I've been reloading since 1999. I have tooling for most of my cartridges. My most frequently used supplies are Win 231 powder and small pistol primers. The primers are unavailable locally. When I first started reloading, a sleeve of 1000 primers in 10 packages of 100 each was $20. A friend in Tennessee just coughed up $165 for 1,000 small pistol primers. My last trip to the store showed only large magnum rifle primers in stock.
Boxes of 9mm (50 rds) are running $25 to $40 for ball range ammo. It was $6.50 for a box of 50 9mm when I first started in 1999. 45ACP Speer Lawman 50 rd was $11.99 and it was cost effective to reload with a net reload cost of $6.50 to reload 50 rounds. The economics have shifted.
For most of the past 5 years, I could buy a bucket of 9mm 115 gr (350 rds) for $89 at Sportsmanswarehouse.
$165 for 1000 primers?
Dang. I just bought 1000 Federal Match Large Pistol primers for $48 last week.