$200 box of primers!!!!!!!!

[Prof Young]

Local on-line auction closed yesterday. Several "bricks" of small pistol primers went for $200 plus each.

RIDICULOUS!

But if people are willing to pay . . . .

Life is good. (A touch crazy at times too.)

Prof Young

[Shadow9mm]

I have been seeing them go for 300-350, that was a deal! We are living in the good ol-days. Get what you can while you still can...

[rc]

How much are small rifle primers going for?

[Nathan]

Check in about 2-4 months....I see the bottom falling out!

The trouble is....these are auctions meaning some jack wagon is bidding it up to $300 per 1000!

[TJB101]

Originally Posted by Nathan

Check in about 2-4 months....I see the bottom falling out!

The trouble is....these are auctions meaning some jack wagon is bidding it up to $300 per 1000!

I appreciate your enthusiasm but I’m guessing this is going to continue thru the end of 2021.

[GE-Minigun]

Wrong…{Editing out political commentary. See board rule 5 d.) everything will open back up by spring and stuff will be back to normal(ish)

[lordvader]

The last gun show I went too a few days ago were going for $400 per case of 1000. Which is ridiculous.

[Reloadron]

Maybe I should move my primers to inside the safe?

Really, anymore nothing surprises me. Eventually those loading small rifle in place of small pistol will run out of small rifle. Currently all new primer manufacture is going to ammunition manufacture. Once ammunition demand slacks off enough primers will start showing up again. Primers, like anything else are worth what someone is willing to pay, no more and no less.

Ron

[markr6754]

I picked up a brick of CC 400 SRP today north of Dayton. Most I've paid for primers to date, but also the only ones I've found in 4 months. Didn't see any on the shelf, didn't think to ask, but my wife asked the guy behind the gun counter. Eventually he asked what kind. I said small pistol or small rifle, doesn't matter. He went to the back and came out with the CCI 400. Didn't want to choke on the price, but after tax $58.84 out the door seems a true deal. My last brick of CCI 400 I bought in 2018 for $35.20 so it was a 67% increase.

[44 AMP]

The last gun show I went too a few days ago were going for $400 per case of 1000.

In the old days, sold in packs (a box) of 100, ten packs was a carton, not a case. A case was 10 or sometimes 20 or 25 cartons.

Same for .22LR, a box was 50 rnds 10 boxes (500rnds) was a carton. Cases were 10 (or more) cartons.

I bought a lot of primers when a carton was just under $10. Still have a few thousand. They don't spoil...

[chris in va]

Cabelas is getting primers and powder every couple weeks at normal prices. These scalpers are scam artists.

[Maxwell Haus]

A case of primers these days is 5000.

[Reloadron]

But if people are willing to pay . . . .

That pretty much covers it. On any given day a primer, pound of powder, bullet or brass case is worth what someone is willing to pay for it. No more and no less and as long as buyer and seller come away happy that is all that matters.

While I never calcualted primers into my pension plan maybe I should part with some.

Ron

[Nathan]

Cabelas is getting primers and powder every couple weeks at normal prices.

Are they sellin* to customers or employees?

[Reloadron]

How many primer producers are there in the US? My read on this is four, Federal, CCI, Remington and Winchester. Now where do the manufactured primers go? Most go to the manufacture of loaded ammunition and that is millions and millions of loaded rounds for the shooting enthusiast market and the military market and law enforcement. I have no clue how many ammunition manufacturer's are in the US? Currently you only have four manufacturers making the primers. There is no shortage of information out there explaining that currently all primers manufactured are going to ammunition manufacture. They are not shipping to the retailers reloading enthusiast buy components from. Currently the primer manufacturer can't even meet the demand for making loaded ammunition causing delays in that pipeline.

Globally there are plenty more primer manufacturers like Armscor, Seller & Bellot, Fiocchi, and a few Russian manufacturers. Rumor control has it that primers from foreign sources are enroot but importing primers is not all that simple or quick. It's not just a long boat ride but a mountain of logistics involved. For years the market was saturated with Seller and Bellot which seemed to have just stopped. No clue why but when Cabela's was selling them they were about $18 a thousand.

Most of us have seen this all before but never like this time around. The "Perfect Storm" and the great primer shortage of 2020 has now extended into 2021 and as much as I would like to be an optimist I do not see this ending anytime soon. The guys making primers have explained where their production is going and it is not to retailers. Even trying to supply ammunition manufacture they can't keep up with demand.

Ron

[Sarge]

I saw Federal Match Small Rifle primers on the table at the LGS for $225 last week.

I'm good for a year or so, but if this keeps getting dumber I'll just dig out the old Browning Buckmark and start chipping away at my stash of 22 LR.

[chris in va]

My read on this is four, Federal, CCI, Remington and Winchester.

Three, Remington is between owners right now and not producing primers. I can’t wait to see S&B back on the shelf, never had an issue with them.

[Reloadron]

Thanks for mentioning that.

OK, then scratch Remington. I knew Vista Outdoors as of mid November "Currently the company employs more than 400 at the Remington plant in Lonoke, Arkansas with plans to bring back 300 furloughed workers as soon as possible" So till that ammunition plant is fully up and running, producing primers, make that three manufacturers in the US. Rumor control has it that a few foreign brands should turn up soon and I have no clue how soon soon actually is. I can only guess Remington would make their own primers for their loaded ammunition line and all of their first primers will go to loaded ammunition.

Going to be cold for awhile.

Ron

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by TJB101

I appreciate your enthusiasm but I’m guessing this is going to continue thru the end of 2021.

My enthusiasm is caused by my email volume of ammo available going way up in the last week and the number of powder in stock threads that popped up this week.

I think the desire to pay stupid money for this stuff is falling away!

[Logs]

Spoke to a dealer that set up at the Louisville Gun Show last week. He found primers for $110 a brick and sold them for $200 at the gun show. They sold cans of powder for $100 and sold out. He told me the attendance was 16,000 people. Everything was high, but folks were still buying. Crazy times...

[Logs]

They are on the shelf, but not for long....

[Maxwell Haus]

That's a pretty picture right there. Even prettier sitting on your shelf I bet .

[T. O'Heir]

{Editing out political commentary. See board rule 5 d.)
Anyway, the whole thing is about supply and demand. I think the assorted manufacturers are currently closed due to Covid. Hence, the supply is low while the demand is the same.
Places like Midway are showing nearly everything as "Out of stock, no back order."

[ballardw]

The March 2021 American Rifleman has an interesting article titled "America's Ammo Shortage When will it end?".

One interesting comment from a Hornady representative regarding supply-side shortages:
"Did you know there's a shortage on the DOT-approved cardboard required for shipping our loaded ammunition?" (emphasis added)

[Unclenick]

This shortage will be with us for a while. I was in a meeting today about shipping commercial refrigeration equipment and was told the cost of shipping overseas has gone up about $5K per container. What cost $8K to ship across the Atlantic at the start of the year was now $13K. Additionally, when you get scheduled to ship, it is getting common to truck the container to the port and be told you'd been bumped due to overbooking, and that your container will have to sit in the yard for a month waiting for the next ship. Then that next ship arrives two weeks late, so it's actually a month and a half in the yard. This is going on worldwide and has a lot to do with why overseas supplies like gunpowder and primers and even loaded ammunition are only dribbling in. On the domestic side, it also took that same supplier three weeks to get a shipment from Pittsburgh to Denver. There is a shortage of truck space and trucking costs are increasing 10% some weeks. You used to be able to schedule a truck pickup for a specific day, but now it can be a three day window. That affects everything we buy.

The lack of supply pipeline space means undersupply and the resulting buyer competition may get worse. In ammunition and loading components in particular, we also have the new demand from all the new first-time gun owners, which were about 8.4 million by the end of last year buying at a pace that puts that number north of 10 Million by now, adding to demand for the underserved ammunition market that the old supply lines, even when they were running at normal speed, were not sized to handle.

Inflationary pressures are going to get worse after all the bailout spending and general prices going up this summer should be expected. It is hard to see reloading supplies and ammunition returning to normal under these circumstances. Today, Midway had IMI M855 that somehow arrived at their warehouse and they want $0.83⅓/round. Yikes! And that price is the same for a 30-round box or a 1200-round box.

Originally Posted by Reloadron

OK, then scratch Remington. I knew Vista Outdoors as of mid November "Currently the company employs more than 400 at the Remington plant in Lonoke, Arkansas with plans to bring back 300 furloughed workers as soon as possible" So till that ammunition plant is fully up and running, producing primers, make that three manufacturers in the US.

Remington is running and making primers. This video from mid-December includes mention of Remington being in production. But it is more of interest because Vanderbrink is clearly exasperated with the conspiracy theorists claiming they aren't making and shipping ammunition when they are actually making more per day than they ever have in their history and are shipping it as fast as they can get it on a truck (which, as I pointed out above, can now actually be difficult to schedule when you want it).