess. In abnormal times......they use that excess to feed their bottom line, and we are less than important. I also suspect that Vista, who now controls 75% of the primer production in the country, will likely taper off production as supplies come back in order to keep prices at a more profitable level.

 

[LiveLife]

All I can say is aftern I started reloading, my volume of shooting quickly doubled over factory of several hundred rounds a month to triple/quadruple within the year..

I have a feeling average reloaders shoot several times that shoot factory ammunition.

BUT, if most of 10 million guns sold last year and over 100 million last decades don't reload, we may readily be outnumbered by new shooters who can't get ammunition currently.

So THIS MONTH, it may just be that only ones doing any shooting are reloaders who stocked up on components.

 

[kidneyboy]

We are the dot, almost.

 

[eyeshot]

Big dot or little dot?

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Curious if anyone knows, what percentage of the US ammo market is accounted for by those that reload? Pistols? Rifles? Shotgun?

Say....out of their annual total, during "normal" times, what % of the primers used end up in reloader hands? Bullets?

Powders would be interesting too......out of the 170 to 180 smokeless powders available to US reloaders, wonder how much of that gets sold in cannisters and jugs?

Easy to say and think we are insignificant, but unless you know the number, it's hard to say for certain. Are we a tiny, irritating flea, or a big blood sucking tick?

Well, whatever it was, it probably won't be soon. According to NSSF and a number of independent economic analysts watching industry selling/buying trends, fully HALF of all 2019-2021 new firearms purchases - first-time buyers, specifically - are women. That means 100% of the newest market participants have NEVER owned a firearm - close to 10 MILLION newbies - and the ammo-buying trends reflect that BUT the reloading supply and equipment trend is much, much lower - closer to less than 2 million new, first-time, or returning-to-the-hobby reloaders. The WSJ had an article about it, yesterday, based on the 2021 National Firearms Survey. So if before we were fleas, now we're dust mites. Tomorrow??? Who knows? Maybe these newbies will decide to become reloaders and we'll be mice, nibbling away at the market. LE (at EVERY level) and DOD are still the top of the food chain and will be for the foreseeable future and - to the best of my knowledge and since at least the late 90's - the large agencies and DOD are boxed-ammo consumers, almost exclusively.

 

[kidneyboy]

Big dot or little dot?

The little one and it's probably to big.

 

[Thomasss]

I've read .22Lr is 20% of the market. The rest I don't know except trap shells are almost non-existent, especially in 16, 20 and .410 gauge.

 

[unwashed]

Well, whatever it was, it probably won't be soon. According to NSSF and a number of independent economic analysts watching industry selling/buying trends, fully HALF of all 2019-2021 new firearms purchases - first-time buyers, specifically - are women. That means 100% of the newest market participants have NEVER owned a firearm - close to 10 MILLION newbies - and the ammo-buying trends reflect that BUT the reloading supply and equipment trend is much, much lower - closer to less than 2 million new, first-time, or returning-to-the-hobby reloaders. The WSJ had an article about it, yesterday, based on the 2021 National Firearms Survey. So if before we were fleas, now we're dust mites. Tomorrow??? Who knows? Maybe these newbies will decide to become reloaders and we'll be mice, nibbling away at the market. LE (at EVERY level) and DOD are still the top of the food chain and will be for the foreseeable future and - to the best of my knowledge and since at least the late 90's - the large agencies and DOD are boxed-ammo consumers, almost exclusively.

Except for the shortage, I don't mind being mites, makes me feel special.

 

[FROGO207]

LOL I love being a thorn in the liberal machine any way I can. This way I can get some enjoyment out of it too!!

I probably had enough reloading "stuff" set back after the Clinton era to last me, or say 19 average casual shooters the rest of their life with ammo to spare.

 

[PapaG]

For many years, the early sixties, the vast majority of rounds fired have been those I loaded, excepting .22 lr, .25,acp, and .32 acp and my 20 ga sabot slugs. 2500 rounds at trap, lots of 38, 357, 44 sp, 44m, 45 acp, ,45C. Can't remember the last cf rifle load I fired that was factory. Seventy molds, five sizers, dies for everything.....but at my age I need to trim the herd.

 

[DynoDan1]

Big dot or little dot?

 

[DynoDan1]

Hard to tell where us reloader's stand in the BIG picture in my opinion.
But I like what FROGO207 said. I too like to annoy and piss off any and all gun control nut jobs.
They hate people with guns until they need someone like us with guns to save them!

 

[reddog81]

A number of the big box stores dedicate a good sized portion of their retail floor space to powder, bullets, primers, and especially reloading equipment. The Scheels and Sportsmans warehouse near me have almost as much floor space for reloading as they do ammo. If that reloading equipment and supplies wasn’t selling it’d be replaced with something else quickly.

 

[DynoDan1]

Dang! At my Sportsman's Warehouse and Scheels they have nothing and I mean nothing!!
They haven't had powder, primers or much of anything for reloading going for over a year now.
Occasionally, on rare occasions they might have some obscure powder available or some oddball bullets that nobody
shoots anymore. They hardly have any guns to sell and if you go on line to try and get one, the website says out of stock or on back order!!
The SW in my town revamped the floor space for anything gun related that I could park my truck in there and it'd be tight!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

A number of the big box stores dedicate a good sized portion of their retail floor space to powder, bullets, primers, and especially reloading equipment. The Scheels and Sportsmans warehouse near me have almost as much floor space for reloading as they do ammo. If that reloading equipment and supplies wasn’t selling it’d be replaced with something else quickly.

Before the plandemic the Bass Pro in Alachua county had more floor space dedicated to fashion backpacks than reloading and ammunition combined. Since the plandemic they doubled up on the hiking socks and camelbacks and moved primers and powder behind the counter. “Normal” around here is catering to the seasonal hunters and college kids.

 

[reddog81]

But there’s no powder or primers to sell right now so that’s kind of moot point.

 

[Encoreman]

I will tell you where we stand at the bottom of the heap, last in line. The mfgs. of ammo use most of their primers, and powder and they only sell what small amount they have left over to us reloaders. They make a whole lot more profit by manufacturing a completed round of ammo versus selling us some primers, powder and maybe bullets.

 

[Howa 9700]

Was hoping some insider might have had special knowledge. Apparently not. Asked a similar question on a different forum....one with avid shooters. They didn't know either. One guy who may live on a shooting range guessed about 3% of all primers went to reloaders, but that was just his guess. Same with powders and bullets....nobody seems to know. Most estimates are it is a small, almost insignificant number, but that is not an objective number. 5% is an objective number. Small numbers are what I would expect for primers. Bullets may be similar. Would think a powder outfit like Hodgdon would be much higher.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Curious if anyone knows, what percentage of the US ammo market is accounted for by those that reload? Pistols? Rifles? Shotgun?

Say....out of their annual total, during "normal" times, what % of the primers used end up in reloader hands? Bullets?

Powders would be interesting too......out of the 170 to 180 smokeless powders available to US reloaders, wonder how much of that gets sold in cannisters and jugs?

Easy to say and think we are insignificant, but unless you know the number, it's hard to say for certain. Are we a tiny, irritating flea, or a big blood sucking tick?

Look at it this way. What is the ratio of buyer vs reloader?
In the shop I worked in. 3 reloaded, 27 didn't, and 2 don't own guns.
I was the only reloader who ran over 1000 rounds per year at about 5000.
Of the other 27 shooters 23 like to shoot but run less than 100 rounds per year.
The remaining 4 like doing mag dumps when they shoot and run hundreds of rounds each time they shoot.
There is one who driving factor. The profit margin on components vs ammo is not in the same ballpark so they make more profit putting all their components into ammo.

 

[Howa 9700]

That almost sounds like a version of the 90/10 rule......with 10% of your shooters busting 90% of the caps.......errrrrr......primers. So in that setting, if the 90% were being reloaded, it is the majority......and not an insignificant number. But according to what others are saying, that does not seem to hold up when looking at the overall use and sales.

Yet another way of looking at this.......if out of 1,000 primers popped in a year, if those popped by reloaders is 1% or less, that is nearly insignificant to the overall total........but represents a solid hard core base.......so component makers would be well advised to see to it that small number of customers are supplied with what they want. Throw em a bone and buy yourself some goodwill. Won't affect their bottom line hardly any.......if 99% of the rest of their business is in factory ammo.

On the other hand, if that 1% or less of shooters would suck up 10% or more of low profit components at the expense of high profit ammo if you allowed it, I can see doing what they are doing.

 

[Rule3]

Reloaders are but a grain of sand in a vast desert!

Massive military and government contracts. We are nothing.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Reloaders are but a grain of sand in a vast desert!

Massive military and government contracts. We are nothing.

Mongo only pawn in game of life.

 

[ms6852]

As reloaders, I believe our numbers are insignificant . I may have at most 8 or 9 pounds of powder for certain designated calibers and primers. What I do have is a ton of 22 rimfire ammo as it is what I practice with during times of demand, famine, and panic which I acquire through time before the demand, famine, and panic occurs. What I have for reload is for when the times happen that I may need to. I do more reloading when times are good and resources are readily available and demand is low, so prices are good. Otherwise I am a rimfire man and shoot only a small amount of what I carry to ensure muscle memory is current.

 

[Howa 9700]

I'm even more frugal than rim fire. I can scratch my itchy trigger finger with one of two air rifles with pellets that were running about 1 cent each. Plinking bottle caps at 50 yards......getting that last one for 10 out of 10 makes you focus.