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Hey!!
Can someone give me some ideas on the current status of your LGS or other reloading supply center with respect to how well stocked they are. Do you find that a lot of places that used to have a plethora of reloading components now can barely stock the shelves??
Are there a lot of people just buying stuff for fear of a ban??
thanks:s0155:
 
Hey!!
Can someone give me some ideas on the current status of your LGS or other reloading supply center with respect to how well stocked they are.

I can still find a good selection of rifle bullets for anything other then the .223, not a great selection and not a plethora like preivously, but okay. Pistol bullets, not so much, maybe a few boxes of .44 and .45 cal, but nothing else.

Do you find that a lot of places that used to have a plethora of reloading components now can barely stock the shelves??

Yes, powder and primers seem non existent.

Are there a lot of people just buying stuff for fear of a ban??

I don't think people are fearing a ban on reloading components, I think people fear the lack of ammunition right now, so they are buying up the reloading components, so they can roll their own.
 
I stpped by my local BiMart on a whim today. I haven't seen any powder or primers in the store since Christmas time. I asked the worker behind the counter about this and he said it was sporadic prior to Sandy Hook and absolutely dry since. Tell me something I didn't know already!! I just checked the CCI website. In the FAQ's it says this:

Q: Are certain contracts taking ammunition away from civilians?

A: No. We remain committed to serving all channels of our business. The majority of our product serves the commercial market.

I'm curious how many primers they pump out a day? Would a million a day total of all varieties sound out of the realm of possibility? I just can't fathom something like primers that can probably be manufactured in huge amounts are so scarce. Hoarding is one thing but I feel like the shortage goes beyond hoarding. That said I don't believe in the conspiracy theory that DHS is buying up all the ammo, etc.
 
I am beginning to think some purchases are being made by fringe, or non-gun owners altogether still holding out to make few bucks. We saw the same thing in 08-09 and I remember scrambling to pickup what I could then and slowly the ammo and components returned to the shelves and the fishwrappers were flooded with ads for ammo and components. As soon as ammo and components start to dwindle back to the shelves the scalpers will stop. When this happens I am considering running an ad to buy ammo - and offer a buck or so less than what the stores have it for just to see if the hoarders/scalpers need to dump it.
 
I stpped by my local BiMart on a whim today. I haven't seen any powder or primers in the store since Christmas time. I asked the worker behind the counter about this and he said it was sporadic prior to Sandy Hook and absolutely dry since. Tell me something I didn't know already!! I just checked the CCI website. In the FAQ's it says this:

Q: Are certain contracts taking ammunition away from civilians?

A: No. We remain committed to serving all channels of our business. The majority of our product serves the commercial market.

I'm curious how many primers they pump out a day? Would a million a day total of all varieties sound out of the realm of possibility? I just can't fathom something like primers that can probably be manufactured in huge amounts are so scarce. Hoarding is one thing but I feel like the shortage goes beyond hoarding. That said I don't believe in the conspiracy theory that DHS is buying up all the ammo, etc.

I read something a while ago about a theory that totally makes sense.

Suppose you were an ammo or mag manufacturer.

Suppose you had your year or two supply bought out in less than a month.

With a few phone calls to all major manufacturers (competitors) between ceo's saying "lets fill every one of our warehouses in existence and keep feeding the hype by faking a continued shortage."

Imagine if every ammo manufacturer raised the cost of all ammo by $.01 per round.

Multiply that by hundreds of million rounds and years and years of sales...

I'm not one to sit around and point fingers and cry about $hit...But imagine how easy that would be and what kind of added profit that would make year after year.

Just my $.02

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
 
Stopped at Fishermans today. The manager said that the same guys come in every day and buy up all the available ammo, powder, primers and mags that are hot items. He said they're at the door first thing and clean him out daily so they can resell at higher prices.
 
Last time I was at Fisherman's (2 weeks ago) they limited the numbers of box ammo you can buy, you can only buy up to 3 boxes of ammo per caliber. Something is fishy here, I am curious why the don't limit the numbers of items they sell this people, especially if they recognized who these individuals are. On each of my visits, the personnel behind the counter always tell me that they do not have any components, powders and primers in stock. I guess I just couldn't time it perfectly when there shipments arrives.
The only luck I have had lately is buying them on-line. I Would rather avoid the hazmat fee, shipping charges and taxes, but right now this is the only viable option I have. Driving around for hours to various stores is just not economical. I would rather spend that time on other ventures, like reloading ammo.
 
The only luck I have had lately is buying them on-line. I Would rather avoid the hazmat fee, shipping charges and taxes, but right now this is the only viable option I have. Driving around for hours to various stores is just not economical. I would rather spend that time on other ventures, like reloading ammo.


This is why I order a huge order once per year from an Online source. Not only are their prices better than local, by lumping as much powder and primers into a single hazmat package the hazmat fee amounts to a measly $0.50 per "unit". Considering that I save at least $5 per box of primers and as much as $10/lb on powder (by buying the larger "jugs" rather than one lb containers), the extra half-buck is nothing. I started doing this back when the first panic occurred. Don't spend any more per year, save money on components, and don't have to waste days and gas looking for a box here or a pound there.

As for those who have snarfed up all the supplies hoping to get rich, I'll go buy a slingshot or crossbow before I buy a single thing from any of them. Well, maybe I might buy some of the stuff at their bankruptcy auction.
 
Sigh......I stumbled on a K of Remington large pistol primers at Sportsman's Thursday! Last one, $35.00!!

I happened on the Hornady website a month or so ago and in the FAQs they addressed the ?? of selling to the government and such : Answer, NO.

Every body mentions Fishermans and Bi-mart. Those store are serviced by a company called AllSports. They have had issues with filling orders using AllSports from well before Sandy Hook. You notice there's not been NEAR the issue, even in these times, for Northwest Armory having a fairly dependable supply of 9mm? I bet they don't use AllSports.

My own little theory is part of the problem may be all the MAJOR Ammo, powder and primer producers are toward the East coast, why spend all the extra $$ in hazmat fees to send freight 2500 miles when you can get it all sold in 1200 miles?

I wouldn't discount the theory of the CEOs of the big corps getting together and screwing us either, like petroleum!

Mike
 
I didn't venture into reloading until December 2012. Reloading was not even on my radar until the ammunition availability for one of my rifles became non existant. I had a pretty good source of ammunition from a local reloading company but then their supply dried up and the only option I have left was reloading. I came into the reloading at the height of the craze, I didn't know what "normal" prices were, rookie mistake. So I paid a little extra for the primers I found locally, for powders, I just happened to lucked out on a couple of deals and trade from fellow members here on NWFA and the rest of the components, I managed to purchased them on-line.
 
Sigh......I stumbled on a K of Remington large pistol primers at Sportsman's Thursday! Last one, $35.00!!

I happened on the Hornady website a month or so ago and in the FAQs they addressed the ?? of selling to the government and such : Answer, NO.

Every body mentions Fishermans and Bi-mart. Those store are serviced by a company called AllSports. They have had issues with filling orders using AllSports from well before Sandy Hook. You notice there's not been NEAR the issue, even in these times, for Northwest Armory having a fairly dependable supply of 9mm? I bet they don't use AllSports.

My own little theory is part of the problem may be all the MAJOR Ammo, powder and primer producers are toward the East coast, why spend all the extra $$ in hazmat fees to send freight 2500 miles when you can get it all sold in 1200 miles?

I wouldn't discount the theory of the CEOs of the big corps getting together and screwing us either, like petroleum!

Mike

I recall a conversation with John back at Powder Valley a couple of years ago. I was putting in my large annual order and we got to talking about supply shortages. He told me that just about every year there's a seasonal shortage that coincides with the lead up to hunting season but then heals itself in the spring/summer months. Now he of course was only talking about a few holes in their inventory for a few months. We talked about the first Obama triggered panic and we agreed that things were made worse because it happened at the same time as the regular seasonal shortages.

The Government has it's sources under contract and those contracts go several years in duration. No surprises there. Also consider that there isn't a machine out there in a factory for each and every cartridge made, that only makes that cartridge. Production is scheduled with "runs" of a given ammo before the machine is changed over to do the next batch. We'll see various calibers return to the market before others. If everyone would stop trying to "cut a fat hog" and the rest just buy what they need, it will all settle down sooner.

As for CEO's getting together to screw the public, not as much of that occurs as you think. Oil companies merely went to "Full Adjusted Prices" after the shortage in the 70's. If you recall there were daily "Gas Wars" in just about every part of the country.

There was a similar shortage in the tire industry in the 80's and early 90's (I was working for a Tire Corp then) and it wasn't even a thought to raise prices just because they were in short supply. It was a matter of finding tires to sell for the same reason. Not enough machines with enough raw material to make tires. Had to go to offshore suppliers to just have "tires on the shelf".

Lastly, just because powder manufacturers have their offices back East doesn't mean that's where the powder is made. Varget is a good example as it's made in Australia. Some powders are made in Switzerland. Takes time to get more product made and shipped to the US.

Frankly I think we should all make a statement to those who bought up all the stock they could when this started just to profiteer. Personally I won't buy from them even if I'm in danger of running out. I wonder what they'll all say when the 'Tax Man" comes calling looking for the Income Tax or the Sales Tax they should have collected:s0155:
 
I've been in contact with VP's and Presidents of several large manufactures lately getting our OEM accounts set up with them. This shortage is completely consumer driven. As mentioned before, the gov. contracts have been in place for years for xxx amount of ammo. They always count on those amounts and fill them first of course, but they ramp up and slow down based off of consumer demand. That being said, they dont invest in extra machines because they know what it takes to complete orders on a regular basis. Why would they spend the extra money now on machines when the demand is going to drop in a few months? Personally, we can get projectiles, even .223 55gr if we buy 10k at a time. It's the oddball ammo that's hard to come by for us because they don't want to change tooling for other grain weights. Realistically every manufacturer has told me the same thing, just in different words.
 
I just talked with two separate firearms vendors in Salem who said that not only can they get Ramshot powders in the Salem area for $7-$14/lb but they've been buying it recently. I find this hard to believe, but of three folks I talked to, only two of them were with the same vendor. What's going on here? I've been searching for powder sources for over a year and can just barely beat bi-mart prices by buying bulk through a dealer. I obviously don't want to admit that I failed so completely in my research, but I find what these gentlemen said entirely unbelievable.
 
I just talked with two separate firearms vendors in Salem who said that not only can they get Ramshot powders in the Salem area for $7-$14/lb but they've been buying it recently. I find this hard to believe, but of three folks I talked to, only two of them were with the same vendor. What's going on here? I've been searching for powder sources for over a year and can just barely beat bi-mart prices by buying bulk through a dealer. I obviously don't want to admit that I failed so completely in my research, but I find what these gentlemen said entirely unbelievable.

I order powder on a pretty regular basis. I can completely believe the story here. What you have to take into consideration is that our (the dealers) ability to buy in bulk and negotiate a bulk discount is completely out of the question now. Not only are we missing out on our bulk discounts, but our cost of shipping skyrockets with smaller quantities. If I have to pay a $25hazmat charge and 10 in shipping for one lb of powder the cost just went up on that single lb by $35. Obviously we are not doing that, but we are forced to accept shipping on smaller orders. My regular powder orders are back ordered and if I pass on what they have at the time it could be months before it comes back to me again.
 
For those of you who have Type 06/07/10 FFL's you might try:

<broken link removed>

Also, nearly all commercial powders "made by" hodgdon, winchester, etc are often made by SMP, General-Dynamics canada, or ADI (Thales) australia. Western/Accurate supposedly has their own powder mill, but I have not been able to confirm or locate it as I've dealt mostly with Hodgdon over the last few years. When ordering in "bulk" (which means by the drum) I can specify the commercial name, however if I instead specify the part no from the manufacturer I usually get better pricing. Example: "Hi I want a drum of titegroup (70lbs)" "ok, that will be XXX/lb" vs "Hi, I want a drum of OBP-242 (70lbs)" "very well sir, that will be XX/lb".

Most of the people on that distributors list probably also carry primers as a normal part of their business. If you do not have an FFL, they will probably tell you to pound sand, so don't bother calling and annoying them.
 
Sportsman's Warehouse in Bend had several cans of powder on the shelves today, including two 4 LB containers. Some IMR PB, one can of Vihtavuori 310, a few shotgun powders and some WW WST. Nothing to rush out about but it was optimistic anyway. I did talk to a couple of older fellers who were there and while long time reloaders they were not really up to date on reasons for the lack of ammo & components so I spent a few minutes describing some of the possible reasons for the shortages (basically what most of us think it is) and they agreed. Anyway it was nice to see some 'color' on the shelves
 
Every shop I stop at looks like the looters have been there first. Maybe a can or two of powder. No primers, some bullets and 1/2 the amount of guns they would normally carry. All they're missing is the broken glass and trash strewn on the floor.
 

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