Good thing I don't wait until this happens. I'd go bankrupt at these prices...
I've been into 2 gun shops in the last 3 weeks and both have a good supply of powders and loaded ammo. Not so much for bullets and primers.
Like 50%+ for powder and 200-400% for primers. Remember, in early 2020 powder was $26-27lb and the same for 1k primers. A standard cartridge new brass case was in the $.35-.45 range. I bought .375s for $.55/case. They're getting that now for once fired cases. So, to put it in perspective, in the ALL TIME HISTORY of price increases up until 2020 for every reason under the sun (economic recessions, wars, politics, etc), we've now seen the current price increases in just FOUR YEARS. I call BS!
How about primers?
In 2008, we had two major wars we were fighting. Homeland Security was buying massive amounts of ammo. We had the Great Recession and Obama elected as President. Where were these massive ammo and reloading component shortages and price increases then? There were some shortages but not the extreme price increases. I think somewhere in there a pound of powder and 1K of primers went from $20 to $26. But not what we've seen in the last four years alone. I had never seen shotgun shells MIA before this latest "shortage". I think a lot of it has to do with the consolidation of the ammo/component manufacturers. They're the only game in town now and they know it and their price increases reflect that. Just my 2 centavos.
www.powdervalley.com
Very good article Jim! I did know Vista Outdoors owns Alliant powder, Remington (ammo), CCI and Federal. I didn't know about the Russian primers available in mass in the market in 2008. Maybe explains some of the current primer shortage? Thanks!I think that the big jump came because of all the new fire enthusiast that showed up during COVID. They were buying anything and everything and stocking up for the next apocalypse. Look at what happened in grocery stores, and a number of stores still haven't recovered from all the panic buying that went on.
The one thing that gets me is that you can buy all the 5.65x55, 223 Rem, 7.62x39, 9mm, and .40 S&W that you want and at bargain prices. I picked up 1000 rounds of 40 S&W this past summer cheaper than I could load it for.
Here is a little read on the shortages:
Why Is There a Primer Supply Shortage?
Why is there a primer supply shortage? The pros at Powder Valley discuss the causes of The Great Primer Shortage of 2020, and what you should do about it.
By the way Mark, I may need to buy that pound of power back that I sold you a couple of years ago.
