OK, so I've gone through ammo shortages in the past & figure they'll come & go in the future, so I went out & ordered the RCBS Supreme single-stage reloading kit. ..plan on using it for .380 ACP, 9mm & .223. I'm wondering if shortages and/or high prices of primers, brass, powder & bullets occur. Is this something that I need to be concerned with? If so I'm thinking that even though the kit is back-ordered about a month maybe I should go ahead & buy the consumables even though at this time I know next to nothing about reloading. My thinking is that maybe I'd be better off having the stuff on hand to jump right in rather than wait and risk limited availability and higher prices.
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Shortages/jacked-up prices on reloading consumables
- Thread starter MrBot
- Start date
kilotanker22
New member
Couldn't hurt to begin stocking up if the funds allow for it. I have been stuck in the past and unable to get what I needed. Just do the homework and research to learn what specific items you need.
Extreme Bullets has good plated bullets for the 9mm and 380. It's like $42 for 500 .355 diameter plated hollow point bullets.
I recommend buying primers and bullets locally to avoid hazmat charges. Especially if you are only buying a few at a time.
For powder with the cartridges you listed. CFE Pistol for the 9mm and 380 and Hodgdon Varget, or Alliant Power pro Varmint would be good places to start.
Pistol brass is not that good of a deal. For example, I can buy 500 rounds of Fiocchi 115 grain fmj ammunition for about the same price I can buy 500 pieces of starline or hornady brass for the 9mm. My recommendation there is buy some cheap brass cased ammo to shoot and re use the brass.
Bottom line: Havign to many components is always better than not having enough
Extreme Bullets has good plated bullets for the 9mm and 380. It's like $42 for 500 .355 diameter plated hollow point bullets.
I recommend buying primers and bullets locally to avoid hazmat charges. Especially if you are only buying a few at a time.
For powder with the cartridges you listed. CFE Pistol for the 9mm and 380 and Hodgdon Varget, or Alliant Power pro Varmint would be good places to start.
Pistol brass is not that good of a deal. For example, I can buy 500 rounds of Fiocchi 115 grain fmj ammunition for about the same price I can buy 500 pieces of starline or hornady brass for the 9mm. My recommendation there is buy some cheap brass cased ammo to shoot and re use the brass.
Bottom line: Havign to many components is always better than not having enough
Nice thing about reloading components is they have a very long shelf life. I still use powder and primers I bought during the early 90s. The supply is indeed a fragile one. Many of us have seen it many times. Whenever I am out and about or see a good online sale I generally take advantage of it. If you plan to start reloading in the future it can't hurt because when a drought comes along things get ugly. Not just components to roll your own either. Loaded ammunition as well should be considered. Buy what you can afford as you can afford it.
Ron
Ron
Priorities
Buy primers first. You can cast bullets. If you're short on cash, I'd buy seconds.
Store your ammo separate from your guns that are in a fire safe. The safe won't stop the heat from destroying the powder. Plan some of your guns in an place under the ground. That goes with the ammo. My brother's house fire was so hot, most of the safes burned through and all the ammo was gone. My safe was at his place. It saved the guns but the pressure from the exploding ammo must have bulged the safe. I had to cut into the safe to retrieve the guns but the ammo was gone and the safe too. That fire burned so hot, his car motors melted, leaving puddles of aluminum on the driveway.
Words of Caution
Buy primers first. You can cast bullets. If you're short on cash, I'd buy seconds.
Store your ammo separate from your guns that are in a fire safe. The safe won't stop the heat from destroying the powder. Plan some of your guns in an place under the ground. That goes with the ammo. My brother's house fire was so hot, most of the safes burned through and all the ammo was gone. My safe was at his place. It saved the guns but the pressure from the exploding ammo must have bulged the safe. I had to cut into the safe to retrieve the guns but the ammo was gone and the safe too. That fire burned so hot, his car motors melted, leaving puddles of aluminum on the driveway.
Words of Caution
Thanks kilotanker22 for the recommendations. I'll check out my local Scheels for the bullets, primers & powders. I have quite a bit of brass from boxed ammo I've bought so I'm in decent shape there. ..will add a bit more though. ..haven't put a lot of rounds through my fairly new Shield pistol so still testing various loads to see what it likes. So far that little jewel has fed, fired & ejected everything sent through it. But before I go out & buy maybe another 500-1000 rds of something I'd like to make sure that whatever load I buy works. ..working on that project. With the fairly recent purchase of the Shield & my having fired only a limited # of rds through it, Covid-19, the upcoming election & now the Floyd thing it's causing me to have to pick up the pace figuring shortages are not far off. Heck, they are already here! ..gotta test the various ammo through the Shield, add some target ammo to my existing supply which'll leave me with a good supply of brass, buy the reloader (just did) buy the consumables for reloading & learn how to reload in somewhat rapid succession. Wow-what fun we have. Reloadron, great to hear this stuff lasts & lasts. That was gonna be my next question. And, yeah, burbank jung you bring up some excellent words of caution. ..maybe a firesafe for the powder & primers.
MrBot,
This is one of the handout's I give to the students in my Reloading Course:
Hope it helps.
Don
This is one of the handout's I give to the students in my Reloading Course:
RELOADING SUPPLIES
You can never have too many Reloading Supplies. Elmer Keith once said “I’ve spent most my money on guns, molds, and reloading supplies, the rest I just wasted”. In the past, market forces influenced by National Elections and Politics have caused shortages of powder and primers that have made some of these items unavailable at any price. I expect this to continue in the future and, if anything, be worse. So buy primers by the thousands and powder in 8# containers if possible. Plan on having a 2 year supply to hold you over during these politically inspired droughts.
Hope it helps.
Don
Marco Califo
New member
I have learned from past "shortages" and have several thousand each of primers, brass, powder, and bullets, for each caliber I shoot. I have another several hundred loaded factory or surplus rounds, too.
I think the trick is to stock-up when good deals are available. Like 5,000 5.56M Tula primers (and that was the last time I saw them available).
Powder Valley for large powder purchases. They sell brass, bullets, and other stuff too.
I think the trick is to stock-up when good deals are available. Like 5,000 5.56M Tula primers (and that was the last time I saw them available).
Powder Valley for large powder purchases. They sell brass, bullets, and other stuff too.
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..appreciate the comeback USSR & Marco Califo. Well, if I wanna get into it I guess I'd better not wait for better prices to come around. Hopefully, this is not a bad time to be getting into this. But I do have some brass so powder, primers & bullets are what I need. I agree I figured I'd aim for about a two year supply at least & try to keep it there. I remember a few yrs back .22 LRs were hard to come by for years so I stocked-up once they became available. ..have probably a 10-yr supply of that. But now I'm getting especially concerned about hg ammo plus ammo for my AR15.
..plan on doing some shopping this weekend for primers, powder & bullets even though I don't know a darned thing about reloading other than what I've picked up from this post. Hope I'm not jumping the gun but I figure as things are the longer I wait the tougher and more costly it's gonna be to get this show rolling. ..went to the range today & shooters there literally gave me all their spent 9mm cases. ..got a bunch. ..shouldn't be a problem accumulating it in the future. Up 'til now I was just like 'em giving away free brass every time I went to the range. NO MORE! ..not really sure how dangerous primers are but having powder in the house kind of concerns me. Are primers that dangerous that I need to store them outside of the home? I figure I'll put the powder in the dog house out back. Shep don't smoke & she leaves my stuff alone just fine. After chewing the ends off my rocking chair rockers as a pup cutting teeth (those rocker ends apparently were the perfect height for her) the girl hasn't messed with anything I own, other than me. lol She thinks I was put on this earth for her to abuse. Not really. Just joking. She loves me. I'm just the one she gets to jump on, push around a bit, sleep on my bed, ride in my truck, etc. ..more fun with me. So that's the plan. ..just hope the dog house don't get hit by lightning.
..not really sure how dangerous primers are but having powder in the house kind of concerns me. Are primers that dangerous that I need to store them outside of the home?
As long as you keep your primers in their original containers, primers are not any more dangerous than powder, although you must store powder and primers in separate containers. You got a basement? That's what basements are designed for; storing powder and primers. Storing outside of the house is not a good idea. The wild temperature and humidity swings are not good for the storage of either primers or powder.
Don
I remember a few yrs back .22 LRs were hard to come by for years so I stocked-up once they became available. ..have probably a 10-yr supply of that
some of the high end stuff is getting somewhat scarce but that happens every Olympic year. I just bought out the last 3 bricks of one stores supply of Fiocchi Exacta Winter. Of course this year it was more likely due to how hard Italy was hit with the virus
Marco Califo suggested www.midsouthshooterssupply.com above. After a bit of hard shopping, it was the only place I found that I could buy small pistol primers in bulk. Local stores, if they had any, were limiting customers to 200. And even MSSP only had Sellier & Bellot small pistol primers. They were out of CCI and Winchester.
I bought 2000 small and 2000 large pistol primers and the HazMat charge was only $16. I was surprised. The prices were not inflated. I think the S&B primers were $29.95/1000.
I highly recommend www.summersenterprisesllc.comfor bullets. Their HiTek coated lead bullets are really nice and very reasonable. Good luck.
I bought 2000 small and 2000 large pistol primers and the HazMat charge was only $16. I was surprised. The prices were not inflated. I think the S&B primers were $29.95/1000.
I highly recommend www.summersenterprisesllc.comfor bullets. Their HiTek coated lead bullets are really nice and very reasonable. Good luck.
I keep my primers and powder in a cool dry closet...
Yep, cool and dry, and out of direct sunlight is what you want.
Don
I bought thousands of small pistol primers from the local gun show within the last year and a half. With the lockdown, I was stuck at home and had time. So I prepped brass and made test loads. Whenever the lockdown is over, I'm planning to shoot those test loads to find my pet load per gun and have primed cases ready to fill, or have cases ready for bullets I plan to buy.
I bought thousands of small pistol primers from the local gun show within the last year and a half.
What a concept. Buying what you need well in advance and paying normal prices, instead of participating in the panic buying at jacked up prices. Good for you burbank_jung.
Don
I'd start off with buying a reloading manual and reading the relevant sections. Buying a bunch of random components isn't going to work out very well when you go to reload and have the wrong powders and primers for the cartridges you want to reload. There are easily 100+ powders out there and most are specific to handfull of cartridges. Some powders can be used across the handgun/rifle/shotgun spectrum but not most.
I'd stock up on all components needed to make your reloads. During the height of the 2013 panic buying bullets, powders or primers was a spotty proposition. One of the negatives with reloading is that you need brass, primers, bullets, powder and a bunch of equipment. If you're missing any one of those items, you're out of luck if you need to make ammo today.
I have no problems with keeping bullets and brass in the garage. Powder and primers stay in climate controlled areas.
I'd stock up on all components needed to make your reloads. During the height of the 2013 panic buying bullets, powders or primers was a spotty proposition. One of the negatives with reloading is that you need brass, primers, bullets, powder and a bunch of equipment. If you're missing any one of those items, you're out of luck if you need to make ammo today.
I have no problems with keeping bullets and brass in the garage. Powder and primers stay in climate controlled areas.
First reloading component to disappear from the shelves at the instant a panic starts is the popular powders (Varget / 4895 / 2400 / W296 / Unique ) . Next is primers. Lastly is cheaper plinker projectiles online. Start now, buy weekly and buy consistently as funds allow. I've been doing this for the past 8 years and now I rest easy on enough combines reloading components to load about 95K rounds.
My component choices
Everyone has different needs. Some will want JHP and others might use lead bullets..
I pick up brass at the Range whenever I had the chance. So, brass is not a concern to me.
Primers is my first concern. I mentioned this already.
Powder choice is second. I look for a powder that is accurate for a number of cartridges. For example, I chose Blue Dot because it was rated well in the .357, 40cal, and 9mm. AA7 burns close to Blue Dot so that might be an option. I'm warming to the idea of 2400 for .357 because I can use that in cast rifle bullet loads. For higher cast bullet velocities, I could try R7. I use R7 in sks reloads, 30/30, and .223 rounds. If necessary, I'll pull the powder from one and use it in the other. The example here is just an idea. There might be better options.
If I see a good deal on blemished bullets, I'll buy them. I bought maybe 1000-2000 150gr & 180gr bullets years ago for my Arisaka. I'm reminded of them whenever I'm moving my 50 cal cans.. I have a lifetime supply of 180gr for my Arisaka and also load the 150gr for the sks rifles. I did the same for my brother's 30/30.
I have only one reloading manual and search for load data online. I use Ken Waters' Petloads book a lot. And, I find my Nodes with my chronograph given a specific bullet, case, and primer. If I change powder, I have an idea where the MV/Node to look for.
Everyone has different needs. Some will want JHP and others might use lead bullets..
I pick up brass at the Range whenever I had the chance. So, brass is not a concern to me.
Primers is my first concern. I mentioned this already.
Powder choice is second. I look for a powder that is accurate for a number of cartridges. For example, I chose Blue Dot because it was rated well in the .357, 40cal, and 9mm. AA7 burns close to Blue Dot so that might be an option. I'm warming to the idea of 2400 for .357 because I can use that in cast rifle bullet loads. For higher cast bullet velocities, I could try R7. I use R7 in sks reloads, 30/30, and .223 rounds. If necessary, I'll pull the powder from one and use it in the other. The example here is just an idea. There might be better options.
If I see a good deal on blemished bullets, I'll buy them. I bought maybe 1000-2000 150gr & 180gr bullets years ago for my Arisaka. I'm reminded of them whenever I'm moving my 50 cal cans.. I have a lifetime supply of 180gr for my Arisaka and also load the 150gr for the sks rifles. I did the same for my brother's 30/30.
I have only one reloading manual and search for load data online. I use Ken Waters' Petloads book a lot. And, I find my Nodes with my chronograph given a specific bullet, case, and primer. If I change powder, I have an idea where the MV/Node to look for.
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