"Historical" prices of primers & powder

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editingfx

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Been reloading for a few months (using components that came with the setup I bought & some locally purchased supplies). Made my 1st online order about a month ago. It was a large order because 1) I wanted to create my own "stockpile" 2) the more you order the more you save 3) yes, I was concerned about prices rising in the future. I *think* I got reasonable prices - $23/k primers, $15/lb HP38, but of course I haven't been buying long enough to know where those prices stood in relation to "normal times".

Question: going back in the recent past, say anywhere from 3 to 15 years, what has the price been for 1) small pistol primers and 2) a common powder like Win 231 ?

I thought this thread might be of use to others like myself who don't have the pricing experience to know what "a fair price" should be. (And don't get going on "supply & demand as pertains to fair pricing"! lol)
 
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I remember buying primers for basically $1/100 for rifle and pistol and $1.29/100 for 209; powder ran about $8/lb unless you bought it in bulk, bullets were about $12/500 38 lead, shot was about $9-10/25# bag.......and Sierra bullets gave you 101 in their box, so you could use one to set your seating depth and have 100 to shoot

Now my prices were going to the local drug store and buying 100 at a time or 1 lb of powder at the time. Bulk prices were even lower. (Of course this cool drug store sold guns, booze and meds - what a happy place!)
 
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Please give some sort of dating to your "rememberies". Otherwise you long-time reloaders will just make us noobs feel taken advantage of! ;)
 
Fifteen years ago if my memory serves me correctly sleeves of primers(1000) were about 9.95/1000 and 231 and similar powders were around 7.95/lb. Just for kicks, I have empty cans of powder from when I started reloading in the mid 60's with price stickers of 2.95(Hercules Bullseye) and a pack/100 of W-W primers priced at .79. :)
 
About 15 years ago I was paying between $0.01 & $0.015 per primer. Most of my powders back then, I THINK, were about $12.00/lb.
 
To the best of my recollection, when I started reloading I could buy primers for $8.00 / 1000 and powder could be had for around $4.00 / lb.
 
Let's get some "recent past" prices too! To help develop a picture of how prices have trended.
 
If we got enough varied dates, I'll plot a chart. Love to get some before/during/after Clinton era too.
 
I just remember paying about $1.60 per 100 3-4 years ago. I'm not a high-volume loader, so I'd pick up a few hundred here and there to keep stocked up. That's changed now. I have 2000 on backorder and paid ~$29 per 1000.
 
This will make you feel warm and fuzzy.......when I first started handloading in 1970, primers were $3.90 per brick, powder was about $3.95 per pound. Back then I bought surplus H-4831 in 1 pound paper bags for $1.

Of course gas was 30 cents a gallon, and I earned $255 per month.
 
In the late 70's I used to buy primers and powder at cost through a friend who was a commercial reloader. Federal primers were$5.00/1000 and 231 powder was $2.50/lb in 12 lb. kegs. I was making about $8.00/hr as an aircraft maint tech for the NY Army Guard.
 
Made my 1st online order about a month ago. It was a large order... I *think* I got reasonable prices - $23/k primers,
Click to expand...

Really? I'd be curious to know who was selling 23 dollar primers a month ago.
 
About 5 years ago, I paid $72 for a keg of Alliant Promo (still have half of it; it goes a long way.) Now it costs about $80. Primers back then were about $16/1000, but the price was starting to go up.

Last year, I bought 5000 CCI #34 primers for $75, 16 pounds of surplus AA#7 powder for $112, and 8 pounds of AA-2520 for $69. The trick is buying when/where you find it on sale instead of waiting until you need it. (I also buy 1-pounders from my local gun shop even though it costs more.) I wish I had bought more of the #7; I love that stuff in .357 Magnum.
 
Powder Valley & Grafs were both right around $23/k.
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A month ago? That's interesting. Grafs still shows $23.99 for primers but they're out stock like they were 3 months ago. You must have got lucky. Anyway, I bought a boat load for $18 from PV less than a year ago and they weren't Wolfs.
 
In 2007, Winchester Small pistol primers were $20 per K. Wolf primers were $18 per K.

In 2006-2007, Win 231 was about $16 per pound by the pound, $12 or so per pound when buying 8 lbs.

Last year, Bullets shot up $20-$30 per thousand for all kinds of bullets (for example, 1000 plated 9mm 124 gr bullets went from $70 to about $95 and back to $70). It has dropped back to pre-2008 prices.

Going forward, I think that $23 per K primers, $15 per lb powder, and $70-$100 (9mm-.45acp) per K bullets is an expected price that probably wont go aheckuvalot lower.
 
I started reloading in 2003. I started reloading for .45, which is what I was competing with at the time, and was doing so until 2005.

for those three years (2003,2004,2005) large pistol primers went from $14.95 per thousand to $16.95 per thousand locally.

In 2003, I was paying about $50-55 a thousand for plated or FMJ 230gr bullets. My last 230gr bullet prucahse was FMJ, and was basically $90 per thousand.

I don't know about brass, because I had previously shot commercial by the case, and had been saving the brass. Range pickup from people who couldn't be bothered kept the supply growing.

At that point I switched to 9mm briefly and was paying about $42 per thousand for 124gr bullets, and $17.95 for small pistol primers.

Then I switched to .40. I was shooting 180gr jacketed or plated, and from 2006 to 2007 incremented between $48 (GB), $56 (GB), $72 (GB), and $78 per thousand buying a coupel k every 4 months. At that point, I switched to 165gr bullets, and paid $76 (GB), and $85 per k. Currently, it looks like $98 per k is the price for jacketed.

small pistol primers went up to 19.95, then 24.95 locally, then I started mailordering, and kept it at about $25 after hazmat per k. just since December, I have paid $35 per k, $40 per k, and $50 per k.

If not for the hoarding and scarcity, I'd suspect that $20 per k mailorder plus hazmat and about $25 per k local would be about the makret price for small pistol primers.

For powder, I was shooting titegroup most of the time, and it went from $13.95 to $15.95 locally for one pound containers. Scarcity has takced on about another $1 to $1.25 if anything.

Now I'm shooting ramshot zip, and the haording has basically bumped the price about $1.20 a pound so far.
 
2004-2006 rifle primers were $1.50-$1.89/100 from Scheels. The same primer is now $2.99/100 and has been since early 2008. And of course....not in stock. Wonder how the primer mfg's will be doing in a few years when the craze subsides and most shooters have a lifetime supply from all the hoarding.
 
Wonder how the primer mfg's will be doing in a few years when the craze subsides and most shooters have a lifetime supply from all the hoarding
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Hopefully drop prices to record lows for those of us who'll have shot up what we bought recently!
 
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