How is your availability for most components, firearms parts, etc? Any shortages or slow delivery times?

I ordered a 30-303 barrel from MGM in June. My importer tells me that things are moving slowly. I thought it was because of the beer virus, but he says the US election has slowed things.

What are you seeing there?

80% of everything is out of stock, and what is in stock is usually MSRP+P.

I need to have one of my relatives go work at Hornady... preferably the night shift, and carry a large lunch box.

Most places that carry components are wiped out.

People prepping for the end of the world as we know it, if the election goes sideways.

The firearms and component makers must be making a small fortune then. If they are running at capacity, but cannot keep up, then business is good.

One example that really encapsulates the current situation, Steve:

Rocky Mountain Reloading is a business that is located in Idaho, which now produces several of their own style of pistol and rifle bullets. They began just selling bulk seconds, pulled bullets, and other manufacturer-rejects. This year, they've hired several new people, bought another shop, several new pieces of equipment including several new bullet making machines, and are still more than 8 weeks behind on current orders. Most people have never heard of them, and they are cranking out at full capacity now, and they are still slowly getting farther behind. The owner plans to be totally out of debt by the end of the year, even after purchasing a new building and lot, several pieces of machinery, and hiring the new full-time employees. I'd say business is indeed booming.

They make excellent pistol bullets, by the way. I used some last year in a 9mm during a grouse hunt where I grabbed the wrong long gun. I was able to shoot a grouse out of tree as far away as 60 yards (though that was the long shot of the day by a wide margin). If you'd like some bullets for next year, at an excellent price, you can buy now....

The manufactures are putting all their components into loaded ammo.It seems like all delivery systems USPS,Fedex,UPS are flush with work and very slow.

Not being able to find 30-06 ammo kinda tells the tale...

I keep hearing this but where's all the loaded ammo?

some of us rat holed plenty components we knew this day would come again.and this time its going to take some time before its over.

Some of you should consider making your own jacketed bullets.

LMAO, They were pretty much shutdown for 3 months. Hall county, Grand Island just opened back up in Sept. I live 30 miles from GI and the shelves are empty for 100 mile radius. They are running 3 shifts just making ammo till their primer source dries up. Nothing to speak of for components going out the door. No money in it compared to loaded ammunition. So good fuggin luck.

HuntnShoot, I've have 500 9mm pistols ordered from RMR, Ordered them Aug.11th still waiting.

Not many components available here but I saw the handwriting years ago and I’m personally pretty well supplied.

At a local commercial reloader/new loader the bottleneck seems to be primers. They can give me a schedule of what they'll have available about a month out, and it all hinges on primer deliveries.

Yeah, if you can't make it go bang, powder and bullets aren't worth squat.

Yep, I just bought 1,000 match grade sparkplugs yesterday. Where’s my foodsaver? LOL!

Well, when they all hack their lungs up and keel over it will be a smorgasbord for those that survive. Just kick a door in and everything will be laid out in new boxes next to the computer.

I was out yesterday looking for a stripped AR lower so hit a few stores. Short of 9mm and 223 ammo and small pistol primers I pretty much could have bought about anything at full retail prices. I did buy a Spikes lower for $115.

It's a sad deal. At least I can say that in my experience, they are worth the wait.

I wanted to load up a big batch of 9mm for my brother recently because he acquired a new handgun and carbine. I've got a few thousand primed brass, but no bullets. I almost put in an order anyway, but I figure I'll wait until the election is over to see if the wait will be worse or better. Maybe by next summer? I hope you get your order soon.

"The sky is going to fall, the sky is going to fall!"

But if you have no bullets, primers aren't worth squat either. It's reloading interactive!




So, what's this unrest I keep hearing about? As a Canadian, I am wondering when it will start.

Take a few hi-cap nines and a few AR's to your local range, Steve, and do some shooting. The unrest will become evident shortly.

We are limited to 10 rounds in autoloading handguns. ARs are only allowed to be used at the range. No hunting. No dirt pile shooting.

I have seen the news coverage about your election, but since I don't live there, I'm not seeing or hearing it first hand. Media reporting isn't always trustworthy.

HuntnShoot, my RMR 9mm bullets just came and with a handwritten note thanking me for waiting !!

Good deal! I like those guys a lot. Seem to be a group of genuine folks who are not only patriots, but also just good people.

I ordered a Contender carbine barrel from MGM in early March. At that time, their web page said to expect 4 to 6 weeks for delivery. Long story short, after a bit of nudging in the form of a couple of emails that I sent them, I had my barrel in hand in early September. It was however, worth the wait. It is very well made, and quite accurate. Good luck.

Don't know, have enough ammunition, powder, primers, brass and bullets to last me the rest of my life, saw this coming WAY off, good luck to those that didn't.

After hearing all this talk about upcoming unrest it seems like a strong reason to keep our borders closed. It might help keep some of the trouble makers out of Canada.

Jim

LMAO, this coming from a progressive, gun control, Justin Trudeau loving country.

There are thousands of us who don't love Trudeau, in fact we would love to be rid of him. As far as gun control measures go, while I don't like them I have never felt threatened anywhere I have traveled across our country to the point where I felt any need to go armed. Whether it is paranoia or actual need in your country I guess it depends upon where you are. Anyway as long as we are both happy about where we live I guess that is the important thing.

Jim

Yes, I like their barrels. I have six. That includes a barrel screwed onto a bolt gun.

What I have learned over the years is patience. Whether an order is coming from the US or Europe, don't expect it tomorrow.

I don't think the election has slowed anything. The beer virus however has interrupted manufacturing big time and also some delivery services. I need a new mower deck for a John Deere lawn mower and can't get it.....it's not just ammo components that are slowed badly.

We also have severe buying of reloading components and factory ammo due to the lootings and rioting and lawlessness going on and this causes shortages of many things when demand goes sky high. Handgun ammo and shotshell slugs and shotshell buckshot are nearly non existent. Some handguns are not available as are tactical shotguns and semi auto short rifles such as the sks and ak-47 style of guns Want a used M-1 carbine?.....go to the bank and take out a loan!!!! Americans are well armed but I seriously doubt that all but a few of the new gun buyers are capable of using them with any proficiency at all.

Geez, if it's not one thing it's another. I hope things settle down after the US election and the beer virus loses steam!

Glad I stocked up on components years back. Buckets of lead, bags and bags of shot, moulds, primers, powder. At 76, I might be set.

Like others who read the tea leaves, I’m well-stocked, and “balanced”, that is I have enough of all categories of components to keep at it. Was at a small LGS last week and they had almost no ammo at all. Occasional spot checks online for primers are disappointing. I did get in line for some .223 back in August which is scheduled to arrive in a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed on that!

Delivery times are all over the place. The worst are the hybrid shipping methods; stuff just disappears or hangs up en route, then suddenly arrives, or not. OTOH, a rifle I bought from a shop in Alaska shipped via Priority Mail on a Friday, and arrived at my dealer Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule. Regrettably, he had just gotten a COVID exposure notification and can’t turn it over until his isolation period is over.

BTW, I had the seller pack that one in a cheap hard case because of all the damaged parcels I’ve received. $30 extra was cheap insurance, and I have the case to boot. Wouldn’t be surprised if the folks who work in shipping are starting to feel the pressure and getting a bit careless.

On a positive note; I stopped at the grocery for some stuff yesterday and for the first time in months, did NOT buy any just-in-case TP.

On pallets in people’s basements—right along side the 22lr ammo, primers, and toilet paper............

I am all set, and have not looked to buy any reloading supplies. lately. Have sold some bullets that people were looking for and I was not using.

After reading this thread I perused a couple of sites and inventory looks bleak. Like others have stated riots, virus and election are all playing into this current situation.

It’s interesting that every time there’s a shortage people start blaming it on hoarding. I haven’t bought powder or primers in 6 years since I retired. Stocked up on those. Still have 10 flats of bulk 22LR the last that were bought in 2007, but did replace 3 flats that I gave away during the shortage to our clubs Appleseed program for youth and ladies learning to shoot.
Started buying 556 ammo when PSA was selling it with a 50.00 per can rebate which brought 55 grain down to 23 cents and 62 grain to 30. I couldn’t reload it for cheaper. Got about 6000 rounds of each. Hoarding? No way, just smart buying.
Now you want to know why no loaded ammo, pull your head out of the sand. 5 million + new gun owners since July. All buying loaded ammo and when they ran out of that reloading components. Pandemic shut down the factories as I said earlier Hornady was shut down for 3 months.
If you haven’t got ammo or components it’s your own short sightedness that caused it.

In other words, you hoarded during the last hoarding........

I've never considered it hoarding when one buys quantity when it's on sale.
Last year Reed's had a spring blow out sale on Winchester steel shot shells. I drove to Walker and bought as much as I could afford at the time. They had to use a fork lift to put the pallets in my Ram. I ended up paying less than $5.00 a box for 3" #2,BB & BBB DryLok Super Steel. I have enough to last me the rest of my hunting life.
Not hoarding just smart buying.

The problem here is US shooters lack a "Costco" for shooting supplies. Buying in bulk seems to be the way to go now. I'd love to see some shrink-wrapped multi-jug packs of powder that I just put in my shopping cart.

If this pandemic bullsheit and the Communists leading the Democrats came as a surprise and caught you flat-footed, shame on you. I have not bought one round of .22, 9mm, .45 ACP, or 5.56 in three or four years. I learnt my lesson 12 years ago. For waterfowl shells, I always buy case lots a year ahead of time just to make sure I have the loads and shot sizes I want. No hoarding here, just practical stocking. I did order one box each of three different caliber Barnes TTSX bullets to restock my hunting reload box. Happy Trails

Not too much in the store I frequently go to.

Yeah, the shelves are pretty empty. I order most of my powder from a place called Higginsons.

Ok, apparently nobody on the ‘fire hoards—but SOMEBODY is..........

And yes, the supply chain has slowed, but entire year(s) worth of production of ammo and components disappeared in a couple months.

Shortly after Trump was elected and hoar—er, stocking up stopped, and components became plentiful (and prices even decreased), I hoar—er, stocked up.

I have enough elk worthy components to keep me and my son in elk meat for the rest of my life.

Plus enough ammo to keep the Zombie BLM Looters at bay for quite some time.........

I have a case - 10,000 primers - of Winchester Large Rifle primers. I'll sell them for $5,000




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Steve, hope you guys are doing well in Canukistan. The "beer" virus as you call it has affected a lot but it looks like reality has set in and the communists and totalitarian types are using the unrest to cause more trouble. It is in the communist's take over handbook. Happened in South America recently. AS to shipping it is slow now. Ten years ago I happened to be awake at 0200. I decided to send an order to Midway USA to get it into the system. When I got home after a ten hour shift at the prison there was a carton at my front door? It was the Midway order! Didn't expect that. Recently I have had an order for 40 cal Hi-power magazines waiting since July. Don't know if I will get them before December or ever. Recently I got an antique bicycle from the east coast. It took two extra days past what was put in the tracking. When it left, the shipper packed it in a bicycle shipping box. When it got here it was sticking out of the box, wrapped in plastic wrap to keep all the parts in. The front fork was bent and sticking sticking out, the chain ring bent, and the front axle bent. You couldn't put the chain back on due to the severe bend in the large gear. Before shipping this was a fifties Schwinn Green Hornet girl's bike, NOT new old stock but not bent all to HeXX. Now it has been in a bike shop for a week and a half. They tore up a regulation shipping box made for bikes with a bike in it properly packed with all the foam and other gadgets to protect the bike inside. Say a prayer for the UPS company. Components and shipping are out of control. I hope the Commie running your country doesn't get a fatal dose of the 'rona virus. He is going to have lots to account for with the Big Guy with the golden G on his hoody. Maybe he will ask for forgiveness before he croaks. Be Well, RustyZipper.

Picture this....

It’s long been believed that the majority of the components available to us as reloaders is what’s left after the demand for making factory ammo is satisfied. Along comes some sort of crisis, real or imagined, and demand for both ammo and components increases suddenly. Ammo production uses up all the primers, and a lot of powder, brass and bullets, because that's where the most money is. Existing stocks of components disappear through normal, then panic buying. Ammo is sold out, even before it’s produced, which sets the whole cycle back months or even years. The solution is to keep enough on hand to ride out the shortages, then restock when the market recovers. Don’t know why so many fail to learn this, but I understand completely the mindset that wants to turn prudence into hoarding.

If Biden wins, we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

After reading about the shortage of reloading supplies I thought I'd post my availability of surplus bullets.

As I am now pushing 80 years of age and facing a "senior living" location, I have been selling off some of my rifle collection and reloading stuff.

I have been a reloader for 5 decades and have managed to squirrel away a lot of "stuff". My "boss" of 55 years says I need to downsize and so I've gone thru bullets I would no longer use at the range and have been selling them locally but most of the heavier weight bullets have limited market here in Delaware.

If you have a "need" for 6mm, .257, 7mm, 308, 8mm, 338, 375, 408, and 411 size bullets and would pay for the shipping cost of any you buy, I can send you a Excel spread sheet of my surplus bullets with the prices noted. Most are larger weight, 100 gr 6mm/243 for example. The 411's are for my brief moments with a 405 Winchester before I decided I could do without the recoil.

The majority of these boxes are a decade in age, the 7mm Barnes X bullets being an example. Still, except for a couple of boxes, these are unopened. It is a mixed bag of Speer, Sierra, Hornady, Nosler, and Barnes. The 408 are cast and for a 40-65.

Ken

After the primer shortage during the Clinton years I said never again.
Have not been caught lacking for ammo or components since.

I don't buy ammo other than 22, 12 and 20 ga target loads.
I am set up to load all gauges of shot shells but I can buy them about the same cost as loading them with the current cost of lead shot.
The only exception to that is 410, 28 and 16 gauge. I can load them cheaper than buying them.

I have enough components to keep the wolves at bay, target shoot and the freezer filled for the rest of my life and I'm only 57.

Yes, between that and the election, I don't know what's worse. I don't want to rush the time, but I will be glad when both COVID and November are behind us. We have a place up here that is normally fast to deliver, but not right now.