Where Are All The Primers? Powder Valley version

[sr1971]

A coworker purchased four thousand small rifle primers last week at Bass Pro for $64 a brick.

A few days ago the same Bass Pro had this pile of ammo sitting on the shelf.

View attachment 1003537

I have found the same but at Cabela's last weekend. On a cost note a business friend of a friend knows that it is indeed supply and demand. There is exactly 3 locations within 3 hours of my place of work that still sell at "Pre-pandemic" pricing. Hornady ramped up and hired a few employees recently.. All will return to the old normal soon.

 

[Wis-Harpo]

I went to a LGS last week, and you could buy all of the ammo you wanted. I went there today, and there was a guy with a small shopping cart 3 layers deep with various ammo he was going to SCALP-- I mean buy. Up until last week the LGS had various ammo all through the panic, and had to put up a temporary post and ribbon barrier to serve the public and limit sales to 1 box-- the later 2 boxes of ammo. The even have shotgun shells. BUT a flat of Remington Gun Club was $99 before a 7% tax. The have 22 lr, 22mag, 17 HMR, CCI 50 and 100 pack boxes, 9mm, 380, 45acp--- and on it went. Blazer .22's were$5.99 / box CCI lr segmented were $9.99. I didn't look at any more prices. This store always used to have plenty of Federal ammo, now it is CCI ( same ownership ).. Then I went to Academy Sports , which had shotgun wads and 1 bag of# 8 1/2 shot. I went past the gun desk and heard a sales lady behind the counter tell a customer, that was on the phone, to get down there right away and get his name in for a pistol because of the Brady Law, he had to wait 30 days. We have no such waiting period in this state. Go figure .

 

[Mark_Mark]

Basically the components will come back when the shelves are full of factory ammunition. Profit drives all economic decisions.

Second post to the thread and you hit the nail on the head! Go ahead and lock out the THREAD because the issue is resolved!!! LOL

 

[Mark_Mark]

BTW… I picked up 3 boxes of cci .22 for $3.50 or .$4 a box today, so cheap I can’t remember the price. Chin up everyone!!!

 

[Mark_Mark]

I heard about 3 factories, then I heard about 3 more, now there are 3 more "top secret" factories being built. With 9 new factories coming on line we should be out of the woods by the end of the summer!

You guys will see… then I want to hear a “Yep, Old Mark_Mark was right”

 

[AJC1]

BTW… I picked up 3 boxes of cci .22 for $3.50 or .$4 a box today, so cheap I can’t remember the price. Chin up everyone!!!

That would have been a good deal when the little boxes held 100. 8 cents each for mini mags is prerona pricing so a good sign.

 

[Mark_Mark]

That would have been a good deal when the little boxes held 100. 8 cents each for mini mags is prerona pricing so a good sign.

I like those CCI .22’s they seem to run on everything. I have not bought ammo (except walmart bird shot) in forever! WAS FUN!

 

[SnowBlaZeR2]

Sporting goods manager at my local BPS said the same people are showing up every morning before opening asking to buy primers, ammo, and powders. They've caught some reselling them in the parking lot, illegally, to the late-comers. Unlicensed retail on a licensed retail property is illegal in Florida but its a minor offence. The other lady who works there told me a few have even said they are reselling online and there's nothing BP can do about it. She said they're right, the store can't refuse service because a customer is obnoxious. The public accommodations lawsuits would fly like bats at dusk.

A few stores around here have started stocking shelves with components and ammo in the middle of the day at random times. Talked to one of the owners and he said he's done with those types and won't tell them when he's getting it in or putting it out. Seems to have helped. I don't see the usual lines when the trucks come in.

 

[Mark_Mark]

A few stores around here have started stocking shelves with components and ammo in the middle of the day at random times. Talked to one of the owners and he said he's done with those types and won't tell them when he's getting it in or putting it out. Seems to have helped. I don't see the usual lines when the trucks come in.

yeah man! just remember the Primer of 2020 Poxolips, we will be talking about this for 30 years!

History in the Making!

 

[CQB45ACP]

Federal’s website has raised the limit per purchase to 4 boxes from 2 and as I write this they have many popular pistol calibers and some 22lr.

Their prices are also coming down—not much but lower.

I really do think things are getting better for ammo and we’ve been told that must happen before the primers break loose.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Federal’s website has raised the limit per purchase to 4 boxes from 2 and as I write this they have many popular pistol calibers and some 22lr.

Their prices are also coming down—not much but lower.

I really do think things are getting better for ammo and we’ve been told that must happen before the primers break loose.

I should have taken a photo, but Cabelas had a ammo limit special, if you join their Cabelas point club credit card, they up your limit to 8 boxes! lol

 

[AJC1]

I should have taken a photo, but Cabelas had a ammo limit special, if you join their Cabelas point club credit card, they up your limit to 8 boxes! lol

Bps was doing that with primers. 3 trays or join the club and you could buy 1k.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Bps was doing that with primers. 3 trays or join the club and you could buy 1k.

Marketing is working overtime! “Rona money is gone, so let’s squeeze some data out of them”

 

[Rule3]

I have a bunch of factory ammo I may never shoot.
Thinking about breaking them down and selling primers in little plastic baggies on the street corner!

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

I went to a LGS last week, and you could buy all of the ammo you wanted. I went there today, and there was a guy with a small shopping cart 3 layers deep with various ammo he was going to SCALP-- I mean buy. Up until last week the LGS had various ammo all through the panic, and had to put up a temporary post and ribbon barrier to serve the public and limit sales to 1 box-- the later 2 boxes of ammo. The even have shotgun shells. BUT a flat of Remington Gun Club was $99 before a 7% tax. The have 22 lr, 22mag, 17 HMR, CCI 50 and 100 pack boxes, 9mm, 380, 45acp--- and on it went. Blazer .22's were$5.99 / box CCI lr segmented were $9.99. I didn't look at any more prices. This store always used to have plenty of Federal ammo, now it is CCI ( same ownership ).. Then I went to Academy Sports , which had shotgun wads and 1 bag of# 8 1/2 shot. I went past the gun desk and heard a sales lady behind the counter tell a customer, that was on the phone, to get down there right away and get his name in for a pistol because of the Brady Law, he had to wait 30 days. We have no such waiting period in this state. Go figure .

Yeah that lady didn't know what she was talking about at all. Heck with a CWP they don't even ask for your SSAN on the application anymore. Our approval is so fast that you are hard pressed to walk around and shop.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

BTW… I picked up 3 boxes of cci .22 for $3.50 or .$4 a box today, so cheap I can’t remember the price. Chin up everyone!!!

Walked out of Sportsmens Warehouse 2 weeks ago with 500 rounds of Aguila 22LR 40g HP for just over $30 with tax.

 

[Typetwelve]

I'll openly admit that the drought finally got to me. Thanks to ample stores, I didn't slow my roll one bit in 2020 or into 2021. Where I still have plenty of stores to go around, I'm beginning to see my primers and projectiles diminish, and I do not like that.

With no real idea when I'll be able to replenish things, I'm going to stop shooting for now (for the most part). Maybe I'll take the summer and get back in shape...

 

[Mark_Mark]

Walked out of Sportsmens Warehouse 2 weeks ago with 500 rounds of Aguila 22LR 40g HP for just over $30 with tax.

I would have bought some too! can’t go wrong with .22

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Walked out of Sportsmens Warehouse 2 weeks ago with 500 rounds of Aguila 22LR 40g HP for just over $30 with tax.

Okay, pardon the way this is going to sound - apologies in advance - but it's been a while since I bought bulk .22LR. Is $30/500 a good price or just average now?

The last time I bought that same Aguila HP - which I consider one of the better .22LR rounds out there - was probably about three years ago, maybe four, and I bought two bricks for $24, on sale. IIRC, $20/500 was full retail? After the O'Panics of 2009/10 and 2015/16, prices for .22LR went into the ditch, briefly and I stocked up so I really don't recall what "normal" prices are supposed to be.

The last two bricks of .22LR I bought were 2018 (pre-plandemic, obviously) Fiocchi standard-velocity 40gr. premium target for $15/500 and Eley-Tenex Semi-Auto 42gr. subsonic for $40/500, both on the clearance table at Beckwith's (Micanopy, FL). I paid up for the Eley-Tenex - which was a smokin' deal at $40/500! - because it cycles my 1930's Colt Woodsman and Hi-Standard Duramatic M-101 reliably and hits POA out of both. Great ammo but P-R-I-¢-Y, even in good times.

I'm out of the Eley-Tenex and haven't seen it in about two years - since 2018 in fact. I still have plenty of CCI and Federal subsonic, quite a lot of the CCI .22Long and Short for my pump and bolt action Remingtons, Am almost out of CCI CB's, still have a brick of Aguila, two partial bricks of CCI SV/RN, and a brick of the Fiocchi SV/RN "Performance Olympic" - which I also have not seen since 2018.

 

[Klaatu Barada Nikto]

Okay, pardon the way this is going to sound - apologies in advance - but it's been a while since I bought bulk .22LR. Is $30/500 a good price or just average now?

The last time I bought that same Aguila HP - which I consider one of the better .22LR rounds out there - was probably about three years ago, maybe four, and I bought two bricks for $24, on sale. IIRC, $20/500 was full retail? After the O'Panics of 2009/10 and 2015/16, prices for .22LR went into the ditch, briefly and I stocked up so I really don't recall what "normal" prices are supposed to be.

The last two bricks of .22LR I bought were 2018 (pre-plandemic, obviously) Fiocchi standard-velocity 40gr. premium target for $15/500 and Eley-Tenex Semi-Auto 42gr. subsonic for $40/500, both on the clearance table at Beckwith's (Micanopy, FL). I paid up for the Eley-Tenex - which was a smokin' deal at $40/500! - because it cycles my 1930's Colt Woodsman and Hi-Standard Duramatic M-101 reliably and hits POA out of both. Great ammo but P-R-I-¢-Y, even in good times.

I'm out of the Eley-Tenex and haven't seen it in about two years - since 2018 in fact. I still have plenty of CCI and Federal subsonic, quite a lot of the CCI .22Long and Short for my pump and bolt action Remingtons, Am almost out of CCI CB's, still have a brick of Aguila, two partial bricks of CCI SV/RN, and a brick of the Fiocchi SV/RN "Performance Olympic" - which I also have not seen since 2018.

It was 6 cents a round with tax, a little under without. Not a great price but the best I have seen for a while.
I recall the great 22LR shortage under POTUS 44, it got crazy then.
6 cents a piece might be the new norm for a while until the stuff starts sitting on full shelves.
Personally I don't expect anything, fuel, lumber, ammo or reloading supplies to ever return to pre-plandemic.

BTW, My state just passed an open carry bill and a resolution making every citizen a member of an unorganized militia.
Also they made us a 2nd Amendment Sanctuary State.
Crazy times we're living through.

 

[Jim Watson]

With no real idea when I'll be able to replenish things, I'm going to stop shooting for now (for the most part). .

I am the other way 'round. I am keeping up a USPSA and IDPA match schedule. I figure I might be too old and decrepit to get any good out of the Return of the Primer.

 

[atonguis]

When people quit buying the ammo at these ridiculously high prices, then primers will hit the shelves more and more. They are trickling in at BP and CAB from time to time about every two to three weeks. I paid $54.00 for a brick of SP a week ago. A search on gun brok.. shows people selling them at $250.00-$400.00 a brick (I hope they choke on those, makes me sick). It appears the prices are starting a downward trend and I hope it keeps going down.

 

[Mark_Mark]

When people quit buying the ammo at these ridiculously high prices, then primers will hit the shelves more and more. They are trickling in at BP and CAB from time to time about every two to three weeks. I paid $54.00 for a brick of SP a week ago. A search on gun brok.. shows people selling them at $250.00-$400.00 a brick (I hope they choke on those, makes me sick). It appears the prices are starting a downward trend and I hope it keeps going down.

Keep your Head Up! Things will get better, it always does!

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I am the other way 'round. I am keeping up a USPSA and IDPA match schedule. I figure I might be too old and decrepit to get any good out of the Return of the Primer.

Jim, it'll be just your luck you'll live long enough to run out of ammo.

 

[Typetwelve]

I am the other way 'round. I am keeping up a USPSA and IDPA match schedule. I figure I might be too old and decrepit to get any good out of the Return of the Primer.

I'm really thinking about IDPA revolver shooting, I pretty much took 2020 off of shooting 38 spcl and 9mm pistols. Those are probably the two I'll pick back up this year, maybe. I have about 4K small pistol primers left in my "use" stock (vs save stock), so I don't feel as guilty about using those.