Primers?

[Telum Pisces]

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.

Competition shooters go through that in 1-2 weeks sometimes. I know my buddies do. Your situation is yours and other folks situations is their situation. Done!

 

[egd]

It's obvious a lot of people here don't shoot competition.

 

[shamfrod]

I keep checking my local gun stores and even a gun show this past weekend but no one has small pistol or small rifle primers in stock in the Fort Worth TX area. Hopefully something pops up soon. Funds right now only allow me to make small purchases of the items I need in the immediate future.

 

[GBExpat]

This is where I have been storing most of my not-yet-installed primers since early last summer.

 

[Thomasss]

One of you guys mentioned in a recent thread that the only weak link in reloading was the primer availability. That is not exactly true. There is a utube video showing how to rebuild a used primer. Basically, the author crushes the tip of an old time wooden kitchen match and uses it to "re-load" the spent primer. Was interesting to watch.

 

[markr6754]

There doesn't appear to be any logic to how orders are filled to the local gun stores. As I mentioned previously, a local gun store posted that he had small pistol primers in stock. He wasn't actually expecting them...they just showed up. It had to be from a wholesaler, as he received 5 different brands of SPP...and that's it, no other type primers, no powder, no projectiles. When I visited him (last year) I picked up several boxes of .300 Blackout ammo. He had a bit of powder on the shelf (all rifle), and I don't recall seeing any primers. I asked him about projectiles, and he told me he wasn't interested in carrying reloading supplies as he can't beat the internet prices.
My guess is that he puts in orders every now and again, and if they arrive, they arrive. As I looked around his store, the ammo shelves were barren, the remaining powder bottles are still rifle, and they looked like the same powders from last year. The reason he put no limits on the primers is he isn't a reloading shop...I would have never called to ask if he had any in stock...he just posted on Facebook, and I just happened to see it.

In my own case I am 2 1/2 years into my own reloading journey. The reason being, when I first decided...I'm going to start reloading...it was during the "O" years shortage. I couldn't find ammo, so I decided I'd just reload. And couldn't. Things as simple as dies were on 6 month backorders. Forget about presses...they had no listed dates on when they'd be available for ordering. My only option? I quit shooting. It was nearly a year before I was able to buy 2 boxes (yeah...because my wife was with me) of Aluminum case 45ACP...for $23.99/box.

Thankfully things did improve. When I ordered my press kit, with 9mm dies, 9mm ammo was selling for $13.99 box (WWB). As the last 2 1/2 years went, prices dropped steadily until my last factory 9mm ammo was $8.39/box. I bought 10 boxes of the 20 allowed on my coupon. That was the last time I saw new factory ammo on the shelf in this store. Had I known that we were entering ammo winter I would've bought the 20 boxes allowed.

 

[Walkalong]

I want to thank everyone for keeping this go around of "hoarding" very civil for 3+ pages, but we have pretty much said all that can be said. Not many have change their opinions from the last 20 type threads.