Primer shortage or gouging

I bought a lot of components with the current clown in office, just this last fall and winter. You've just got to keep an eye out. And guess what, prices aren't going down it two years with the next president. Local auction company had millions of primers and pallets of bullets and powder. We got tens of thousands of primers for less than $0.06/ea, we got Sierra 168 SMK and 77 SMK for less than $0.19 and $0.16 ea., we got quite a bit of powder for $10-20 per pound. I paid more than I wanted to for some primers. Who cares, I got 168 SMK for roughly $0.25 less than retail, makes the primers free. As @dghal stated, it's all the components, not just primers. I get that primers have been the hardest to get lately, but why does nobody cry about the price of bullets and powder? Everything is more expensive than it was, everything always gets more expensive than it was, I don't understand why everybody thinks prices are going to deflate back to what they were "whenever."

Chickenhater said:

I heard the same thing when Nobama was in office, that prices wouldn't come back down... but they did. Primers may not drop back down to $29 per K, but maybe we'll see $35 or $40 per K. Same for all other components... maybe we'll see powder at $25-$30 per lb... hard to say but availability and demand sets the price. Once the government stops buying up boat loads of ammo, the availability side will improve.

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Primers have been the sticking point for me. I just can't seem to stomach the $100+ prices for small rifle primers. They literally have tripled in price in the last few years it seems, that is if you can even FIND them... I shoot mainly "Service Rifle" high-power competition, and I have cut back some, both on matches and my practice shooting due to the insane prices on primers and powder. Bullets are not quite as bad. I do have a decent stock (of pre-crazy pricing) of bullets, and still have a full 8 pounder of Varget (8 lbs. will load approx 2300 cartridges), so I'm GTG for another "season" at least. After that not sure.... I had to bite down hard when I purchased my current lot of primers @ $80/brick, and I thought even THAT was outrageous. I had a thought, and I know it's NOT going to happen, but if we ALL stopped buying components in unison I bet the prices would come down pretty darn quick. Pipe dream I know... But only so much LOADED ammo can be sold, even to the government. Sometimes I think we (reloaders/competition shooters) are our own worst enemy at times... Well, if component prices continue to rise, and worst comes to worst, there is always .22RF competition, and CMP type rimfire "sporter" matches are great fun and can challenge even the best rifleman. I have NOT seen many perfect scores shot, NONE at the local level. These matches don't require $15-20/box ammo. $3 - $4 ammo (CCI Std) works just fine, as it's more about shooter skill level than the quality of ammo, and match venues can be found just about everywhere. OK, now I'm rambling, sorry for the drift.

Chickenhater said:

I heard the same thing when Nobama was in office, that prices wouldn't come back down... but they did. Primers may not drop back down to $29 per K, but maybe we'll see $35 or $40 per K. Same for all other components... maybe we'll see powder at $25-$30 per lb... hard to say but availability and demand sets the price. Once the government stops buying up boat loads of ammo, the availability side will improve.

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Not trying to correct you, or prove you wrong here. But pre 2008, primers were .02, match primers, CCI-Federal were .03 when buying bulk. Once things settled down, reg primers were now .035, and match were .04 at best.
Non premium powders, IMR, Hodgdon, Winchester, Accurate, Alliant were selling under 20 per lb in 8lb kegs. Singles have always been a crap shoot and prices retail dependent.
Prices do drop, but never to the previous levels. Powder Valley has listed common powders at 240 per keg(30LB), that will be bare minimum going forward. Singles of course will depend on just who is selling them, but by nature add a 20% minimum surcharge just for packaging and handling.
If we see .06 for reg primers, I will consider it a miracle, and I see 65 per brick minimum.

No doubt our costs are going to go up X% amount, a given, but a 50% increase in primer cost is .04 more per rd, A 30% increase in powder costs will be another .03 and up.
The real increase in the costs of reloading will come from bullets and brass, mostly bullets.
Especially premium bullets. Berger has not been caught up in yrs, and the move to AZ surely didn't alleviate much. Shooters themselves will guarantee that w/o a serious production increase, that they never do catch up. Seemingly shortages of raw materials for brass and bullets will dictate prices.
Example, but not really a fair one. I have shot Berger 7mm 180 hybrids since they came out in around 2011. Buying by 500 boxes, and having stockpiled them, I bypased normal increases in price. I have never paid more than 200 for a box of 500, today the minimum will be 325 per 500, of course out of stock. That is roughly a .25 per rd hike.
Lapua brass is at minimum 20% higher than 5 yrs ago. Of course most amortize our brass, but it is still a .20 minimum initial expense
My examples were premium components, so not all things equal. But things are really not going to get all that much better for us.