Was Reloading components hard to find during the "ammo shortage"

[TennJed]

I was reloading back in 09 during the "great ammo shortage" and was wondering how hard it was to get ahold of reloading components.

I am not a worry wort by nature and kinda just go with the flow, but several threads have been popping up on various gun forums about an increase in gun sales.

Just curious if lead, primers, and powder may be harder to find if the upcoming election causes another run on ammo

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Primers were hard to find locally for a while. Not sure about online sources. It lasted a few months here and pretty much returned to normal.

 

[Lost Sheep]

You bet

The cause, though, is a bit more obscure.

Some suggest stockpiling/hoarding and others suggest that the War effort was absorbing the bulk of component manufacturers' capacity. Some suggest a combination of the two.

But it is pretty much unarguable that shelves were less well stocked and a few months later, prices were higher.

Lost Sheep

 

[ArchAngelCD]

In PA it was very hard to find powder and almost impossible to find primers. When you did find either the prices were so high I would pass on them. I saw prices of $80/1000 on primers locally and over $100/1000 online.

I would love to say I saw that shortage coming but I didn't . All I knew was prices were starting up so when I saw a bargain at one of the shows I bought 2000 or 3000 instead of 1000 so I ended up with all the primers I needed during the "shortage" even though it was by accident. Locally the prices of primers never did come down to under $20/1000 like they were before the shortage but they are down to $28/1000. Last month when I started to see the signs of panic again I filled in the weak spots in my supply by adding some LPP to my stash. It pains me to buy primers at $28/1000 but I highly doubt they will ever be below that again.

 

[Canuck-IL]

There were no primers to be had for an extended period, including online. Even Powder Valley was booking orders with no guaranteed ship date and an uncertain price. I started buying my components as soon as Obama was nominated and I got through just fine.

Prices did spike badly and *almost* never recovered to what they were. However, if you pay attention to online sales, you can find deals still. Natchez, Graf's and Powder Valley have all had great deals in the last few months ... CCI and Federal LP and SP at $14.95 w free shipping (you still paid Hazmat), Wolf SRM and SR556, which are both incredibly consistent primers for $15, etc.

When buying online I never buy less than 10k to distribute the Hazmat pain; usually I can round up 2-3 shooting friends and we can get 20-30k orders together for the single Haz fee.

Powder prices have climbed continuously in the last 4 years and deals are quite hard to find; always buy 8# at a time unless you're just trying a new powder.
/Bryan

 

[Ky Larry]

For a time, primers were almost impossible to find. Fortunately, I had stocked up on MagTec amd PMC primers in 2008 due to some great deals so I had enough to get by. I am putting together an anti-Obamanation survival kit in case he gets reelected.

 

[Pilot]

Yep, I will echo the primer situation. They were VERY scarce for a long time.

 

[FROGO207]

I had purchased some ahead when the prices were good and just slowed my usage to a holding type pattern and did not suffer terribly. Still I have not seen the post shortage prices fall to near the same as before so it pains my wallet. OTOH the bullets and propellant were still available locally and the price gouging that was prevalent elsewhere did not develop. If I had needed to purchase any primers they would have been $48 per 1K at the worst of it. IHMO if you plan to put away what you anticipate you will use in a year most "shortages" will be mitigated with minimal pain. If you are of opinion the next election cycle will produce supply problems then 4-5 years stockpile for use would then be a good idea. That balanced with what you can actually afford is more likely what will happen with most. YMMV

Most people will buy ahead in bulk to save money anyway and that is a good policy no matter what happens.

 

[DoubleSawbuck]

Canuck who has CCI and Federal at that price? I've got to restock my primer/powder stash.

 

[Walkalong]

Yes, they were, unless one had learned their lesson after Klinton, and was prepared. The ordering panic was astounding.

 

[Blue68f100]

I was one of the lucky ones. I had ordered 20k primers, 8# powder and 15k bullets several months before all the panic buying went down. It seam I was the only one shooting any volume at the range besides a few other reloaders. I try to stay 1 - 2 years ahead on my supplies. This allows me to buy when I find good deals.

Primers where the shortest in supplies when this happened. The the high cost of energy made the bullets double in price. Powder was the only thing that did not become in short supply.

I have several loads worked up for my guns so I can use several powders if one is in short demand.

 

[kingmt]

I had a hard time finding primers.

 

[Canuck-IL]

Canuck who has CCI and Federal at that price?

Has right now, today? No one I know of for all sizes and all brands but, since Nov those prices have appeared at the 3 I mentioned as well as some deals on Wolf and CCI primers at Widerner's. Get yourself signed onto the mailing lists of those vendors and you get early enough notification when they're on sale.

Right now, check the Wolf LP and SRM at Wideners ... $16 / 1000. Those SRMs are great for ARs - thicker cup and better SD/ES than Rem 7 1/2s.

/B

 

[DoubleSawbuck]

Thanks for the heads up. I bought about 10k last time Powder Valley had a Tula special but I'm running low now.

 

[cfullgraf]

The shortages and panic buying in '09 were not limited to ammunition and reloading components.

Fortunately for me, I keep an inventory of stuff on hand just by nature. I buy in bulk and when i see it on sale and store it for future use. I do not run hand to mouth with my reloading supplies.

During the shortage, I was able wait and buy when I saw components, weather a long back order time, and not buy any more than I had consumed hoping the prices would come back down.

 

[armoredman]

When I went to Sportsman's Warehouse during the "drought", the only primers in stock were shotgun primers. I had some stocked up, and actually sold some I didn't need any more. Had a gentleman FLY into Casa Grande to buy small rifle primers, just a few hundred of them, in his private plane. That was quite interesting, but gave my son a chance to see a real plane up close.
Everything else I had enough of. Casting was the best way to go for bullets.

 

[RustyFN]

Yes components were very hard to find in stores and on-line. I was very lucky and made it through the shortage being able to shoot all I wanted too. I started reloading in 2006. In 2007 a couple of friends that shot a lot wanted to place a couple of orders that year. We ordered 100,000 primers that year. I placed a personal order for powder and bought a bunch of zero bullets for pistol and a bunch of Hornady bullets for 223. I'm still sitting pretty good on everything but powder and 223 bullets.

 

[x_wrench]

you bet. reloading shelves were almost empty for months. even cast bullets were almost non existent. so if you think it was bad then, just think what it will be like when the shi* REALLY hits the fan!i would stongly advise anyone who reloads, to keep an emergency supply of components somewhere. whenever the upcoming "event" whatever that may be comes along, people will REALLY panic. with an emegency stash, at least you will not be caught with your pants down so to speak.

 

[capreppy]

I ran into a guy at Cabela's yesterday that indicated he hoarded before the last shortage.

I wasn't reloading then, but am pretty much set for a good long while at least for pistol. For rifle, not quite there yet.

 

[PO2Hammer]

Large rifle and pistol primers were unavailable in my area for months. Some weeks there were no small primers either.
Jacketed pistol bullets were also rare as hens teeth. I was forced into plated bullets, turns out they work great.
Now I keep more components on hand.
It was shocking how fast we went from joking about the Obama election victory to bare shelves.

 

[mcofboise]

If it was a popular component in .223, it evaporated locally -- 55 grain bullets, WW748, SR primers... I got scary close to using up my stash. Other components were either very tight or bare shelved, 9mm, .40, .45, .223, .308 factory ammo disappeared as soon as it hit the shelves.
A few years before that I was about to give up casting and sell all my gear and alloy, until I saw what had happened in the interim to the price of commercial cast. Decided I wasn't so financially comfortable to ever pay that kind of price. These days I just keep my eyes open so I can blunder into a good deal now and then to maintain a comfortable level of components on top of an excessive amount of loaded rounds.

mike

 

[Canuck-IL]

I ran into a guy at Cabela's yesterday that indicated he hoarded before the last shortage.

There are different ways to characterize that ... might say he prepared with some insight as to what was likely to occur.

Look at gun sale records for the same period of time ... a lot of folks picked up an HD gun or the AR they had been half thinking about (ARs rapidly got into a chronic backorder situation just as primers did) right after the election because of reasonable fears about what Holder and Obama would attempt in the way of legislation. All of those buyers also picked up a quantity of ammo along with the gun(s), even though I'd bet a fair number still haven't shot through a box of cartridges yet.

Those same fears will be more prevalent this time around. Without having to worry about 2nd term electability, I'd anticipate more aggresive anti-gun legislation is inevitable if the current administration is re-elected ... which the Republican primary circus seems intent on assuring.

Whether it's hoarding or prudent stockpiling, the market situation is unlikely to look better after November than it does now.
/B

 

[Walkalong]

Some of us stocked up over time to be ready. That is not hoarding.

People who ordered 50,000 or 100,000 primers or tens of thousands of bullets from two or three different vendors during the shortage exacerbated the problem.

They were part of the problem, not the people who had prepared by stocking up over the years.

 

[RustyFN]

Some of us stocked up over time to be ready. That is not hoarding.

I didn't see a shortage coming. We bought a butt load because we were getting it so cheap that it worked out that I got lucky to have enough to not have to buy during the shortage.

 

[GW Staar]

Just so happened, that I was planning for a brand new progressive press for Christmas that year. I also had planned to buy a Ar10 style .308 about November. Honestly, I was dumb....did not see the ramifications of an Obama win.....really dumb.

So the week before the election my local dealer (small town in New Mexico) had no less than 75 "black" guns for sale....and I handled a Colt and a DPMS I thought might be able to scratch the AR10 itch....but I didn't buy.

Came back a week later to buy and there was NO black guns, in fact only one AR style at all, a Remington Camo R25. Yep bought it....payed more than I would've for the black DPMS a week earlier....one of those snooze and lose experiences.

On to the Progressive.....(I spent 6 months studying the choices and what I load, and settled on an Auto-Advance RCBS Pro 2000....did not find one for Christmas. Finally in January both Midway and Grafs got in a single manual-advance machine each....period. The only way I could have an auto-advance was to buy the manual press, and add the auto-advance kit. I found I could do that at Grafs for the same price as buying the non-existent auto-advance press from Midway.......did NOT snooze this time.

By January's end, I noticed I was getting low on components. (Progressives are known to cause that) I found bullets and powder in some odd places (like a Colorado Walmart and a feed store), but, absolutely NO primers anywhere....locally or otherwise. Luckily I had a small stash that got me by, but I paid dearly in price increases, when they became available again. Lesson learned.

So in a nutshell, blackguns disappeared in November, presses disappeared in December, Components started disappearing in early February.

If the Dems win again......expect the same.