Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Powder and Primer Stocks

Is your local shop well stocked or are you experiencing any shortages? Generally speaking, there isn't as much available at the beginning of the year.

I had some problems with large pistol primers and finding a pound of No 9. It took three stores, and I grabbed the last pound they had.

Best thing to do is find a map of North America, find the nearest highway south and pack up your belongings and get out of Canada. Even with Obama and the pukes we have in charge of this country, it's still better than the crap you have to put up with, there...

Well, I'll stick around here a little longer, thanks.

I have a supplier that lives in Kenora, about 85 miles west that can get me whatever I need in a week if he doesn't have it in stock. and his prices are about the same as the big city. I buy my primers by the thousand lots now, and my powder several pounds at a time. Worth it rather than drive that far to stock up.

I think that, unless you rarely reload, a minimum purchase should be a box of 1000. I like Winchester primers, but will buy Federals as well.

I have also ordered stuff from Higginsons, but unless it's a group buy, the dangerous goods fee and shipping can be steep.

I have bought my large rifle primers in lots of 5000, at each purchase for at least 20 years and I prefer to buy powder in 5 lb. or greater lots of the same lot no. as well. I have a large rifle collection and handload for all except three of my rifles, so, this works well for me.

I am not much of a "pistolero" and only load for my revolvers, so, I usually just buy a 5lb. keg of the two powders I use in these, H-110 and Unique and go with that. I find that by doing this, I have enough components to keep me shooting and the actual cost over time is a bit less than if one buys a bit at a time. The other advantage is the time saved in re-working one's rifle loads when a powder or primer lot is changed and this is an important aspect of safe and efficient handloading.

I have found "Rayn'er'Shine in Saskachewan just great to deal with and "BC Redneck" here is also very good and often has brass that few others seem to stock.

I normally use Federal primers, but I got a real deal on some Remington large pistol primers at 14$ a thousand so I stocked up. Work just fine in my 45 Colt.

I have also used Rayner Shine and BC Redneck and I am happy with their service. The local shop in Victoria, Island Outfitters also has a pretty good stock of the more common powders and bullets. Driving up to Nanaimo next week and will make a stop into Wholesale Sports to use up a Christmas gift certificate.

It's been a few years, but there used to be a shop in Duncan that I went to when I lived in Comox. The name escapes me at present. We dropped in on the way to Vic for gun shows or when taking the wife shopping.

Rayn'er'Shine in Saskachewan is the cheapest place in Canada for bulk powder and primer buys.

I can always find powder but after the last USA elections primers were in real short supply here and match bullets too.I hope to get over to the calgary gun show this spring and stock up on both.

I was impressed with Rayner Shine's selection at Lethbridge show last month. That boy sold a lot of stuff there. I usually go to WSS as it is handy, but, you can tell it is end of year on their booking orders, they are low on a lot and out of a lot of stuff. It will start showing up next month and over the next 3 months again. It is the same cycle all the time there. It was simpler before they expanded and got sold off to UFA. And there is a good portion of our selection and supply woes fully attributable to Chretien and George Bush on the ITAR regs in the U.S., it did not have to be this way.

I've been searching head or tail for brass in either 260 Remington or 250 Savage as of late, and that has been SOUTH of the border. All the large reloading companies show it featured, but when one looks closely, it's not in stock. I don't know about most of you, but for me reloading is a hobby I prefer to do in winter or early spring in bulk, and in small amounts the rest of the year. Hmmmmph!

I feel your pain. It's like that up here six months out of the year. You'll have to keeping searching and put an order in for some at your local shop, if you haven't done this already.

What I do is search for gun shops that have a web presence and make email inquiries. More businesses are on the web these days. It's surprising what you'll find.

There's probably a shop that has 250 or 260 brass and will tell you that they've had it for years. No one wants it.