[Mike Irwin]

There were a LOT of discussions here regarding what was going on with primers around that time. You may want to run some searches.

As Unclenick alludes, it was something of a perfect storm.

The military put such a huge demand on primer manufacturers that at least one of them actually several lines to make only primers for the military. That put a crimp in civilian production.

Obama and Hillary Clinton were the front runners for the nomination, which got a lot of people very nervous and in buying mode.

Obama was elected, which put people into a white-eyed buying anything even remotely gun related frenzy.

Another element that also put pressure on primer supply was the incredibly high demand for loaded ammunition of all types.

The manufacturers were diverting much of what primer production they had left to fulfill orders for loaded ammunition.

A complete cartridge brings them more profit than components, primarily because the demand for loaded ammo greatly outstrips the demand for components.


What I found to be TRULY annoying about the primer and ammo shortages of that time was the amount of brainless, mouth-breathing conspiracy theory screeching that was going on.

Just completely silly crap that had no basis in reality, and which only served to get people even MORE panicky and MORE in the mood to buy 100,000 primers when their yearly usage never was more than 3,000 or 4,000.