stocking up on supplies?

[ArchAngelCD]

I did not get caught short on most components this past shortage. I would like to say I saw it coming but I didn't. I'm basically cheap so when prices started edging up I bought heavy on sales and shows. Instead of buying a brick or two of primers I bought 5 when i saw a sale. I was only shirt on H335 bad .223 brass because I didn't start shooting an AR until the shortage was on us.

Like many here have said, I will never be caught short again.

 

[thomas15]

Bullets were the easiest thing to purchase during the last shortage. In another shortage you may not get exactly what you want when you want but you should be able to find something. Having said this, my plan is to have a decient supply of my favorite bullets in hand by the end of the year. Still, there is a much bigger supply base for bullets and they are much easier to make than primers and powder. So personally I place powder at top priority, primers next, then bullets.

I, like others, promised myself that I wouldn't get caught with my pants down in the event of another big shortage like the one we are finally getting out from under. What I do is once a week or once every other week I visit a shop and buy something. This week I bought a brick of primers. Two weeks ago I bought a pound of powder. And so on. It is a good idea to plan on paper what you use and what you need to have on hand looking towards the future.

During a time of plenty, a wise person lays up a store for the times of want. And even if you don't get it exactly right, there is always the possibility that during an extreme shortage you can trade or barter for something you need. So, pick up what you can whenever you can. Especially free items like range brass, even 9mm brass. Now is the time, right now.

 

[spitballer]

I've managed to sell a few pounds of powder through this website, and if I'd waited long enough I have no doubt that I could have simply traded one powder for another instead of selling it. This might be something to consider when deciding on purchases: when times get tight you still might be able to get supplies through trading. FWIW I've found primers to be better bargaining chips than powder. Primers can be kept in excellent shape indoors in a 5 gallon bucket with a can of Damp-Rid.

 

[mdi]

Reminds me of the gasoline shortages in the '70s. Before rationing everybody I knew would keep their tanks full, just in case...

 

[Toprudder]

Reminds me of the gasoline shortages in the '70s. Before rationing everybody I knew would keep their tanks full, just in case...

I don't let my tank get below half now. You never know.

As far as order of importance, the way I saw the last shortage (and I was just getting started reloading) pistol primers were the first to disappear. I had a hard time finding primers when I was getting started, but pistol powder could still be found. When the primers became available, then you could not find pistol powder. I don't remember pistol bullets ever being that difficult to find.

I remember talking to one vendor at a gun show during this time, his comment was that rifle bullets were hard to find, but he could get rifle powders. I think this was about 1 year into the shortage.

Now this does not mean that the order of things will be the same in another shortage. But, I'm well stocked on powder, reasonably stocked on primers, and just ordered 7000 more bullets (9mm and 45) so overall I should have more than enough to keep me going at my regular pace for 2 years.

If I decide I need to slow the reloading pace for whatever reason, I have sample bullets and about 35 different pistol powders, so I can go back to working up test loads. I find I don't shoot nearly as many rounds when I am doing that.

 

[tcoz]

how was bullets to get when all this happened?

I didn't have any trouble getting bullets from X-Treme. At that time I was using 9mm 115gr, 45acp 230gr and 223 FMJ.

 

[Walkalong]

A lot of popular premium bullets were scarce for awhile. If you have a favorite hunting bullet, put back a box or two. Plinking bullets are a dime a dozen, and while we all have favorites, the truth is there are a great many that will suffice.

I have a lot of lead, and my old casting equipment, if I should really need it, but I doubt it will ever get to that.

Primers, powder, bullets, in that order. I used to buy primers 1000 at a time. After Clinton, I made myself a 3K per primer type minimum, which I held to for years.

As I posted last year.... "Squirrel, hoarder, old boy scout who's prepared, what's the difference?"

 

[emb]

Yep, everything was hard to find on the last shortage. Primers were a big issue, and I didn't have nearly enough for my shooting habits. I could usually find bullets of some type for plinking. My hunting bullets were a little more difficult to get. Powder was difficult, but again you could find a powder that worked.

This site helped greatly in locating components. Basically, you put yourself on a back order list and waited.

 

[Chuck R.]

I just placed an order for:

8lbs of HP38, 10K in WSPs, 5K in WLPs, that combined with what I've got on hand should get me through 2017. I'm determined not to get caught short like last time and have to curtail my normal shooting due to a shortage.

Chuck

 

[jaysouth]

Now you see how WE created the infamous "shortage".

Every time I went to the store for a pound of powder, I bought at least three. Do you know anyone else like that?

Keep your eyes open for my death notice. If I die in the next ten years(likely), my estate will have another ten years worth of components do dispose of.

 

[Walkalong]

It was a culmination of many things.

This time around it included more shooters/reloaders, and with the price of metals going up at the same time, bringing more reloaders into the fold, it brought even more people needing supplies.

It doesn't matter what the product is, if the demand outstrips the supply chain, things dry up. If the demand continues, the supply chain has a hard time catching up.

 

[tcoz]

Like many here have said, I will never be caught short again.

It looks to me like we're all in agreement here.

 

[Walkalong]

And there are a lot more of us now.

 

[Orcon]

Now you see how WE created the infamous "shortage".

Every time I went to the store for a pound of powder, I bought at least three. Do you know anyone else like that?

Keep your eyes open for my death notice. If I die in the next ten years(likely), my estate will have another ten years worth of components do dispose of.

It never ceases to amaze me how flighty a species we really are, always on the edge of our seats waiting for somebody to scream fire. The ancient Greeks, back when war was committed on a more personal level, had a term for this. Phobos, the panic, was always just a whisper away. The citizen soldiers of the phalanx were only strong in proper formation and when the first man turned to run so did everyone else because in a route, the last men out are far worse off than rotten eggs. The circumstances may change over the millenia but the human element remains the same.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Slightly OT but I understand it takes a long time to filltge supply chain once emptied but surely the supply of .22LR ammo should be available but it's not.