Ammo and Reloading Buyers Beware

VanceInWA · Jan 18, 2022

Have you noticed the massive increase in new gun websites that have a miraculously large amount of ammunition, powders, and primers in stock at yesteryear's prices? Maybe the better question is, how could you not have noticed?

One of the biggest impacts from Covid, coupled with Brandon taking the White House, has been the destabilization of prices for ammunition and reloading components. Prices, as we all know, have skyrocketed. If you had enough presence of mind to stock your shelves during the Trump years, then you haven't been as negatively impacted. For all the rest of you, the past couple years have been painful. Like ambulance chasers, with pain comes scammers. Scammers want to take advantage of your pain. One new website after another has popped up over the past year targeting shooters and claiming to be the answer to your prayers. And better yet, their items are on sale at incredibly low prices compared to the rest of the market.

Most of these scammer websites are pretty easy to spot. Their English is often poor (one said it was in "Uttah") which is the first indicator they are foreign. But in a rather comical twist they will show a business address that turns out to be a residential home in some obscure small American town. One was even "headquartered" in London, England while its registrant country was Cameroon. Or even better, these outfits won't bother to show any physical business address at all. Since these websites are often mirrored images of a legitimate website they typically have gibberish under the FAQ section (one had the question, "Why choose the online traffic school?" repeated ten times as their FAQ). Their in-stock supply will amaze you (one site had 51 popular types of reloading powder, all in-stock!). And of course they won't take credit cards, just things like Venmo, Bitcoin, Zelle, CashApp and other forms of cash payment where you lose your money immediately without recourse. In some cases they will even impose a recurring monthly fee on you, claiming that you authorized it when you made a purchase.

Fraudulent websites harm legitimate gun companies. Hopefully you haven't been snookered by a fraudulent gun website. Following are examples of websites that deserve a double-take before you buy. Admittedly, this is just the tip of the iceberg:

ammoandfirearmsshop.com (domain created August 9, 2021)
CCI.primersshop.com (domain created October 11, 2021)
cci.primers1.com (domain created June 9, 2021)
cciprimers.com (domain created September 26, 2021)
discountfirearmandammo.com (domain created November 17, 2021)
- Note: not to be confused with the similarly named legitimate business in Las Vegas
elitetacticalstore.com (domain created August 25, 2021)
firearmsammostore.com (domain created May 19, 2021)
handloadingsupply.com (domain created September 27, 2021)
onlineproreloads.com (domain created August 28, 2021)
primers1.com (domain created June 9, 2021)
primersales.com (domain created September 2, 2021)
proreloads.com (domain created July 4, 2021)
rockstoneammo.store (domain created March 26, 2021)
tactical-guns.com (domain created July 12, 2021)

I think you get the point. As they say, buyer beware.

338LM · Jan 18, 2022

Thanks for the heads up..

DizzyJ · Jan 18, 2022

Thanks. If it's too good to be true…..

kmk1012 · Jan 18, 2022

Basically if a website that you've never heard of has something in stock and no one else does then I'd skip it. Unless you're independently wealthy.

Nosferatu · Jan 18, 2022

STOP BUYING bubblegum FROM SITES YOU'VE NEVER DONE BUSINESS WITH IN THE PAST!!!

The Heretic · Jan 18, 2022

It isn't just guns & ammo.

I recently ran into a power tools website that was a scam.

The prices were great, but not so much that they were too good to be true (a common red flag) - more like wholesale prices (about 30% less than Amazon).

But it was a recent website with Chinese owners, had no valid address, no real contact info, and only accepted PayPal.

It was nicely done site, probably a copy of a legitimate one with edited prices.

Ammo is coming back, and prices are going down.

AlaskinAssasin · Jan 18, 2022

Tacticalreloader.com is a new scam as well.

alpha80 · Jan 19, 2022

Thanks for the advance notice

Mikej · Jan 19, 2022

VanceInWA said:
Have you noticed the massive increase in new gun websites that have a miraculously large amount of ammunition, powders, and primers in stock at yesteryear's prices? Maybe the better question is, how could you not have noticed?

Answer:
1: No.
2: Momma didn't raise no fool.

There have always been scammers out there. There have always been people that are prone to being scammed. Whether it's the caller on the phone, or someone knocking on the door. The television evangelist, or flyers posted on the power pole. The bum on the street, or the bum at city hall/capitol building.

Thieves' a going to thieve and the suckers are going to get sucked(in). There just seems to be more of both these days. And I have a feeling, not that your not truly trying to open eyes with you post, the people will still fall for scams. Because that's what they do.

Caveman Jim · Jan 23, 2022

Well there is no enforcement for it, just like street crimes and looting that liberal DA's refuse to charge, that's why.

Alexx1401 · Jan 24, 2022

In this day and age I find it super hard to "feel bad" for people who get scammed. Other than maybe some who had never used the net so know no better but, how many shooters are like that? Scams work mainly from greed. People see something too good to be true so they want it to be true. Simple rule. If the site will take a Credit Card you are safe. To send money any other way is just proving the old adage about a fool and his money. Anyone who will fall for this is not going to listen to yet another warning that scammers are out there. They will fall for something because they just can't help themselves. :s0092:

Mikej · Jan 24, 2022

Alexx1401 said:
In this day and age I find it super hard to "feel bad" for people who get scammed. Other than maybe some who had never used the net so know no better but, how many shooters are like that? Scams work mainly from greed. People see something too good to be true so they want it to be true. Simple rule. If the site will take a Credit Card you are safe. To send money any other way is just proving the old adage about a fool and his money. Anyone who will fall for this is not going to listen to yet another warning that scammers are out there. They will fall for something because they just can't help themselves.

Here's something else. Our community needs to remain open and friendly. People just coming into firearms need to see that we are a friendly community so they can feel comfortable in asking any questions. We need to resist being judgmental. The more welcoming we are the easier it will be. There can be a lot of preconceived notions that need to be changed.

VanceInWA · Jan 24, 2022

Mikej said:
Here's something else. Our community needs to remain open and friendly. People just coming into firearms need to see that we are a friendly community so they can feel comfortable in asking any questions. We need to resist being judgmental. The more welcoming we are the easier it will be. There can be a lot of preconceived notions that need to be changed.

I'm with ya Mikej... but there is a tinge of irony when your avatar is a fella flipping the bird. Doesn't bother me on a personal level, just couldn't help notice.

Mikej · Jan 24, 2022

VanceInWA said:
I'm with ya Mikej... but there is a tinge of irony when your avatar is a fella flipping the bird. Doesn't bother me on a personal level, just couldn't help notice.

That's ma Dad.
Just goes to show ya', you cant judge a person by their finger.

That cat of yours looks pretty scary! It might be a sweetheart.

Alexx1401 · Jan 24, 2022

Mikej said:
That's ma Dad.
Just goes to show ya', you cant judge a person by their finger.

That cat of yours looks pretty scary! It might be a sweetheart.

I too had often "wondered" about the avatar until you told the story behind it. Now every time I see it I smile remembering where it came from. He looks like he must have been quite the character when he was still with us.

Mikej · Jan 24, 2022

Yup.

Anonymous 510 · Jan 24, 2022

Valuable information here for new people... I unfortunately got scammed last year from reloadingunlimited.com for just under $400 they had primers they was around the same price everyone else was charging so figured it was legit.... Since there is a website just like it but no G... I tried going through all the process to get my money back at least for months.... I got told by my bank that they could not help with a Google pay transaction untill I talk to them if they won't do anything then call... Once I was finally able to get ahold of some from Google 3 times they told me they would look in to it.... The 4th time and months of waiting I called back and gave them a piece of my mind and this time they told me there was nothing they can do.... So then I call my bank and tell them and they said I'm SOL... Still out that money and will not buy online at all since then... I went off on the Google people at the end telling them it's interesting how they run this world and all the payment s was through all they services but they can't help me....so I get lesson learned it's a hard one but I guess we all learn some way or another

Alexx1401 · Jan 24, 2022

Anonymous 510 said:
Valuable information here for new people... I unfortunately got scammed last year from reloadingunlimited.com for just under $400 they had primers they was around the same price everyone else was charging so figured it was legit.... Since there is a website just like it but no G... I tried going through all the process to get my money back at least for months.... I got told by my bank that they could not help with a Google pay transaction untill I talk to them if they won't do anything then call... Once I was finally able to get ahold of some from Google 3 times they told me they would look in to it.... The 4th time and months of waiting I called back and gave them a piece of my mind and this time they told me there was nothing they can do.... So then I call my bank and tell them and they said I'm SOL... Still out that money and will not buy online at all since then... I went off on the Google people at the end telling them it's interesting how they run this world and all the payment s was through all they services but they can't help me....so I get lesson learned it's a hard one but I guess we all learn some way or another

Sadly again people. If the site will not let you pay with a Credit Card its a HUGE red flag. Not all who do this are a scam but, there is just no reason to send money to people you do not know any other way. The scams work because sadly people keep falling for them. Google could of course care less. They are not a bank, they are not covered by banking law and they are billionaires many times over so why should they care?

chaz360 · Jan 24, 2022

Discountammostore.com and gunsvalley.com are both as fake as can be and have hilarious "about us" sections where you can meet the "CEO Peter Jackson" and his sidekick "Stephen Jones" the badass shooting instructor (Why don't they throw in John Smith and Joe Blow while they're at it?) When you click on their bios it's in some weird made up Latin or something :s0114:

" Doctrina Empi vesuvius Semper Fi eradicus……" Yeah the red flags I look out for to discover scam sites are the weird inconsistencies like these and then all the Zelle and Venmo bull$&!+ = dead giveaway