Powder and primers supplies scarce??

[Craig Larter]

I got up early to search GB and bought a 8 pounder of Red Dot for $250. plus $30. shipping and NY sales tax. The Ballistics Products current retail is $228. plus hazmat plus shipping plus NY sales tax. So I think I did OK and can use RD for 10 and 12ga.

[Gary Laudermilch]

A small local gun shop had Clays and Win WST last week.

[Cold Spring]

Surely a regular and hot topic at the shooting clubs ..... hereabouts in PA lead shot (Spartan) is more or less available at one place at $40. per bag plus tax (5 bags max) whereas West Coast brand shot has dried up. Common Claybuster wads also available there but prices have gone up about 20%. Some shotgun powders are irregularly coming in and over recent weeks three friends bought 4 and 8 pounders of 700-X, American Select and Green Dot after getting desperate and making long road trips. Not their regular powders but they'll work. 209 primers on the other hand are virtually unobtainable and at least at one place are earmarked for the shop owner's friends and long time customers. Small quantities only. Last week another friend was ecstatic to get a brick (1000) of 209’s at $60. plus tax but not including the expense of a 50 mile road trip in his 4x4 pickup. I see the going rate on GB for a brick of 209 Cheddites seems to be $125. or so plus Hazmat. Econo 12 and some 20 gauge target shells can be had here and there but lowest prices seem to be about $90./flat plus tax.

Well in any case many saw these shortages coming 6-8 months ago and started buying components at then somewhat inflated pricing. And now despite repeated assurances that manufacturers are running balls to the wall it doesn't seem to be getting better but prices are going up and up.

[Carvel]

I was talking to a gentlemen who is in charge of Winchester ammunition production the other day and his comment was, when asked when would primers be available was,“your guess is as good mine”. He led me to believe it would be one to two years before things would get going again if ever, and certainly more expensive when it does. Who knows. Carvel

[Brett Hoop]

I was told 6 months back by a longtime component dealer that he thought it was going to get worse before it got better.
Today Harold and I attended the fundraiser for Lawrence County Sportsman’s Youth Clays teams and also the Mahoning County Coonhunters festival near Canfield, OH. I didn’t see any shotgun primers for sale, there was a silent auction of 1K of Win 209 and 1K of Fed 209 A last I looked they were at $200 I am certain everyone there was hoping to help the fundraising, but there was still time left to write in so I don’t know what they actually brought.

Later at the festival I did notice an 8# of Universal with a $320 price tag. There was some Red dot also but didn’t catch the price.

[Craig Larter]

Hodgdon and Alliant claim to be running 24 hours per day. They also claim sales to ammo producers and the government are small parts of their business. I seems you would see powder occasionally for sale at this point in the shortage, very strange.

[B. Dudley]

I have a line to be able to buy just about 5,000 CCI primers from someone I know locally. I do not need them, for me it would be to resell. I have been hearing about the stupid prices that people pay for primers and figured it would be no problem making a few bucks on them. But when I started asking around to gauge need, I could not find anyone willing to pay over $50/thousand locally. Everyone has been able to get them out of BP for around that price delivered. They may have to wait for them, but they do get them.

A month back I bought a 1 car garage full of reloading stuff. Mostly various wads and hulls. There was some shot. And 2 P/W 800 loading machines in 12g. And a little bit of powder. Sadly next to no primers. I had no problem moving the powder and shot quickly.

[J.B. Books]

I think things got worse if that was possible.

I was at KTP this week for the big event of the year, Septemberfest. I thought they might have been holding some things back and would put them out for it. Didn't happen. They have had plenty of 9mm and 5.56 at higher prices but shotgun ammo and components extremely thin, emphasis on extremely. One manager I have known for years told me they recently had a one million dollar backorder cancelled and the supplier said we don't know when we would be able to fill it. They had a flash ammo sale this past Friday and they had some Winchester Fast Dove in 12 ga for 8.99 a box if I remember right. A 1 ounce loading at 1350 fps, no thanks.

The local Walmarts have started to move non shooting related products to the shelves where ammo used to be.

Major Waldron's gun club is still selling loading ammo but only for what you are going to use (no taking it home), they just recently increased prices for it to $10 a box for 12 and 20 gauge.

I think if supply is going to catch up it would have to happen during the winter when hunting season is over and not as many clay pigeons are being thrown. If we go into March '22 with things still in short supply I believe '22 will be another very dry year for us.

[B. Dudley]

Another point about pricing is this, of course there are those that outright gouge. But when people complain about the pricing at local gun shops and such, the thing that many do not take into account is what the shop had to pay for the inventory. And they have to make money on it. Many I know of have had their normal supply chains completely dry up. So they have to get inventory from wherever they can get it, from walk-in buys usually. Many dealers are paying what used to be normal retail so that they can have something on their shelves.

It is truly feast or famine in this business. Usually famine.

[J.B. Books]

Originally Posted by Brian Dudley

Another point about pricing is this, of course there are those that outright gouge. But when people complain about the pricing at local gun shops and such, the thing that many do not take into account is what the shop had to pay for the inventory. And they have to make money on it. Many I know of have had their normal supply chains completely dry up. So they have to get inventory from wherever they can get it, from walk-in buys usually. Many dealers are paying what used to be normal retail so that they can have something on their shelves.

It is truly feast or famine in this business. Usually famine.

Same with Toyota 4x4's, many of the used one's at the dealer are priced higher than the MSRP for a new one on the Toyota website. Word on the street is new ones start at $2500 over MSRP and go up from there if they can find one.