I managed to get four bricks of primers and two cans of powder last evening at a local gun shop. The shelves are about bare and resupply is in question. Ammo is flying off the shelves. Most of the large supply houses are out of primers. Guess folks do not trust what lies ahead in the political arena. Take care...
Joe

Just came from a gun show. There seemed to be plenty of powder and some primers. I couldn't find regular small pistol primers, although they had SP magnums. I saw more ARs there than I have in a while, average starting prices around $1100. Most dealers had decent selections of guns, about as good as ever.

Last week I got some primers at a local shop. They said that it seemed that supply was catching up to demand.

I hope supply catches up with demand soon. Makes an uneasy feeling seeing all the shelves bare in my local sporting goods shop.

Since BO's election, demand for components has soared by a factor of 3 or 4. There is a sense of hysteria manifesting itself with buying levels that border on hoarding. Whether this is paranoia or justified, the fact is that reloaders have created their own shortages.

Our normal sales of powder, for example, equal around 100 to 125 lbs per week. This week we got 200+ lbs and that was sold within three days. When we reorder, we see higher levels of backorders or cancellations, however, we receive a fairly high percentage of primers and powder, with the exception of small rifle primers.

At some point these buying habits will result in a saturation of supply on the consumer level, buying and stocking patterns will return to normal and we can breath easier. Unless, of course, the leftist Congress does something radical in terms of taxation levels on firearms, components and ammo.

Perhaps a lesson is to be learned as we humans tend to repeat our patterns of behavior. What if food became scarce? How long will the local markets have anything on their shelves? And, now that it is plentiful, how many of us are stocking enough food to last an emergency shortage of 30 to 60 days? Food supplies and food storage may be a more critical aspect of the future than ammo itself. IMO. And, what about water and water purification?

I hear customers talk about heading to the wilderness and living a sustainable life off the land. They envision heading out with a .22 or other chambered firearms and killing rabbits, deer, antelope, etc. Right, along with thousands of others? Self sufficiency in our society is mythical and in most cases absurd, but, proper preparation now can be a boon while there is time to act.

The shops I visit are low on just about everything. Primers (especially small rifle) are in shot supply, or on backorder and with no definite delivery date. Powder selection is limited and the entire stock is on the shelves; there are a lot of empty spaces. I believe it is a good thing to be prepared so get what you need when you can. All the best...
Gil

The only thing that I can't find is Power Pistol Powder, that I use for my 9mms.
On that, I can always substitute with 231, but I do like P.P. better.

Eric

I'm trying to find 16 pounds of Varget for my hoarding purposes, but nobody has any. I would prefer to buy it from the same person that I'm buying another 16 pounds of IMR4004SSC

Hey cody !!! I see Ruger has a new chambering in their target rifles !!! The 6.5 Creedmoor..........

We had a local gun show last week, The crowd was so big they had to quit letting people in !!!

At one point it was a min. 2hr wait to get in.

One of the ammo dealers reported having his best show ever in 20 years.

chambered221 wrote:

Hey cody !!! I see Ruger has a new chambering in their target rifles !!! The 6.5 Creedmoor..........

I actually just ordered a Remington SPS tactical in .308 for my gun purchasing splurge. Any extra money I have had has been put towards reloading components, and I'm looking at ordering about $600 worth of stuff Hopefully I will now have enough to last me a couple of years under the new regimen

Went supply shopping today.

Tried a new place Sportsman's Warehouse in Columbia. Their shelves were almost bare, but I managed to get 1 brick of WLRM for $29.99, 500 WSPM at $2.99 a 100. Small pistol was the worst, I got 200 Federal 100 at $2.99 a 100, and as a last resort I got 300 Federal Match grade GM100M at $3.79 a hundred.

Very little powder, and none that I wanted, and got the last 2 boxes of Barnes .270 130 grain TSXBT at $33.99, and the last box of Barnes 7MM Mar 150 gr TSXBT.

Then drove a 100 miles to Carolina Sportsman they had a good quantity of powder. I got Hodgdon Titegroup 4 pounds at $21.99 a pound, and 2 pounds of IMR 4831 at $26.99 a pound, but did not have the H4350 I was looking for, maybe at the gun show this weekend.

They also had a good quantity of Winchester brass on had. For local guys the store is in Rock Hill on Hanes Mill Rd., phone number is (803) 366-3466.

SPAM bot alert!

You can't sell what we can't see... but the google bots are going to love all that spider web.

I think somebody messed with the wrong web site...

Wow! I went back to the start of this thread and saw that in 2009 I posted that ARs were starting around $1100! Now they are under $500. I think at the last gun show (this past Sat) powder was $27-30/pound and primers about the same for 1k.

2,000 CCI large rifle primers just cost me the equivalent of $54/1,000 & powder's $68/lb (both including 20% tax).
Saw a shiny new AR in Cabelas for $395 whilst over in NM three weeks back.