How much is too much for primers?

[BerdanSS]

CCi, Remington and winchester

piles of small pistol, large pistol, large pistol/magnum

Small rifle, large rifle / magnum

$32-$37 per 1000

I haven't looked into any of this stuff in a while. So I'm a little rusty on prices. I remember a buddy of mine telling me a few years ago that $30 was a good price for cci small rifle so I bought a boatload of them at $26 per 1000.

Even though I've never reloaded before. I've been taking handloader and re-loader magazines for years. I've also been saving all my brass since I was 16 (11 years ago) I have mountains of once fired 45 colt, 45 acp, 9mm, 30-30, boxer 8x57, 223/5.56 and now a sizable pile of once fired .44 mag.

This is all in preparation of course for the reloading equipment my lovely wife just informed me I will be receiving, for our anniversary.

I plan on buying dies/supplies for the .44 and .45 colt first to learn on, since those are the two I do/will shoot most. But no reason not to stock up on other primers for later if that's a good price

[Vance]

That is about average. If you are buying online, then you need to factor in the $27.50 hazmat fee on top of shipping. So buy enough to offset the hazmat fee.

[Real Gun]

I have paid up to $59.95 and shipping, limit 2K, when I was desperate for magnums. It sounds awful but factored out to about 8 cents a round, as I recall, the total cost per round still well below store bought. Won't do it again though, because it wasn't long until cheaper magnum primers were available.

What I have seen in local stores is $35 and recently $30 on sale, mostly CCI and a little Winchester. So far I have done well with a major purchase of Federals.

[jmorris]

I have never given more than $26/1000 for them. However there is no such thing as "too much", if people won't buy them at $36/1000 sooner or later they will be back down to $25/1000 or people loose jobs.

On the flip side, like the beginning of this year, if they can't keep them on the shelves @ $80/1000, they will see if some idiot will pay $100/1000.

[BigJimP]

In my area, this weekend ...primers were averaging about $ 40/ 1,000...

How much is too much ....depends on cost of your reloads vs retail practice ammo ....

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and as an example ....that puts my 9mm reloads right at about $ 7.10 for a box of 50 rds ...vs retail of $ 18 or so per box.../ you'll save even more on heavier bullets ( like 158 gr in .357 mag / or 230 gr in .45 acp )....

[snapshot762]

The last couple of times I have bought primers in my area they were going for $35-$40 per 1000.

[armoredman]

We have one local store with a lock on the market, so primers are sold by the 100 sleeve only, at $5 per 100. We won't talk about bullet prices...

[bedbugbilly]

Over the past month or so, I've picked up 4,000 small pistol. One K of Winchester and 3K of CCI. They all were $34.95/K. I wished they were cheaper, but hey, I'm glad to have 'em. That seems to be the average price around where I am.

[Valornor]

To me, $35 buck per 1000 is about my limit I will spend on primers. Unless I'm specifically going for bench rest or something that I know is spendy.

[Metal god]

I just bought 5k of LR primers . $190 delivered or $38 per 1k .I'm ok with that price . I would have liked to have done better but I was down to my last 600 and needed them .As long as I'm not getting ripped I'll buy . I don't have to get the best price ever to buy what I want or need . It seems anything under $40 right now is not to bad .

[Chaz88]

Small pistol are running $26 to $38 around Iowa. Mostly on the higher end. I had not bought any in a few years so it all looks too high to me. Availability fluctuates some but there is usually some on the shelf.

Popular gun powders are another story though. Every time I ask for something they just ran out yesterday. A lot of bullets are also hard to find and certain kinds of brass are impossible and the rest is way over priced.

found some good prices for powder and primers online but after I added the hazmat fee and shipping the price was way out of line.

[Poindexter]

I have only been reloading about five years, but it seems just like gasoline, the price of components only goes up.

I was paying $35/1000 three years ago and seeing lots of $49/1000 now; but I live in Alaska, where everything (including factory loaded ammunition) has to get shipped in from somewhere.

Except snow. I can export some of that if you like.

[FrankenMauser]

$32-$37 per 1000

I haven't looked into any of this stuff in a while. So I'm a little rusty on prices. I remember a buddy of mine telling me a few years ago that $30 was a good price for cci small rifle so I bought a boatload of them at $26 per 1000.

Small, specialty purchases aside...
I won't pay more than $23 / 1000 for large rifle, small rifle, or large pistol primers.
I won't pay more than $20 / 1000 for small pistol primers.


That may sound ludicrous to many members here, but....
My last small pistol primer purchase was something like 8,500 primers (Fiocchi and S&B), in 2010, for an average of $13 / 1000. I didn't need them at the time, but I couldn't pass it up.

You just have to keep an eye out for that smokin' deal, and jump on it immediately. It might take another 2-3 years, before I find a sub-$20 deal on small pistol primers; but when I do... I'll be ready, and ordering everything I can afford.
Buy in bulk, but only when it's cheap!

[serf 'rett]

Local store prices here are around $40 for standard primers. Add another $10 for magnum or speciality.

I don't normally buy local; choosing the buy bulk online instead.

[larryf1952]

...I won't pay more than $23 / 1000 for large rifle, small rifle, or large pistol primers.
I won't pay more than $20 / 1000 for small pistol primers.

That may sound ludicrous to many members here, but....
My last small pistol primer purchase was something like 8,500 primers (Fiocchi and S&B), in 2010, for an average of $13 / 1000. I didn't need them at the time, but I couldn't pass it up.

You just have to keep an eye out for that smokin' deal, and jump on it immediately. It might take another 2-3 years, before I find a sub-$20 deal on small pistol primers; but when I do... I'll be ready, and ordering everything I can afford...

That doesn't sound ludicrous to me at all. I paid $18 per K the last time that I bought primers. Granted, that was 1997. I usually bought a K or 2 when I was at a gunshow, and $18 was pretty much the standard rate back then. I didn't need them at the time, but now I'm glad that I bought them.

When the crunch hit, I had plenty of small and large pistol primers stockpiled. I don't shoot nearly as much now as I did then, so they've lasted me through the 2008 crunch, as well as this latest, extended round of madness.

The last time that I checked prices on primers, they were $45 per K at my local range/gun shop. It'll be a woeful day if I ever have to pay that much.

[Brotherbadger]

Primers at my LGS are currently at $56/1K for pistol. That's way too high for my blood. I'll wait it out for now.

[Jim243]

I have the same issue, purchased mine when they were $18.00 per 1,000. Still sitting on 14,000 primers and hardly load anything these days since my stock of re-loaded ammo is still high.

I will wait till they come down to $25.00 per 1,000, anything else is highway robbery. But, if you need them, then you need them.

Your call.
Jim

[CS86]

Eventually I'd like to buy in bulk to take advantage of better prices, but only when the market gets a little better. Where are some common places to buy in bulk? I think I've heard that people go to powder valley, but does anyone or can a person go straight to the manufacturer's company to get a reasonable deal?

[kerreckt]

I believe that reality is that we will not see primers for less than $30/k, again. I bought srp for $12/k about two years ago and don't believe I will ever see that price again. My observations are that once something goes up to an extreme, as has happened with reloading supplies recently, the price never comes back to where it had started. Once the seller realizes that they can get a higher price they try to continue getting that price. Competition in the market brings the price down but never to the starting point. My $0.02. Best wishes

[ScottRiqui]

Midway has CCI Small Pistol Primers for $26/k in lots of 5k. They've also had them in stock for well over a week, which honestly surprised me; when I got the email that they were available, I expected them to be gone by the time I clicked the link.

Of course, the HAZMAT fee and shipping bring the per/k price back up quite a bit.

[mdmtj]

How much is too much to pay? That depends on the buyer. The real question is "How much are you willing to pay?" Each of us has to answer that question for himself.

Buy from the source that has the best price. Buy in bulk to reduce the per unit cost of the hazmat and shipping. Get together with others to increase the size of the order. Order powder and primers together. Order the max quanities you can under a single hazmat charge.

But in the end it still comes back to "How much are you willing to pay?"

[BigJimP]

Just my perspective....

but even if primers go up to $45/1,000 my 9mm reloads with a premium Montana Gold FMJ bullet are still $ 7.38 for a box of 50 rds ( vs retail over the weekend on FMJ 115gr 9mm at around $ 16 a box). note: @ $40/1,000 my 9mm reloads are $7.13...

Sure, I'd like to pay $ 18/1,000 ....or $ 1.50 for a gallon of gas too....but the realities are just different..../ .....so it depends on how much recretational shooting / or practice you think you want to do - or need to do to keep your skills reasonably sharp ( I want to do a lot because I like it ! --- so I still shoot about 10 boxes a week ) ....but I could drop my practice to 6 or 8 boxes a month, if my budget made me do it ...

so at 10 boxes a week..I'm shooting about 24,000 rds a year...so buying 15,000 primers in 2010 ...isn't going to cut it for me....

nothing is free....and shooting is my hobby ...so to me, its all about what it costs to reload vs retail, but truth be told, I'd reload even if the cost was a push - because to me, its part of the hobby / and partly because of quality - my reloads are much better than the cheaper ammo you can buy retail -- and it doesn't take much time with a good progressive press like a Dillon 650 where I can easily get 800 rds or 15 or 16 boxes an hour. I had a spare hour before I went to my office this morning ....and reloaded about 300 rds and case gauged and boxed them up in a half hour or so...just sitting there in the shop with the radio on and a cup of coffee...so its not a chore to me.

There is a cost per box - that will cause me to quit shooting.../ and I'll cross that bridge when I get there....but even if my reloads get up to $ 16 a box, it would slow me down - but not stop me completely ( don't drink or smoke, bills are paid, and a man needs a hobby ...)...

[johnjohn]

Depends on how bad you need/want 'em.

[higgite]

I paid $40/k for Rem 9-1/2 last week. Sure, I wish they had cost $30/k, but that extra penny per round isn't going to impact my standard of living nearly as much as not having the primers was affecting my level of enjoyment. ymmv

[BigJimP]

good way to put it Higgite