Primers?

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They were there for the buying and I don't have a closet full like some others. I didn't see a problem with buying them , and I don't believe anyone else should have a problem with me buying them , the owner surely didn't mind me buying them.
I am perfectly OK with you buying them. :) Matter of fact I am happy you bought them. I am even good with you buying more of them when and if you find them.

Ron
 
I am perfectly OK with you buying them. :) Matter of fact I am happy you bought them. I am even good with you buying more of them when and if you find them.

Ron

I am a fairly new gun owner , and even newer into the reloading game , I don't have a stockpile of ammo or reloading stuff. Now I feel comfortable with the supply of primers and I know I will have plenty to keep sending rounds down range.
 
I lucked out and found some at scheels last week the day they shipped in. There was a 1000 per customer limit though so I got what I could. They're gone now of course but I was glad to have a brick.

This is the first component shortage I've experienced in my reloading career so consider it a lesson learned!
 
Stopped in a lgs today. They had loads of powder and bullets. Primers were a limit of 1000 per customer but no small pistol primers in stock.
 
I have not seen any SPP in my area since the run started. I did get 3,000 LPP and 8lbs of Win 231. I left 8lbs of the powder and 1000 LPP. I do not begrudge people buying as much as they want but you have to consider that when everyone does that it creates scarcity and FOMO leads to ZERO availability Which is what we have right now with 9mm ammo and SSP. I personally try to buy reasonable amounts all the time and keep enough on hand to weather the storm when it comes. To me that is the real takeaway from runs like this. I do the same with factory ammo as well. I always have at least 1 year of both components and factory ammo in the calibers I shoot regularly.
 
I am perfectly OK with you buying them. :) Matter of fact I am happy you bought them. I am even good with you buying more of them when and if you find them.

Ron

You remind me of that critter in "Lord of the Rings" when you see and buy all the primers whenever and wherever. Instead of a ring it's primers for you. Sad.

We should all be sharing this misery, in my opinion. I bought my first 1K of CCI SSP primers about a month ago and I will replace them with another 1K when I find them. No hurry. Life is full of things to do besides pulling a lever.
 
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When Midway put the CCI-500 SPP's in strips on sale for 19.99 per 1K, I bought 10K. I still have plenty left. I don't shoot the pistol games, and have slowed down shooting my pistols because of my new involvement in PRS and being so busy on the weekends so primers are lasting me longer than some. I bought 10K S&B primers as well when they were $20 per 1K, but gave 8K to my kids.

The first "shortage" I experienced was in 1993, so it's old hat for me, as well as a lot of THR members, but some of the newer reloaders are experiencing this for the first time, but they'll be the ones teaching the newbies down the road. :)
 
You remind my of that critter in "Lord of the Rings" when you see and buy all the primers whenever and wherever. Instead of a ring it's primers for you. Sad.

We should all be sharing this misery, in my opinion. I bought my first 1K of CCI SSP primers about a month ago and I will replace them with another 1K when I find them. No hurry. Life is full of things to do besides pulling a lever.
Don't hate on those who are prepared or are buying more than you think is OK right now, it's a free country, just be better prepared the next time. For those who need and can't find primers, and read about folks buying all they had at a shop, I get it, it's frustrating not being able to buy what you need/want, but it will all pass, and when the good times come back around, pick up a little extra here and there and be the one who's prepared next time. :)
 
Walkalong,

Thanks for the advice and positive words. I'm not one to criticize, but if I were in the same situation and saw the opportunity, like you said it is a free country. On the plus side, now there will be one less person looking for primers.

I used to always wonder when they sold primers by 10k and higher and powder by 8# canisters. It seemed like quite a bit of powder for me. I typically only load 100-200 per week, so to me, it seemed too excessive.

Now I see it.

When this shortage is over and I have to restock, I'll definitely look at a large batch purchase (semi annually/yearly)instead of small quantities. It'll also keep me from having to restock every few months or so. Still, a one time yearly purchase can be steep, so I'll have to factor in saving for the purchase.

CH
 
Yep, good to have a few thousand of each in ammo cans for future reloading. Learned the hard way back in the Obama crazy days so i keep primers, powder and brass in reserve.
 
I’m as much against actual hoarding as the next guy, but the notion that everyone deserves to find primers is akin to everyone deserves a participation trophy. I personally buy primers in lots of 5000 on a regular basis. It’s not “hoarding” if you buy reasonable quantities. And “reasonable” depends on an individual’s situation. I don’t begrudge the fellow who bought the last 6000 primers at his LGS. IMHO, that’s a reasonable quantity. If I was planning a family cookout and the butcher only had 6 ribeyes left, I certainly wouldn’t buy only 5 and “leave one for the next guy”. ymmv

Walkalong, I wish I’d seen Midway’s sale on APS primers. They’re getting scarcer and more dear all the time. But, that’s sort of a 1st World problem, eh? ;)
 
I’m as much against actual hoarding as the next guy, but the notion that everyone deserves to find primers is akin to everyone deserves a participation trophy. I personally buy primers in lots of 5000 on a regular basis. It’s not “hoarding” if you buy reasonable quantities. And “reasonable” depends on an individual’s situation. I don’t begrudge the fellow who bought the last 6000 primers at his LGS. IMHO, that’s a reasonable quantity. If I was planning a family cookout and the butcher only had 6 ribeyes left, I certainly wouldn’t buy only 5 and “leave one for the next guy”. ymmv

Walkalong, I wish I’d seen Midway’s sale on APS primers. They’re getting scarcer and more dear all the time. But, that’s sort of a 1st World problem, eh? ;)

I don't think its an issue of hording. It is certainly not that people are entitled to anything but when we as a community buy every primer on the shelf individually or collectively we are driving up pricing. It took almost 5 years for the pricing to get back to normal on 22LR. things in that market are finally back to normal. Right now the shooting world is telling the manufacturers and retailers how much they will pay for ammo.

Even the most conservative price increases are high in terms of percentage. For example Academy who has kept their prices reasonable used to sell 150 rounds of Browning 124gr brass cased ball ammo for $24.99 a box. Free shipping for orders over $25. Now that same box is $31.99 and you pay flat fee shipping. Add about $8 for shipping. So it used to be $.166 landed to your door. Now it is $.23 That is 38.5% increase and people are still lining up in the morning on weekends to buy ammo.

Academy is not going to drop that price back down to $24.99 once we as a community have demonstrated that we will pay that new price. The price will only drop when the demand goes down and we leave the ammo on the shelf. This is the free market pushing the prices of goods up. Ammo and reloading supplies are now being sold at commodity pricing just like they sell gas at the station. They are charging you what it will cost them to replace it not based on what they actually paid.

That line of thought never helped anyone anywhere, quite the opposite.

Supply and demand, the free market will work it out.

I love the free market. I hedge my bets against big price increases and scarcity on things I use like bullets, powder and primers. I stock up big when they go on sale. When the price rises I stop buying and wait it out. If the price gets high enough I will sell off some of my surplus. Bank the money and use it to buy something else or leave it until the prices come back down. I then simply rinse and repeat. People generally love the "free market" when it is working in their favor. They complain when it isn't. I have heard a lot of complaining recently.
 
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One could only hope that people maintain the supply they had at the end of the dry period. Most will go back to monthly supply runs with skinny reserves.
 
I’m as much against actual hoarding as the next guy, but the notion that everyone deserves to find primers is akin to everyone deserves a participation trophy. I personally buy primers in lots of 5000 on a regular basis. It’s not “hoarding” if you buy reasonable quantities. And “reasonable” depends on an individual’s situation. I don’t begrudge the fellow who bought the last 6000 primers at his LGS. IMHO, that’s a reasonable quantity. If I was planning a family cookout and the butcher only had 6 ribeyes left, I certainly wouldn’t buy only 5 and “leave one for the next guy”. ymmv

Walkalong, I wish I’d seen Midway’s sale on APS primers. They’re getting scarcer and more dear all the time. But, that’s sort of a 1st World problem, eh? ;)

It would seem that most of the retailers, I know, have restricted purchases to a 1K count. Based on that, scarfing up 6K worth of primers is overboard and could have satisfied six customers instead of one. I realize the retailer in this case didn't have any restrictions but common sense would . . . I'm not even going to go there.

I don't understand your logic and your 5-6K quantity as being reasonable. What are you going to shoot using 6K primers? Food for the table? Bad people? Or just make noise? I think noise. But as long as your happy, life is good . . right?

With all the unrest in this country maybe just maybe there are people just trying to reload self-defense ammunition. Has anyone given that a thought or do your eyes just glaze over at the sight of primers? I'm sure they could hit the "bad guys" over the head with their participation trophies but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

I didn't drive around town trying to suck up all the primers I could find only to follow up that exercise on the internet when I got home. I accepted the 1K maximum and went home knowing I could reload some home defense, carry rounds and some plinkers for a couple months or so. I'm okay with that and if I can't source primers because the manufacturers can't catch up with demand, mostly because of comments above, I'll have to be okay with that also.

A rib-eye analogy . . that made me laugh. If you were the second customer in line you would or could just buy a different cut of meat but there isn't a substitute for SPP that I'm aware of when there isn't any.

I don't like the shortage any more than the rest of you but I will not defend the purchasing practices of some that exacerbate the current situation.
 
I haven't bought primers in over a year. I do look around to try to stay on top of pricing, but don't need anything. I have about 800 spp and maybe 4K lpp, and that will last me about a year or a bit more.

I also used to wonder why people would buy kegs of powder and cases of primers at a time, and sat down one day to really think about it. It ends up being simple math and economics...

One pound of rifle powder will yield about 100~150 rounds, less if it's a large caliber. So eight pounds will get maybe 800~1000 rounds. Some people shoot 3K ~5K of rifle in a year for competition, so it would make sense for them to buy multiple eight pound jugs at a time. Same for pistol primers, some people may shoot 10K ~ 20K per year in competition, plus they may shoot that again in practice. So buying cases of primers at a time makes sense for them. Also large purchases spread out the shipping and hazmat. I wanted to try Vihtavouri N320 last year, but at $36 per pound, plus shipping and hazmat, a single pound would have come out around $60... Too rich for my blood.

So buy what you need as you find it available. As said above, when things settle down (and they will) pick up a little extra with every purchase and you'll have a bit in reserve for the next shortage. Just my .02.

chris
 
It would seem that most of the retailers, I know, have restricted purchases to a 1K count. Based on that, scarfing up 6K worth of primers is overboard and could have satisfied six customers instead of one. I realize the retailer in this case didn't have any restrictions but common sense would . . . I'm not even going to go there.

I don't understand your logic and your 5-6K quantity as being reasonable. What are you going to shoot using 6K primers? Food for the table? Bad people? Or just make noise? I think noise. But as long as your happy, life is good . . right?

With all the unrest in this country maybe just maybe there are people just trying to reload self-defense ammunition. Has anyone given that a thought or do your eyes just glaze over at the sight of primers? I'm sure they could hit the "bad guys" over the head with their participation trophies but I'm not sure how effective that would be.

I didn't drive around town trying to suck up all the primers I could find only to follow up that exercise on the internet when I got home. I accepted the 1K maximum and went home knowing I could reload some home defense, carry rounds and some plinkers for a couple months or so. I'm okay with that and if I can't source primers because the manufacturers can't catch up with demand, mostly because of comments above, I'll have to be okay with that also.

A rib-eye analogy . . that made me laugh. If you were the second customer in line you would or could just buy a different cut of meat but there isn't a substitute for SPP that I'm aware of when there isn't any.

I don't like the shortage any more than the rest of you but I will not defend the purchasing practices of some that exacerbate the current situation.
Sorry if I touched a nerve, but I’ll try to not make this personal. If someone needs primers to load self defense rounds now, they obviously have already shot up all that they had on hand before the shortage. So, they either planned poorly, used their stash unwisely or live in a pretty bad neighborhood. I’m sorry if the latter is true, but I accept no blame for it nor will it keep me from buying primers to “make noise” at the practice range if I can find some when my supply runs low. In any case, I’ll save my self defense ammo for self defense. If I ever run out of SD ammo, it won’t be from “making noise”. ymmv
 
Hey all whats everyones experience in buying primers in our current environment? I cant find small pistol primers lol.
It seems that anything sp or sr, standard or magnum, left the shelves first. Think 9mm and .223/5.56.
If you order online, her are two main sites I would visit often.
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/dept/reloading/primers
https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product-category/reloading-supplies/primers/

Other than that, locally I would ask which day(s) of the week the store receives shipments and visit them often on or around that day.
 
When most of us bought a bunch of primers the supply was so plentiful there were sales, so it did not hurt anyone's chance at getting primers. Since we have seen another run on products they are getting scarce as the demand has outstripped the supply chain just the way it goes, being mad at someone who bought a bunch recently is counter productive and a waste of time/energy. When the supply chain catches up, and the demand goes down, pick up a few extra here and there and be ready next time, because people are people and they won't change.

I am short on Fed 210M and CCI-450 primers, and when I ordered 100 ELDs and a pound of StaBall 6.5 from PV recently I started to add 1K of each to the order, now I can't because they are out of stock. Oh well, I have a few hundred of each because I bought 1K, so I'll be OK for a little while. Worst case scenario is when I run those I'll have to change brand or type, as I do have some other SR & LR primers, 1K of Wolf LR, some of the $14 per 1K Wolf SR primers I bought back in the day, some Fed 205Ms from my Benchrest days........so I'll get by, even if I can't use my first choice of primer, and maybe I'll find a new favorite.
 
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We should all be sharing this misery, in my opinion. I bought my first 1K of CCI SSP primers about a month ago and I will replace them with another 1K when I find them. No hurry. Life is full of things to do besides pulling a lever.
They say misery loves company but I am just not to be miserable because my neighbor is. :)

Ron
 
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