Wow! Am I glad I have a flintlock rifle!

[Harnic]

Went to the only gun shop in the area that sells reloading / muzzle-loading supplies yesterday to get caps for my ROA pistol & some bullets /powder /primers for my centerfire bench rifle.  With all the hysteria south of the border, the pickins are !@*%&@ slim now!  Got bullets & powder ok for the bench rifle, no primers, but I still have a few thousand, but they were down to the last thousand percussion caps!  I had to call in one of the many favours he owed me to get 500 caps from him... at $8.95/hundred!!!  I suspect that's the last I'll see of percussion caps or primers until things settle down in America.  It sure sux being totally reliant on a foreign country for shooting supplies!  Well, at least we have our flintlocks.  We can ALWAYS get chert for flints & if the worst comes, we can make our own powder.  Sure hope things calm down there soon! 

[roundball]

And those are just SOME of the reasons!

Yes, ammo and ammo related shooting supplies have gone crazy as a result of the new administration...seems like the economy would be doing a lot better from all that economic stimulus right there 

[long carabine]

okkkk this will not calm down or go away for another 4 years if we are lucky! I went to buy a AR15 kit to assemble into a rifle and there are none nor is there any 223/5.56 ammo. Seems like that all of this is going to the big foght over seas. There not going to stop us from buying guns but just stop us from buying/ reloading ammo so we can't use our guns.  Long Carabine 

[Harnic]

This is what I feared most in the '90s when we fought our losing battle with the pro gun-control forces, not that they'd take our guns, but that they'd turn off the supply of ammo & loading components... just wasn't expecting it to happen down south!

[Burgess_rudy]

The war has little to do with the shortages. The main reasons are the New Anti-gun President and people hoarding ammo and supplies and then some reselling them. Gun manufacturers are posting record sales of civilian firearms and the primer and ammo makers are running 24/7. Some people are buying up the primers and  ammo on speculation and selling at very inflated prices. The last gun show I went to the primers were being rationed at one box per person from one  reloading supplier while the other reloading supplier was first come first serve. Later somebody set up their own booth and was selling primers they bought for $30 per Thousand for $70 per thousand.

If you go on GunBrokers you can get all the primers you need at $100 per thousand. One large on-line retailer is now selling a box of 9mm Remington ammo for $20. The price just doubled for a box of 9mm that two years ago was selling for $8.00. At $20 dollars for 50 rounds, the shortage will end soon, and there will be a bubble burst in the ammo market just like everywhere else. Supply and Demand. More gun owners more demand for ammo.


The proof of this theory is that the gun range was near empty last week, where as before it was pretty crowded. Oil is back on the rise and who can pay a mortgage, buy gas to get to work and pay $20 to shoot 50 rounds? Not many people I know.

[long carabine]

 I had a friend of mine tell me last week he paid $31.00 for a box of 308 ammo at Dick's Sporting Goods. hence the name (no pun intended)! I have premiun 308 168 grain HPBT ammo fron 10 yrs ago that is marked $12.00. Supply and demand. Glad I hunt with a flintlock and bow! Tim

[Mike R]

We're starting to worry about supplies of lead for bullets--California once again leading the way into stupidity by banning lead bullets in areas and classifying all lead as hazardous material!  Some other states are sure to follow--one advantage of living in a backwoods, corrupt and backwards state [Lousyanna] is that just about anything goes.  The Feds of course make us use steel for waterfowl.  But we remember Reconstruction down here, and like some rumblings heard out of Montana, too strong a play made by the Feds to further restrict citizens rights will not be met with a friendly response.  That said, cartridges are hard to come by here, too.

[Ken G]

Guys,
We are trying real hard not to be heavy handed with moderating topics.  Please keep the rules in mind. 
Thanks,
Ken

Specifically prohibited topics or responses are:
1.  Current politics and religion including but not limited to gun control legislation.

[Harnic]

Sorry Ken, I was trying to express my frustration with a situation beyond my control without delving into the politics behind it... a impossible task.  Let's just leave it with a sincere hope that it is resolved soon!

[Ken G]

No problem.  If we had different rules I'd be right there with ya. 
Cheers,
Ken

[Harnic]

Thanks buddy!

[Cory Joe Stewart]

Guys,
We are trying real hard not to be heavy handed with moderating topics.  Please keep the rules in mind. 
Thanks,
Ken

Specifically prohibited topics or responses are:
1.  Current politics and religion including but not limited to gun control legislation.

I would like to weigh in on this one.  I am usually in the accoutrements thread.  I just want to thank Ken, and those who put this website together and moderate it.  I also, do not want to be critical on any one who posts here.  I think they are all valuable.  BUT, I do want to say that a friend of mine is on other gun related websites that are not moderated as well.  A couple of times those sites actaully had to be shut down because it got out of hand.  With religion topics more than politics.  I actually kept an eye on this site a month or so before I joined and began posting just to see if it was going to be like that.  And I was glad to find it was not. 
So, Harnic, what you brought up was not out of hand or out of line at all.  But I think Ken makes a great point to remind all of us what this site is for.  I come here to get away from that stuff and it is always a good place to come to. 

I am glad I own a flintlock also.  Those new fangled cartridge guns are a fad anyway.

Coryjoe

[Burgess_rudy]

This is what I find interesting. We flintlock shooters went through this about 1.5 years ago with a flint shortage if I recall because of the English flints were not being produced. In comes our own Rich Pierce to fill the void and the shortage just about disappeared overnight. Why isn't the same thing happening in other types of shooting? I guess a gun that's powered by a rock, beats a gun powered by a primer. The closer to primitive you get, the less you become dependent on technology which usually involves multiple layers of engineers and sophisticated equipment. Just an observation.

[long carabine]

unfortunatly this problem will not go away for a while. Tim

[hanshi]

Interesting.  I eased into this forum the very same way, Coryjoe.

[ottawa]

a big thing on u tube is a guy using strick any wear matches to make capes uses just the suff from the tip of the head corseve but works

[Dan]

Dunno about losing battles and all that.  In Mount Dora, Fl. there is a store called the AW Peterson Gun Shop.  Another in Wildwood, Fl. called Nordic Pawn and Sport Shop.  They both have guns, ammo and components coming out their ears.  Good prices by today's standards too.

[Pete G.]

Isn't this pretty much the same reason there were a few flint "Hawkin"s and trade rifles?The more things change the more they stay the same.

[Harnic]

Isn't this pretty much the same reason there were a few flint "Hawkin"s and trade rifles?The more things change the more they stay the same.

Exactly Pete!  That's one of the main reasons I built my Track fullstock flint Hawken... a flintlock is the ultimate survivalist's rifle.  I can make EVERYTHING I need to keep shooting it, if need be. 

[Daryl]

Harry -  order up a Forester "Tap 'O Cap" and make your own caps.

[Harnic]

Will they light the subs too Daryl?  At over $8 /100 for caps, I won't be shooting the ROA a lot! 

[Daryl]

Heh, Heh - depends on what you make your priming compound out of.

[Pvt. Lon Grifle]

When people see hard times coming they lay up stores.   

I just paid $60/K of CCI # 10 caps at Ft. Shenandoah, home range of the North-South Skirmish Association, and they were the only 10's there. I doubt personally that small time profiteering, paranoia, or unthinking panics are driving the scarcity. To say that it is is to disregard the motivations of tens of millions of intelligent AMERICANS.    Lon       

Use it up,   
Wear it out,   
Make do,   
Or do without.
 

[Dphariss]

The price of copper alloys is the result of the increase in copper prices I am told. It was over 8000 a ton last year but has fallen to 3000 as of Feb. Some of this was supply and demand with China buying a lot of copper for a building boom. The crash rolled the price back. This, shipping costs + haz mat fees ect has caused anything in the way of ammo to go up. Its either haz-mat or heavy or both.
The increase in the cost of diesel last year jumped the price of everything.

There has been a massive run on guns, ammunition, smokeless powder, primers and bullets in certain calibers since Oct-Nov 08. There has been enough guns sold in the US since Nov to arm the Red Chinese Army several times (4-5 at least) over. 10-12 million a month at times.
Many boxes of 20 common modern CF rifle are 28-50 bucks now some much worse.
I am hoping the panic will subside but right now people are buying primers and propellant powders etc faster than they can be supplied.
History tells us that steep inflation is on the way so don't look for things to get cheaper though the supply will likely get better.

Dan

[Harnic]

As the title of this thread suggests, those of us who shoot flintlock are the most likely to continue enjoying the shooting sports with the least hindrance during the current irrational panic.  As long as supplies are unavailable, my small supply of primers, powder, & bullets for more modern stuff will stay where it is, in storage (for emergency use only), while I stay sharp with my flintlock.  Not much short of the grim reaper can stop me from shooting it.