Primer shortage?...then be more diligent

[coop923]

Seems that lead peaked about a year and a half ago; is the price creeping up again?

On the primer topic, anyone remember the "Great Primer Scare of 1993"? I still have primers I bought back then; got thousands of them at the time. There were wild rumors then of laws in the works that would require primers to have a "shelf life" or have the potency diminish after a number of years (like that would be possible to control chemically -or not court-clogging fiasco). I decided then that I would always maintain a comfortable supply. I presently only use 2-3k a year, but it's not a bad idea to squirrel away to get through times of limited supplies. I would imagine most of the shortage now is a result of "squirreling", although I think people are shooting more all the time, and a lot of that can be attributed to new shooters and gun owners.

I wonder what $13.49/1000 in 1993 dollars would equal in 2010 dollars... just curious. Any guesses?

 

[mcdonl]

Why are some of you predicting a lead shortage?

EPA, already made lead shot illegal for sea ducks, maybe others. Big campaign to get fisherman to stop using lead. Only a matter of time before they hit the wheel/tire gang.

 

[snuffy]

Quote:
Why are some of you predicting a lead shortage?
EPA, already made lead shot illegal for sea ducks, maybe others. Big campaign to get fisherman to stop using lead. Only a matter of time before they hit the wheel/tire gang.

I got news for yoose! Lead shot is banned for ALL waterfowl hunting nation wide. Also California has already banned lead wheel weights on all cars. That's why people are saying stock up on lead, IF you can still find any. Tire shops in the big box stores are saving the wheel weights they take off tires, to be returned to the tire companies. They're not allowed to give them away, or even sell them.

 

[mcdonl]

Gee, thanks snuffy, bad news first thing in the morning

But, good thing about Maine... we are always a little behind times.

I have three five gallon buckets, but I need more. I think 10 would be good

 

[sonick808]

i just set up alerts at natchez and midway and have the email forwarded to my phone. As soon as i get alerts that they're in, i log in and they're on the way. I get alerts every 2 weeks or so between the two. So yeah, primers can be had with some effort. I only use CCI, and even that's possible to be brand myopic (due to lee autoloader doc touting CCI as safe)

I'm having more problems getting rainier bullets than primers these days!

lead shortage ? I doubt that very much.... I was at industrial metal in tempe and they had a pallet (sp) of ingots in varying alloys from the floor to the ceiling. 60 pound ingots i believe. Then again, I could be totally bass ackward. But, it seems to be plentiful....

I still dream of the day that I don't have to make these gyrations to find supplies.

Living a couple miles from Dillon's headquarters in scottsdale helps quite a bit though, they carry tons of stuff

Regarding the '93 effect of 13$.... i've seen stuff that still costs 13$; some stuff that went WAY down (electronics and media), and then anything else not coming from china or heavy on raw materials or workmanship went from 13$ to 100$. Seems like 13$ in 2000 is now 59.95. Scary.

 

[ants]

"When they ban lead, only outlaws will shoot lead."

 

[glockmon]

Scrap yards always have lead. Linotype is a good investment. Car batteries are also a good source for 30-50 pounds a pop.

 

[Walkalong]

Car batteries are a bad idea for casting lead. They are filled with bad stuff. Documented in many places. Just search here for starters.

 

[AV8ER]

Diligence

So he's the low down. In trying to order primers and powder from cabelas or wholesale sports I discovered that it costs more money in shipping to get those items delivered to me. We have no source for any of that stuff where i live (the closest is a five hour drive) I just drove from The Northwest Territories Canada all the way to Thunder Bay Ontario (for a vacation). This was around 3800 km. On the way i stopped at every sporting goods store i could dig up on the internet. Powder was not an issue and i got 4 lbs for a really good price. Primers on the other hand were another story entirely. Of the 30 something places that i visited only 2 had large pistol primers in stock. One was a store/range in Thunder Bay which sold me a box of remingtons that had to be dusted off it was soooo old and the other was wholesale sports. I was also a little ticked to learn that wholesale sports will only sell you 1000 primers. I bought the thousand with the intention of coming back the next day to buy another 1000. When I arrived to purchase the second lot I was informed having already bought 1000 i would have to wait 5 buisiness days to get another 1000. When i drive back I plan on hitting about 20 stores because 10 of the original 30 stopped stocking them altogther because of the hassle in getting them. So if that isn't diligence then i don't know what is? Having said that are there any canadians on here that are experienceing this problem and have found a solution?

Cheers