Small pistol primer shortage

I know things similar to this have been posted numerous times so forgive me if this is redundant. I would like some information on why a small pistol primer can't be found. I live in kentucky and cant locate anything. I understand that most are being used due to the ammo demand. You would think you could find the lesser known ones such as wolf or Tula. It is just frustrating and just seems to get worse. I am not a hoarder nor do I have the cash to be. I am a person who enjoys reloading and shooting. It seems the only ones who can find anything buy everything in stock. This is discouraging and prevents many of us from doing what we really enjoy. Ok I will step down off the soap box now. Ha

 

Small Pistol Primers can be backordered from fedarm.com (Fort Smith - FSAAP) - Bulk Pack (5,000) primers delivered for around $170 ($32 shipping for each pack). No indications on when backorders are filled....but CC is charged immediately.

Update: Someone called to learn that shipments are anticipated in 6-8 business days.

 

$449.99....not $170

 

Wow! Price change in the last 25 minutes. Webpage still showed $129.95 until I tried to order. Tracking from posts on other pages, at least 15 people got orders in at the $129.95 price...with all add-ons my price was $174.19, but I wonder whether they’ll now honor that price. I placed mine in on Monday.

 

A 350% increase in 25 minutes? Maybe you only ordered 1K instead of 5K. Either way, calls to the company go straight to VM. Good luck.

 

I have a feeling in a week from now the forums are going to be blowing up with complaints about this situation. No way they'll be able to fill that many orders in 6-8 days.

 

Sometimes you get lucky. Last week a buddy called from an LGS and asked if I needed SPP at $50/m. I said no but I knew who would and 5000 came home with him.

 

They've been that price for a while, people have been complaining for a bit about the ten cents a piece before shipping

 

Unfortunately the ship sailed for reasonably priced primers this goround about 8 months ago. Many factors have fueled those that have the means to buy as many as they could when trouble was starting. Hopefully by the first of the year you can buy some reasonably priced primets again OP. This is an ongoing cyclic shortage that happens more often than I wish. I try to purchase everything reloading in quantities that keep me supplied for 5 years in advance before things dissapear. OP the most crucial part of reloading is having primers. Those should be what you pay attention to and put away first. Powder can be substituted and bullets are still out there. Being new to this sucks and hopefully next time you will have a chance to stock up some before things dry up. In the mean time haunt the local stores and watch on line. If you find any be ready to jump on them as hesitating may cost you that opportunity. Good luck. Things WILL get better if you are patient.

 

Not to brag, but I scored 1,000 CCI-550 small pistol Magnum primers this morning from my local Sportsman’s Warehouse for the price of $23.99 plus tax. They get small quantities in from time to time, and limit purchases to one brick and one pound of powder per customer per day. That way at least one has a chance to get some. They also had Federal 210 large rifle for the same price and some Federal 205M small rifle match and a single brick of Winchester small rifle primers for $27.99+ tax. It helps to get there early (and I am retired and live within 3 miles of the store.)

 

The COVID-19 pandemic pandemonium has impacted international supply chains as well as domestic supply chains, evidently even more deeply WRT primers as I haven't seen imported primers for centerfire metallic cartridges available since early summer but ones manufactured domestically continue to sporadically be available through retail merchants such as Academy Sports and Outdoors, Sportsmans Warehouse, Scheels, Bass Pro Shops, and Cabela's to name a few.

 

I have a couple of Sportsman's Warehouse stores where I live. I have their phone numbers saved in my phone and if I'm within a couple of miles I'll call. In the past 3 weeks I was able to score 3,000 SPP for friends.

 

Yesterday, I called Academy at 10:30 a.m. just to see if they'd gotten primers; the person who answered said they did get some in that morning. I dropped the phone and ran right over, knowing that they had gotten some last week and the salesperson told me they were gone by noon. I walked up to the counter and they had 6 1000 round boxes of small pistol primers for $50 each. I don't really need small pistol, I need small rifle primers. While I was standing there trying to decide whether to take one box that I wasn't desperate for, holding the box, another guy walked up, just picked up the whole remaining stack of 5000 primers, shot a glare at the one I was holding, and walked off with the stack. I decided I'd better buy the box I was holding. So that's why no one else can buy any; one guy who maybe has a box he doesn't need and another guy who either shoots a whole lot or was heading for a computer and gunbroker to make money off of the five he bought.

It would be nice for awhile if Academy limited primer purchases like they do ammo.

 

You can see in the poor review posted here Academy sometimes does so, but not even consistently between different days / shifts in the same store much less uniformly across all stores in their network.

https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/cci®-250-mag-large-rifle-primers-100-pack#repChildCatid=1378944

 

Its simple covid, elections, riots and a bunch of new shooters have put a chokehold on supplies. Do not think supplies will come back soon after a Trump win or when a covid vaccine is found. Expect this to last a year or more.

There are only 4 primer manufacturers in the US and they are running at full tilt. Reloader's are at the bottom of the list. Military ammo contracts, large and small ammo manufacturers are ahead of us. I spoke to a small commercial manufacturer and he said delivery estimates on component orders are a year out and about the same for delivery of finished ammo.

I just don't get the hate. So we are going to dictate how much others should shoot or the size of their component inventory. I know a guy who wants to restrict high capacity magazines and limit gun buys to one a month. Should I inventory my neighbors hurricane supplies? 10 cases of water is just too much. Its easy to sell and ship hazmat items on gun broker. Is it wrong for a guy to buy some primers a make a few bucks? Heck I bought amazon stock 17 years ago and just sold it to buy my son a car and couple of years of college tuition. I should be locked up.

Shortages seem to come out of nowhere and last a year or two. If you have been in the sport for any length of time you should be prepared for times like this.

I went through my first shortage 20 years ago and said never again. I decided that I would maintain a two year supply of components. For my family and I that's 100k primers, 80 bags of 7.5 hard shot, 36k 9mm etc. It took me a while to build up that inventory but I did get there.

The only thing I change during these times is I only reload what I expect to shoot over the next month or two and not the entire year. I live in the south and usually only reload from October through March. The rational is if the shortage persists I may have to use shotgun powders in handgun reloads.

 

You Sir, have a great grasp on reality...seems to many, capitalism is just bad.