How bad are we being.........

Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
Went out for a ride today to check out a store I get powder at. It is about 80 miles from me but also has some good food out there.

Here is how bad we are being robbed on powders. They always have a huge amount of powders available. But if they can sell this at these prices then it shows how bad we are being taken. I grabbed a bunch of the Longshot and 11fs. And the 5th edition lyman shotshell book. My 4th is falling apart and I have lost a few pages.

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462

462

California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
That Norma can sell Servicios Adventuras small pistol primers for $59.99 delivered to my door, while Powder Valley charges $79.99 plus $12.95 shipping plus $22.99 Haz-Mat for a total of $115.93, tells me much.
 
KeithB

KeithB

Resident Half Fast Machinist
I’m unfamiliar with all the powders shown in @Tomme boy’s post. Which if any would be useful for use in handgun type rounds?
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
A lot of people quip "supply and demand" as if it's a natural law and that it explains everything. It doesn't.

What it MAY explain, or at least point to, is human nature. P. T. Barnum comes to mind...

When something is in low supply, the supplier can hold out for the highest bidder. The value of a dollar is relative to how easily those dollars come, or how many dollars one has. The suppliers don't necessarily HAVE to demand more for what they are supplying - it may not have cost them any more to make what they're supplying than when fewer people wanted it. If they are selling twice what they normally would, they are already experiencing a boom and will likely benefit from economies of scale, wherein it's cheaper per unit to make more of something than less of something - another boom.

I'm not into conspiracy theories, but I also truly believe that we're being taken for a wild ride here on powder, and especially on primers. It's no longer "scalpers" exploiting the situation - the manufacturers and suppliers are doing it. And, why not? If we allow it, or worse encourage it by forking over more and more dollars, I guess we deserve what we get - as a market, not necessarily as individuals.

I say snap it up at the discount price and then put the wallet back in your pocket. Just before this last debacle, there were rebates and discounts on this stuff. It's past time to put the shoe back on the other foot and sweat the manufacturers and suppliers for ten years now. I used to feel like the suppliers of what we like were somewhat on our side, but no more, so I'm going for the best price from here forward. No more "brand loyalty."
 
Tomme boy

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
I think I might have enough powders for my 350 and 12 ga slugs to last my lifetime thats left. I don't shoot many slugs at all. Just playing with them every once in a while. Plus the longshot can do double duty in a couple of other calibers.

I was not getting low, but low enough on primers that I bought 5K last month. Mainly because I had 3 boxes of SP primers I thought were full but they all 3 had 1-2 sleaves in each. I must have put them on top of the others. I don't normally ever do that as I want to know which ones I am taking them out of, and I have an accurate count on the full bricks.

I loaded up a few slugs tonight. As I was sitting in my chair I spotted the CCI 41 SRP I dropped 2 days ago. I felt like I won on a lottery ticket.

Alliant is just flat out screwing everyone. They were always a little cheaper than the other powders. Now they are almost as high as VV powders. Varget is $51/lb here right now. RL10x and RL15 are $58+/lb here. Herco was $48 at the cheapest place today. Good thing I have about 7lbs of it. Thats my light recoil slug powder I really like.
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
AA#7 work well in full throttle 9mm loads. Also, been loading it in my 357 LCR, lately. I keep an 8#er around. Clean burning, to boot.
 
R

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
I haven't really priced powder for a while. Turns out I need some H4350, so guess I'll be looking soon. Been more concerned about primers.

Where are you guys even seeing Alliant powders? They have been absolutely absent everywhere I've looked for a while.
 
Rick H

Rick H

Well-Known Member
Alliant has been showing up on the shelves around here but at frightfully expensive ($50+/lb) prices.
 
Winelover

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
richhodg66 said:
I haven't really priced powder for a while. Turns out I need some H4350, so guess I'll be looking soon. Been more concerned about primers.

Where are you guys even seeing Alliant powders? They have been absolutely absent everywhere I've looked for a while.
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Hardly ever purchase powder, locally. Except when I want to try something new. I've been buying bulk, online or catalog (Natchez or MidSouth), since the early 80's. About as long as I've been using Accurate brand powders. They were about half the cost of the competition.

AA even offer a 4350...............which I've been using instead of H or IMR brand.
 
R

richhodg66

Well-Known Member
I was looking for a very long time for some American Select to try in reduced rifle loads at Ben's recommendation and absolutely striking out. My brother in N.C. said he could get it all the time so he picked me up a pound and gave it to me while I was back east in July. Life has gotten in the way of me trying it out yet, but it sure seems there's a problem when it's commonly available in one region and unobtainium in another.
 
P

Petrol & Powder

Well-Known Member
What those prices show is the seller couldn't move the product at the higher price.

If the product is selling at a high price there is no need to lower the price.

I would not characterize reduced prices as, "we are being taken for a ride". I would say that the lower prices are evidence of increasing supply and a decrease in the number of idiots willing to pay high prices.
 
Brad

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Supply may well be gaining and on hands are going up. This means lower prices for consumers.

Comparing the primers made in Argentina with those made in the US is not a fair comparison. What do wages and environmental regulations mean for production cost?

If primers get down to $50/K or so I will be stocking up. I have enough to wait a bit.
 
J

Jeff H

NW Ohio
Brad said:
....

Comparing the primers made in Argentina with those made in the US is not a fair comparison. What do wages and environmental regulations mean for production cost?
....
Click to expand...

This is TRUE and none of it is black and white - there are many, many nuances involved.

HOWEVER, wages in the US have not quadrupled either, as has the cost of primers.

Not spoken as a "clever quip," but things are WAY out of whack.
 
CZ93X62

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
At 68 years old I am older than many members here. My first hands-on experience with the marketing ploy known as the 'Shortage' came in 1974 with the OPEC-inspired 'Gas Crisis. I worked as a gas station attendant back then, and having a 19 year old football player at 6'2" and 220# had a settling effect on most customers that chose the 'Alligator Mouth But Hummingbird Ass' bluster & threaten option. Nicely enough, no one chose to go the Fist City route with me.

Two lessons emerged from that experience--1) Humans are often no smarter than lemmings, and can be herded easily. We have the 1970s Gas Crises, Jim Jones in Guyana, the Iran Revolution in 1979, and more recently the COVID ScamDemIck to show how easily swayed the public can be. 2) The mere mention of a 'Shortage' of anything will instantly cause a rush to acquire as much of that item as possible--creating a 'Shortage' by default. Motor fuel, sugar, meat, even toilet paper is subject to these manipulations.

As consumers we cannot allow ourselves to be duped by these buccaneers calling themselves component suppliers. Just stop buying their crap. If the O/P's info is any indicia, perhaps the tip-over point has been reached and suppliers are becoming over-stocked. It costs money to warehouse stuff. Start prepping to stock up.
 
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