Primers at Target Sports

https://www.targetsportsusa.com/federal-large-pistol-primers-150-case-of-5000-150-p-112115.aspx

Um, yeah. 

Available is good. 4 times what they should cost... not so much. But it's a start.

I'm sure they will be sold out very soon. As long as people keep paying, they will keep the prices up.

I sure hope this isn't the new normal.

It probably is.

All of the CCI Standard Velocity they had at $485/case are sold out.

As long as people are snapping them up at this (inflated) price, it'll most likely stay that way until the market is saturated.

Full disclosure: I know zip about economics, but I saw the same thing happen with .22lr a few years ago.

$485/case wasn’t that far off from pre-Covid times

$800 for $400 worth of primers is gouging

It wasn't that long ago when we chased cases of 22 at prices above 500. My last 2 cases after rebate cost me 200 each. i think once supply catches up to demand we will see somewhat of the same thing. I have seen softening in a number of areas that gives me comfort that we will see a gradual reduction. We can only hope.

Look, there's still a lot of "new gun owners" out there right now. The novelty will wear out soon enough, and people will put their new toys in a safe (hopefully), and forget about them. There's also a new ammo plant opening soon (Wisconsin?), middle of this year. I'm already seeing more primers and powder available, even with labor shortages and no new functioning plants. To me, that says demand for finished ammunition has peaked, and is starting to subside. Powder and primer manufacturers are starting to sell more to resellers, and not sell everything to ammo manufacturers (or keeping it for themselves to make ammo). Prices are still crazy for ammo because people are just starting to see stuff come into stock. Give it a few more months, and my guess is that 22 prices come down, and most items will be in stock again at more reasonable prices. They might not come down to what they were, due to labor costs and material costs, but I don't think they'll be too far off. Just my humble opinion.

Dave

Then there was this from December 21, 2021:  Rising Material Costs Induce Vista Outdoors Ammunition Price Increases


Effective 4/1/2022, CCI, Federal, Hevi–Shot, Remington, and SPEER ammunition will take the following price increases: 

• Primers – 5%
  
  
• Powder – 5%
  
  
• Handgun – 2-8%
  
  
• Rifle – 3-8%
  
  
• Shotgun – 3-12%
  
  

Additionally, due to continued demand, NO new Primer orders will be accepted until further notice. 

I bought a case of both SP and LP from them today. I just said the hell with it and did it, the primers were the weak link in my inventory. After all of this settles down I'm going to keep at 30K of both SP and LP on the shelf as current inventory. I couldn't bear to risk running out of reloads this season! Painful but necessary.

I checked GunJoker for recent sales and the gougers seem to be getting even higher prices per case which stunned me. Bruno Shooters Supply had SP match primers for the same price as Target Sports USA today, I have not considered Bruno's to be gougers in the past I think this is what we are stuck with for the time being.

Every shortage I live through makes me wanna stock up that much more. I was stocked decent before covid in Spring 2020 but didn't expect the craziness to begin fully until the election in November so missed out on a good half year of buying. CCI SV was $225 and $170 for primers and there were rebates. The older I get the more I could suck it up and drop a couple grand to really get some inventory when the times are right. It's really better than cash in the bank just sitting there, good price ammo and primers will never lose money.

Once the storm passes, l think we'll see a crash in prices as the supply will have caught up and most folks won't pay exorbitant prices anymore. Businesses know this and have seen it before. If you keep a reasonable stock, and don't binge, you're dollar cost averaging.

Let's not forget about inflation - 7% and rising.  It's going to have its way with the prices, even after demand for firearms softens.  I don't see inflation going away anytime soon.  If we repeat what happened in the 70s and 80s (I remember it well), anything related to firearms is going to get a whole lot more expensive.

Last year I bought a Styer LP50 and I've saved lots of $$$ with it vs 22 LR ammo, the RWS light Meisterklugen pistol pellets I use so far have been a steal and not subjet to the price frenzy.  I just got my last batch from Neil Stepp at ISS few weeks ago for something like $7.50 per tin, which is at least 25% lower than my initial purchase last year from Champions choice and it's way less than what Pyramid Air charges!  

This little AP offsets some of the pain of the rising prices of feeding the RF, CF & 45! I'm on track to get at least 10K through the LP 50 by my one-year purchase anniversary this spring-it keeps me sane!

You've got me thinking about air pistols.  Pretty pricey for the pistols.  However, you can't beat the price for the pellets.

Just got a Thousand small rifle;  I have more money than time left to shoot, so I buy what I want.  But I stay within the fire code.  

Fin, Feather and Fur which is a large chain of outdoor stores here in Ohio is charging $11 for a hundred lg or small pistol primers. I call that gouging. I don’t like the prices from Target Sports but they seem to the best option recently. I recently bought a case of each and I don’t regret it.

When primers cost more than 22lr, the price is too high for me.