Ammo = latest toilet paper, this is ridiculous! This ammo deal will end up costing me a friendship, and it will cost my former friend the ability to stay and hunt on my ranch every year.
A couple 4 weeks ago I was trying to source ammo to practice for our upcoming trip to Africa in June. When I couldn’t really find much at the time for what I unknowingly saw as a decent price, I was forced to start considering reloading. A friend has an automatic indexing loader and it reminded me of when I loaded shotgun shells. I started to research whether or not this was the route I needed to take to ensure we would have some shells for practice. Not having reloaded since I was a kid, I saw that equipment in some ways has come a long way, (the actions are the same but for instance powder measuring looks much less tedious). At the same time I was researching, my friend happened to call.
We had a discussion about what I should buy, and what my goal was. At the time, 308’s that I could find were just over 2 dollars per round for ammo I bought in the past for less than a dollar. I told him this seemed to be ridiculous, he then shared that he had stockpiles of powder and primers and if I supplied the dies for the calibers he didnt have, he could get me some shells. I said wow thats very generous, I can pay you to do it. He said, he didnt want payment, but our friendship and the hunting I comes here to do each year would be payment enough.
I thought ok— and told him “Well lets see if we can even get the stuff to reload what I need. Let’s look around and see what is available and what it costs— I have brass so that isn’t a bid deal.”
2 hours later he sends me an invoice for 1800 bucks— I looked it and he had gone ahead and purchased the dies and trays and a ton of brass — (which I already had from spent cartridges we had already shot).as well as some stuff for himself.
He is a different kinda cat, and I just let the purchase (before we agreed on anything) go. Additionally there were some things in there I knew he didnt need to reload my stuff and the total was a couple hundred bucks, I figured that was his compensation.
Without powder and primers or labor if he charged me— we were already at more than I could have found the ammo in the first place for. Now forward 3 weeks and ammo is even harder to get and people are losing their minds and paying agregious prices for ammo and components on gunbroker. Panic buying just like toilet paper.
We met halfway last week and he gave me the ammo— including some ammo in calibers I didn’t even have or asked for. (So I took that as a sign from god and bought a new 7mm-08- lol)
Last night, he sends me a note saying he wants his powder replaced (varget mostly) and wants like 8lbs and wants large rifle primers and further says these components are no longer going to be available and this is how the Democrats are going to control the masses, and keep them unarmed. He wants his powder and primers now and I can drop ship it to his house.
So, for 300 308’s, 200- 22-250, 100-7-08 and 100-270’s I was first out 1800, now if I replaced everything ASAP on a deal I never agreed to in the first place, I am guessing I’d be out another 1800+.
I saw folks asking for 900 bucks for the powder alone— I am not sure what 1400 large rifle primers would go for.
I am livid—perhaps I shouldn’t be, in his defense— he is losing his mind,and I am sure is wearing a tin foil hat. Initially he told me he had 15000 primers and that making me 500 308’s to practice off sticks with would be not big deal, he had powder and would be good with this stuff.
We discussed other calibers in the conversation and he took it upon himself to just reload all the other stuff, admittedly I saw the quantities of bullets he bought, but didnt check the calibers as I was mad about the 1800 bucks, but figured it would work itself out —
He txted me that he was going to load me some other stuff as well — I told him man were are spending more than I could have just bought ammo for and he said costs would plummet in the future because I would have brass —I told him I already had it before we went down this road in the first place— he didnt want to wait till later on brass because it would be gone and pulled the trigger when he found components, I told him well lets not do that again in the future.
Last night. Get a not saying he wants his powder and primers replaced at todays prices.
I responded to the note, and told him I would replace his stuff, but not at the prices I was seeing on gun broker, I was willing to pay a reasonable premium but not 300%+. If he was unhappy with this I would meet him halfway and give him his stuff back and he could either use them himself in the coming conflicts, or sell them or possbily disassemble them sand recover components (not even sure this is possible), or he could wait— I further told him the sky was not falling and eventually production would catch up. What did he want to do? Well, he is calling and as I canning be civil I am not going to pick up the phone for a day or 2 to cool off.
Drama — and for nothing— this whole thing is a dumpster fire!
