Why Primers Keep Disappearing — The Real Story Behind Reloading’s Biggest Headache

Walk into Sons of Guns in Parys right now and you’ll hear the same heartbroken whisper in three languages:

“Waar’s die blerrie primers, boet?”

It’s not just us.
From Texas to Timbuktu, reloaders are staring at empty shelves and asking the same question.

So let’s cut the WhatsApp conspiracies and break down the real, factual reasons primers vanish faster than a politician’s promises.

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1. Primer factories are basically bomb-making labs — the legal kind

Making primers is not like cutting brass or casting bullets.
It requires:

• Explosion-proof bunkers

• Chemists in moon-suits

• Chemical compounds that behave badly when you look at them funny

• Quality control that makes NASA look relaxed

There are only a handful of primer factories worldwide with the infrastructure, expertise, and safety systems needed to produce primers at scale.

When even one of these plants pauses for maintenance or retools a production line, the ripple becomes a global shockwave.

Some US facilities can produce over a billion primers a year, but global demand still eats that capacity alive.

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2. Global demand has gone ballistic (pun absolutely intended)

Every time there’s:

• An election

• A riot

• A new law rumour

• A war

• A viral TikTok warning about “the next shortage”

…the entire world panic-buys ammunition and components.

Ammo factories then do the maths:

“Why sell 1 000 primers for X…
when we can load them into ammo and sell the box for 4X?”

Reloaders lose.
Shareholders win.
That’s the game.

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3. South Africa sits at the very back of the global queue

When American wholesalers place orders, they soak up most of the world’s primer allocation before the container even leaves the factory.

What’s left fights for space with frozen hake and PlayStations.

Then we still face:

• ITAC permits

• SARB approvals

• Shipping delays

• Port congestion

• Customs enjoying a long lunch

By the time primers finally reach Durban, half the country has already started praying to the reloading gods.

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4. Primers are explosives — not potatoes

You can't ship primers on “Economy Couriers R69”.

They’re classified as hazardous goods, which means:

• Special packaging

• Special carriers

• Special storage

• High insurance

• Limited shipping routes

• Slower transport

One hiccup in the Red Sea or Cape Town harbour, and your primers take a scenic 90-day ocean cruise.

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5. Military contracts eat the lunch of every civilian reloader

When governments sign contracts for millions or billions of rounds, every primer plant shifts into defence-first mode.

Civilian orders get moved to the “maybe next year” folder.

If NATO sneezes, local reloaders feel it.

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6. The “green primer” revolution is causing growing pains

Lead-free primers are coming — whether reloaders like it or not.

The problem?

• New chemicals

• New machines

• More misfires during development

• Lower yields

• Slower output

• Higher cost

Whenever a factory converts a line to eco-primers, total output can drop by 20–40% during the transition.

Guess who gets hit first?
Us — the reloaders.

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7. PMP isn’t making primers anymore

South Africa used to have a local source.
Not anymore.

With PMP no longer manufacturing primers, SA is fully dependent on imports — right when global supply is under strain.

No local buffer = deeper shortages.

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8. Panic buying creates artificial shortages

Let’s be honest:
The moment someone posts “Primers landed at SOG!”, half of us buy 50 000 “just to be safe.”

Multiply that across a small market, and you get:

• Artificial shortages

• Panic

• Empty shelves

It’s human nature mixed with shortage psychology.

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9. South Africa’s market is tiny — practically a rounding error

The entire South African reloading community probably uses fewer primers in a year than California burns in a long USPSA weekend.

Our market is passionate — but tiny.

Small markets don’t get priority in a global shortage.

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10. And then there’s the rand… weaker than filter coffee

When the rand dips:

• Import orders shrink

• Prices jump

• Deliveries slow

• We move even further down the priority ladder

It’s a cycle reloaders know all too well.

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So what do we do about it?

Simple.
Not always easy… but simple.

✔ Buy smart when stock lands

Waiting until you have 200 left is a recipe for heartache.

✔ Build a reasonable reserve

5 000–10 000 primers = responsible.
100 000 = you’re preparing for an alien invasion.

✔ Support the shops that fight for stock

Not every gun shop puts in the work.
We do.

At Sons of Guns, we don’t let one oke clean out the entire shipment.
When primers land in Parys, we spread the love fairly — first-come, first-served — until every reloading bench smiles again.

We’re reloaders too.
We feel the pain.
(Piet is still hunting Large Rifle Magnum…)

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Stay loaded. Stay safe. And remember:

One Shot. One Story. One SOG.