The Primer Problem

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  • Last Post 16 August 2009
amb1935 posted this 13 August 2009

Has anyone noticed that primers are becoming a bit more available?  here in Louisville, if you know where to go, there are now available primers.  Anyone else experiencing this?

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CB posted this 13 August 2009

Haven't really noticed but I need some Rem 7 1/2s so will start looking around

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JetMech posted this 13 August 2009

My local shops have LR amd SR, but no LP yet.

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CB posted this 15 August 2009

I was at the Reloading Store on the range retail store at Angeles Range yesterday. Nice store remided me of the gun store I worked at for 25 years as a second job, mainly for entertainment value the pay was $1.50/hr.

At Angeles they got in a pallet with WLR and CCI small rifle primers. I have all that stuff still looking for small pistol.

Pat I mentioned earlier I bought 3000 Rem 7 1/2 from my buds dead man collection, his deceased brother's stuff $15/thou.

Stephen Perry

Angeles BR:fire

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PETE posted this 15 August 2009

  A friend of mine works for a distributor and they got in two flats of primers, so guess the shortage is starting to loosen up.

  Also I've noticed that the area gun show attendance is starting to drop off. For a while the line was a block long waiting to get in a 1/2 hr. after opening. The last one I went to I walked right in about 15 minutes after it opened. Also noticed that new .223 cases are available again when for a while about all you could find was fired cases and the dealers would laugh at you if you asked if they had any new. Surprising tho how much of it you can pick up at the ranges.

  I would suspect by the first of the year all those dealers selling for $60 & $70 a 1000 will be taking a loss.

PETE

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KenK posted this 15 August 2009

My “local” shop is a two hour round trip and they were still out the last time I stopped in.

I was getting dangerously low on LR primers so I went ahead and put 5k on backorder at Cabelas on 5/17.  I get an emai every month pushing the expected delivery date back a month.

I had a full carton of  LP primers and have been using  them in my 30/06 (with light PB loads) but I'm down to about 500 of them now.

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CB posted this 15 August 2009

Pete

For .223 if you can find a place where the junior cops and ninja blaster shoot allot you will get all you want. Once fired. My Cast buddy in Arizona gets me all the .223 and 45 brass I want every Monday morning in the hills around Mesa. We trade makes it better that way for both of us. I recently traded a hundred Handloader magazines for several bags cleaned and sorted of .223.

Primers for me have never been a problem except keeping small pistol. I load my cast 358495 and 35887 in my handicap budiies brass. His brass my primers, I am running low again. He keeps reminding me he used to load all his BR primers in pisrol especially my WSR's. I told him don't even go there. I have 400 small pisrol otimers left. If we don't find more his shooting will go dry for a while. He has a beauriful young 72 year old wife that entertains him when he's not shooting, he is 79 almost blind in one eye he still has the NBRSA Sporter group record of .041.

Stephen Perry

Angeles BR:fire

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PETE posted this 15 August 2009

Steve,

  Exactly! Last count I took I had over 500 .223 cases I ended up with. My buddy picked up about the same. We trade... I want the Rem.'s and he wants the Win. It comes out about even with a whole bunch of mil. stuff neither one of us wants so we give those to his boy for his AR.

  The big problem tho is primers for the .223. So as I mentioned in my last post my friend who works for the distributor picked up three cases of Rem. 7 1/2's for us. Probably lucky to get them as we got the last case out of the one flat and two out of the 2nd. Have no idea how many cases are on a flat.

  If you live in Iowa you might check with Scheel's if you need this size primer as they always have large orders in and will get their share of them.

  Those Small Rifle primers were what I was most worried about. Used the last of what I had, before I got the case, this past Wednesday, so I was getting a little nervous. Got at least a coupla 1000 apiece of the others, but I use probably 10 SR's for every one of the others.

  It seems the big problem is if you gotta Win. primers. The mentioned distributor sent in a million dollar order to Win., just for primers, but they told him they wouldn't be making primers before the first of next year. So... if some are starting to show up then maybe they've changed their mind.

PETE

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CB posted this 16 August 2009

Pete

Depends on what the pallets are used for. The small pallet used by small wharehouses and gun stores would hold 8 cases of WLR primers. CCI and Remington cases are smaller probably 12 cases to a flat. If we are talking 16 wheel pallets the hardwood ones they would hold 12 cases of WLR per flat and probably 16 cases of Rem and CCI primers. More than often than not the small pallet is used for gun store deliveries.

Pete I think all the types of primers are coming. Hopefully primer deliveries will saturate the market and prices should come down.

Stephen Perry

Angeles BR:fire

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PETE posted this 16 August 2009

 Steve,

  I'd say you were right about primers should be available in quantity soon. Probably by the end of the year if the experience we had when Clinton first came in office is any indication. I'm gonna be curious as to what the price will be. I would assume this is a good opportunity for a price increase. Around here we were paying $27 a 1000, B.O. (Before Obama :) ), and $30 the last I could get from the local gun shop. There were a few bricks at the gun shows going for $50 to $70.

  What really surprised me tho was if you got on any of the internet dealers web sites you couldn't buy an AR for love or money. (no back orders accepted) Yet if you went to a gun show you could buy just about any model and make you wanted, plus you could buy all the parts to make up your own. And the other surprising fact was that most of the gun show sellers weren't boosting the prices. You could buy one at B.O. prices if you looked a little.

PETE

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303PV posted this 16 August 2009

In Europe there never was any problem. We stil can buy any Winchester , CCI or Remington primers we want. Price is about 27 Euro / 1000. Sellier & Bellot is about 25 Euro/1000. You would expect the price to go down because of the exchange rate.But that does not happen. I hope the current primer shortage will end soon in the USA.

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PETE posted this 16 August 2009

 303PV,

  Now that's interesting! There are a few guys around here who think the primer shortage, as well as the so called AR shortage are/were more fiction than fact. There always seemed to be a trickle of primers around if you kept your eyes open.

  Looking at the handy-dandy Euro to Dollar converter on the Web it comes out $35.735 dollars for 25 Euro's & $38.5938 dollars for 27 Euro's. Probably not a bad price considering shipping costs, etc. over to Luxembourg.

  Without having any knowledge what the price will end up being, the talk around this neck of the woods is that we'll probably be paying $30 a 1000 when the dust settles. Right after the Clinton administration came in we went from about $18 a 1000 to $22 when the rush was over.

PETE

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