Power and Primers
General Topic
Oops, I meant "Powder" and Primers... What's the deal with powder and primers, I can't find a supplier anywhere with stock... Have the left wing whackos bought it all up?
COVID has shut down manufacturing of a lot of items. That combined with unprecedented demand by conservatives that think liberals are going to take away or tax away their ammo have combined to result in an incredible shortage of ammo and components. As a staunch conservative I find it to be the height of irony that we blame left wingers for our inability to find or buy ammunition when we have done it to ourselves yet again.
That's because you are a conservative and not a kookservative.
You’re 6 months late. It’s 2008 all over again. Guys showing up at every sporting good store on stocking day and buying everything they can...ammo, bullets, powder, primers. Then selling it for 2-3x on gunbroker.
I have enough to last the rest of my life. Not too long ago 22 bullets were as cheap as I have seen in years. Same with 9mm and 223. I haven't been to the gun store in a while but will have to visit since want to stock up on some more shotgun primers for my .50 cal muzzle loading pistol. Killed a deer with it a couple weeks ago. I have plenty of bullets and powder but should stock up on some more primers. I use several after cleaning my pistol.
Alot of folks of all political stripes are buying guns and ammo. Alot of new reloaders are buying powder, primers, brass and bullets. I was at the local Wallymartin today and they had some Win 30-06 and one other cal in stock. So some ammo is making it thru. One store I visited a couple of weeks ago had some basic Rem .300 WBY Mag Corelokts for $75 a box!! I think those are normally in the upper $20 range. I was back there a couple of days ago and they're still on the shelf. A little price gouging in my humble opinion. I think that's happening on Gunbroker too. I suppose if you're desperate and need a box....you're going to pay for it there.
Before all of this current mess started, I was buying clearance sale BH209, Barnes TMZ's, TEZ's and magnum 209 primers so I'm good on that.
Part of it is political but also just Covid killing the supply of goods and increasing the supply of free time. No one is threatening to take away fishing poles but the shelves for fishing gear were pretty sparce all summer.
Thank you, Don, for injecting a little apolitical common sense!
Blaming liberals for powder and primer shortages, stupidity defies deceleration.
Suffice it to say, you're looking at a year or two before you start to see any normalcy return as far as ammunition and components go. Seven million new gun owners this year. 7,000,000. New. Gun. Owners. If they all wanted only 100 rounds of ammo....700,000,000 rounds. Not to mention the "regular" gun owners who tend to freak out when they get below 10,000 rounds of 5.56 ammo.....
Vista, owners of Federal, CCI, lots of other ammo and ammo component manufacturers you've heard of, has over $1 BILLION backordered. Probably not gonna clear that up overnight. Good luck shooters.
Ran across an article the other day where some neck beard filled his cart with .22LR bricks. Like 21,000 rounds. AND he was complaining about ammo shortages. WTF....
I don’t think it can be blamed on anything but Covid and the fact that more firearms were sold to first time buyers the last year, then ever before.
"Suffice it to say, you're looking at a year or two before you start to see any normalcy return as far as ammunition and components go. Seven million new gun owners this year. 7,000,000. New. Gun. Owners. If they all wanted only 100 rounds of ammo....700,000,000 rounds. Not to mention the "regular" gun owners who tend to freak out when they get below 10,000 rounds of 5.56 ammo..... Vista, owners of Federal, CCI, lots of other ammo and ammo component manufacturers you've heard of, has over $1 BILLION backordered. Probably not gonna clear that up overnight. Good luck shooters."
I had no idea it was this bad! Just crazy
The financial news folks said the riots played a role in the increase in gun and ammo sales. Me thinks with gun seasons winding down in many places and the ammo makers playing catch-up.....we'll see inventories of the popular rounds trickle back up....at least I hope they do.
I doubt it. Because with limptard due to be swore into office, Conservatives will start stock piling.
There is no stock of anything related to leisure activities in Winnipeg. Sounds like it’s nationwide. Fishing, hunting, atvs snowmobiles, etc etc. No stock
WV x2
It really is the perfect storm for gun owners.
Riots, Covid, condoning lawlessness, an very gun unfriendly administration taking power and threatening gun/ammo/magazine taxes, and even confiscation. All will take place if the republicans lose the senate.
And don’t forget the biggest issue IMO is removing liability protection from gun and ammo manufacturing. That will decimate the gun industry without a single 2nd amendment challenge.
If the senate stays republican things may eventually get back to normal but it’s gonna take a long time.
My 2c
I recently went on a couple weekend pheasant trips. We didn't plan them very far in advance, the first weekend we literally decided to go 4 days before we left. Between the two of us we searched 7 or 8 gun stores, including Bass Pro and Cabelas, for pheasant shells. Found very very little in the way of shotgun shells at all. Found a better selection of shells in a little bitty gas station in SD than in specialty stores. Just weird.
I believe the 75$ for 300 wby mag may be close to normal JL. Have a friend that shoots a 257 wby mag and he pays about 62 bucks a box I think last time we got some! Those wby mag rounds arnt cheap. Neither are the 270 wby mag. I missed one with that this year and he about cried that I had to shoot again haha.
Reload, Reload Reload, I have enough powder, primers and brass to last me 3 lifetimes for the rounds I shoot. 6.5 Creedmore, .308, 7-30:waters and I have over 30 thousand 22 lr shells. If I could only own one gun it would be my 22 LR. Kill anything I need with it. I also reload 12 and 20 gauge shotgun shells. My Dad told me 45 years ago, start squirrelling away reloading supplies, one day it may be the only way to make sure you have shells!! Shawn
That price on the WBY. AMMO is normal. It may actually be a little cheap.
Going to be an interesting 4 years. We do have to keep the senate
Some ammo still pops up here from time to time. Saw AK 47 rounds on the shelf a few days ago at a sporting goods store. Limit 10 boxes per person
What Pat said.
My local blain's farm and fleet has had sporadic ammo shipments the last couple of weeks. Mostly 20 rd and 100 round 556 boxes.
This Monday I went in there to buy some wax worms for fishing and one of the clerks was unloading a whole pallet of 200 round 556 bulk Boxes for $99.99.
Keeping the freshly stocked Supreme court might be helpful. Hopefully he doesn't stack that as well.
People went nuts and bought guns and ammo like crazy last spring...along with toilet paper. Not there is a shortage. And it sounds like it will Be a few years before ammo get back to pre covid end of the world times.
I don’t think it’ll ever come back to “normal”. It never did. So, it sure ain’t going to now. 15 years ago you could buy the most popular powder for $10/ pound. After Obummer got elected, that went to $25/pound. And never really come down. It got to where you could find some but, it no longer showed a cost advantage unless you had bought the other components years before and in huge supplies.
Primers were as hard then too. They tripled and never budged. And never will. Never has a reloaded paid so much attention to loading ez primers. lol.
Brass doubled and never come down. And has never gotten easy to find since then.
Bullets are the only component found easier. And that was/is due to lead casters. Making plinking affordable. Yet only if you bought everything a decade and a half ago.
Boy’s, the liberals are winning. Slowly but surely they are winning and winning big victories. They have got the firearms industry and owners exactly where they want us. And, they aren’t going to stop. You had better bought the stuff you need. And, better buy when you find if you want your grandkids to have the ability to enjoy shooting.
One dealer told me that one part of primers comes from China and that dried up.
Most stores in Western New York have been either completely out, or just get limited shipments. They were also limiting to 2 boxes per person if they were 50 round, and 1 for bulk boxes. The prices have also skyrocketed. Even on line, it was not uncommon to see 9mm ball ammo 50 round boxes for almost $40.
Saw an article yesterday said 20,000,000 million new guns sold in 2020 so far. These are from all walks of life. 2020 has people crapping there pants. And we should be, there is a storm a coming!
The only way our grandkids will be able to shoot is if something drastic happens. The writing is on the wall, and has been very clearly spoken. It is pretty clear that they will do anything to get there way, and we just keep letting them do it, and get away with it. The line has to be drawn somewhere. I hope you all are paying attention to the background chatter. Regardless of which side wins, there will be massive civil unrest.
I feel the only chance to save this country is with a whole new vote, in person, with ID. But that will never happen. I think they prefer the chaos. It's gonna get ugly. The United States of America is lost. The choice is to take it back, or live with there fundamental change to socialism and give up your basic rights.
God bless, be prepared and stay safe.
I always regretted building an AR15 in .204 ruger. Not anymore! That ammo is all I see at gun stores.
If your local dealer is charging $40 for 50 round boxes of hardball 9mm.... he's gouging the crap out of you. We still sell 50 rounds for $13-$15, depending on brand/cost. Every dealer gets their inventory from the same approximately 10-15 distributors. The prices don't change much. Sure the price fluctuates a little, but it ain't much. Yes, we limit the amount people can buy, usually 2 boxes on the real common stuff.... 9mm, 223/5.56, 45 acp. We keep a certain amount back for customers actually buying a firearm. We get people who ask why there's a limit.... sigh. So tired of the one's who are living in a cave, who have ZERO awareness of what's actually happening in the world, or just playing dumb. Now, when someone asks, "Why is ammo/powder/primers/brass/bullets/firearms so short?", all I can muster is, "They just are, and we cannot order them."
We went from an inventory of over 2200 firearms to less that 1100 over the course of 2020. Not by choice.
True. My brother in NC went to academy yesterday. Said all they had for ammo was 35 Remington and 16 gauge shot gun shells. Both are nearly impossible to find on shelves outside times like these.
Now is definitely the time to own the less favored chambering’s. And, I own and love my 35 Remington.
You can get some .300 Wby Mag Corelokts for $52 and change off of Ammoseek....which I still think is a little to high for basic Corelokts. ELD-X's are $54 and change. There are quite a few others in the $50+ range. So ya...I think $75 is way too much for those Corelokts above.
Here is a tip, go to Wally World get a manager to let you know what day the sporting goods trailers come to restock. Go to the store early and wait. I know a group of old guys who do this locally and they buy up what they can once a week! Shawn
keepemsharp - Good point (pun intended...8^) about primers... I'm a reloader and have kinda stock piled a few hundred each large and small rifle and pistol primers along with shotshell primers and a half dozen pounds or so various powders but not enough for an apocalypses...8^) And after this year that ain't really a joke...
Reason I learned of shortage or no supply was I wanted to try a couple new (to me) Hodgdons/IMR powders like versatile Clays and Trail Boss and some magnum primers... Anyhow we can have all the brass, powder, hulls, wads and lead we need, but it ain't gonna go boom without primers, unless we're shooting flintlocks with flash pans...8^)
I kinda thought shortages might happen after the election results and reason I was shopping, but hadn't realized I was too late... We really need Georgia's senate race conservatives to win BAD...
A tip for you active/retired military and LE folks. Become a member of the website Expert Voice. They're sold out now but they do sell ammo....along with a bunch of other outdoor/hunting/fishing stuff at a steep discount. The .270 Federal Accubonds I'm trying to get are $27 and change a box. That's about 20% or 25% off of retail I think they said. I bought a new Vortex scope for my .300 Winny at a 40% discount. A couple of months ago I got some Carhartt denim bibs real cheap. You have to be a military or LE bubba to join and they do check your credentials. There's some great deals there.
A local gun shop owner told me back in September that shotgun slugs would be impossible to find, and to stock up on BP stuff. And no few guys carried their muzzle-loaders during shotgun season.
There are a lot of new shooters buying guns, factories are working hard to keep up, but it's hard to ramp up production to meet new demand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR1R3-WoYBXsrWrjXvLv2Nct7R7--ZmK246JULT83Ns-HsUwp-asK9vSqFA&v=KIgvoJKovIg&feature=youtu.be
This is why you need to own at least one oddball pistol and rifle caliber other then the usual 9mm, 308, 556. Like said above you can still find 204 and 35 Remington. I also still see some 357 Sig out there. I lucked out and was able to locate two boxes of 10mm bullets, a pound of powder and some large pistol primers to reload 10mm. My local stores have all primers except for small pistol.
hehehe, I have a mess of components for my 7-08 and 45-70 ;l-)
Spike, I'll agree with you as far as owning different calibers. I own about 10 different calibers, and have a sufficient amount of ammo for all of them. IF I were to run out of one (doubtful), I would have several more lined up behind that one to make due. Might not be my pet, go to load and caliber, but, in my opinion..... any port in a storm.
I still see people who come in to the store I work in, who will reject the caliber they're looking for, because it is not the specific brand, weight, load they "shoot"... then they come back a few days later, and want it, after realizing they cannot find EXACTLY what they are looking for, and the stuff we had is gone. It floors me when it happens.... IT WILL WORK IN YOUR FIREARM! So it's not EXACTLY what you want.... at some point, you'll be begging for it, regardless of brand, weight, whatever.
Thanks guys for mentioning Scheels on another thread just ordered 500 10mm bullets and 180 grains to boot! Great price surprisingly!
