The Great Primer Shortage of 2009

[warren5421]

Sounds like today.

Found this on a SASS paper: Brimstone Gazette


The Great Primer Shortage of 2009 by Cliff Hanger
I have no real answer for what is going on. I do know I can't get primers as a federally licensed (FFL) commercial ammunition manufacturer.

I have heard rumors and such just like everyone else. Sometimes I think the government is involved. How you might ask. Well it may be that they are buying up military ammunition in great quantities. But where's the .22 caliber ammunition? Where's the 380 auto and all the other non military ammunition? The amount of production the big guys are capable of, makes me wonder if the government is involved.

One rumor I've heard is the government may be involved in the ammunition and components manufacturing like it's involved with farm crops. Farmers get paid not to produce some crops to raise pricing by depleting the surplus. This can also be used to eliminate any product availability to the public.

Currently I don't think we will ever know the real reason there's a primer and ammunition shortage today. But I will share with you some letters I found on the net from various primer makers.

From Winchester --- Thank you very much for taking the time to contact us here at Winchester Ammunition. We are always glad to hear from our many friends and customers who share in the shooting sport. Since last November we have been working 7 days a week, 24 hours a day making and shipping ammunition and components. However, in spite of our best efforts we can' make enough to fill what seems like an insatiable demand for ammunition and primers. As long as the extraordinary demand continues we will continue to have shortages. When this might end is impossible to guess. Thank you again for contacting us here at Winchester Ammunition. If you should require additional information, do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Winchester Technical Department ================== From Winchester Web Site; News and Press Releases Ammunition in High Demand Winchester Ammunition 4/7/2009 Winchester Ammunition, like other ammunition manufacturers, has seen the demand for our products increase significantly since last fall. To meet that increased demand, our operations are running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our team is literally working around the clock to make quality ammunition available for purchase. We remain absolutely committed to meeting the growing needs of our customers.

From Federal We've seen unprecedented demand for certain calibers of ammunition and the primers that charge them over the past several years. We've added capacity to meet the increasing demand and are fulfilling backorders.

From CCI --- First of all I would like to apologize for the delay in our response. We've seen unprecedented demand for ammunition and primers over the past several years. All of our major trading partners have orders on the books and we will be filling orders as product becomes available. Production is currently working 24/7 to try and keep up with the demand. Thank you for your support. Brenda Larson Customer Service ATK Commercial Products

From Wolf --- All of our distributors are out of stock right now on our primers and probably will be for a while; we have been and will continue to send out shipments to them. The next primer shipment will be going out to our distributors in June. The demand is so great that they are trying to fulfill all their back orders. If you can find one, we recommend placing yourself on a back order list in order to try and receive some. Below is a list of all the distributors who carry our primers. Please contact them directly to find out pricing and availability: Widener's Reloading Johnson City, TN 37601