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Federal primer shortage again!


Kirk James

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On 6/30/2020 at 6:58 PM, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

You are correct, but not anyone can ship HazMat.

 

I believe that there is an approval process that one must go through in order to process HazMat shipments. So it's more than sticking a correct label on a box. This is the reason some folks charge for the service...cuz it costs them money to be able to ship HazMat.

 

Phantom

Phantom

Yes, ordinary people (like me) can send a box of explosives, A/K/A black powder ammo - must be packed correctly, have the labels, etc. You don't need to be a business or get a note from BATF or anything like that.  Just an ordinary BP Girl sending her ammo out ahead so she can fly to a big match.   Real BP can't fly, has to go ground.  I bet you are right  about there being more to it if a business deals with HAZMAT items,  but if a private party needs to ship something that falls under HAZMAT regulation, it can be done.  UPS will give you a lesson on how to do it.  Before I lived 7 minutes from Ben Avery, I had to send my ammo out ahead every year.  

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8 hours ago, Lou Graham, # 26112 said:

Phantom

Yes, ordinary people (like me) can send a box of explosives, A/K/A black powder ammo - must be packed correctly, have the labels, etc. You don't need to be a business or get a note from BATF or anything like that.  Just an ordinary BP Girl sending her ammo out ahead so she can fly to a big match.   Real BP can't fly, has to go ground.  I bet you are right  about there being more to it if a business deals with HAZMAT items,  but if a private party needs to ship something that falls under HAZMAT regulation, it can be done.  UPS will give you a lesson on how to do it.  Before I lived 7 minutes from Ben Avery, I had to send my ammo out ahead every year.  

Loaded ammo is completely different than primers and powders.

 

You cannot ship these components the same way as you can ship ammo. Please trust me on this. To ship primers and powders the shipper must have a Hazmat certificate (not sure on the actual term here).

 

Looking forward to seeing you again at WR:D

 

Phantom

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My LGS had one box of a 1000 Winchester primers so I bought 'em. They'll go of in my Colts but not so good in my rifles.

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Made a call to local distributor on way home from a shoot yesterday. Thirty minutes later I picked up 10,000 Federal 150's. I guess shooting the big calibers has its advantages.

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On 7/1/2020 at 11:08 AM, Rattlesnake Slim said:

I ordered 3k Federal small pistol from Bruno's Shooter's Supply in Phoenix on Monday for $39 per thousand (picked up-no shipping). At that time they showed 200k in stock, today nothing.

They must have just restocked. I found and picked up 5000 Federal small pistol there today. Not sure what is left.

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In the last panic for primers,  one of our shooting partners bought a bunch Federal small rifle primers thinking they were small pistol.  After suffering misfires, they tracked down the problem.   They brought some 5k to a match to sele.  I bought 1k to load 32WCF.  They worked fine.  I was prepared to buy more at next match but they were able to trade the balance straight across for small pistol. 

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32 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

In the last panic for primers,  one of our shooting partners bought a bunch Federal small rifle primers thinking they were small pistol.  After suffering misfires, they tracked down the problem.   They brought some 5k to a match to sele.  I bought 1k to load 32WCF.  They worked fine.  I was prepared to buy more at next match but they were able to trade the balance straight across for small pistol. 

Weird, I've never had any issue in switching SP & SR primers.

How modified were the guns?

OLG 

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10 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Weird, I've never had any issue in switching SP & SR primers.

How modified were the guns?

OLG 

 

Roogers....  springs so light you can watch the hammers fall. 

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17 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Weird, I've never had any issue in switching SP & SR primers.

How modified were the guns?

OLG 

Back up the bread truck for a minute... Can Large Rifle and Large Pistol can be interchanged? Every place I have shopped for reloading supplies is overstocked on Federal LR and almost always out of Federal LP!

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1 hour ago, Cholla said:

Back up the bread truck for a minute... Can Large Rifle and Large Pistol can be interchanged? Every place I have shopped for reloading supplies is overstocked on Federal LR and almost always out of Federal LP!

 

LR primer will not interchange with LP.

The LR primer is taller....

OLG 

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22 minutes ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

 

LR primer will not interchange with LP.

The LR primer is taller....

OLG 

Dang it! I thought my world just became easier.

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I always got caught in the primer shortages because I've never kept that many at a time.  So I figured I should try stocking up a little when I could.  Late last year someone mentioned on the Wire that Brownells had a sale going with 1 cent Hazmat and free shipping if you bought some minimum amount (pretty low - easy to get to with primers) and so I bought some.  In December they did it again and I put out a notice of it here.  I still don't hoard it but I've got enough for a couple of years.  And next time they are easy to find I will order a bunch more!  I get kinda tired of the daily Brownells sales pitch in my email, mostly for black gun stuff, but every once in a while it is worth it!

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On 7/2/2020 at 6:29 PM, Cholla said:

Back up the bread truck for a minute... Can Large Rifle and Large Pistol can be interchanged? Every place I have shopped for reloading supplies is overstocked on Federal LR and almost always out of Federal LP!

It depends on caliber. I have noticed in the past that when I seat LP primers in 44-40 that they are recessed a bit. It may be just the starline brass. I just went in the loading room and loaded five 44-40 brass with LR primers they are seated a little low but not as low as the LP usually are. The only exception is Winchester brass and it is seated even with the bottom of the case. I do not know if LR primers  are harder than LP primers but I would not think so.

kR

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20 minutes ago, Kid Rich said:

It depends on caliber. I have noticed in the past that when I seat LP primers in 44-40 that they are recessed a bit. It may be just the starline brass. I just went in the loading room and loaded five 44-40 brass with LR primers they are seated a little low but not as low as the LP usually are. The only exception is Winchester brass and it is seated even with the bottom of the case. I do not know if LR primers  are harder than LP primers but I would not think so.

kR

 

That has more to do with the brass maker pushing SAAMI specs than anything else. 

OLG 

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5 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

 

That has more to do with the brass maker pushing SAAMI specs than anything else. 

OLG 

I've tried it with several different 44-40 brass brands. The LR primers seat properly. MY point is that LR primers can be used in that caliber and I suspect 38-40.

 Would I be careful to check to make sure I didn't get high primers? Yes, but if I could not get LP primers and could get LR and they would work I would use them.

kR

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6 minutes ago, Kid Rich said:

I've tried it with several different 44-40 brass brands. The LR primers seat properly. MY point is that LR primers can be used in that caliber and I suspect 38-40.

 Would I be careful to check to make sure I didn't get high primers? Yes, but if I could not get LP primers and could get LR and they would work I would use them.

kR

 

The primer should seat about .005 or such below the case head.

Have you tried LR primer in any of the modern LP calibers? 

OLG 

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7 hours ago, Kid Rich said:

.... I do not know if LR primers  are harder than LP primers but I would not think so.

kR

 

I think somebody tested that once, but I don't recall.  Can you take one of each in the empty case and fire it in one of your guns, then compare primer hits?  

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On 6/29/2020 at 10:32 AM, Phantom, SASS #54973 said:

Actually it has more to do with components being used for finished ammo production.

I believe that this is absolutely correct. Ammo sales appear to be up. Local stock on 9mm and 45 acp appear to have dried up a bit in our area of California. A family member is a security guard and needed both 9mm and 45 acp. He could not find either of them anywhere in town! (Fresno, Ca.) California gun laws prohibit me from giving him any ammo. But low and behold, he really lucked out, a bag of just what he needed was found just sitting around. He must have overlooked it the first time around.

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Another thing, when Federals get hard to find, it's always a good reminder to not use them for loading any of your Wild Bunch or other semi-auto stuff.  Those can pop any primer.

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Don't need any, but after reading all of this, I took a spin around the internet and checked with every place that I have ever purchased primers. I could not find any small pistol primers for sale, of any brand. 

 

sb

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On 6/29/2020 at 10:52 AM, Blackwater 53393 said:

Yeah! Stopped in a local gun store the other day and they had Federals priced at $50.00 per thousand.  Told ‘em “NO THANKS!!”

 

Anybody tried S&B primers??

Work well for me.

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13 hours ago, Abilene, SASS # 27489 said:

Another thing, when Federals get hard to find, it's always a good reminder to not use them for loading any of your Wild Bunch or other semi-auto stuff.  Those can pop any primer.

I've been following that advice for several years.

kR

I believe John Boy did some research a while back on primer hardness, it may be available somewhere on this site.

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Where did you get them and do they have any more?

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I purchased 1,000 Federal Small Magnum Pistol primers yesterday from Sportsmans online for $23.90.  I didn't need them but it is hard to pass up a bargain.  I'll pickup them up later this week when I visit the Costco next door.

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5 minutes ago, Nickel City Dude said:

Where did you get them and do they have any more?

I think he bought the 3rd case I didn't buy from a seller on GunBroker. If so, they are gone.

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1 hour ago, Edward R S Canby, SASS#59971 said:

I purchased 1,000 Federal Small Magnum Pistol primers yesterday from Sportsmans online for $23.90.  I didn't need them but it is hard to pass up a bargain.  I'll pickup them up later this week when I visit the Costco next door.

Good find with good price

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Primer Type Height Min Height Max Diameter Min Diameter Max
Small Rifle/Pistol 0.1150 0.1260 0.1745 0.1765
Large Rifle 0.1230 0.1360 0.2105 0.2130
Large Pistol 0.1150 0.1260 0.2100 0.2120

Jul 2 2020

 

I used to load my 38-55 light load cartridges using Large Pistol primers without any problems. Don't think that I would go the other direction however. 

 

Snakebite

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