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November 7th, 2013
Reloaders Rejoice! There’s a new source for bullets, brass, powder, and primers, as well as loaded ammunition. The all-new Bullets.com website offers all these products, plus reloading tools and dies, barrels, gun stocks, scopes, rings, shooting rests, range bags and much more. Primers, you need primers you say? Yes, Bullets.com currently has some types of CCI, Federal, and Remington primers in stock, including the hard-to-find CCI 450 small rifle magnum primers.
You definitely want to include Bullets.com among the vendors you visit when you need components and gun hardware. The new Bullets.com webstore will carry 8,000+ shooting-related products from over 50 top brands such as Lapua, Norma, Federal, CCI, Berger, Sierra, Berry’s, Bald Eagle, Bushnell, Hodgdon, Alliant, Nightforce, Kowa, Vortex, Winchester, MTM, Magpul and many more! Check out the website at www.bullets.com or call 1-800-235-0272 to get a free 60-page color catalog.
POWDERS IN STOCK — Among the popular powders in stock at Bullets.com today are:
- Hodgdon H4895, Hodgdon H4350, Hodgdon H1000, Hodgdon Benchmark (all one-pounders)
- IMR 4064, IMR 4198, IMR 4895, IMR 4350, IMR 7828 SSC (all one-pounders)
- Ramshot Hunter, Winchester 748 (all one-pounders)
NOTE: Powders in stock as of 11/7/2013 at noon Pacific time, one-pound containers only. This is not a complete list. CLICK HERE to see entire Bullets.com Powder Inventory.
Bullets.com carries projectiles from the leading bullet-makers including Berger, Lapua, Sierra, Speer, and Berrys. Yes Bullets.com has premium bullets in stock right now, including the hard-to-find Berger 6mm 105gr Hybrid, and 7mm 180gr Hybrid. Grab ‘em while you can boys!
Along with reloading components, factory ammo, and reloading dies, you’ll find the hardware you need to build a complete rifle. Bullets.com caries Bartlein barrels (in a wide range of calibers and contours), laminated gun stocks, and a full line of optics, including Nightforce, Kowa, and Vortex rifle-scopes and spotting scopes.
Who Are Those Guys? About Bullets.Com
 Bullets.com was launched as a result of the intense passion for shooting by its President, Shiraz Balolia. Shiraz has been shooting pistols, rifles and shotguns for almost 40 years and has been involved in long range rifle shooting at the National and International level for almost 10 years. He served as the Captain of the U.S. F-Class Open Rifle Team for the 2013 World Championship and was a member of the 4-man team that won the 2013 Nat’l 1,000-yard Championship. He has won numerous gold medals in long range shooting and has set several National records.
Bullets.com is a division of Grizzly Industrial that was started by Mr. Balolia in 1983. During those 30 years, Grizzly became a powerhouse in the metalworking and woodworking machinery industry serving over a million regular customers and growing its warehouses with 1.2 million square feet of space in three states (WA, PA, MO).
October 17th, 2013
Need Primers? Wideners.com has received a large shipment of Wolf Primers. Made in Russia, Wolf primers have worked well for many shooters. In many cartridge types Wolf primers have shown very good accuracy, and competitively low ES and SD. You should read our Shooters’ Forum threads about Wolf Primers to see if they would be a good option for you. We have generally heard positive feedback, with a few comments that Wolf primers may require a little more force to be seated properly, when compared to domestic-made primers. Current inventories are shown below.
Wolf Primers at Wideners.com (All In Stock as of 10/17/2013 at 10:00 am ET)
Prices do NOT include shipping and HazMat fees. Wideners says that up to 50,000 primers primers (That’s 10, 5000-count boxes) can go with one hazmat tag.
NOTE: Some shooters prefer the Wolf Small Rifle Magnum primers over the standard Wolf Small Rifle Primers because the cups are harder on the SR Magnum versions. Wideners does NOT currently have the Wolf Small Rifle Magnum primers in stock.
Product Tip from EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
June 17th, 2013
 Have you been struggling to find brass, powder, and (especially) primers? No luck finding rimfire ammunition or loaded ammo for your pistols or hunting rifles? Well, now there’s a free web-based search service that can help you find what you need. The service costs nothing and you don’t have to sign up to run searches.
GunBot.net employs “search bots” to scour the internet for available inventories of ammo, powder, primers, brass and magazines. GunBot.net checks the inventories of over sixty retailers, including leading vendors AmmoMan, Bass Pro, Brownells, Cabelas, Cheaper Than Dirt, Grizzly, JG Sales, Dan Killough, Midsouth Shooters Supply, Midway USA, Powder Valley, Rainier Arms, Sinclair Int’l, Sportsman’s Guide,, Wholesale Hunter, and Wideners.
Results can be sorted by price or time (most recent results first). You can even get email alerts notifying you when the product you need is available. (To get alerts, you must first log-in and create an account with GunBot.net. There is no charge for this service.) GunBot.net’s search spiders work constantly, so results are normally very current. Pages auto-refresh when new “matching items” are found.
Primers Found Efficiently with GunBot.net
GunBot.net saves us time by instantly checking inventory at many dozens of online retailers. In May, we were looking high and low for large rifle magnum primers. Then a quick search with GunBot.net revealed that site sponsor Powder Valley, Inc. had some in stock. We placed our order and had the primers in our hands the next week. Here’s a screenshot showing primer inventories on June 17, 2013:
December 31st, 2012
 Here’s good news for purchasers of reloading components. Powder Valley Inc. (PVI) is “holding the line” on prices of powder, primers, brass, and bullets. In so doing, Powder Valley is “keeping the faith” with its customer base. By contrast, many local gun shops and big box retailers have jacked up prices on guns, ammo, and reloading supplies in response to a spike in demand. With the hue and cry for new gun control legislation, gun owners have rushed to stores to get guns, ammo, and reloading components. Predictably, some retailers have raised prices on everything from primers to all types of semi-auto firearms. Not so with Powder Valley. If you check the PVI website, you’ll see that prices for almost all products in stock are basically the same as a month ago (before the events in Newtown). Unlike some other vendors, Powder Valley has refrained from ramping up prices. We commend PVI for this.
Here is what Powder Valley owner Bryan Richardson told us about his company’s pricing policy:
“We watched back in 2009 as companies jacked up their prices due to supply and demand. This may make sense for some retailers and manufacturers. However, this is not the way we do business, nor will ever do business. It is completely against our conviction.
My wife and I established our business in 2000 with a mission statement of: ‘Providing the finest in reloading components and other shooting sports related products at the best possible price. In doing so, we will conduct business with the utmost respect and consideration for the customer’s needs by constantly demonstrating honesty and integrity.’
Therefore, increasing prices due to current market and political conditions is contrary to our mission of conducting business with the utmost respect and consideration for the customer’s needs. It is my opinion that if we want our industry to survive… we cannot price consumers out of shooting. Therefore, when you see our prices increase or decrease it is simply based off of the manufacturer’s or importer’s pricing. I think history shows that consumers remember the companies who elevated their prices for short-term profits and those who did not. We are here for the long haul and want to grow our business through building our customer base, not increasing our prices.”
July 3rd, 2012
 Bryan at Powder Valley Inc. (PVI) let us know that Powder Valley is offering a “Freedom Special” on July 4th. You get free shipping (exclusive of hazmat and insurance) for online orders (over $150) placed on July 4th. Bryan explains: “In celebration of Independence Day and the wonderful men and women who have fought for our great nation Powder Valley is offering free freight (does not include hazmat and insurance) on all orders over $150.00.”
 IMPORTANT: To qualify, Orders must be placed ONLINE between 12:01 AM and 11:59 PM ET on July 4, 2012.. Don’t forget that, where required, hazmat fees and insurance costs will still charged with shipments.
March 5th, 2012
by James Calhoon
(First Printed in Varmint Hunter Magazine, October, 1995)
In the course of talking to many shooters, it has become clear to me that the manufacturers of primers have done a less than adequate job of educating reloaders on the application of their primers. Everybody seems to realize that some primers are “hotter” than others and some seem to shoot better for them than others, but few reloaders know that primers have different pressure tolerances.
Primer Pressure Tolerance
When loading a .223 to the maximum, I was getting primer piercing before I reached case overloading. I don’t know what prompted me to try CCI 450s instead of the 400s which I had been using, but I did. Presto! No more piercing! Interesting!? A primer that has a hotter ignition and yet withstands more pressure! Thats when I decided that it was time to do a dissection of all primers concerned. The chart below shows my results.
By studying the numbers (Cup “A” thickness), one can see which primers in the small rifle sections should be more resistant to primer cratering and/or piercing. Primer cup diameters are all similar and appear to follow a specification, but check out the cup thickness in the small rifle primers (Dimension “A”). Some cups are quite a bit thicker than others: .025″ for CCI 450 vs. .0019″ for Fed 200. Large rifle primers all appear to have the same cup thickness, no matter what the type. (As a note of interest, small pistol primers are .017″ thick and large pistol primers are .020″ thick.)
If you are shooting a 22 Cooper, Hornet, or a Bee, the .020″ cup will perform admirably. But try using the .020″ cup in a 17 Remington and you will pierce primers, even with moderate loads.
Considering that cup thickness varies in the small rifle primers, it is obvious that primer “flatness” cannot solely be used as a pressure indicator.
Another factor which determines the strength of a primer cup is the work-hardened state of the metal used to make the primer cup. Most primers are made with cartridge brass (70% copper, 30% zinc), which can vary from 46,000 psi, soft, to 76,000 psi tensile strength when fully hardened. Note that manufacturers specify the hardness of metal desired, so some cups are definitely “harder” that others.
What does all this mean to the reloader?
- Cases that utilize small rifle primers and operate at moderate pressures (40,000 psi) can use CCI 400, Federal 200, Rem 6 1/2, or Win SR. Such cases include 22 CCM, 22 Hornet and the 218 Bee. Other cases that use the small rifle primer can use the above primers only if moderate loads are used. Keep to the lower end of reloading recommendations.
– Cases that utilize small rifle primers and operate at higher pressures (55,000 psi) should use CCI 450, CCI BR4, Fed 205 and Rem 7 1/2.
– All the large rifle primers measured have the same thickness. Therefore choose based on other factors, such as accuracy, low ES/SD, cost, cup hardness, and uniformity.
Hope this clears up some primer confusion. If you want more information about primers, priming compounds, or even how to make primers, the NRA sells an excellent book called “Ammunition Making” by George Frost. This book tells it like it is in the ammo making industry.
October 18th, 2011
Here’s a good way to save $25.00 on your powder purchases. Grafs.com will waive the normal Hazmat fee if you purchase 32 pounds of in-stock reloading powder. If you don’t need that much yourself, get together with your shooting buddies and put together a joint order. NOTE: You may order up to 16 more pounds of powder or primers under the same free Hazmat (48 lbs. total). Shipping is normally included in Graf’s prices, but a handling/insurance fee still applies. Offer is for a limited-time only, and is limited to products currently in-stock.
In addition, Grafs.com has just released it’s 2011 Fall Flyer. If you’re not on Graf’s mailing list, you can still view the entire flyer (in a magazine-style format) at www.Grafs.com.
October 8th, 2011
Cabela’s is running a nice promotion now on its Cabelas.com website. Reloading components, including bullets, brass, powder, and primers, are now discounted 20%. Plus there are even great savings on some products listed in Cabela’s Bargain Cave. To see the discounted items, visit Cabela’s Reloading Components SALE Page.
Here are some of the hundreds of products currently On Sale at 20% Off:
Story Tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
September 11th, 2011
Federal Ammunition has released a new type of small rifle match primer optimized for AR15s and similar semi-automatic rifles. The new Gold Medal® AR Match Primers, designated GM205MAR, have harder primer cups than the popular Federal 205M match primers. The harder cup is designed to perform better in semi-automatic actions that use free-floating firing pins. A Federal spokesman said that Federal’s “normal” 205M primers were not ideal for use in firearms, such as ARs, with free floating firing pins. Hence Federal designed the new GM205MAR primers. These are available now from major vendors such as Midsouth Shooters Supply, which offers the new GM205MAR primers for $35.22 per thousand.
Other AR-Friendly Primers
For quite some time, CCI has offered its #41 milspec small rifle primer for use in ARs. A CCI #41 primer is a ‘magnum’ strength primer, equivalent to the CCI 450 Small Magnum rifle primer. However, the #41 primer is made with a bigger gap between the tip of the anvil and the bottom of the cup, creating a slightly less sensitive primer. The #41 primer also has a thicker bottom on the cup than the CCI 400 primer.
July 1st, 2011
Powder Valley Inc., one of our favorite vendors of powder, primers, and other reloading components, is offering a great Independence Day Deal. If you order online on the 4th of July, you will get 10% off the cost of your entire order. That’s right — 10% off everything you order. But note, this is a one-day deal only. Orders must be placed via the web on the 4th of July, between the hours of 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM Eastern Time.
| Powder Valley 4th of July Sale
In celebration of our great nation and independence!!!
24 Hour Special Only — CLICK HERE
10% off entire order placed online on the 4th of July.
Order must be placed online between the hours of 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM EDT July 4, 2011. It is best to place your order using Internet Explorer. Only orders completed during these hours will receive a 10% discount. NO EXCEPTIONS! Note: this does not apply to Hazmat fees or shipping charges.
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