Mi Brother in Law has asked me to look for 30-30 since it is one of his go-to calibers for hunting. I have pretty much determined that there is not a round for sale in Rutherford county after visiting anything that may be related to guns. The people working in the establishments have told me they have not received 30-30 in a very long time nor tell you if they will ever get another box.
Prior to the Clinton administration and their AWB, 30-30 was the most popular long gun in the country and therefore an ample supply of the cartridge should be available. I’d say it is now the second most popular long gun or if you push it, maybe the third if you include rimfire in the list
I can find 5.56 and I can lay my hands on bricks of .22LR, but 30-30? Zilch.
I went to check on ammoseek.com and Dear God and small puppies! WTF? Starting prices are $2.50 per round? That is insane. Does anybody have an explanation for this?
I did a quick calculation: Buying the dies, bullets, brass, one pound of powder and 1000 primers (minimum I saw online) to load 100 rounds would come to $2.40 per round and I would still be left with with 900 primers and over half a pound of propellant. If I up the number to 200 rounds, the price drops to $1.50 per round.
I am going to have to get my B-i-L to start reloading his ammo. Plus he need a relaxing hobby, Lord knows he works too hard.
I think the main issue is that materials and production lines are being dedicated to 5.56, 9mm and .22, and there’s just not any more capacity.
While .30-30 is a popular caliber, it’s generally bought a box or two at a time, once a year, whereas those others are being bought by the case lot. Why sell 20 when you can sell 2000?
That could be it. Makes sense.
That’s exactly it. I know people in ammo manufacturing. The equipment is being run 24/7 prioritizing calibers by consumption.
223, 308, etc are taking up all the time. You’re gonna have a hard time finding 30-30, 45-70, etc for a while.
From what I read, .30-30 is normally done in short-term runs a month or two before deer hunting season, then the line gets swapped to other calibers. With the way things have been the last few years, the line hasn’t been swapped because they can’t keep up with other orders. Luckily I had a decent stock of it and my preferred .35 Rem laid back, been able to help a few acquaintances (of the one box every other year variety) out with a box.
Where did you find primers at? I have not seen any available for order or back order in probably a year.
https://primers12.com/product/winchester-large-rifle-primers-8-1-2-box-of-1000-10-trays-of-100/
Miguel, these guys are a scam. They have everything in stock and only accept bitcoin or Venmo for payment. https://www.reddit.com/r/reloading/comments/poho44/scam_alert_primers12_primers12com/
it will probably be another year or two before primers are partially available. make me wish there was a primer exchange, I have Large pistol that I would trade for Small Pistol or Large Rifle primers.
Copy that! People, take notice!!!!
https://www.scam-detector.com/validator/primers12-com-review/ 3.5 out of 100 with 100 being good.
The price was really good, twice what pre panic costs were. The fact that they had everything in stock was a warning but if all they handled was primers, maybe they had an in with the manufacturers.
Got to the checkout page and went to view my cart and the link failed. Not a good sign.
On the checkout page they have multiple ways to pay but none of them are credit cards and all of them are one way no retract methods.
Yeah, I’d say they are a scam.
Good warning! Any vendor who doesn’t take credit cards but does take those wacky no-recourse electronic payment schemes is likely to be a fake. I would stop the moment I saw such a thing, no matter what the company or the product.
You’re complaining about 2.50/rd for rifle ammo? I was paying 2/rd for 9×19 months ago. Try finding .380, they completely shut down the lines last year.
I bought 380 at $1 right after I got licensed and my first firearm. Can’t use it if you don’t have ammo for it. But well worth it at the time.
Ammoseek helps but private sales locally have been a huge bonus for me.
Yup. I bought 500 primers right before the primer market locked up tight. And then ordered dies, cases, powder and lead. I haven’t actually rolled any of my own yet, but I got the press set up in the garage and waiting for cooler weather to come in. Plus I have about 4 or 5 boxes (20 rnd each) sitting on the shelf. So I’m good for now.
Sorry for bragging, but yeah. If you’re not shooting 9 mm, 556, or similar, you are out of luck. And even if you do reload, you are limited by how many primers are sitting on your bench right now, cause there ain’t no more. Hell, I was in a small general store and found the last of the black powder primers sitting in a back corner. Snapped those puppies right up.
Bragg away, we will just be jealous and crap 😀
In early spring Dean Winchester followed me home, Shortly thereafter Sam Winchester and Cass Marlin(Not a Winchester) followed me home. All were in 30-30 or 30wcf (same thing).
I had over a hundred cases and primers from pre panic so not having any ammo didn’t seem to be an issue. On the other hand, it took me a couple of months before I found any bullets for sale. I ended up casting my own.
I have yet to see any commerical 30-30 for sale and have just stopped looking for it. I’ve got enough cases, I’ve got some powder, I’m looking and looking for large rifle primers and not finding them.
Yeah, hard to get.
My concern at this point is running out of primers. They are way to expensive and buying from individuals is darn near impossible unless you can do it in person.
Not .30-30, but i just loaded up 150 rounds of .44 Magnum last night (another round that’s currently Not Exactly Easy To Get Right Now). About equal in power to the .30-30, if shorter range.
The actual .30-30 will come later – got 100 each of gas checked cast and 170g Hornady flat nose softpoint to throw together.
There is something nice about being able to just go to the garage and put together several boxes of ammo whenever one feels like and can fimd the time (just ALWAYS follow the manual EXACTLY, and if you don’t, be very aware that it’s on you if Something Goes Wrong).
Anecdotally primers, powder and willingness to spend money are my issues.I started reloading at the beginning of the panic and luckily found a 1000 pack of small pistol primers. At the moment Sportsman’s Warehouse has shelves full of bulk packs of 9mm bullets from a stalled ammo maker and mixed supplies of brass, no primers for a year and sporadic supplies of second tier powder. (CFE instead Titegroup, or Ramshot). Fortunately I mostly load .38 Special and .308 so brass and bullets are doable. .223 would be a massive pain.
Another cause of the drought of 30-30 is that a lot of people suddenly realized that the lever gun is the predecessor of today’s “assault weapon” and decided they should stock up on ammo for their back up home defense rifle (I know my neighbor did this about 18 months ago). Combine that with the “old” usage pattern and the realities of high volume manufacture, and you truly have a perfect storm. Last round (2013-2014) 30-30 didn’t take as big a hit, but .35 Rem was unobtainium for two years because it was one notch lower on the demand list. Deer hunters only need 4 rounds a year, anyway. Three for sighting in and one for their deer.
There are a lot of people that follow Forgotten Weapons and he use to do a bunch of collaborations with in-range and Karl(sp?). Karl has done a couple of 2 gun matches with old weapons. He ran a black powder pistol in one contest, he ran a lever action and a colt SAA.
He showed just how much of a game changer such a combination can be.
I have some BP guns but I also have a lever action in .45 colt and a pistol to match. Single cartridge for both and it was designed for BP.
Bit more powder, lot more power, but it’s the same principle with the .44 Mag. Or even hot loaded 45 Colt, a Ruger, and an 1892 clone.