This madness may pass soon

I was in a gun shop today that had CCI and Winchester small rifle primers and a limit of 500 primers per customer. I bought 100 primers for $3.79 because that was all I needed right now. The 500 primer limit also applied to small pistol, large pistol and large rifle. They had plenty of 209 shotgun primers and there was no limit. I am hopeful. All the best...
Gil

I think that Obama is avoiding guns so that he can get a second term....Then he'll want to ban 'em .

I received the following via e-mail from Sinclair a few days ago:

Primer Availability
We have had a lot of concerned customers calling to ask about primer availability. Actually, our lines have been flooded with calls regarding the availability of primers as well as the availability of other components. The easiest and quickest way to check on availability is through our new website, whether you plan on phoning an order in, ordering off the web, or using some other means. The following is our view on the current primer situation. Basically, there has been a two-pronged drain on primer supplies for the reloading market.

The first driving force has been the huge demand for loaded ammunition through 2008 and continuing into 2009. The large primer manufacturers like ATK (which would include Federal and CCI), Winchester, and Remington are directing the majority of their primers into loaded ammunition. Ammunition sales are going through the roof as individuals stock up because of political concerns. The huge consumer demand for ammo is in addition to the demand from law enforcement agencies and our military to re-supply their own inventories. I know that smaller ammunition manufacturers have been impacted drastically by the primer shortage since their demands are higher than normal for primers that they have to obtain through Federal, CCI, Winchester, Remington, etc. Many of these smaller manufacturers have had to go to other sources to get quality primers. Because of this situation, some of them cannot keep up with their own ammunition production. Unfortunately, these smaller ammo makers can’t control their own destiny since they don’t have the capacity or tooling to make primers.

I mentioned that there were two factors impacting primer availability; the first factor is creating the second one. Since ammo demand has consumed more of the primer supply than normal, the quantity of primers on the shelf has declined at the box stores, the reloading companies (like Sinclair), and the smaller gun shops. With the fast communication via the internet, the word spreads quickly and the result has been consumers stockpiling and hoarding primers. Individuals are buying and keeping more primers in their own personal inventories and this has prevented some reloaders from having any primers at all. We normally see people buying 1,000 or maybe 5,000 primers at a time, now we are seeing customers buying 25,000 at a time.

The manufacturers are trying to react as best as they can, but their primary driving force is to keep a steady supply of primers going to the ammunition plants because they generate more revenue through this output than they do through the reloading market. A guy from CCI called the other day to order some items from us for his own reloading, and he reported that CCI has been running 24/7 and is still falling behind. They are adding two machines to their line to increase production (I don’t know what percentage gain this will give them). Federal told us a couple of weeks ago to not be surprised if we don’t see many primers from them until the end of 2009.

This is what we know as of today. Our current situation at Sinclair is that we are out of primers but are expecting some Wolf primers of all types sometime in June. We get a few Winchester primers every once and awhile but it might only be 30K to 50K at a time.

Eventually everyone will have enough stockpiled, manufacturers should catch up with ammo runs, and the supply on the shelves will hopefully return. This happened in throughout 1994, just not to this scale.

Best Regards,
Bill

I've thought all along that we were creating the shortages we feared. Snowball effect. Also is a pretty good indication of how much trust the people have in the current administration.

I am seeing primers on the shelves at the gun shops I visit. Take care...
Joe

At today’s coffee and doughnut session I noticed some primers on the self!!!
So I commented to the shop owner about them.
His reply was “yea, we finally got some and nobody gets more than a thousand and they better not be back for at least a month or two for more”

What really angers me about all this panic buying is the fact that guys who need the stuff can’t get it.
I know guys that haven’t shot a thousand rounds in the last five years buying enough ammo to supply a small army!!!

I can understand the reasoning behind it but it still angers me that people are jacking up the prices to $100 per 1000 and even higher to gouge and take advantage of the situation. The only way to stop it is if EVERYONE would stop paying these ridiculous prices, but it will never happen. I am afraid our hobby has taken a very serious turn that it may not be able to make it back from.

GUTS wrote:

I am afraid our hobby has taken a very serious turn that it may not be able to make it back from.

Once everyone ends up with more primers and other reloading supplies then they honestly know what to do with the manufacturers, distributors and stores will have a hard time selling both reloading supplies and loaded ammunition.

Therefor its in their best interest to keep costs low so people who don't have a buddy they can get them for pre-crazy costs would actually consider buying them. And for people who stockpiled to get rid of their now worthless (compared to the crazy prices they are trying to mark up what they bought to) reloading supplies so the manufacturers can control the supply.

Dimitri

Dimitri wrote:

GUTS wrote: I am afraid our hobby has taken a very serious turn that it may not be able to make it back from. Once everyone ends up with more primers and other reloading supplies then they honestly know what to do with the manufacturers, distributors and stores will have a hard time selling both reloading supplies and loaded ammunition. Therefor its in their best interest to keep costs low so people who don't have a buddy they can get them for pre-crazy costs would actually consider buying them. And for people who stockpiled to get rid of their now worthless (compared to the crazy prices they are trying to mark up what they bought to) reloading supplies so the manufacturers can control the supply. Dimitri

I hope you are right my friend.

There is no primer situation at my house. Hasn't been since the late eighties either. Those of us who have done this awhile know that primers have a history of availibility issues. When you find them, buy them, buying them 100 at a time is DA unless you plan on quitting shooting soon.

Finding them has never been an issue until now !!! And yes I’ve been doing it for a while.
Even the last go around I was able to get what I needed when I needed them. And I’m not talking about a hundred here and there. I usually buy between 5-20 thousand at a time. Sometimes even more if I get a group of buyers together to take advantage of better price brakes.

As for the guy that buys 100 at a time, maybe he only shoots a couple hundred a year, or he’s on a fixed income, or his wife..................