Times are tough, my friends...

[redneck2]

The sad thing is that most guys here still won't stock up when the supplies come back to normal. Right now I've got over 13k of primers, probably 40# of powder, and over 10k of .223 and other brass. Bought them over the past few years when I ran into deals.

Some of my CCI SR primers were $19/k when they were on sale at Cabelas about 18 months ago. I bought 7k that day. The .22's that nobody can find?? I've got maybe 2-3k of those. So, when you go to Wally World a year from now, buy those .22's for $1.99 a box instead of just walking by.

 

[GT1]

If a person is patient and actually goes through the trouble of looking for components, setting up bookmarks, setting up notifications, then re-supplying isn't hard, and the prices haven't changed.
The only folks getting gouged are the panicky types, and they are enablers. They reap what they sow.

I thought reloaders were the constitutional types, do it for themselfers, etc etc. No?

I will shoot my pellet rifle before I gave the double and triple chargers a dime.

 

[Jhass]

My buddy bought a dpms ar a15 today at scheels

 

[David E]

My buddy bought a dpms ar a15 today at scheels

And he paid how much?

How about ammo?

 

[hueyville]

I have never let my primer stock go below 200,000 since the late 1990's. When the Y2K scare for all product to food and toilet paper I got really fat on primers, powder, bullet molds and gas checks. Stocked bullets every time I saw a bulk super deal. Have split pallet of factory ammo at times. Right before the election I bought an additional 5,000 rounds of U.S. made 5.56 at a slightly higher price than I wanted to but had that "feeling" again. My quarterly primer order hit and then during the afternoon of S.H. event I dropped 1,500 bucks on some additional essentials. I bet in the future some gun shops will be marking up product as the rounds are still flying. I was sitting at 290,000 primers by time gun stores closed that day. That is 10 to12 years of shooting at current rate. I could still shoot till age 79 on that if I cut down to 10,000 rounds per year never buying another. When I pass on, somebody is going to be hooked up as I plan to keep stocking till I am too old to carry them down the stairs.

 

[David E]

Hueyville, I'm curious what press you use to load all that.

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

I'm down to a slingshot and pebbles.

 

[hueyville]

David, Dillon 550b, Dillon 650, Dillon square deal b, multiple rock chuckers, lee turret and a RCBS 50bmg kit. The 550b and my rockchuckers are most used.

 

[David E]

David, Dillon 550b, Dillon 650, Dillon square deal b, multiple rock chuckers, lee turret and a RCBS 50bmg kit. The 550b and my rockchuckers are most used.

Somehow, I knew you had multiple presses!

 

[hueyville]

A fair amount is posted in the reloading picture thread but not all. About half of equipment currently in service as still trying to get all put back from the big gun room remodel. All this while building the indoor range deal at work and a frame up build on a '88 Softail and sick wife has time a bit taxed. I usually only have two of the Dillon's mounted at a time, two Rockchuckers and a turret press. Due to available real estate on four benches, I mount the presses I need at the time and the rest go in a storage cabinet. Truthfully, I only need 1 turret, 2 single stage and one progressive to keep it rolling. Changing calibers with the 550b is so easy I could do without the other two blue machines but they are paid for and never change calibers with them. 70% o my shooting is 45acp thus do everything else in large runs that allow those setups to stay out of the way for a year at a time.

 

[Buck13]

I have never let my primer stock go below 200,000 since the late 1990's.

Wow. I hope your shelves are carefully earthquake-proofed. If that ever falls over, there might not be much left of your house!

 

[ldlfh7]

Geeze - 200,000 primers is crazy. Hope your house never catches on fire.

 

[Constrictor]

Geeze - 200,000 primers is crazy. Hope your house never catches on fire.

that dude didnt learn did he? thats just the minimum one should have on hand

 

[GLOOB]

[200,000 primers is] just the minimum one should have on hand

Wow. At 55 grains per bullet, you'd have enough primers to shoot 1,571 lbs of bullets. At 230 grains, you could go through 6,571 lbs of bullets. An average of 150 grains puts you over 2 tons.

At 6 grains of powder, you'd need 172 lbs of pistol powder. At 40 grains, that's 1,143 lbs of rifle powder. Say an average of 12 grains, that would be 343 lbs of powder. That's 42 x8 lb jugs.

The Lewis and Clarke expedition carried 400 lbs of lead and 200 lbs of rifle powder through the country when it was full of big game and hostile natives, and there were no grocery stores or Cabelas or Jack-in-the-Box on every corner. Divided by the 36ish members, that's only 11.1 lbs of lead and 5.5 lbs of powder per person.

Put in another perspective, DHS has recently purchased enough ammo to equal 4 rounds per man, woman, and child in the US, which is cited as part of the current shortage. Imagine if every reloader went out and purchased 200,000 rounds of ammo/components. I imagine that would make the DHS procurements a drop in the ocean. If 0.1% (1 out of a thousand) of the population reloads, that's 300k people. That's 60 billion rounds.

 

[1KPerDay]

Geeze - 200,000 primers is crazy. Hope your house never catches on fire.

He has each primer stored in individual, shock-and-fire-proof .50 cal ammo cans.

 

[kingmt]

He has each primer stored in individual, shock-and-fire-proof .50 cal ammo cans.

Now if he only had it stored in a 50 cal brass padded with powder & sealed with a 650gn projectile he would be all set.

 

[hueyville]

First off there are no earthquakes where I live, two little tremors is all anyone in my living family can remember. Second my primers are split into three locations. 2/3rds at home and 1/3rd at work. All are in OSHA explosion proof fire lockers. Each fire locker has a automatic fire suppression head above it as does my bench. At each end of every bench is a 4.75 pound DuPont FE-36 Clean-Agent fire extinguisher. My powder is split into two locations of which each are also OSHA explosion proof flammables cabinets with automatic fire suppression units overhead. If you put your guns in fire proof vaults, your flammable components should be in an OSHA approved locker.

The four motorcycles in the garage are much more likely to cause fire problems than primers or powder. That said, also a fire suppression system in garage and a 2 pound real Halon extinguisher in each bikes saddle bags along with two additional 9 pound DuPont FE-36 extinguishers mounted on opposite walls. If you park your hot car full of fuel in your garage that is much more dangerous than any amount of my primers. Add to this, the local fire department (as most will) come out once every five years and update my fire plan for both my business and home. You will notice most fire trucks have computers on board now. If you get a free fire plan done, they put a diagram of your structure in the computer with key flammable locations, contents and places persons could likely be found into their system. They know what to look for and where before they show up. I have monitored alarm with fire detectors everywhere and am located four miles from my local fire station. The one time a smoke head went off at the house they were on scene within 8 minutes and actually caught a smoldering electrical short in a bad lamp before it flamed. They were happy to come and glad they had a fire plan to review on the way. It showed them where the exterior electrical disconnect is which is first thing they did. Which door is the only one that is not force entry rated so they didn't waste time entering nor mess up any 800 dollar doors, where the flammables are located and what they are. I arrived five minutes later to see a smoking lamp in the front yard and a bunch of happy fire fighters that had been bored up till they got to kick in my door. Security has multiple components which a good fire plan is as important as your alarms, safes, dogs and guns to fight off invading hoards looking for the primers. haha. When you get home tonight, look around... Where is the closest extinguisher? When was the last time it was inspected? Is it a quality unit? Do you have enough? I bet if a home invader kicks in your door tonight as you sleep you have a gun close at hand. If you wake up surrounded by flames, is the extinguisher as close and does it work? Do you have enough to fight your way to the kids and then fight your way out to safety? Remember extinguishers are just an escape tool in a real fire. YMMV, IMHO and all other disclaimers apply.