OT: Primer prices

[J Miller]

OUCH!!! I was up at the gun shop picking up project M when I decided to buy a 1000 LP primers. I try to keep way ahead of my primer needs, but I haven't bought any since the last gun show back in August. I think I paid 25 ish for a 1000 Winchester LP primers. Today at the gun store I paid $28.70 for a 1000 Federal LP primers. OUCH!!!
The shop owner said the next shipment coming in would be $32.00 Per K.
At this point reloading won't be cost effective much longer.

Joe

[mescalero1]

I bought a LOT of ALL kinds during the last primer scare.
I have given up my thoughts of thinning the herd.
I will re-new my efforts in powder & primers.
This bailout thing is bad, no good will come of it & and we will be lucky to live through it.

[Hobie]

Although I've gotten some toys I'm mostly buying components and rimfire ammo. Lay it back bros.

[jnyork]

I spent my entire income tax rebate on reloading components. I buy a little more every time Our Uncle sends me my monthly allowance!

[Sixgun]

Joe, Thats about ($28) what they cost here in Pa. but for some reason, I have been very fortunate in my primer purchases. It seems like everytime I go to a show, someone has deals on primers and I will think nothing of buying up 10 or twenty thousand for $10 or 15 a thou. Tonight at the auction, I snagged a thousand Winchester LP for $10.---------------------Sixgun

[mescalero1]

Sixgun, you shouls amend " snagged " to " stole "

[J Miller]

The next close gun show is in November. I'm gonna lay in some more primers at least a K of each and some Unique at least.
Bullets are what's hurting me. I can't find a source that's consistent, at the price I can afford and I'm not set up to cast.

I suspect I'll be shooting nothing but handgun cartridges pretty soon.


Oh, that thousand primers I got this morning, well they were magnum primers. I don't need nor use maggies. I hope they'll exchange them.

Joe

[mescalero1]

Joe,
I cast, but at shipping prices; we would just be counterproductive

[J Miller]

Joe,
I cast, but at shipping prices; we would just be counterproductive

Yeah, but if I could find a steady source of the same bullets that weighed the same each time I ordered them, then that might make it worth while.

I've got a plethora of Keith "type" bullets for my .45 Colt and .357s but because they come from different makers at different times, they are the same in general appearance only.

Joe

[El Chivo]

At this point reloading won't be cost effective much longer.

that is, until you check the price of factory ammo...

[J Miller]

At this point reloading won't be cost effective much longer.

that is, until you check the price of factory ammo...

Yeah, you're right there.

Joe

[KirkD]

I like to buy powder and bricks of primers on a regular basis to slowly build up my stocks. Get the stuff while you can and at prices that will be unheard of 5 years from now.

[Modoc ED]

I was in the local gun store in town today and the owner was ordering from his supplier. When he got to his order for ammunition, instead of ordering everything by the case, as he has in the past, he was ordering some ammo by the box. He told his supplier that his ammo sales were down 1/3 because guys weren't buying ammo like they used to. When he got to his reloading order, he scratched his lead bullet order completely. He told me it has gotten to the point where he had to pick and choose what he ordered as prices were so high.

[Ysabel Kid]

Joe -

That's about what I paid for 1000 CCI 500 Small Pistol Primers a couple weekends ago at the Dixie Gun & Kife show in Charlotte.

Depressing...

[bj94]

$135.00 for 5k at the gunshow this past weekend (that makes $27.00 for 1k). I don't recall what they charged if you only bought 1k.

[J Miller]

Well, like I said: "OUCH!".

I went up to the gun shop today and they did not have any standard primers of pistol or rifle size to trade me out of the magnums. So I'm stuck with a thousand LP Mag primers I won't use. Nice.
Oh well, I'll stick them in my supply box with the 1000 LR Mag primers I won't use either.

Joe

[Hobie]

Makes the $20.00 a thousand in the great primer scare look good, don't it. The days of the $1.00 a hundred primers are long gone.

[J Miller]

Makes the $20.00 a thousand in the great primer scare look good, don't it. The days of the $1.00 a hundred primers are long gone.

Yep, right along with $1.00 per gallon gas.

Hey you notice the price of 100 primers is really close to the current price of a gallon of gas?
Hmmmmm, where's my tin foil hat?

Joe

[mescalero1]

Joe,
Just hold on to them, I think you will be surprised what they are worth in the future,
Want to make a side bet on which will become " unavailable " first in the future?

[mescalero1]

Hobie,
Glad I am not the only one who remembers " the great primer scare "

[J Miller]

I remember the great primer scare, I just wasn't financially able to stock up then. So over the years I've put back some. Not as much as some folks, but some.

I also remember the great scare of the late 70s when the National Product Safety commision or what ever they were called were gonna ban ammunition. I still got one brick of CCI Blazer 22s I bought then. I wonder if it will still shoot?


Joe

[Hobie]

I shot up all Grandpa's .22 LR from the depression era... Threw away the boxes, too... FWIW, stored on a shelf in a non-climate controlled farmhouse it worked fine 30-40 years on.

[cnjarvis]

I shot up all Grandpa's .22 LR from the depression era... Threw away the boxes, too... FWIW, stored on a shelf in a non-climate controlled farmhouse it worked fine 30-40 years on.

Good to know. I may continue to stock up then. I'm pretty well set up on primers for a while - no more often than I get to shoot.

[mescalero1]

That is interesting that it was non-climate controlled.
I had always been under the impression that repeated expansion and contraction at the molecular level of the nitro-celluose was the most damaging factor.

[Hobie]

That is interesting that it was non-climate controlled.
I had always been under the impression that repeated expansion and contraction at the molecular level of the nitro-celluose was the most damaging factor.

Well, Grandpa's place was built in 1814 or so, not by our family he bought it in 1929-31 period, and they heated with a stove with a register (vent) from the downstairs to the upstairs where the gun rack was. Open windows in summer. This in upstate NY near Cooperstown.

[2ndovc]

I shot up all Grandpa's .22 LR from the depression era... Threw away the boxes, too... FWIW, stored on a shelf in a non-climate controlled farmhouse it worked fine 30-40 years on.

My Gradfather bought several cases of Rem. .22s late 60's early seventies ( red and green box) for me and the other grand kids. Since I was the only shooter I ended up going through most of it.

A few missfires but I shot up the last of it when I was in college and it was probably already ten years old when I got to it.

Just bought Win. large rifle and small pistol for $28.00

jb

[mescalero1]

So this place was habitable and not just exposed to extreme temparature variations of upstate N.Y.

[Hobie]

So this place was habitable and not just exposed to extreme temparature variations of upstate N.Y.

Yes, but water in a glass would freeze on Dad's nightstand (in winter of course). He once told me that some days he'd warm up while milking and that they most often stayed in the kitchen or dining room (where the stove was) if they were inside. I forget when they got electricity but I don't think they had indoor plumbing until after the war. I can't remember central heating but it has been many years now.

[mescalero1]

The water freezing in the glass would be the temp variations I was alludinf to.

[Hobie]

The water freezing in the glass would be the temp variations I was alludinf to.

Yep. I've lived in a few places like that, mostly in the Army (I don't think Dad remembered freezing as a good thing). BTW, I also shot up a partial box of Winchester STs in .35 Rem from the same period that were stored in the same house. No problems. That was in 1990 or so, or about 50+ years later.

[mescalero1]

That is GOOD news.
None of my stuff has ever been subjected to that kind of temp variation, after I had possesion of it.
I have asked the question before about life of ammo, components.
No seems to be able to give a definitive answer.
It seems with the kind of care I provide, mine will still be good when I check out.

[Hobie]

That is GOOD news.
None of my stuff has ever been subjected to that kind of temp variation, after I had possesion of it.
I have asked the question before about life of ammo, components.
No seems to be able to give a definitive answer.
It seems with the kind of care I provide, mine will still be good when I check out.

I think that #1 you need to keep ammo insulated from extreme heat and keep it dry. Cool is fine, cold is a big question mark. I know some ammo has been cached for a while and worked fine but in its "hole" it was not exposed to heat or damp, cold, but not heat or damp. If you can stand the temps, the ammo can.

[blueroan]

If primers are high (and powder, lead and copper for gas checks and casings!) What do you think the price of ammo is going to do?

I keep powder and primers in a closet in the house...if they aren't on the reloading bench. I like having a 5,000 primer minimum in large and small pistol. Unfortunately I did too well several years ago and now the restocking is a lot higher. BUT considering the current political and economic conditions, I will be buying powder and primers as I can...next week is payday...the planned purchase is an 8 pound keg of TITEGROUP or possibly 231 or UNIQUE (They all work well in my 357s and 44s.)

[RIHMFIRE]

just paid 26 smackers for large rifle at gun show.....
really dont have a choice when 38-55s are close to 40
to 50 bucks for a box of 20...

[J Miller]

I date every single 100 count box and every single 1000 count box of primers. I use the oldest first and when I've gotten down to the last couple hundred in the big box I replace it. Date it and put it to the rear of the supply box.

A couple years ago I picked up several thousand older Winchester and Federal LR primers. I'm using those now because they are older than the current stuff. But I still follow the same routine.

And every so often I'll pick up a 1000 to add to the supplies. I have run out ... once, and it was annoying to say the least. I'm not gonna do that again.

Joe