I've been stocking up

I'm 71, retired and started reloading @15 months ago when some were saying it was a bad time to start. Maybe so but I'm glad I did. Given rising prices for everything across the board, I've been stocking up on components to last me a few years when I can find them for what I consider reasonable prices. I've found 6K primers at a LGS on consignment for $100 per 1000 OTD and been bartering for others. I enjoy reloading and it's still a lot cheaper than buying 38/357 factory ammo and no problem with availability. Time will tell if it's a wise decision or not but at least I know I'm not going to run out. You younger guys have the time to wait it out for cheaper prices if and when it happens. Anybody else like minded or is my logic flawed?

 

I'm not quite as long in the tooth as you (55), so I'm not trying to put up supplies for years' worth of reloading although I am set for probably two or three. I'm hoping prices will drop a bit after a while, buy I don't think they're going to return to pre-COVID prices.

If you're enjoying it and you have the funds to stock up, more power to you.

 

I started about 20 something years ago. Been retired since 2000. But am definatlly a short timer at 78. Buy what you want as long as you can.

 

Buy what you want. Buy when you want. Enjoy the hobby.

I'm at the point now where I have stock of what I need for now. Being winter in Michigan, it's cold outside and I'm not going to the range much. Therefore, I don't need to replenish and can wait for sales.

 

I scored a mass of primers in 2020...a shop that had stopped offering reloading materials suddenly received an order of primers that had been ordered 3 years prior (small local shop). He posted on FB that he had SPP in stock. I didn't see the post until the next day...called...they were closing in 1 hour. Dropped everything, grabbed my wife, and away we went. Since his post, no one had come in to purchase any...so I had the pick of CCI, Winchester, TulAmmo, Sellior & Bellot, and Remington. "What's the limit? No limit...no one comes in looking for reloading supplies." Although my arms were full my wife insisted on me getting more. When I checked out he took another 10% off when he saw my submarine veteran hat.
I still shop for primers...but only for Large Pistol...I'm sitting on multiple years' worth of SPP and SRP, including magnums. Since that score I added to my stash when I found primers at $55. I'm not ready to pay current market as I don't need them, but I'm hoping to trade SP/SR for LPP when needed. I'm down to 2.9 bricks.

 

OP,

I’m in the same boat as you. But I’ve been slowly moving to functional and it’s been a challenge but an education for sure. I’m about a decade your junior and thought I was too late to the party, but have since learned differently.

Good luck!

 

I am in my mid 60's and retired, been reloading since I was 10. Got what I could over time when things were on sale when possible and planned to keep a 5 year reserve minimum at current consumption. Its never too late to start that's for sure. Being able to have ammo no matter the amount on store shelves is priceless. The SRP primers I am loading today I payed $10 per K for.

 

But everything is on SALE NOW! Every day I get e mails from any company I ever bought stuff from They all have ammo, primers powder, presses etc for sale but not at a price I want to pay, Nor do I need it. I stocked up before Obummer V1.
It's insane and is going to get worse with all the things going on that are not allowed to be discussed,

 

Rule of thumb for today's marketplace of just about anything, including reloading supplies:

If you need or want it, buy it when you see it...

Bayou52

 

You're well on your way to becoming one of us guys who shoots to reload.
That's actually a good place to be.
Don't sweat prices. You can't take it with you and none of us know when our time will be. Worry about availability more. Getting all the gear then running out of one favorite thing is frustrating.
Best of luck and keep working on your stash.

 

Mag-Dump 9mm isn't even part of the topic.

Why do people keep insisting on comparing the cheapest, nastiest, worst possible garbage 9mm mag-dump ammo with custom-loaded, highly accurate and clean-running .38Spl and .357Mag? It's just ridiculous.

 

The prices may be higher, but when you compare it to other things, everything is more expensive.

I have not been stocking up as much as I was in early 2020, but at that point I was truly just getting into reloading. I am using supplies / equipment left from my great-uncle who passed in the early 1980's.

My grandfather had a saying, my father uses it, and I find myself using it more and more. "I'd rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it."

 

But most of the stuff isn't 300% higher. I totally get buying enough to get by. I would do the same thing. At the same time I stocked up during Trump's reign of terror. The most I paid for primers was 32 for 1000. The cheapest I've seen since then was 10 per hundred.

 

Right, my buddy called last month & told me a local shop had primers cheap, by the time I ran over to the shop they had one brick left of small rifle so I bought it. They had some large pistol but I have plenty of that. It was cheaper than normal for these days but it wasn't really cheap.

 

I paid almost twice that for primers once in 2021. I didn't need them but they were available and the shop owner went to some trouble to get them - and he showed me the invoice; I wasn't paying much over his cost.

"Overpaying" for primers paid dividends later, though. Because I ponied up for primers ($120/K - ouch!) as other reloading stuff came in I got first pick and better prices. When some things sat on the shelf, I got to pick them off at less than wholesale. A brand new in the box RCBS Uniflow for $50 - can't hardly beat that. I got Ramshot Enforcer, Competition and Accurate 4100 for $29/pound, IMR 4895 for $30/pound... those are out-the-door prices, no tax, shipping or hazmat. Carrying reloading stuff didn't pan out for them. So, I overpaid for one thing and the owner of the shop has been cutting me discounts since. It all evens out in the end if you're on a good terms with your local owners.

 

We've sure come a long way in prices in the last 3 decades!

When I bought my Colt 1991A1 way back in 1991, the LGS had reloaded .45 ACP for $6/box of 50 rounds. If you brought back 50 spent brass next time, it was only $5/box. So a case would have been as low as $100.

Winchester White Box in the 90s was $19.95/box for .45 ACP and $9.95/Box for 9mm. And those were 100 round boxes, too. So that was $200 and $100 a case, respectively.

An here we're talking about "...6K primers at a LGS on consignment for $100 per 1000 OTD..."

I'm wanting to get into reloading too, but other than buying reloading dies and such, I think I'll wait on components a bit more for prices to come down!

 

In times of rising inflation most people do the worst possible thing - stop spending. They hang on to their dwindling value dollars as prices rise.
Financially smart people convert their dollars into those goods whose price is rising!
Even better, those of means borrow money to buy durable goods and repay the loan with less-valuable dollars. Yes, it goes against the grain.
Those $100/1000 primers will be a bargain

 

I've been selling guns I haven't pulled the trigger on for two years or more. I've sold almost 100 total handguns, rifles and shotguns, mixed, in the last two years and plan to sell another 100 this year. I'm getting 15-20% profit on each sale but it's a slow process. That money is going into paying off bills with higher interest rates and making some much-needed improvements to the homestead. Never hang onto cash. My parents were Depression-era kids and understood that a mattress full of cash could be a treasure one day and toilet paper the next.

Durable goods and real property can be fairly decent hedges against inflation but it all depends on how likely it is we are the next Venezuela. One day, you own your home, the next day you don't even own the clothes on your back.

 

Pretty sure this is not Dave Ramsey nor any credible financial advisor approved advice.

 

The correct reply is, "Do you have a forklift kind sir?"