Local gun shops and the shortage

[Harry2]

The one in my town has doubled the price on primers and hard to find ammo. They complain about people going out of town to shop and then pull this BS? Today i drove 40 miles to buy a pound of powder. I really need small pistol primers but i will not pay these guys double for them. I am really giving some thought to starting my own store, as these guy have left a bad taste in the whoule towns mouth.

Anybody else have shops doing this.

 

[bobotech]

Not really. The shops in my town all are charging reasonable prices for their components when they have them. I paid 2.99 a pack of 100 large rifle primers a couple weeks ago. I am not buying large amounts of primers lately as not to hoard. I already have my back stash of primers so all i have been buying lately are replacements for what I used and I don't shoot but 100-150 rounds of rifle a month.

I don't know of any shop that is outright gouging though.

 

[loadedround]

Harry: So far in my area most gunshops are still charging reasonable prices for pistol and rifle primers, when they have them. What I am seeing is that the real Nasties are the ones selling on the 'net like Gunbroker and at gunshows. Unfortunately desperete people are paying these prices and it just makes them more bolder. There is a place for those people but I can't say it here!

 

[RVenick]

The one shop locally that carries reloading supplies around here has jacked their prices on Primers and Powder by about 25%. I am good on primers so it is no bigdeal but if want to try a new powder I have to pay their price (last powder I bought was Power Pistol and it was $26 for a pound). Once I find a powder I like I buy it from one of the online dealers and buy enough to make it worthwhile. Group buys work great to save money too.

 

[something vague]

My local gun shops, two within 30 miles of eachother, are both pretty much theiving pricks. Their prices have always been too high compared to most but since this shortage has taken place they are taking complete advantage of people. I have stopped supporting these places and have let them both know it. The last straw for me was about a week or 2 ago. They got a shipment of all sorts of reloading components that have been on the impossible to get list as I was mostly interested in small rifle primers. The only ones he got in were Federal Match. For 1000 he was charging people $60 and would not budge a bit on the price. He openly said to me that "it is all about supply and demand, if you need them bad enough then you must pay top dollar." I told him to keep them. For his 1# Varget cans he is asking $35. Is it just me or do these prices seem a bit excessive or am I out of line thinking these guys are theives?

 

[IMtheNRA]

They DOUBLED the price? Remember that when the shop owner starts to complain about his customers buying on the internet and not "supporting the local stores".

 

[freakshow10mm]

Good luck getting anything in. Bullet orders are backed up a few months, many manufacturers aren't taking orders until 2010, CCI primers are backed up about 6 months, brass a few months, and so on. By the time you get a business started and actually get product to sell the supply will catch up to the demand. Just deal with it.

 

[mallc]

Everyone's prices are up...

All of my wholesaler's prices have increased by 15% to 25% over last year. What makes it worse is that you never know how much you are going to receive at one time. A couple of weeks ago I got a call from one of my suppliers saying they had 4 of the 24 jugs of W231 I have on back order ready to ship - do I want the 4 or none? This meant I'd have to spread the $22.50 hazmat fee over 4 jugs instead 12 or 24. Same thing happens when they call and ask if I want one case of primers. Add that to the 15% increase in base price and you can see why us little guys have such varying prices. I no longer order 1 lbs jars of powder because one shipment arrived with only 3 jars of H335! I showed the guys my invoice and sold it at cost, but no one was happy.

I have real concerns about the amount of stock some people with little experience must have in their closets. Same goes for the guys who stop at WallyWorld every day to feed their white box collection. Maybe we'll eventually see it hit the yard sales...maybe we'll see it hit the fan...

Just the facts mam.

Scott

PS - I bought 1000 small BR for personal use from another shop because I have not received any for several months; I paid $57.50 and I know the owner is honest.

 

[rcmodel]

This meant I'd have to spread the $22.50 hazmat fee over 4 jugs instead 12 or 24.

There you go right there!

This can explain a lot of the little mom & pop gunshop "price gouging" I betcha!

I know the same thing has beem happening to my dealer.

He orders 3 cases and gets three pounds.
He can't afford to eat the hazmat fee.

rc

 

[dullh]

Gun shops around here ain't gouging, their prices are the same as everyone else's plus most places on the internet. Your guy is a jerk for gouging and I wouldn't darken his door again. Now while shops around here ain't sticking it to nobody, at the same time they're just plain out of stuff - but over time inventory is getting better. These shortages are not going to last forever.

 

[ranger335v]

dullh, where in WNC are you?

I'm near Hendersonville. For years, I've been buying virtually all of my components from Rex's shop in Hendersonville but I think that has changed. They charged me $48 a brick for Federal small pistol caps and $6 a hundred for CCI small rifle in March, just about double the previous price! Normally I would have walked out but I had told my grandkids they could come over for a day of shooting and needed the primers for them.

When I was paying out the clerk said they have lots of people coming in from distant places buying thousands of dollars worth of components at a time. Told him the prices were fine so long as they could get people to keep dealing with them but it won't likely be me anymore. Hope they enjoyed that (one-time) mark-up. I got no comment in return, just some up-lifted eyes!

I have to go to Florida 2-4 times a year and it's quite easy to stop at the Sportsman's Warehouse, just off I-26 in Columbia. I've been buying what Rex didn't have from them, now I'll get it all from them. They are out of a lot of stuff now too, but they don't gouge on what they still have!

 

[Harry2]

I dont think he had to eat shipping cost on the 12 cases of 22lr bulk packs he got in. Which he quickly put a 24.99 price tag on. And then there is the 469.00 Sigma pistols has has. And the 32.00 dloaars a box for 38spl lead round nose ammo he has.

 

[Right Wing Wacko]

I have always tried to support my local shops when possible, even though their prices are a bit higher than the Super Stores (IE Cabelas or Wholesale Sports), but recently the price difference has gotten out of hand.

I paid my local guy $34 dollars each for a pound of Varget and a pound of Benchmark a few weeks ago. I know he didn't have a hazmat fee to spread over just a few bottles, since between the two he had about 50 bottles on the shelf. The hazmat would have added less than $0.50 to each bottle, and from what I could see he they actually had gotten quite a bit of other powders in at the same time. I'm fairly sure this means the Hazmat charge was pretty much in line with what he's always paid.

I only paid the price because at the time, he was the only place in town that had any powder in stock.

I drove the 35 miles to Wholesale Sports (Formerly Sportsmans Warehouse) yesterday and bought some TAC for $19. Much more in line with what the price should be.

It's seriously making me reconsider my stance of supporting the local guy if he's just gonna screw me over when times are tough.

Now if only someone would get something larger than 1 lb canisters!

 

[Nate1778]

Our gun shops are keeping it reasonable. Of coarse non of them have anything to gouge, but they are keeping it real. One in particular that is quickly stealing my allegiance was selling powder he bought in a collection at $8 a pound. That guy has won my purchases for quite some time, even though his reloading stuff is limited to collection sales.

My local gun range has no problem with letting their reloaders go through their buckets for brass, as long as the bucket stays in the store.

 

[Harry2]

There is a guy 40 miles from me that has big store prices in a small store setting. Even when Ar15 rifles were selling for 1500 on Gunbroker he had them at 800 bucks. I stopped there yesterday for powder but he did not have it in stock. he did have a semiauto Barett 50bmg but sadly i was a little short on cash.:banghead:

 

[freakshow10mm]

It's the same thing we dealt with the last 7 months with gun sales. A business has to make a certain amount of profit each month to pay bills. Certain amounts of product need to be sold in order to do that and this assumes replacement inventory is readily available.

If it isn't, there are two choices: sell at the normal price and have to lay off workers or pay bills on credit or not at all until the stock is resupplied or sell the items they can sell at a higher price to meet the minimum profit to stay open.

Every business has a different markup model. Some are percentage, some are fixed dollar amount, and CTD has stated they price whatever it is so they sell one a month until stock for that item is resupplied. This allows them to have stock every month, because their price is so high only one fool will buy, like their $70 .380 ammo.

I refuse to raise prices during the shortage but if you look at my website I'm out of stock on most every load I sell. I have 2,000 rds of .223 in stock and will have 500rds of .45 in stock later today when I load it. Once I sell that I will be completely out of everything and will have to wait until I am resupplied to load more.

 

[Marlin 45 carbine]

ditto ranger

Rex's is gouging IMO.
there is a mom&pop 'outdoors' store in my area that is gouging on ammo too but at least they have it. (pistol in particular is near double pre-election prices) they don't carry re-loading stuff at all.
there is definitely a continuing shortage of pistol primers here (rifle too for that matter) and rifle powder and any jacketed slugs. no Remington or Hornady at all. (Golden Sabre is my fav pistol slug).

 

[Iron Sight]

Last Thursday I called a popular gun shop in Salt Lake City and ask about small pistol primers. They had CCI 500s @ 44$ a 1000. I said hang on to a brick for me Im on my way. Then an afterthought so I called a small supplier in Provo they had CCI for 34$ a 1000. Called the place in in Salt lake & told them I would NOT be there to buy from them @ there price. Went down & bought some from the small guy in provo @ 34$. Then walked into the Provo Sportsmans Warehouse where they had CCIs @ 25.00 a 1000. Bought another 1000 & a pound of 2400 @ 19$. (They also had 8 lb bottles of 2400).

 

[45ACPUSER]

People fail miserably at understanding things.

Some vendors do not get their haz mat stuff shipped via commerical truck or their wholesaler delivers in their truck. Man, places like Graf's and BHSS ship via commercial truck and the frt charge for 500# from BHSS is a mere pittance to what UPS would charge, let alone no Haz Mat Charges.....

So the small vendor has to pay USP/Fed Ex haz mat for packages.

Primers are beginning to flow more and more. The only primers I have not seen in a long while are BR2 and BR4 primers, and I have not seen any WSR. But, I have seen CCI 400, 450, 200, 250, 250, 300, 205, 200, 100, 150, 210, 210 M, 215, 215M, Rem 7.5, 1.5, 9.5, WSP, WLP, WLR WLRM, Mag Tech SP, SR, SPM
And, each package. Jerry's bundles 50# of powder. Jerry's does not even list primers on their web site any more.

 

[flipajig]

It depends on witch shop i go into one shop was asking 28 for one 1lb of RL15 when the other one was asking 23. 10 miles between them.
one is 20 miles from home and the other was 30
my girl friend lives 30 so gues where i went (fringe benifits)