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I live in central Washington State and am an avid shooter and reloader. Our local employee-owned "everything store" is called Bi-Mart, and they are far and away the best source for most ammo. My FFL allows me to buy from distributors, but unless I buy in bulk, I almost can't beat Bi-Mart's prices, by the time I pay the Haz fees and shipping, unless I'm going for a very large volume purchase.
Anyhow, their shelves are essentially empty now, with only stuff like ammo for 257 Roberts +P ( a GREAT deer round, BTW...), Federal 280 improved, etc: you get the picture. 9mm? 380? 45ACP? 22LR? That last one floored me. No more 22LR?
Anyhow, I just came back from Canada (Vancouver) where my buddies said no such problemo, but uh-uh... not no more, sorry. I found and bought essentially most of the last bricks of Federal LR and LRM primers in Vancouver, B.C., and could NOT find any small pistol and small rifle, magnum or standard, primers.
Our local Bi-Mart sporting goods manager just returned from their own internal sales meeting at their corporate HQ in Oregon, and they had a presentation from CCI who says it's several things, perhaps in order of cause:
1) Hoarding caused by the Baramanista/Holder scare. Justified?
2) Almost all the US military surplus ammo in their storage pipeline has been exhausted and they have placed massive replenishment orders.
3) (Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy Theory No. 1...) the possibility that our new, more civilized gov'mint will be slapping massive new excise taxation on both ammo and components, and that they may have "asked" [wink-wink-nudge-nudge] the component and ammo companies to hold off while they prepare the legislation.
Wal-Mart has apparently placed a massive order with CCI for primers, due in their stores in early August. Can you imagine the feeding frenzy when they put out that flyer? Even I will be there! But don't expect pricing from the old days.
To that point: you may want to seriously consider putting together an order for components that will provide you with enough stuff for the rest of your life, or at least for the next 5 - 10 years. It's not going to get cheaper, frankly.
Also consider black powder and cast bullets for your plinking and hunting: a 550 gr Postell bullet from your 45-70 or 45-90, cruising along at 1200 fps, will surely "dent" a grizzly's clockwork quite effectively, and in, say, a Marlin 1895 45-70, you can load up at least 4 rounds in the rifle for a veritable volley of highly 'convincing' firepower.
A flintlock will never require primers or fancy bullets. You'd be surprised about the availability of flint, chert, or other suitable ignitors that you can find in the local hills! You can even make your own gunpowder; lots of info on the Net. (Just be careful; it's an explosive rather than a propellant, and must be handled carefully.)
But to drop a deer with a flintlock at 100 yards, after a careful stalk, with a bullet you cast, and powered by black powder you made yourself? Without having to ask Oprah for her permission or cultural approval?
For handguns, cast bullets, esp. in revolvers, are more than enough,. In my .454 Casull, a 275 gr hard-cast bullet @ 1600 fps will, ditto, change the hearts and minds of most anything on the planet.
BTW, check out old hardware stores in small towns for the components they might have on a dusty back shelf, complete with old pricing. Or put a small Primers & Reloading Components Wanted ad in your local paper. Even if it's not something you use, you should probably buy it, esp,. if it's priced well, and you can always resell it for fun and profit.
Or barter it. At a recent local gun show, there was a couple of tables of guys selling bricks (1000 count) of CCI primers for $78 each. Hmmm... nice. Ethical. But a fact of life from now on, I'd say.
It's a changing world guys! We need to be at the forefront!
Last edited by rifleman; 06-09-2009 at 01:34 PM..
Reason: typoz, clarifications
No kidding. I cant seem to find .40cal ammo anywhere and when I do its a 50ct box of hollows for $35.
All I have right now is 150 Brass Blazers ( )
A couple of the Walmarts closest to me have been getting the Blazer Brass .40 S&W in stock fairly regularly. It's still selling for $12.47 per box of 50 when they have it, but they limit purchases to six items. They had four boxes yesterday when I stopped in there, but I didn't buy them since I was buying CCI MiniMag .22LR rounds instead (at that time). Maybe next time I'll buy the .40 S&W when they have it again (though I'm already pretty well stocked).
As for Rifleman's post about prices skyrocketing, that's what I've seen, too. At the gun show this past weekend, one of the large ammo distributors was selling primers for about $35/1000. At the last show a couple months ago, they were only $25/1000 for Winchester, and even less for Wolf (~$22/1000). My local gun store, that I try to support much of the time received some primers, and they are also charging about $75/1000 for what they have. I won't spend that much at this time, because I think it's just greed, but unfortunately, some folks will pay it, which justifies the charging of the higher prices.
Rifleman, I was at the Sunnyside Bi-Mart and it was about the same a couple of weeks ago. Not one primer, not one. NO .22 rimfire. No match, no shorts, no CB's, no birdshot, no nothin.
They had some bulk-pack .40 S&W, some of the less well-known rifle ammo like .257 Roberts, .264 WM, etc. But the military type ammo was about gone, except for a little bit of .223, I think promotional FMJ stuff.
I managed to score some .22 at a little country general store near the house. Needless to say, I ain't sayin where it is!
I did check out for example Cabela's and in a live chat with someone there they said they would have primers the 15th of this month.
The left-wing conspiricy theory is starting to make more and more sense. Although I have heard of guys who didn't previously own firearms buying "2 AR's and 2 pallets of ammo" to the tune of $11,500. How many cases to a pallet? I have also heard of large non-military government orders for ammo, from DHS.
Maybe I should write to my congressman and ask what's up with this?
The left-wing conspiricy theory is starting to make more and more sense. Although I have heard of guys who didn't previously own firearms buying "2 AR's and 2 pallets of ammo" to the tune of $11,500. How many cases to a pallet? I have also heard of large non-military government orders for ammo, from DHS.
I, too, have heard of large government orders that are tying up the resources of the ammo companies, so there is very little left over for sale in the retail channel. I don't know how much truth there is to these rumors, but it does seem to make sense. How would the government be able to seize your guns and ammo if they weren't armed as well as you are?
Its because their is so much demand and people are stocking up from everyhting I hear. I have enough from buying on sales over the years to last me a lifetime.
My local Walmarts got 40's in but no 22's or 45's. As I stood there with the salesperson, calls kept coming in inquiring about ammo. The salesman said if any comes in, they're gone that day.
Its because their is so much demand and people are stocking up from everyhting I hear. I have enough from buying on sales over the years to last me a lifetime.
Yeah, I have a strategic reserve too, but I don't like dipping into it for ordinary plinking, which I like to do.
It would almost be worth it to drive over to Lewiston to see if the CCI plant's parking lot is really full on weekends.
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