Ammo and component shortage

Is anyone finding components? I can not find primers any where and I'm wondering how long this is going to last and what effect it will have on peoples shooting season(s).

I think we all are going to be doing a lot of dry firing. As long as the public is going to continue panic buying there will be a shortage. I will not pay 40 cents a primer as on GunBroker. Might have to take up fishing. I hear worms are pretty cheap.

Bill

Local leagues have been effected in my area. The 50ft indoor league is not happening, largely due to ammo/components. Also has been concern that match turn out at my local club may hurt match turnout. At the moment I still have most of what I bought for last season, as I didn't have as much shooting opportunity as I had anticipated, so I have not really been looking for components.

Thanks for fixing the post Bill.

An older shooter and I just discussed this topic. His advice to any shooter of any discipline is during the good years (R) stock up on everything affordable to withstand at least three years of the bad years (D)

Let's see, the gun, ammunition, component shortage lasted through eight years of the Obama administration. If Kamelnose Harris gets elected President, this one could either last longer, or end when gun and ammunition related items are banned. 

I wonder if this is why there are fewer shooters at the range. Is ammunition getting too expensive to shoot?

I noticed 100 rounds of 22lr on sale for $7.50 a box. Glad I bought two cases of CCI SV velocity last March. They were $200 a  500 round case. Could not afford them now.

There are other options.  If it gets to the point where I can't do my reloading, I'll be going to the range with my Ruger Old Army Black Powder gun.  I think those guns are available (used), and components were still for sale the last time I looked.  

Shooting goes slower than with more modern guns and ammo, so the ammo you have goes further.

Interesting reading about this:
https://www.bullseyeforum.net/t9773-black-powder-bullseye

Jason, you are an expert at Black Powder - is this a reasonable suggestion?

The guns aren't all that expensive either:
[url=https://www.gunbroker.com/Ruger-Old-Army/search?Keywords=Ruger Old Army]https://www.gunbroker.com/Ruger-Old-Army/search?Keywords=Ruger%20Old%20Army[/url]

I am afraid to use any commercial range, or participate in any shooting group, so it's not affecting me much now.

I'm with you abut that, completely.  When the virus started getting out of hand, I stopped shooting - middle of 2020.  I haven't fired any gun since mid-year.  When I went to the range I had already started showing up before anyone else, at 9am, and taking up a position away from where others might be.  I have ONLY gone to outdoor ranges.

Now I've had my second vaccination a week ago tomorrow.  I figure in two weeks I can go back to the range, wearing a mask, and again get there when it first opens, avoid others, and while I'd like to compete in matches, that may be starting up again this month, the only match I plan to participate in is the virtual "match" where I submit targets here.

If I run out of components, or start running out, I will be taking my Ruger Old Army.  I bought lots of firing caps, another 100 round bullets, and was given a small amount of black powder which should be more than enough for me.  

If I hadn't gotten vaccinated - I would write exactly what you just wrote.  Sad.

From what I've seen supply has been ratcheting tighter and tighter. 

There are plenty of ways to practice without ammo, but its going to really suck to drive to the next state for a leg match to see 4 (or less) other competitors and no points available for anyone.

The mess we are in now pales in comparison to when things dried up back in 2013.  I won't even have the motivation to start looking for things in stock until 2022 or later based on the this tsunami of panic buying and new first time gun owners competing for the scarce supplies now.

I was not a BE shooter back then, but back then I still kept about 1 years worth of components on the shelf.  I started shooting BE in 2017 and started to follow  the three year rule others have suggested. 

I've now taken stock of what I have now and I plan to ration 32K  rounds of 22 LR, and 5K each of large and small pistol primers to last 2-3 years. I plan on LOTS more dry firing and breaking out my 10 Meter Air Pistol and Air Rifle more often. I don't think we will ever see a pellet shortage-lets hope not!

 I socked in plenty of powder and my local gun dealer who sells reloading components casts lead and PC bullets so thankfully I've got a reliable supply of bullets for the SL but I have to ration my LL competition hollow points for the 45 and 32 ACP. Good luck to all, we'll get through this!

I've given up on shooting this year, and probably for the next 4 years or more.    

I just bought a laser dry fire training outfit for $90 + shipping.  Turns out I spent a few bucks more than I needed to.  I could have gotten by with a laser cartridge off Amazon, a 50 foot NRA pistol target (B-2) and a couple of free apps for my android phone.  If you are thinking of giving it a try, you can do it for cheap.

I have a few unobstructed 50 foot runs in my house, but for some reason, the phone doesn't pick up the hits at that range.  It seems to work fine at about 35 feet or closer.  I'm thinking I may need a better laser cartridge, or better batteries.   I saw a YouTube video of a guy shooting outdoors at 50 yards, so I need to figure out what's going on with my cartridge.  

The apps all seem to be touchy to set up.  The Strikeman, which I bought, is really tough.  The lighting, and the distance between the target and phone, have to be just so, or phone will register phantom shots - lots of them, or won't register hits at all.  The easiest app to set up and use is G-Sight.  The are in-app purchases to upgrade features, but most wouldn't do anything for the bullseye shooter.  On the plus side, you can fire 10 shot strings for free and go back and review each hit on the target in order, and can see all 10 in aggregate.  For me, it's a good way to see how I'm doing with reducing my group size (in addition to dry fire training).

I haven't exactly embraced dry firing.  Although I know it's essential, it's too darned boring.  In contrast, the laser is kinda fun.  I set up my target and phone on camera tripods so they are out of the way, and can be left up.  I find myself dry-firing several times per day.  When we finally have enough ammo and/or reloading supplies to get back to actual shooting, I figure I should be ready.

Slamfire wrote:Let's see, the gun, ammunition, component shortage lasted through eight years of the Obama administration. If Kamelnose Harris gets elected President, this one could either last longer, or end when gun and ammunition related items are banned. 

I wonder if this is why there are fewer shooters at the range. Is ammunition getting too expensive to shoot?

I noticed 100 rounds of 22lr on sale for $7.50 a box. Glad I bought two cases of CCI SV velocity last March. They were $200 a  500 round case. Could not afford them now.

Is this a precision shooting forum or an outlet for political blame?  It's really the shooters that are creating the shortage by hoarding and hysterics.

Schaumannk wrote:......I disagree.  It is scalpers creating the shortage.  And when the bottom drops out, which it will,   a lot of them I’ll be stuck holding the bag.  

You might want to correct that typo....     :-)

But when there are GB auctions with actual bids selling cases of primers for $2k its hard to blame scalpers, that's supply and demand in action.

zanemoseley wrote:But when there are GB auctions with actual bids selling cases of primers for $2k its hard to blame scalpers, that's supply and demand in action.

No one so forcing you to buy it at that price.  And it isn’t life or death.   It’s a hobby.    When the prices get so ridiculous that people stop paying them, the shortage will be over until the next big crisis.  


I happen to be friends with a great group of bullseye shooters.  We have been trading stuff around to plug the gaps.  I think I will be riding this one out just fine.   I will feel bad if this reduces attendance at the National matches.   I want to see all my friends this summer unlike last year.

The phycology of demand.  Why is there a shortage?  Because of trust.  We don't know what is going to happen to this country.  We are lied to by the media, education, entertainment and the government.  In fact, one could argue much of what we believe to be settled facts, are based on accepted lies.  The people put in charge of defending and upholding our social contract, (the Constitution), are in the process of changing the agreement, without the agreed process (i.e. amendment through convention).  We don't know exactly how the Constitution is being changed, because much of it is being kept secret, either through censorship (e.g. omission of honest journalism) or by legislation (e.g. secret no fly lists, secret surveillance, no-knock raids, ect.).  This is a political rant. But we now live in a society where politics, cultural wokeness and collectivism demand your (manufactured) compliance.  You are not allowed to ask to be left alone.  So, where am I going with this?  I'm not really sure.  However, think it has something to do with the ammo/components shortage.  /Rant off

Vociferous wrote:The phycology of demand.  Why is there a shortage?  Because of trust.  We don't know what is going to happen to this country.  We are lied to by the media, education, entertainment and the government.  In fact, one could argue much of what we believe to be settled facts, are based on accepted lies.  The people put in charge of defending and upholding our social contract, (the Constitution), are in the process of changing the agreement, without the agreed process (i.e. amendment through convention).  We don't know exactly how the Constitution is being changed, because much of it is being kept secret, either through censorship (e.g. omission of honest journalism) or by legislation (e.g. secret no fly lists, secret surveillance, no-knock raids, ect.).  This is a political rant. But we now live in a society where politics, cultural wokeness and collectivism demand your (manufactured) compliance.  You are not allowed to be asked to be left alone.  So, where am I going with this?  I'm not really sure.  However, think it has something to do with the ammo/components shortage.  /Rant off

   Humans and economic systems thrive on predictability.   
People are hunkering down because of uncertainty.   However,   Like the great toilet paper shortages of last spring, you can only sustain panic mode for so long.   I don’t want to get political here.   I come from a state where we are quite capable of dealing with those individuals who aren’t working for the tax payers anymore.   I believe things will be clearer in 2022.

I think there is little to nothing we as shooters can do to improve the supply of components or ammo.  Placing the blame for it is fun and makes us feel better but that's about all.  The only things we can really control is what we shoot and how often to conserve what we have.  Here's some of the things I'm doing to conserve:

I'm starting to use old reloads I have lying around that have gone out of fashion for me.  In my case this consists of a bunch of single action revolver loads I made before getting into BE.  That runs the gambit of uber hot to cowboy action loads and some in between. So, I will use those guns and ammo (9mm, 357, 44M, 45 colt, etc.) for practicing slow fire instead of 22 or 45.  It's kinda given me a good reason to shoot some of my other guns and ammo that have been collecting dust since I got into BE.

I'm also starting to shoot my black powder pistols more.  Like Jason and Mike I have revolver, percussion, and flint pistols.  As been mentioned because the rate of fire is so low it tends to stretch available supplies much further.  I've even started making my own percussion caps with beer cans and prime all compound since even percussion caps are now hard to find.  I don't plan to get into making homemade primers for smokeless though since they are corrosive and too time consuming.

I am fortunate to have a decent inventory of smokeless reloading components and can also cast bullets.  My present plan is to continue to shoot local BE matches for as long as I can with what I've got and can make.  However, if the shortage continues well into 2022 or beyond I will be out - as I refuse to pay gouged prices.

6P Rule

Enough said.

Hello all,

7P Rule.

Jim

"Purchase Plenty of Primers, Powder, Projectiles Prior to Political Posting"

is actually 8 (eight).

I think the Brits coined the 7 P version.

Yes, I know my comments don't solve anything or help anyone, but then again neither does complaining about politics or hoarding or price gouging.

So, we might as well smile about it and try to find a little humor where and when we can.  As least I'm planning on having some matches this year.  I'll probably have some .22 ammo for those that don't.  Just like last time.  

This too shall pass.  (But consider it a learning experience.) 

CR