Primer status?

[stan652]

As we all know, stores and online retailers have no primers in stock. Sadly, I am not able to learn any information as to when primers may be available again. I can get powder, bullets, etc. but no primers. Can anyone share some knowledge on the industry and when we might again be able to see primers come available?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[boscobeans]

The only lead to part of the industry is the following letter from January of this year.

http://risch.senate.gov/pr/pr010809a.pdf

I wonder if this has had any effect.

bosco

[torrejon224]

I know that Cabelas, Midway, Natchez and Powder Valley all received primers this week but of course sold out quickly however this tells me that manufacturers are starting to ship and hopefully things will get back to the norm soon. Another good thing is that a lot of stores are limiting sales to 1 or 2k of primers at a time, this should discourage the "hoarders" and "gougers" and allow some to get thru to the "little guys" like us. Some guy on AR15 was talking about how he had over 80,000 primers!! How can one person use/need that many? Personally, I have about 12k but most of these I had before the frenzy and any I have ordered since them have been small amounts and only ones that I definitely had use for at the time. The same thing is happening with powder, dies, just about anything related to reloading. I just don't understand it as there can't be that many "newbies" getting into the hobby all at once!!

[Tubby45]

80K primers is nothing.

The situation is this: there are the haves and the have nots. The haves are those handloaders that keep ample supply of most everything around at any given time. They keep tens of thousands of primers, several dozen pounds of powder, tens of thousands of cases and bullets.

The have nots are either just getting into it or don't keep ample supplies on hand.

There's nothing wrong with either type. If you causally buy small quantities you won't save much money and might get caught being out of stock at any given time. Hell I'm a "have" and am getting very low. I have 3500 SP primers, 1000 SPM, 4500 LP and 4000 SR primers with another 3,000 SP primers inbound. I have 150,000 primers on order from CCI. I burned through 75,000 rounds of ammunition this year with orders and this time I ordered double that so I don't get so dangerously close to being out again. It's not good for an ammunition manufacturer to be out of anything. Right now I'm out of several types of bullets.

Get in line and wait it out like the rest of us. It's happened before when Clinton took office, just not as much demand as this. Primers are relatively inexpensive. 5,000 will run about $130-150 or so. A rifle with decent scope runs $700-800. Sell it and get 40,000 primers. Not that bad when you look at it.

[coffeecup]

If I get below 75,000 or so I feel like I have run out of primers and go shopping. Store them properly and like powder they will last longer than you will. I still load and shoot some CORROSIVE primers that were made pre-WW2. Wonderful stuff for long range rifle competition.

[boscobeans]

Has anyone had an order for primers shipped from Cabela's recently ?

If so, how long have you had to wait ?

I'm at the two month mark and my order status keeps showing 0-1 week.

bosco

[sheffd]

I ordered two bricks of small and two bricks of magnum primers from Cabela's. The small pistol came within three weeks. The magnum came in about six.

[PastorPack]

Found primers in two local stores lately but still very limited supplies. One store still limiting purchase to 200 per customer (not even worth buying that quantity).

[dukalmighty]

I have over 50,000 primers but when you load 2 to 3000 rounds or more a month they don't last long,I bought them when they were 5000 for $90.00 when I noticed ammo shortages and figured more people would get into reloading etc.

[sgtD]

The local gun shop I go to got in small and large pistol primers last week and he got a bunch. He also said he will have them from now on as far as he can see there should be no further problems getting pistol primers according to his supplier. So take that for what it's worth. I am well supplied now and glad to be so.

Rifle primers are still not available locally.

But.....

I had 3 orders of bullets come in at Cabela's in KC during the past week, so I drove over there to pick them up yesterday. I now have enough .308 hunting bullets to last me and my hunting buddies for several years at my current rate of usage. .223 55gr fmj are still on backorder from April. Soft points are avaiable, but at a price of $14 per hundred I think I can wait for the fmjs for plinking, plus I can get fmjs locally for a $ or two more in the meantime. I just bought several hundred so I have more than I need for now.

Cabela's had a few Remington small rifle primers, but were limiting purchases to 300 per customer. Of course I bought 300. @ $4.99 per hundred. Pricey, but what are you gonna do?

No large rifle primers at all. Accoridng to the local guy, in about a month or so rifle primers will be caught up for his supplier.

[boscobeans]

sgtD,

Thanks for the ray of sunshine in the dreary primer drought.

I have orders for both primers and powders from Cabelas backordered. I have enough powder to keep me busy but the primers are driving me nuts.

"For want of a nail the shoe was lost...etc."

bosco

[Jeff F]

Powder Valley site says they have 50 million primers on back order last time I looked, and that's just one supplier. My shooting buddy and I have 5000 on order and I'll be ordering another 5000 in a few days. They'll eventually catch up to the demand.

[Faitmaker]

If you live in the Dayton, Ohio area, Olde English Outfitters in Tipp City has a bunch of primers. They are limiting purchases to 500 primers at a time.

[boscobeans]

My Cabela's backorder for primers was just pushed a little more into the future.

bosco

[dougja]

Yesterday I saw large and small pistol primers on the shelf of a local gunshop in Tacoma, WA. Price was $39.99 / thousand plus WA state tax of nearly 10% so in our market it will take the better part of 44 bucks to purchase. I passed and waiting for Cabela's like bosco. How do those prices compare to your locality?