Group Buys Prime Ammo Group Buy #2

I'm willing to do the grunt work but I'm a newb here so not sure how much credibility I'd have (almost none). Would need someone who's done it before to walk me through it so nothing gets sideways. I'm sure I don't have anything close to the ability to represent this board, nor should I. I agree with a previous post that this might be a pipe dream given current conditions and the simple fact that Prime is probably selling every things they make for whatever they want - but I'll pitch in where I can.
 
Last pending closed group buy is scheduled for delivery by Christmas, coming up soon!!
Thereafter, I'll bet their website or the Hide will post up again, fingers crossed for market availability.

Yeah, I hope so, love me some PRIME AMMO. I need more 6.5cm it’s the only round I am short on.
 
Don't know about other ammo manufacturers, but Federal's backlog goes well to the end of 2021 AND despite taking over Remington's manufacturing plant, they're limited by availability of components.

Ammo, as overpriced as it is right now, is about to get a whole lot harder to come by.

I'm in on .308 in case this group buy does come through.
 
my guess is Jim would've to be able to do another. I have spoken to him many times and about business extensively. He is aware that after the ruag norma incident alot of support came from this site. That being said supply is what it is. He may or may not be able to do it soon but if so I would think the wait would be very long. I would be happy if he brought in component's from EU.... to supplement whats available.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Noob Sammich
Hi,

What people may or may not realize is the "Perfect Storm" situation that is going on with ammunition right now.

Most only see the insanely increased demand in the USA market due to political movements, socioeconomic movements, etc etc which on its OWN causes ammunition manufacturers to fall behind because you damn sure do not bring in more machines during panic purchasing. That is a good way to loose your business. So the manufacturers have their capacity maxed out strictly from the panic purchasing on the USA market.

NOW...

Add to that..the International component and supplemental manufacturing facilities that the USA based companies fall back on for additional supplies and assistance are in various countries in which their gov is not playing "nice" during Covid situation. To the point some are limited to 1 shift per day instead of 3. Others are limited to only Monday through Thursday with real lockdowns Friday through Sunday.
One of the International plants I deal with for International procurements have gone from 25 million rounds per month to 10 million rounds per month.

Summation....

USA facilities maxed due to panic purchasing while their historical international fallbacks are in countries in which .gov says do/do not do.....you comply.

Sincerely,
Theis
 
@THEIS is correct.
I purchased some custom rounds from them over a month ago.
Got an email Monday stating they are way behind in production for obvious reasons.
My order is due to be fulfilled in the next 2 weeks.

Basically that tells me that a HUGE group buy on ammo of any caliber, is not possible at this time.
 
I just got the PRIME email about the X-mas 6.5 Group Buy. It's not the rosy X-mas miracle I was hoping for in 2020, BUT, they are going above and beyond to deliver, and then some--I am impressed and pleased with the option I chose. Fuck COVID, and thank you PRIME, Merry Christmas!
 
I just got the PRIME email about the X-mas 6.5 Group Buy. It's not the rosy X-mas miracle I was hoping for in 2020, BUT, they are going above and beyond to deliver, and then some--I am impressed and pleased with the option I chose. Fuck COVID, and thank you PRIME, Merry Christmas!

How do we get in on this group buy? I just subscribed to their emails so surely missed that email.
 
I also just got Prime Ammo's e-mail about the group buy. First, I want to say how much I appreciate the way Prime is handling this. As anyone who has recently tried to buy ammo in just about any caliber appreciated the perfect storm of Covid 19 and election fears has created a real cluster*ck. I've recently seen companies trying to sell 9mm for $1 per round. I've seen other companies trying to bundle ammo with range bags/back packs, presumably as a way to disguise the outrageous prices they want to charge for ammo. You really think it's ok to charge me $500 for 500 rounds of XM193 if you throw a shitty little bag that I don't really want with it? I don't think so. So I completely understand why there might be delays/supply chain interruptions.

But now I've got to figure out which of the multiple options being offered I should choose. And try to remember exactly what I paid for the original group buy. I think bass master is right, original group buy price was somewhere over $300 for 200 rounds of 6.5CM. I think I used to pay $1.25 per round for Hornady Match ammo, and about .80 for their American Gunner in 6.5CM. But those are pre-Covid prices.

Also trying to remember what kind of groups I got from my previous purchase of Prime 6.5CM. As I recall the Hornady 143 match ammo performed slightly better out of my bolt action (maybe .5-.6 MOA vs. .8-.9 MOA for Prime). But honestly haven't shot that much of the Prime I own so it just could have been an off day. My inclination though is to go with the 144 gr. ammo that's currently available because I really don't want to wait until June of next year for delivery. Hoping that, since the bullet weight is closer to the Hornady it might shoot better out of my rifle.

Curious what others are doing. Also, if anyone has experience with SMK 144 gr. vs. 130 gr bullets. Which have you generally found to be more accurate? I would think the larger bullet would be less affected by the wind, so better at longer distances. But I suppose the relative velocity of each bullet would also makes a difference.
 
Quick update. Actually went out and shot a box of the Prime for groups. Better than I expected. At 100 yards results of first 3 five shot groups were .45", .5" and .7" Last group had 1 semi-flyer because the guy shooting next to me touched off a round a millisecond before my shot broke. Otherwise would have been .4". Final group was 1.2" at 200 yards, with 4 of those shots touching each other. So shooting 4 consecutive groups with no rounds excluded, worst group was still .7 MOA.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FN-Whitney
I’m glad I checked back into this thread...I didn’t see the email from Prime about the 4 options for replacement ammo from the last group buy. I decided to go with #3, replace the 130 grain with the the 144 grain.

I just hope they carry this ammo going forward. I’d hate to find out my rifles love the 144, get my dope figured out...and then not be able to buy more later once the 130’s are available again.
 
I have to echo how awesome Prime is being about this. I took option 2, I figure frankly I'm not a competition shooter, and I don't shoot tens of thousands of rounds a year, but getting ammo is probably going to be very hard, and very expensive, for at LEAST the next couple years. Federal/CCI has already stated they have over a year of backorders to fill running at full capacity. Sure, I used to buy Hornady Match at $23 a box, but I think those days are done, Federal's site is selling their 6.5 at $42 a box now. I would not be surprised to see match ammo pushing $50 a box if you can find it. Heck 9mm FMJ is selling for $60+ a box.

As such I was very happy to have the option to a get a case of 144gr at the group buy price and still get my original 130gr case later this year for the same price. My only regret is I didn't buy more than 1 case originally, so I could "double down" even more 144gr.

That said I'll admit I'm Prime biased. I've ordered less than 1000 rounds from them and I still remember my first order with them, a few weeks later a nice lady called me just to see how I liked the Ammo. When this Christmas group buy issue came up, I sent them my email with my decision I echoed my appreciation for them doing this and a couple days later got a nice voicemail from Jim thanking me for my support and understanding. I can tell you having been in various shooting sports for over 35 years now, no other company has done that since I was a All American trapshooter back in the 90s, and even then it was only because of my shooting status. Prime did it for some guy that spent less than $300 with them and has never shot a long range rifle competition.
 
I have to echo how awesome Prime is being about this. I took option 2, I figure frankly I'm not a competition shooter, and I don't shoot tens of thousands of rounds a year, but getting ammo is probably going to be very hard, and very expensive, for at LEAST the next couple years. Federal/CCI has already stated they have over a year of backorders to fill running at full capacity. Sure, I used to buy Hornady Match at $23 a box, but I think those days are done, Federal's site is selling their 6.5 at $42 a box now. I would not be surprised to see match ammo pushing $50 a box if you can find it. Heck 9mm FMJ is selling for $60+ a box.

As such I was very happy to have the option to a get a case of 144gr at the group buy price and still get my original 130gr case later this year for the same price. My only regret is I didn't buy more than 1 case originally, so I could "double down" even more 144gr.

That said I'll admit I'm Prime biased. I've ordered less than 1000 rounds from them and I still remember my first order with them, a few weeks later a nice lady called me just to see how I liked the Ammo. When this Christmas group buy issue came up, I sent them my email with my decision I echoed my appreciation for them doing this and a couple days later got a nice voicemail from Jim thanking me for my support and understanding. I can tell you having been in various shooting sports for over 35 years now, no other company has done that since I was a All American trapshooter back in the 90s, and even then it was only because of my shooting status. Prime did it for some guy that spent less than $300 with them and has never shot a long range rifle competition.


When you emailed what option you wanted did you get a response? Just wondering if we were supposed to receive some sort of confirmation or something.
 
Yep I did, I got an email confirmation back in a day or so and a couple days later someone contacted me to verify my choice and get updated payment info. There was a time limit to choose an option, otherwise I believe the default if you didn't respond was that they simply waited until the 130gr was ready to ship this summer. I believe the deadline was the end of the month.
 
I also just got Prime Ammo's e-mail about the group buy. First, I want to say how much I appreciate the way Prime is handling this. As anyone who has recently tried to buy ammo in just about any caliber appreciated the perfect storm of Covid 19 and election fears has created a real cluster*ck. I've recently seen companies trying to sell 9mm for $1 per round. I've seen other companies trying to bundle ammo with range bags/back packs, presumably as a way to disguise the outrageous prices they want to charge for ammo. You really think it's ok to charge me $500 for 500 rounds of XM193 if you throw a shitty little bag that I don't really want with it? I don't think so. So I completely understand why there might be delays/supply chain interruptions.

But now I've got to figure out which of the multiple options being offered I should choose. And try to remember exactly what I paid for the original group buy. I think bass master is right, original group buy price was somewhere over $300 for 200 rounds of 6.5CM. I think I used to pay $1.25 per round for Hornady Match ammo, and about .80 for their American Gunner in 6.5CM. But those are pre-Covid prices.

Also trying to remember what kind of groups I got from my previous purchase of Prime 6.5CM. As I recall the Hornady 143 match ammo performed slightly better out of my bolt action (maybe .5-.6 MOA vs. .8-.9 MOA for Prime). But honestly haven't shot that much of the Prime I own so it just could have been an off day. My inclination though is to go with the 144 gr. ammo that's currently available because I really don't want to wait until June of next year for delivery. Hoping that, since the bullet weight is closer to the Hornady it might shoot better out of my rifle.

Curious what others are doing. Also, if anyone has experience with SMK 144 gr. vs. 130 gr bullets. Which have you generally found to be more accurate? I would think the larger bullet would be less affected by the wind, so better at longer distances. But I suppose the relative velocity of each bullet would also makes a difference.




Diameter (inches)0.264
Weight (grains)144 Gr.
Sectional Density0.295
Ballistic Coefficients and Velocity Ranges.550 @ 2800 fps and above .541 between 2000 and 2800 fps .536 @ 2000 fps and below
Box Count500 Bullets


Diameter (inches)0.264
Weight (grains)130 Gr.
Sectional Density0.266
Ballistic Coefficients and Velocity Ranges.584 @ 2350 fps and above .563 between 1860 and 2350 fps .531 @ 1860 fps and below

130 SMK should win out across the board, especially when running 150ish fps faster than the 144.

 
Yep I did, I got an email confirmation back in a day or so and a couple days later someone contacted me to verify my choice and get updated payment info. There was a time limit to choose an option, otherwise I believe the default if you didn't respond was that they simply waited until the 130gr was ready to ship this summer. I believe the deadline was the end of the month.


Ok, I'll hit them up again. I responded the same day originally, thought it was weird there was no confirmation.
 
Just wanted to post a quick follow up. Given the current price and availability of ammo, I ended up choosing option 2 (144gr ammo now, 130gr ammo later). I've had good results with Prime 130gr, but also had very good results with Hornady 143gr - so I'm hoping 144gr. Prime will be GTG.

But the real reason for this post was to give a shout out to Prime. My order was one of a few that apparently fell through the cracks, so the 144gr. ammo never shipped to me. Shot them an e-mail a couple of days ago asking them why the ammo hadn't shipped given their estimate that it would go out in early Jan. Received an e-mail back from them that I should call the owner, with his cell phone number. Spoke with him at some length and he explained that they had in fact shipped out this ammo two weeks ago, but that my order had somehow been misplaced. As he explained this to me I was getting ready for the inevitable - "sorry, it's all gone now, so no ammo for you." Instead, he apologized profusely and assured me that they had enough ammo to cover my order (only 200 rounds) and that it would ship out immediately.

Not a lot of companies where the owner would take the time to personally speak with a very small customer and make things right. In fact, as I recall when I placed my first order of ammo with them (about a year ago) after the ammo shipped the owner personally called me to ask if I was happy with his product.

Plus, in these crazy times when finding any kind of ammo is a challenge, it's great to see a company that cares about its customers and is continuing to sell high quality ammo at a very fair price - unlike some companies/distributors that have jacked up the price of their ammo to ridiculous levels. I mean I've seen people trying to charge $1 per round for 9mm and .30, .40 and even .50 a round for 22 LR. At this rate I'm going to have to start shooting more of my 6.5CM ammo because I can no longer afford to replace my 9mm.:rolleyes:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Macman25
Not a lot of companies where the owner would take the time to personally speak with a very small customer and make things right.
Jim O'Shaughnessy is a true mensch. He called me about a bit of an order snafu, we chatted quit a bit, and exchanged pics of our kids hunting.

Totally stand up guy in my book.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ToddM
So looks like Round 2 is shipping.(y) Great timing as I've got a new 6.5CM barrel that's also about to arrive.
Yep, mine will be here in Maryland tomorrow as they shipped from.....Zelienople, PA. I actually know where this is as in the late 50's and early 60's, I and all of my little friends were sent there for summer camp every year. I'm not sure there was even a traffic light and I can't imagine anyone sending their kids to a camp like this in current times and more the shame of it.

We slept in old wood bunkhouses on old Army cots and blankets, our favorite pastime was catching little crawly buggers…often right in our bunkhouse! haha. We all caught poison ivy and were pretty much pink/orange from head to toe from calamine lotion. Every year some bug would hit the whole camp and we all were given castor oil which did nothing for us but I suspect our camp director got the idea from watching old Little Rascals movies. We hiked, we camped out with nothing but a sleeping bag and some hot dogs, we canoed, shot archery, played capture the flag with little paper bags of flower to tag kids out with, and were generally hell on the local crawfish and frog population. We LOVED it and couldn’t wait to go back the next year. And not a video game in sight! hehe

Ok, hijack over but wow....the name of that town sure took me back.

Oh, I note that the shipping notice says "130 gr" as the item shipped but I think that's just from the original order system line item and I expect we are all getting 142 SMK's per Jim's email last week.

Cheers
 
Baron, not to get off topic, but sounds a little like my camp in the Adirondack mountains of NY. Cabins had no electricity or heat, hell the walls only went half way up to the roof. No plumbing. We used a latrine (affectionally known as the perch). Bathed once a week in the nearby lake. Run by an old Army colonel so reveille in got us up in the morning and taps meant bed time. But it did have a nice rifle range and if you were 12 and up you could shoot .22's rather than bb-guns. Actually where I learned to shoot. Good times.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Baron23