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For a period time during the last few months primers were showing up off and on at online retailers but lately, notta. What changed in the last month?
Grafs has musket caps in stock.

 
For a period time during the last few months primers were showing up off and on at online retailers but lately, notta. What changed in the last month?

Never mind primers are available like sand on the beach now.
Target sports has some primers in stock too. It appears Target Sports has shipping and hazmat built into to price. So these will run you about $120 per brick shipped.


 
Based on the optimism expressed above, I checked two of my favorites reloading supply sources, Powder Valley and Midsouth Shooters Supply. Zero primers in stock, but they do have a smattering of powders available, including a few I use. Prices for available powders were back to the normal $30 or so per pound.

IMO, the lack of primers is due to the very high demand for loaded ammo from new gun owners. Companies you never heard of before are making ammo in popular calibers. Somehow, due to their volume, they are able to grab all of the scarce stocks of available primers.

Once this situation abates, I'm going to make sure I have a good stock, approx 2000, of each type of primer on hand at all times. Same with powders, approx 2 pounds on hand of each type I use regularly.
 
Primers are just hit and miss. Always some on the forum if one needed to. I am to the point of loading larger quantities for pistol and assorted AR15 calibers. Some where close to 5k for each. That should last a good bit
 
According to a factory rep acquaintance of mine, prior to Covid primer manufactures allocated between 5 and 15 percent of production to the component market. The rest was allocated to internal use in the production of their own fully loaded ammo.

Currently they only allocate 0.5 to 1 percent, keeping the rest to cover the huge increase in demand for loaded ammo.

Hence the shortage on the supply side.

I have seen those recent $200 listings here, but I don't see they got any results. So far the most I've paid is $80/k but you do have to be patient and keep an active eye on the market.

My average price has been in the $60 range, but I've been lucky to time trips to the big box stores to coincide with primer availability. There you can still get reasonable prices sometimes still in the $40/k range.
 
I haven't been watching closely lately, because I haven't been loading anything, but it does seem that I've noticed more and more here and there. I don't get to big box stores enough to ever see any under $100/k. Looks like I need to get out more. :)

Like common ammo (5.56 and 9mm in particular) they start becoming more and more available, albeit at the higher prices, then the shelves start getting full again (at those higher prices), then eventually the prices start to migrate downward. It's been happening with 9mm ammo in particular. Every time I go to Bimart, the shelves have been full of 9mm at $16/box, no limit.

Due to months of foot surgeries and recovery, I haven't been loading or shooting much at all lately. Hopefully primer availability and price continue to improve the same way in the coming months.
 
I work in the logistics side of commerce and I have been seeing a LOT of primers/powder on certain shippers manifests. It has been steady the past couple months, so something is coming in from somewhere and headed to this area. Hopefully it is going to hit the shelves at the retail level.
 
Just a glimmer of hope during these primer dark times: picked up this morning at SW for $48.99

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You know what would have materially affected primer prices/availability?
Joe Biden not leaving seven cubic miles of loaded NATO ammunition in Afghani enemy hands.
And disallowing importation of components and ammunition from Russia.
 
I hate retail scalpers.
You got that right. And they're usually gun folk, just like us, only mostly old retired men who network with their cell phones so all their old retired buddies can come all in a rush to scarf up the desirable ammo and primers that make it into any particular retail store. Then they turn around and sell on the internet to further screw gun folk. Leaving the rest of us to nibble at the little that remains. Real jerks, they are. No tears coming from me if they die an early death...
 

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