Latest internet rumor is primers are being held up in customs by fed.gov.
If so, those would be Wolf primers, which are but a drop in the bucket for U.S. reloading component primer demand.
I'd call it an internet rumor, alright. Other sources say that Wolf is just running behind a month or two, not unlike all the other ammo and component manufacturers.
There's a combination of factors, the sum of which
easily equates to our current situation.
Hank Williams is even getting into it:
http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-business/hank-can%E2%80%99t-reload-ammo-shortageLarge U.S. Military and law enforcement ammo orders through Lake City and FedRemChester displacing commercial ammo are but one aspect.
Fear of the current administration, and the hoarding it created, is another,
probably the biggest.
Even the little administrative blip that DLA sparked over surplus military cartridge brass had ripple effects, forcing places like Georgia Arms and Sharch Manufacturing to suspend sales of their reloaded .223 and .308 ammo.
The military's current quandry over the tungsten training ammo problem means they have to shift gears. The ammo they already have may not be usable at all, save for pulldown of brass and powder. More training ammo from Lake City and St. Marks, please!
Thanks to Afghanistan and Iraq, I'd wager a huge amount of that wonderful steel-cased 7.62x39 and 5.45x39 ammo we used to enjoy for dirt cheap is being diverted to training and equipping the militaries and police agencies of those countries. That means less for us.
I saw the same things happen during the Y2K scare, and in lesser forms during the Clinton re-election and when somebody started a rumor about primer shelf life.
People are getting all bent out of shape because domestic manufacturers RemFedChester aren't buying more equipment and hiring additional employees to make up the difference in orders.
That's a double-edged sword for them, and why should they invest in expanding infrastructure when the surge will probably subsist soon enough? They're already at 3 shifts, 7 days a week. Taking out a long-term note for a short-term spike is by no means a Good Idea.
I liken it to the whole gasoline issue of a year ago. Gas rose above $4.00/gallon, and people throttled way back on their driving, reducing demand. People who absolutely needed to drive around a lot at that price continued to do so, but many decided to just drive less, consolidate trips, carpool, walk, bike, etc. So many curtailed their usage that it dropped demand, supplies increased, and prices fell before "stabilizing" at the current $2.00/gallon mark. Decrease the demand on ammo, and I'll bet prices will also drop as supplies increase. However, unlike gasoline, you can hoard ammo for decades, and you're not worried about the current administration banning your evil black automobile - so it'll be a while before the surge in ammo subsides.
More on what's happening with the ammo shortage here:
http://grantcunningham.com/blog_files/1f0a89deff589f5706c99bd0d0984930-512.html