Does anyone watch who sells us powder?

farmboy

farmboy

cookie man
I check every day the mass merchandisers who sell our sporting goods. Places like Midway USA, Midsouth, Graf's, Powder Valley, Natchez, etc. Midway has had a few items the last several months or so but now they have absolutely nothing. All of the others have a few items to sell. Why has Midway suddenly pulled out of the market?
 
462

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Here's what I know: About four months ago, I e-mailed Powder Valley asking if they ever get any primers in. The reply said yes, however "bots" buy them as soon as they are posted, and they are trying to find a
work-around to eliminate it from happening. They've instituted a policy that if items are placed in the shopping cart, but not purchased within 15 minutes, the cart is automatically emptied.

I remember the bot thing during ol' Barry's reign, and a web-site called Ammo bot, or some such. I don't know how to set up a bot, but as long as bots are doing the buying there's no reason for the sellers to lower their pricing.

Regarding Midway, I've never bought their primers or powder, but it's my understanding the company doesn't stock those items, and that they rely on a third party to ship them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ian
Rockydoc

Rockydoc

Well-Known Member
I don't know who ships powder and primers for Midway, but I have never seen such a beautifully package as to one I last received from them.
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
i know of a guy who has a bot thingy set up, he charges others to get a text message when primers come into stock somewhere.
the bot cycles through all of the sites every 2 minutes or so.
anyhow i have been seeing metallic primers here and there lately.
[only about 100$ a brick shipped to you one brick at a time]

shot shell primers,,,, i've been watching them and was just about ready to buy a sleeve when the next shipment come in, then they raised the prices from 48 a brick to 70 a brick...plus the other add on's.
i'll wait.
 
harm

harm

Member
fiver may be talking about the same guy I heard from on another board; he was offering membership to his deal alert service for $/month or message, I forget the exact details. There were a few others scolding him for taking advantage of the situation and more who were willing to sign up and pay, because primers were impossible to find.

There are a number of sites and services that scrape the internet for deals or simply availability of items. Some of them (and I think Ammobot is one) just list the best prices on whatever you're searching for, and direct you to the sites with stock available. There are still people going into stores and buying the maximum in person as soon as shelves are stocked, to turn around and sell for a profit. It seems the combination of those things has kept general availability down.

That mixed with the hundreds of thousands of new gun owners looking for ammo, the portion of those looking to begin to reload, the constant fear of missing out pushing people to buy more now or somebody else will, whether they can use it or not.. items remaining in-stock seem to be less and less common, even with the nutbar prices (which are now the 'normal' prices for first-time buyers and new arrivals).

We can hope and pray that prices begin to normalize, but the longer people pay these inflated prices, keeping supply at a minimum, it seems there will be less chance of them coming down.
 
harm

harm

Member
Meant to throw in there, regarding the original question, I don't know that Midway has stopped selling anything; I think they're selling out as soon as things come in. They've got an easy-to-navigate site and their stock gets posted a number of places I'm aware of nearly as soon as they have it listed.
 
Kevin Stenberg

Kevin Stenberg

Well-Known Member
To show how out of step I am. I had no idea that Bot thing existed.
The individuals that buy through those kind of places have to know that they are the ones keeping the prices high.
 
farmboy

farmboy

cookie man
Just got an E-mail from Midway and says they have completed a new warehouse and things will be slow until everything is up and running. Should take about 10 days. That explains why no gunpowder until all the details are completed.
 
462

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Yep, and I foresee substantial price increases, because of the new facility.
 
RicinYakima

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Ever been to Vegas? Didn't build those billon dollar casinos on players winning money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
fiver

fiver

Well-Known Member
yeah.
right now things are loosening up.
but,,,, siigh,,, but a lot of places are trying for panic prices.
places that may have been a touch high in the past, but are now thinking they hold the trump cards.

all we have to do is hold out a bit longer and make them use up their warehouse space if we want prices down to where they should be.
i'm not saying we are gonna see 23 dollar bricks of primer by october or nuthin like that but i bet 20-30 pallets of them clogging up all the floor space for 3 months will get them down to the 35 maybe 40 bucks where they belong again pretty easily.
 
farmboy

farmboy

cookie man
I think you are right. I have plenty of primers on hand because I haven't shot much the last year. But when the supply loosens up I will pick and choose from the market. Always pays to keep a supply on hand. But not in a big hurry to line someone's pocket.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.