I've been reading about various manufacturers of ammo, brass, powder, primers, etc, talking about how all factories are in "high gear", 24/7 (blah blah) trying to keep up with demand.

None of the local (larger) retailers have had any powder or primers in Months, none, nada, zero. None of the usual online retailers havent had any either, and I havent received any notifications from any of them, and I check daily on the stores sites as well.

What I havent been able to figure out, is 'where' all this production (assuming its even true) is actually going, and who is really getting it. It sure as hell isnt showing up here in Northern Kalifornia. Even the shooting club I am a member of, hasnt been able to get any stock for their little store for quite some time.

In order for it to be in such demand, it has to be selling, yet how can it sell when none have apparently been in stock for ages, and retailers arent receiving any. Is it all going to ammo manufactures first?

Just curious as to what your experiences and observations have been so far about acquiring reloading supplies.

Griff

There is nothing in MN either. The suppliers won’t even let you back order. I am afraid if you don’t have it you are never going to get it..
We can’t even buy Pheasant Hunting loads here.

Yep! Every time this happens (multiple times in the past 12 years) I too am suspicious of the excuses we get from the manufacturers.

Exactly, and that is another point that makes me a bit suspicious about the whole situation. IF they are truly making that much, really no reason not to allow back-orders. I'm sure many wouldnt mind waiting X amount of weeks (or whatever) knowing it will eventually show up.

To me, it seems they are either not truly making as much as they say, or, they are and its going somewhere other than Joe Public.

Maybe it's a case of not wanting to lock in a current price with the customer for some future delivery date when they could potentially fetch twice as much for the same order.

I picked up a pound of AA2105 today. It's my favorite .223 bolt action powder. Well, maybe that is 3031. But, then again .......

I got it at Sportsman's Warehouse. Other than that, the shelves are pretty bare.

kwg

everything for firearms is scarce as hens teeth.
almost like a dry run exercise to see if there's a revolt when the door on guns / ammo / reload components is slammed shut soon.

also.....these freaking hoarders need to be lynched.......save some for the next man !!
buying ammo & components for your great great grandkids to use.....REALLY ??

do we REALLY think the gov't is buying up supplies for .44 Russian & .38 Short ??

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What a day...

I started making some calls today to a few of the larger online retailers, trying to get a handle on where stuff is. Short story is, they have outstanding orders with several powder and primer manufacturers, and nothing is being delivered, and the manufacturers arent talking.

I tracked down a couple of Buyers that work at national brick & mortar retail chains. 1 of the 2 I was able to contact wasnt willing to say much, other than theyve been waiting for orders for more than 90 days. The other indicated essentially the same thing, but noted (which may be complete bull hockey), that powder and primers are going to other distributors first. They were not willing to say anything beyond that, so I have no idea what 'other distributors' even means.

Both were a bit stand-offish, and seemed surprised that I was able to navigate their corporate labyrinths to get to them lol.

Very frustrating trying to get to the truth of things.

This is the same old sh*t with ammo & reloading supplies every time there's a political panic.

One of the times this happened, some gun owners were posting pics of their primer stash & one guy had 3 or 4 columns of bricks of primers stacked up from the floor of his reloading room to his waistline.

Others buy up all they can so they can gouge their fellow shooters by charging whatever the traffic will bear.

When it ends (and it will) they'll be some bargains for us out there.

I received a call back from one of the online retailers today. Stunned I got a call-back at all.... had some interesting information. Apparently all CCI and Remington primer production has been diverted to Federal Ammunition production, Winchester has diverted all of theirs to their own ammo production as well as a few other smaller ammo producers.

How good is the info... hell if I know, but it would certainly explain some things.

It makes sense give the massive surge of gun sales in the last many months, new people are starving for ammo, and most dont reload. Given that ammo is selling like hotcakes at crazy prices, these companies are raking in the dough for sure.

Pandemic and politics. It's really that simple. I've never seen prices so high and product so scarce in all my life. People started buying and hoarding and it seems there's no price too high when people feel desperate. Now and then product comes in to normal online sources, but don't blink or you'll miss it.

Just a couple weeks ago Powder Valley got two powders I use in stock at basically normal prices. I thought about it too long and ended up only getting one type, A1680 because the CFE BLK I was going to order with it had sold out that fast.

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try locating .38 - .357 bullets. likely got enough factory and some handloads for some time to come just in light of 2-300 rounds of 9 Makarov on hand for my fav handgun but still may come to the point I'll have to sell my Colt and rounds could bring 2 or 3x the going price.

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Pandemic, riots in major US cities with no real accountability on either side followed by 10 Million plus new gun owners and throw in all the political unrest and you have the perfect storm for what you see going on now.

Ammo mfg. most of the major ones are producing as much ammo as they can by working extra hours and shifts but they haven't increased the size of the production line. First off those same ammo mfg. also make the primers us reloader use so who do you think is going to get the first dibs on them. Secondly many of the powders us reloaders use these days come for foreign countries, and they are shipped via boat not flown in due to regulations.

Honestly unless your new to this game of firearms and reloading and didn't see this coming especially since this is not the first time it happened which is basically every four years of the last twenty years I can't imagine anyone being caught short on reloading components.

I pretty much don't need anything, I put a plan in place many years ago to make sure I didn't find myself short on anything I needed because at some point you just have to realize there may come a time when you just can't go to the store and get what you want or need and thats not just reloading supplies either. You have to stay ahead of the curve and be proactive.

May be a bit premature, but I'm starting to see gun prices of SOME models starting to slip slightly downward with online retailers of guns & gun accessories (CDNN for one example).

Could it be that hoarders & panic buyers are starting to saturate?

100% agreed.

Like you, I have a bit of a stash, so good for a while. My main problem is the air of secrecy surrounding production and where its really going. I understand the whole raw capitalism thing, and the manufacturers making the buck, etc... These manufactures portray themselves as being 'the good guys' using the 'doing the best we can' mantra aimed at the reloaders standpoint, but its clear to me at least, that reloaders were happily, and without hesitation, thrown under the bus by these same folks.

For manufacturers, if your primer production is going all to ammo because of demand, then just say so. Dont try to hide that fact, people will figure it out eventually, and the optics arent good at that point. I'd like to think the overall gun community (i.e. shooters & manufacturers) would be a bit more honest with everything in general.

Some are always late to come to the party.

Can't help with finding primers or powder but, Everglades seemed to have some pistol and rifle bullets available tonight, 9mm, 40, 223. 500 count only. Didn't look like they were limiting how many could be ordered.

https://www.evergladesammo.com/