The great primer shortage

Scene: A good local gun shop, with an 'adequate supply' of reloading components. A guy walks in the door, loudly proclaims to the owner - "I want to buy 60,000 primers, any kind." -- Owners reply - "Go right back out the door - I'm not selling any primers to you gougers." -- True story - upstate NY.
 
Commander47 said:
.380 and .38 are in "tremendous" demand. Of the hundreds of different calibers available why is it that two of the top 10 calibers in America are in short supply?

The .380 shortage started before the current shortage. Every gun show I go to I run into folks searching for .380.
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I don’t understand your post. Every caliber is in short supply right now. You could buy cases of .380 or .38 Special back in February for under $250 delivered to you door. I have emails from vendors earlier this year with these prices. Every caliber from .22 Short to 50 BMG have jumped 300% or more in price.
 
Commander47 said:
There are really only two sizes of primers. It's not like you have to be an atomic scientist to run the primer line.
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Four physical sizes, as large pistol are 0.009" shorter than large rifle. Thirteen types that I have noticed; twenty-six when you count lead-free "green" versions of each, and I haven't included the five or so different sizes of Berdan primers or the various special military odd temperature range ones used to ignite special pyrotechnics, like aircraft ejector seats:
  1. 209 Shotgun primer
  2. Small Pistol Standard
  3. Small Pistol Magnum
  4. Small Rifle Standard
  5. Small Rifle Magnum
  6. Small Rifle Standard with military sensitivity spec (Federal)
  7. Small Rifle Magnum with military sensitivity spec (CCI)
  8. Large Pistol Standard
  9. Large Pistol Magnum
  10. Large Pistol Standard/Magnum combined (Winchester)
  11. Large Rifle Standard
  12. Large Rifle Magnum
  13. Large Rifle Magnum military sensitivity spec (CCI)

Several deadly explosion accidents at primer facilities have occurred over the last decade. Very expensive to set up to manufacture and comply with regulations and afford the insurance. It took CCI eighteen months to set up the last additional primer line they built. Forbes says none of the manufacturers believe the current panic buying is going to be permanent, so they aren't making the investment in more facilities as they got burned last time they employed that strategy.
 
so they aren't making the investment in more facilities as they got burned last time they employed that strategy.
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Makes sense..but I wonder if that strategy can come back to haunt them--we will all remember this forever and change our buying habits to laying in a horde to last years, and at some point demand could nosedive once the public has more ammunition stockpiled than all the ammo used in WW2. ;)
 
One piece of good news, I read that Vista was hiring back furloughed workers for the Remington ammunition plant. Under prior mismanagement it was down to 400 from a normal of 700 and a peak of 1000.
So there's an increase in production without buying new equipment or training new people.
 
Since it is the case that primer manufacturers are funneling all their primers into ammunition manufacturing (meaning reloaders cannot get replacement product), where is the manufactured ammunition?

I haven't checked lately at my LGS, but is the ammo supply picking up?
 
Read the Forbes article I linked to in post 26. Then read this one. It's not just a matter of supplying ammo makers and it isn't just that demand is high (read this one, too), it is also that COVID-19 has resulted in a large reduction in the amounts of ammunition and primers and powder that are normally imported. Especially ammo from Russia and other inexpensive sources that normally supply a substantial portion of the market. Take that supply away, add an NSSF estimated 7 million first-time gun owners stocking up because they finally saw on TV for themselves that even if the police want to protect you from rioters, a lot of politicians won't let them do it and instead want to defund them. So, they finally figured out they have to protect themselves.
 
I bought the max allowed (200) SPP at Scheels MN two weeks ago for $3.49/hundred. I have a Scheels within five miles of my house so it was easy to go in once per day. They must have received a large supply because I know a number of people that did the same.
I stopped at 800 just to let others that were in need pick some up.
 
Those prices are certainly the result of market forces reflecting the desperation of some handloaders. Of course, there are probably some sellers who are out of work and genuinely need the money to keep their families fed, but I would guess they are mainly just opportunists.
 
What primer shortage, i'm well stocked. i have a couple thousand primers from the "Clinton will outlaw reloading" panic.
 
Well stocked means different things to different people. I compete in IDPA and USPSA with at least one and usually two matches a week. In good weather, a couple thousand primers is a couple of months' supply. So when I bought 15,000 primers last fall when Winchester was giving rebates, I wasn't hoarding, I was buying in reasonable quantity to spread out the shipping and hazmat.
 
Yes, the term "hoarding" seems to mean different things to different people. The people without something seem to use hoarding as a derogative term against people who had the foresight to obtain things when they were readily available.

Don
 
Mike Irwin said:
Back in the mid 2000s, when Obama was rattling on about gun control, rounds that I like, like the .32-20, the .44 Special, the .41 Magnum, pretty much disappeared...
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Actually during the start of the Obama/Sandy Hook shortage was the first time I saw more than one brand/load of .41 Magnum on the shelves locally, for a while at least. I watch it but basically only hand load .41 because the prices are obnoxious at best.

Now .25-20 was another story.
 
I don't thing "hoarder" is applied to folks who stock up when plenty are available for everyone who wants them. It's applied to those who rush to to stock up when
a shortage gets underway, thus not letting anyone else have any.
 
"Actually during the start of the Obama/Sandy Hook shortage was the first time I saw more than one brand/load of .41 Magnum on the shelves locally, for a while at least."

My guess? Local shops were ordering more .41 and other less popular cartridges simply because they could get it and their shelves wouldn't look so bare. At least for awhile.
 
Unclenic is exactly right. Buying when there is plenty is one thing.

You have to ask yourself, who am I competing with if my competitors can't get ammo?

Answer: yourself.
 
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