Rossi Rifleman

Sitting here this fine Sunday AM, cup o' Joe handy, and sizing .223/5.56 brass that I got in bulk just as the crunch of all things shooting began. And that's all I got... clean once fired brass, that I'm prepping in hopes some day components be available again.

Damn depressing. Ain't seen a primer at anywhere near a reasonable price in 14 months. I'm not paying $139 for 1000 primers! The sad part is, they can't keep 'em in stock. Flyin' off the shelf at that price. Jeeze.

No powder, except oddball rifle powder. No jacketed bullets at anywhere close to a reasonable price.

I stocked up then quit using anything so I'm good I guess?

Maybe so.

I am extremely saddened by what appears to be the country-wide shortages in the US. It's very strange because over here, this side of the Pond, we have no problems getting anything. Primers, powder, brass.. everything and anything readily available. CCI primers are around $68.00 per 1000..

I think you guys could use some empathy training.

Reese-mo, I know it’s hard to acknowledge, but this situation will pass. This is the United States, after all. Where there is a shortage, some enterprising Capitalist will eventually fill it. This shortage has been caused by an unusual confluence of events. None of them will last forever. Rest assured that you are not alone in your pain.

ManxTom wrote:CCI primers are around $68.00 per 1000..

That's double of the highest "normal" price, pre-shortage. If you shopped a bit, you could get them for under $30.00 per 1000. Four years ago, my old FFL (now out of business), was getting primers for $16.50/1000, or rather $165.00 per 10,000. I know that because he had an invoice on the desk/table where I was filling out my transfer paperwork. Hey, it was in plain view!

Ol'Tom, I think its high time I get the GF to sail back to the UK and bring in some.... materials.

I am about to try some donated LR primers that I got a few years ago.
They are in CCI boxes with a diamond pattern of salmon/ecru overall and some taupe/grey and black diamonds with half inch black bands around the ends. An old NRA high power shooter gave me 4 boxes of them and to be honest I put them aside at the time.

I figure to use them in my .30-30/444/45-70 lever and maybe 7mm08 bolt gun ammo where I can keep an eye out for any issues at least at first.

I was given a case or two of CCI mil primers that I've been using for 5.56 when my bud shut down his shop.
I don't know as I've ever seen those retail for less than $35 and I've seen them as high as $60 before the current unpleasantness although during Trump's administration the prices were coming back down.

As you say people are still paying stupid prices. A lot of items like dies and equipment are still being scalped.
Even small niche manufacturers are raising prices as raw material costs are impacting them and labor rates for production runs have increased.

HarryAlonzo wrote:I think you guys could use some empathy training.

Reese-mo, I know it’s hard to acknowledge, but this situation will pass. This is the United States, after all. Where there is a shortage, some enterprising Capitalist will eventually fill it. This shortage has been caused by an unusual confluence of events. None of them will last forever. Rest assured that you are not alone in your pain.

As much as I hope you are correct, I find myself somewhat pessimistic as well given the attempts at making the emergency permanent by those grasping at political power.

Edited to correct a spelling error.

Archer, I think you may be right. Every politician has to have a bad guy or problem that he can sell to the voters that only he has the solution to, even if it won't work in real life.

Reese-Mo...I feel your pain Bro'.

I don't buy much east block ammo and in particular I avoid steel case ammo and Russian ammo.
So on the one hand the Russian ban does not directly concern me.

On the other hand, I heard one of the guys from InRange on a video last week note that Russian ammo imports account for up to some 40% of bulk ammunition sold in the U.S.. I don't know anything concerning the accuracy of his numbers and I suspect overall Russian ammo accounts for much less than 40% of ammo consumed in the U.S. especially when you consider the amount of range reloads people seem to buy. Yet if you consider that for all intents and purposes Remington had been down for much of the year due to the bankruptcy before Federal got their plants back on line. If you also factor in that domestic ammo production was said to be slowed down at least at one point because there was a lack of components for the manufacturers to produce ammunition with in spite of diverting the components that are normally sold to the reloading community to ammo production lines. Plus the fact that the range reloads were typically unavailable even after the ranges dumped all their reloading supplies into their reloading machines to produce ammo for their own lanes instead of selling components to customers. Add in the tendency for a lot of folks to buy the cheapest crap available and maybe the Russians were supplying 40% of the domestic volume? Even if it was only a solid 20% that's still a rather large percentage hit in the ammo supply.

I've heard a number of folks say that the Biden ban is a good thing that it will in actuality open up supplies as boutique manufacturers take up the slack. Further they assume the ban will expire after a year and that the Russians will once again be back to selling massive amounts of ammo to the U.S.. I am not so optimistic. While it might be a good thing for U.S. production to increase and there MIGHT or might not be new companies started... I figure just getting the permits lines up could take a new company months if not a year or more to get started. Getting supply lines that aren't interrupted by either the majors buying up production or by shortages in raw materials or whatever could take years. IF the Russian ban is allowed to expire after a year anyone who's invested in trying to set up their own ammo company may be drowned in a sea of inexpensive Russian steel cased crap. IF the Russians remain withheld from the market will the politicos use the ATF, state DoJ, OSHA, Customs and the IRS to pummel the industry focusing on the small businesses that don't have the legal resources on tap to resist?

The only Russian stuff I have is 800 or so rounds of 7.62x39, berdan/steel. I got that years ago as Gander closed up, paid less than a hundred bucks for both of em but aint shot any.

Last primers I got were from Natchez for $32/1000, back in August or September of 19.