Just wondering about stuff

[skeet]

How is availability of reloading components in your areas? In the area I live in powder is almost non existent. I don't mean you can't find a bit here and there. But the stores have so little it isn't funny. Sure cabela's has some fairly frequently but not a selection like normal...and they sure are kinda proud of what they have. Which means they are just gouging peoples pocket books and wallets Primers are more available but 40 and 50 dollars a thousand. many caliber reloading bullets are just not anywhere to be found. The price of brass has even come down because people can't find bullets to reload with. 22 ammo was coming back on line for a bit but..now it is becoming hard to find again..and getting even more expensive. Tell us your tales of woe and let us know what is going on and your theories behind all this shortage stuff. Luckily I truly do have enough to load for a while. But I have always kept enough stuff to do about 5000 rounds in large and small rifle and large and small pistol. Shotguns too.

[Dan Morris]

I've been living on my rat hole. Ammo is on shelves if you want to pay $$$$$$$$$$$$ for it. Reloading stuff, I haven't checked.
Dan

[Adam Helmer]

skeet,

Here in north central PA, our local gun shop has powder for about $26 per pound. Primers are about $35 a brick and there are lots of jacketed rifle and pistol bullets. There are 100-round packs of .22 LR for $16.95 EACH! Loaded rifle and pistol factory ammo sales are limited to ONE box per day.

I saw this coming two years ago and "Circled The Wagons" and put my $103 monthly Social Security checks into .22 bricks and other needed stuff. I hope to live long enough to shoot off all my stuff on the heap. The local Walmart occasionally gets in 10 or 20 bulk packs of 333 rounds of Winchester .22 LRHP for $17.97 each. Lots of shotgun shells and factory rifle and pistol ammo with a three box per day limit.

Adam

[popplecop]

Haven't had any problems, but only have been buying shotgun supplies lately. Have to inventory my centerfire stuff soon, am having a hard time finding some brass I need like 45 Colt.

[Gil Martin]

Where I shop there is very little .22 rimfire ammo and it is expensive. Fortunately I am well stocked for a long, long time. Shotgun ammo is usually available with limited selection of shot sizes. Factory rifle and handgun ammo availability is spotty. Reloading supplies are very limited regarding bullets and powder choices. Primers are about the same. Most of the gun shops and stores limit purchases to spread out the supply. Again, I am well stocked and can weather a long dry spell. All the best...
Gil

[Dom]

Most supplies available this side of the pond, but the price is high, along with everything else though. To order components off line is a challenge. Used to be able to get all I wanted from one outfit, now there is so much out of stock you have to visit a dozen sites, and pick out what is available one item at a time. Then comes this S&H charges. I keep a pretty good stock but still a pain.

[skeet]

They told me that they don't see things getting very much better any time soon. Their suppliers are posting doom and gloom reports to them. I also talked to Hodgdon the other day. They don't see powder availability getting much better before the end of this year..if then. They also told me they are shipping more powder than ever..but to where is my question? It is surely in short short supply here.ammunition supplies are terrible as are supplies of 30 cal bullets and others. Luckily I have about 20K .224 bullets and I also have enough brass esp in handgun calibers. Most rifle cals too. but none in rifles to sell any amount of. . Oh well. Snowed again last night. Almost had 'nuff winter. and it is gonna get cold again. We've had more'n 3 ft this winter. Luckily most has either blown away or melted....except around the house. Supposed to get up to a foot more tomorrow through Monday. Oy Vey!!

Got some brass the other day. All told about 7000 rounds in many different calibers. Paid 60 bucks for it. Some new some once fired and some..well...OLD. WWII 06 Even got a couple of loaded30-06 dated 1918 cupro-nickle bullets.. late 50s 7.62 x 51(308) in all that I got there was quite a bit of 250-3000 Savage. There was even a couple hundred 22-250 formed from WWII 06 brass. The guy that did all that work musta valued money over his time. THAT is a lot of work. Checked it out and it is standard 22-250 not 22 Varminter which is a little different. There is also a lot of Military 30-06 fireformed to 30-06 Ackley Improved. And in the last there was a couple hundred new 250 Savage sized to 22-250 with the necks reamed and all. Going to give the WWII 06 to a friend. He has many many thousands of brass of all flavors. At last count he figured he has over 3000 lbs of brass. All tumbled and in coffee cans. He also has another ton of lead for me..yippee! I again have about a 5 gal bucket of 38 Sp brass. Time to start loading again.

[GoodOlBoy]

its all danged near impossible to find around here. As is 22 lr (of course), 30-30 winchester, and any shotgun shells but #8s or 12 gauge buckshot.

Richard

[skeet]

Shotgun ammo is in ok supply. Esp target ammo. Which is of course what is shot the most. If I need hunting ammo I can make it. 22 is nigh on impossible 30-30 ammo is findable but for some odd reason I have a lot of it. If you want to reload for it 30 cal flat nosed bullets are impossible. I had a friend from Md send me a box he had skwerled away...otherwise I just cast the same ol lead bullets(173 gr flat points and load 'em with 10 gr of Unique or another load of 5744. Guys...even reloading presses are selling like hotcakes. I sold 3 of the RCBS combos last weekend at the show. They were new and all but I had only sold 3 previously at all the shows I have done in the last couple of years. I only have 4 Rock Chuckers left in the garage(I use the older RCBS A presses if I use a single stage press). Only press I have bought lately was a Mec Sizemaster 20 ga press and I paid a bit more than usual for it at 60 bucks. But the guy gave me a couple hundred Rem STS hulls books wads about 20 bushings an adjustable charge bar and other sundry stuff. I even got a thousand CCI shotshell primers from him for an extra 10 bucks. I don't buy a lot of shotshell items cause I have so much of it. The press was dirty so I cleaned it and it is gone already for a little profit and I kept the extras. And as stated before I sold a LOT of dies..mostly standard calibers too. My hard to find cowboy type dies aren't selling well, though. I did sell a set of 38-40 and a 44-40 set but had a bunch of brass with 'em as a package deal. 45 Colt brass is extremely hard to find here. I have 'nuff for momma's guns but not enough to sell. I even got a nice 454 cal mould at the show I kept. Cleaned it up and I cast a 100 or so with it yesterday. I think it is a keeper as it cast bullets right from the first. It only cost me 20 bucks and it had handles. I got it and an Ohaus 2 cavity 250 gr mould on handles but it got sold even if it needed a cleaning. All in all components are getting harder all the tim as is ammo of popular calibers. Hoarding?? I truly don't know. people snap up stuff they can use so I don't really think it is that. I just think they can't find it so buy it when they do. I have noticed if you have popular components on a table here at a gun show..there is very little dickering The ol "snooze ya lose" thing is truly in effect. I do hope things get better

[Rapier]

I have not even looked for some time, about a month now. I can reload cheaper than I can buy 22 LR stuff so I do not carry a 22 with me much anymore. I shoot a CF 22 gun most times now. Years ago I walked through shows and bought all of the 5-6 dollar old boxes of .224 bullets I could find. I still have quite a few.

A shop down town has 22 LR ammo under the counter to sell with the 22 guns they sell, now that makes a box of 22 ammo pretty darn sporty. :D

But they do have some powder, actually saw some Varget last time I was in, but I do not load it myself, and I am not going to buy it to resale. I really think now that we went from 1 million retailers to 10 million resellers. I also get the feeling that as long as people are willing to pay six prices, the reselling will continue.
Ed

[skeet]

We do have a load of resellers. I see 22 ammo advertised every week for ridiculous prices. I've been buying and selling stuff since I was 12. Sold my first shotgun then. Just kept going from there. Never saw stuff this hard to find. As far as 22's and handgun ammo. I truly do think there is a hoarding element..maybe on some rifle ammo too. But consider. A place like Wally World gets a supply of 22s. The counter guy calls a friend or two and voila..all gone. I KNOW that happens locally. And the clerk gets a buck or two extra. But consider. You see a box of say 270 Win in the store..it is ok to spend 25 bucks every now and again specially using the ol plastic. Makes stuff disappear quickly..an easy thing to do even for the guy that doesn't really need the ammo. Eventually..it may just even out..but it ain't happening soon guys

[Rapier]

Oh, yes I saw that at Tulsa last year. Wally World locally got in a large shipment of 22 ammo so this guy takes his whole family (mom, dad, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, kids and wife) down and buys two bricks each. Then he has the gall to take one of their shopping carts and bring it into the show about half full of 22 ammo. So he stops in front of my tables and starts selling the $22 a brick ammo for $75 and people are buying it, but he made one mistake, he is blocking my tables. So I go out and ask him what he is doing and he gleefully tells me what he has done. I invite him to go somewhere else. So he leaves. In a minute here comes security, I stop them and ask pointedly why I should ever pay $110 for a table again. By show's end they announce that sale carts will not be allowed in the show again. I guess the other dealers got the chapped fanny. Some of this has just gotten way out of hand. On Friday there were just a few, on Saturday there were about twice the amount and by Sunday they were everywhere. They were not dealers that paid for tables. But the greed got them banned, or so the Big Wanna said.

A question, how do you go about selling bullets in boxes? Do you just sell them or do you limit the amount per buyer?
Ed

[skeet]

When primers were really tight and every one wanted them..I limited a buy to 1 thousand. and don't come back.not even with a friend. I saw one buyer stop a friend of his and give him the money to buy another 1000. I wouldn't sell his friend a box. And Since I know the guy..I will no longer sell anything to him. He was very annoyed when he found out. With powder esp hard to find kinds such a CFE 223 I limit them to one pound. But what I have been doing the last few shows is to only put up one pound of each type. I decided to not sell 22 ammo any longer. Just isn't necessary and you can't replace 'em..no matter what you get for 'em

AS YOU STATED IN A POST. I TOO STILL BUY PARTIAL AND FULL BOXES OF 22 AND 30 CAL BULLETS AT SHOWS..darn cap lock. At my last show I got a bag of 43 100 gr Nosler partitions..the old screw machine type had 44 in the bag...got 'em for 5 dollars. I quit buying 25s cause I have Soooo many now. But you are right. in the 22 size I buy all the 40-50 gr type I find. They load cheaply to make rimfire speed ammo. or Hornet and 222 . You know what I mean. At the last show I bought 4 bags of Hornady 55 SP with Cannelure 200 to a bag for 10 bucks a bag. I PAID the asking price. that was 5 dollars a hundred

[Rapier]

A question, I do not shoot partition bullets myself, do the screw machine made bullets have a turned or machined looking surface? Just wondering on how to ID them.
Ed

[skeet]

The old screw machine partitions have a relief cut in the middle of the bullet.You can't miss it. I will try to take a picture and post it. I buy them all the time in small lots in most calibers. They did that to reduce pressures as the partition was a hard bullet and raised pressures pretty badly....esp with the powders available at the time they came out. We don't know how lucky we are nowdays..even with the powders hard to find. Barnes is doing it with the X bullets now. That bullet really raised pressures so they started putting grooves round the bullet. I had some of the older 130 gr X bullets for the 30 cal I could get 3000 ft per second in the 300 Savage. I can get a little better velocities with the new bullets at safer pressures.

[skeet]

I guess I should make it clear that the relief cuts on the bullets just reduced bearing surface in the barrel. less bearing surface in the bore equates to lower pressure I have been told that some of the A frame bullets have been looked at as having too much bearing surface too. Remains to be seen if they are going to use the usual route to reduce pressures. Looking at some of their loading data ...wow.

[Jack]

The relief cut is really obvious on the old Partitions, you won't mistake it for anything else. The old Partitions also did have very light machine marks on the exterior. You might not notice the machine marks unless you are looking for them, but on close examination, it's obvious they were made on a screw machine, if you are familiar with screw machine work.

[Rapier]

Ok, I will take a look at my partition bullets tonight. I have never opened the boxes.
Ed