Why are small rifles primers available but no LR or LRM?

Lawnboi

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I’d assume it’s because almost all factory ammo uses large rifle primers. Beyond 223/556 which is so plentiful now it’s becoming cheap. Makes sense why srp around but not large
 

gabenzeke

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Discord is how I got some a while back. It's a pain to set up, but it works.

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CorbLand

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Speculation but general economics answers a lot of questions.

When runs on ammo happen the first things to go are .223/556 and/or 9mm. Then when that is gone people move on to other cartridges. Primarily your next ones to go are going to be .22LR and your big three, .270, 30-06, 300WM or whatever the popular ones are in your area.

When this happens, companies start ordering more of what is going out the door, which spurs production of what is being ordered. Small pistol and small rifle primers were probably being produced are record levels by the end of 2021. Thus a surplus of those are going to be created before anything else as orders decrease because the supply has caught up.

There are also only 3-4 primer manufactures in the US and all but one of those load their own ammo. As demand for ammo stays high, the supply of primers will stay low. Why would you sell a primer when its worth more behind 4 grains of power and 115 grains of lead/copper?

It takes time to produce stuff. 2020 should have shown people that we cannot magically flip a switch and produce more in the blink of an eye. Ammo sales are also very driven by fear and when that fear dies off, people do not buy. Thus its boom and bust. Boom and bust generally doesnt see a lot of heavy investment in the short term as by the time you start to see a return on it, demand can be all but gone.

When you see 223/556 and 9 flying off the shelfs, start backwards. Reloading components are generally the last one to go. Start there.

The sad thing about this stuff is that it is largely predicable on what is going to happen, its the when that is hard to pin down. People said I was stupid for buying a brick or two of primers a month for the last 5 or so years. I just laugh in the 10,000 LRM, 5000, LR and about 1500 209Ms. The last brick I bought was in 2021 and I paid about 35 bucks for it. Its the most expensive one.
 
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SDHNTR

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Been on there for months. Limited success. One retailer had LRP once and I was able to snatch some, I think. Retailer I’ve never heard of and I haven’t seen them yet. Small rifle and pistol galore tho.

Why aren’t the big guys getting any? You’d think they would be the first priority.
 

sndmn11

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Why aren’t the big guys getting any? You’d think they would be the first priority.

Brownells had Winchester large mag in stock yesterday for about an hour.

Natchez and Midsouth have large in stock right now. I think the former is waiving hazmat as well.
 
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SDHNTR

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215 and 215M will be paid for and in my safe before they show up on ammoseek
No dispute, but this reality is a travesty imo. Nevermind AmmoSeek, what about our mom and pop gun shops? They’ll go the way of the buggy whip (many already have) if they can’t get things before bots do.
 

Sevoflurane249

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