I just got this email from American Reloading make sure you read the part about gun powder backlog.
A Note to Our Customers
The purpose of this email is to reach out to our loyal customers and give them an update on American Reloading. We greatly appreciate the support and patience over the last year. A lot of changes are coming, and we are working on ways to speed up deliveries while keeping costs down. The current state of the economy doesn't make anything easy, and we are having to make major adjustments to accommodate increasing costs across the board. Unfortunately, times like these cause delays from our suppliers at times that are out of our control. However, there are plenty of things American Reloading can do better and here is an outline of what to expect in 2026.
Customer Service Response Times - We are actively improving our process so we can reply to emails within 24 business hours. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm CT. At times we will email outside of those hours, but our goal is to get back to you as quickly as possible. Please understand, we are human, mistakes and life happen and sometimes we might have a delay. Also, please check your SPAM / JUNK Folders frequently. We've recently seen a lot of our reply emails going to your SPAM / JUNK Folders which makes it look like we didn't respond. Please add our email (info@americanreloading.com) to your approved sender list.
Phone Line Customer Service - We know this is long overdue and are making an effort to start providing a phone number to contact us during the day. Our goal is to have someone available by phone in the next 60 days. We will be publishing our phone number and hours to reach us. While it won't be a full 40 hours of availability to start, we will be sure to return missed calls in a timely manner. We are excited to get this rolling and we believe our customers will appreciate having this available.
Factory Seconds Primers Delay - If you ordered Seconds Primers, we apologize for the delay. There was an issue with the last batch we received, and we had to have them replaced. That took way longer than expected, and we apologize. We hope you understand that you always have the option to cancel and get a refund. GOOD NEWS, pending roads and delivery schedule, they will arrive Friday or Monday at the latest, and we will work rapidly to get them all out the door on Monday and Tuesday next week. ALL of those orders will be shipped, and we will have another 2 million primers available on the floor ready to ship!
300 Blackout Ammo Delay - If you ordered any 300 BO 147gr Ammo in Nickel or Brass case, those orders will be shipped out Monday next week as well. We had a brass issue that we weren't able to catch until after all of it was packaged and ready to ship. Certain brass just doesn't work well, and we haven't ever seen the issue we had. We've since replaced it and are working on getting it re-inspected and packaged. When working with the components we do, there are unforeseen issues that can occur and are virtually impossible to plan for. American Reloading has always taken care of our customers during these types of unforeseen issues, and we greatly appreciate the patience.
Industry Update from SHOT SHOW - We attended SHOT Show again this year and wanted to pass along some info. We aren't in the business to scare people into buying ammo or reloading components, but this information is important to pass along. Powder is only made in a few places around the world. There are only two plants here in the US that provide most of the commercial powder for OEMs and Retailers (Hodgdons/Accurate) and allocations are sold out through 2027. This means the commercial market won't see a surge in availability, and the prices won't change much due to distributors and retailers trying to retain their margin. American Reloading will still offer our Midwest Powders at a great discount, but when powder gets scarce and pricey, ammo prices go up. Copper is surging in the markets, which causes an increase in all components except powder. Primers, Brass and Projectiles use a high percentage of copper, so expect ammo and component prices to start reflecting that increase as the year goes on. Winchester, Federal and others have all announced price increases and would expect them every quarter as raw materials continue to climb. Eventually, ammo prices will have to increase to accommodate the raw material price increases.
Here is an example to put this into perspective:
Manufacturing 223 on the OEM level
Projectile - $60/1000 (FMJ)
Brass - $140/1000 (223 brass)
Primer - $30/1000 (SRP in bulk)
Powder - $90/1000 (Bulk powder at $25/lb)
Simply purchasing the components to load 223 55gr FMJ ammo costs $320/1000 conservatively and that doesn't include equipment, excise tax, labor, packaging, etc. Powder is about twice as much as it was five years ago for OEMs. You will see prices on Ammoseek.com that look cheaper than this, but they make it up in shipping or limit the purchase.
American Reloading will continue doing our best to keep prices affordable and provide a great value to our loyal customers. Again, we really appreciate the business and support and are looking forward to a successful 2026.
- Owners of American Reloading
Summary:
• Faster email responses (within 24 business hours)
• Phone support coming soon
• Delayed primers and 300 BLK orders ship next week
• Industry shortages + rising material costs may impact pricing
• Thanks for sticking with us — we appreciate you!
A Note to Our Customers
The purpose of this email is to reach out to our loyal customers and give them an update on American Reloading. We greatly appreciate the support and patience over the last year. A lot of changes are coming, and we are working on ways to speed up deliveries while keeping costs down. The current state of the economy doesn't make anything easy, and we are having to make major adjustments to accommodate increasing costs across the board. Unfortunately, times like these cause delays from our suppliers at times that are out of our control. However, there are plenty of things American Reloading can do better and here is an outline of what to expect in 2026.
Customer Service Response Times - We are actively improving our process so we can reply to emails within 24 business hours. Our business hours are Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm CT. At times we will email outside of those hours, but our goal is to get back to you as quickly as possible. Please understand, we are human, mistakes and life happen and sometimes we might have a delay. Also, please check your SPAM / JUNK Folders frequently. We've recently seen a lot of our reply emails going to your SPAM / JUNK Folders which makes it look like we didn't respond. Please add our email (info@americanreloading.com) to your approved sender list.
Phone Line Customer Service - We know this is long overdue and are making an effort to start providing a phone number to contact us during the day. Our goal is to have someone available by phone in the next 60 days. We will be publishing our phone number and hours to reach us. While it won't be a full 40 hours of availability to start, we will be sure to return missed calls in a timely manner. We are excited to get this rolling and we believe our customers will appreciate having this available.
Factory Seconds Primers Delay - If you ordered Seconds Primers, we apologize for the delay. There was an issue with the last batch we received, and we had to have them replaced. That took way longer than expected, and we apologize. We hope you understand that you always have the option to cancel and get a refund. GOOD NEWS, pending roads and delivery schedule, they will arrive Friday or Monday at the latest, and we will work rapidly to get them all out the door on Monday and Tuesday next week. ALL of those orders will be shipped, and we will have another 2 million primers available on the floor ready to ship!
300 Blackout Ammo Delay - If you ordered any 300 BO 147gr Ammo in Nickel or Brass case, those orders will be shipped out Monday next week as well. We had a brass issue that we weren't able to catch until after all of it was packaged and ready to ship. Certain brass just doesn't work well, and we haven't ever seen the issue we had. We've since replaced it and are working on getting it re-inspected and packaged. When working with the components we do, there are unforeseen issues that can occur and are virtually impossible to plan for. American Reloading has always taken care of our customers during these types of unforeseen issues, and we greatly appreciate the patience.
Industry Update from SHOT SHOW - We attended SHOT Show again this year and wanted to pass along some info. We aren't in the business to scare people into buying ammo or reloading components, but this information is important to pass along. Powder is only made in a few places around the world. There are only two plants here in the US that provide most of the commercial powder for OEMs and Retailers (Hodgdons/Accurate) and allocations are sold out through 2027. This means the commercial market won't see a surge in availability, and the prices won't change much due to distributors and retailers trying to retain their margin. American Reloading will still offer our Midwest Powders at a great discount, but when powder gets scarce and pricey, ammo prices go up. Copper is surging in the markets, which causes an increase in all components except powder. Primers, Brass and Projectiles use a high percentage of copper, so expect ammo and component prices to start reflecting that increase as the year goes on. Winchester, Federal and others have all announced price increases and would expect them every quarter as raw materials continue to climb. Eventually, ammo prices will have to increase to accommodate the raw material price increases.
Here is an example to put this into perspective:
Manufacturing 223 on the OEM level
Projectile - $60/1000 (FMJ)
Brass - $140/1000 (223 brass)
Primer - $30/1000 (SRP in bulk)
Powder - $90/1000 (Bulk powder at $25/lb)
Simply purchasing the components to load 223 55gr FMJ ammo costs $320/1000 conservatively and that doesn't include equipment, excise tax, labor, packaging, etc. Powder is about twice as much as it was five years ago for OEMs. You will see prices on Ammoseek.com that look cheaper than this, but they make it up in shipping or limit the purchase.
American Reloading will continue doing our best to keep prices affordable and provide a great value to our loyal customers. Again, we really appreciate the business and support and are looking forward to a successful 2026.
- Owners of American Reloading
Summary:
• Faster email responses (within 24 business hours)
• Phone support coming soon
• Delayed primers and 300 BLK orders ship next week
• Industry shortages + rising material costs may impact pricing
• Thanks for sticking with us — we appreciate you!
