Reloading Components San Diego: Brass, Powder

Brass · projectiles · primers · powder

Core components for reloaders, when we can get them. Call before you drive out and somebody will tell you what is actually on the shelf. Bring a specification, not a guess.

Call 858-987-0509 Text the store Factory ammo catalog

Before you plan a trip

A Components Counter, Not an Equipment Shop

The difference is a forty-minute drive, so it is worth being precise.

What we keep for reloaders

The consumables — the four things that get used up. Brass, new and once-fired. Projectiles across the usual constructions. Primers in the standard sizes and types. Powder by name.

What we do not hold ourselves out as is a press-and-dies shop. Need equipment? Call and ask before you drive out. A straight answer is worth more than an optimistic one.

Why every line here says “when available”

Because it is true, and most often true of primers and powder. What reaches our shelf follows what our distributors can get, and that has not been steady for years. This site is written by hand, not wired to the till, so nothing on it is a live inventory feed. On this page more than any other: call before you drive out.

4411 Mercury St, Suite 103 · Kearny Mesa

The four things that get used up

Brass, Projectiles, Primers and Powder

Written for somebody who already reloads: what is worth asking us about each one. Not a tutorial, and not load data.

Brass

New · once-fired · by headstamp

New brass is uniform — one headstamp, one lot, almost no prep, which is what you want when developing a load. Once-fired costs less and asks for sizing, trimming and a look at every primer pocket, since military headstamps often arrive crimped and want swaging or reaming. Two things to check before you commit to a bucket: Berdan-primed cases are not practically reloadable on a home bench, and case capacity varies by headstamp, so a change of brass is a reason to revisit your data.

Projectiles

Jacketed · plated · coated · cast

Sold by diameter and weight, not by the name of the cartridge, and diameter is what catches people out — the .38 and .357 family does not take the same bullet as 9mm, whatever both get called in conversation. Cast and coated are commonly sized a touch over the jacketed nominal on purpose, so buy what your barrel and your data call for. Plated bullets carry a velocity ceiling the maker publishes; treat it as a specification, not a suggestion.

Primers

Small · large · pistol · rifle · magnum

Four types before the variants: small pistol, large pistol, small rifle, large rifle, each with a magnum version. They are close enough in size to fit where they do not belong and different enough in cup thickness and sensitivity to matter, so ask by specification, not by size. Two traps worth naming: plenty of .45 ACP brass is small-primer depending on the headstamp, and some 9mm and 5.56 brass takes small rifle. Magnum is a separate component with its own data, not a hotter drop-in.

Powder

By name only · never a substitute

The one component with no near-enough. Two propellants side by side on a burn-rate chart are not interchangeable, names differing by a word are not related products, and careful reloaders rework a load when the lot changes. Ask by full published name and we will tell you honestly whether it is here. What we will not do is give load data — not a charge weight, not a range, not a substitution. Your powder or bullet maker's current manual is the authority.

One call, one answer

What to Have Ready When You Call

A component request is a specification, not a product name. Give us these six and somebody walks to the shelf while you are on the line.

The caliber, as your brass or dies spell it
It scopes the whole call. If the cartridge goes by more than one name, use the one printed on your dies. Being pedantic costs nothing and saves the call being about the wrong round.
Bullet weight, diameter and construction
Grains, the diameter you actually load, and jacketed, plated, coated or cast. Add the profile if it matters — two bullets at one weight can seat and feed differently.
Primer size and type, not just the size
Small or large, pistol or rifle, standard or magnum, plus the maker and number if you have a preference. Working mixed brass and unsure which pocket you have? Say so before you buy a sleeve of the wrong thing.
The powder, by its full published name
Not the burn-rate neighbourhood, not something close. If you would take an alternative, name the ones your own data already covers — we will not pick one for you.
How much of each you want
It changes the answer more here than anywhere else in the shop, and for primers and powder it decides whether this is a walk-in or something we arrange.
Whether a second choice works
The most useful sentence you can give us. If nothing else in your data will do, we would rather say so on the phone than have you drive out to hear it.

Call 858-987-0509 Text Us the Spec Visit to Buy

Shelves inside LAX Ammo San Diego, the ammunition counter in Kearny Mesa, San Diego

The two that are handled differently

Primers and Powder Are Not Like the Rest of the Shop

Energetic materials, carrying storage and shipping requirements nothing else on our shelves does. That has consequences for you, so here they are plainly.

How much of either is on hand is shaped by how it must be stored and how it reaches us, not by how much we would like to sell. That is the honest reason a quantity question is a phone question here and a shelf question everywhere else in the store.

Deliberately, this page quotes you no quantity limit, no shipping class and no storage rule. Those requirements exist, they are not ours to summarise off the cuff, and a half-remembered number about explosives is worse than none. Tell us what you want and we will tell you what we can do — and see our policies for why components are counter-only and how returns work on them.

Stock & deal questions

Text us the spec and we will go look

Caliber, bullet weight and diameter, primer size and type, the powder by name, and how much you want. Somebody walks to the shelf and tells you what is there — including when the answer is no.

Se habla español

Ask if your caliber is in stock today, and what it runs.
Ask what the in-store Deal of the Week is before you drive out.
Ask what to bring for the California eligibility check.
Ask anything about a load, a caliber, or your gun. No pressure, no attitude.

Call 858-987-0509 Text 310-499-3499

Phone: immediate during business hours
Text: anytime — immediate during business hours, forwarded after hours
Hours: Mon – Fri 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM · Sat – Sun 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Components and the California check

Do Components Need an Eligibility Check?

Generally no — but that sentence needs its qualifications, so here they are with the sources attached.

The check attaches to ammunition, and for the sales rules the Penal Code defines that narrowly: one or more loaded cartridges consisting of a primed case, propellant, and one or more projectiles. Components on their own — empty brass, projectiles, primers, powder — sit outside that definition.

Three qualifications matter more than the rule. Ammunition you have already reloaded is ammunition, so it is inside the definition again. A store may apply stricter rules than the law requires, and what we ask for at our counter is our decision rather than the state's — ask us instead of assuming. And separate requirements govern storing and transporting larger quantities of powder. The full purchase process, the ID you need and what a denial means are on our California ammo law page.

General information, not legal advice

This describes California's ammunition rules as we understand them, to help you turn up prepared. It creates no professional relationship and is not advice about your situation. Cities and counties can add requirements of their own, and if anything here has changed since the review date, the official sources win.

Last reviewed: 6 August 2026

Take an unusual situation to a California firearms attorney, not to shop staff.

Ammunition, accessories and reloading components only — no firearms, and no shooting range at this location. Everything is bought at the counter in Kearny Mesa. Se habla español.

Common questions

Reloading Questions We Get at the Counter

Real questions from San Diego reloaders, answered the way we answer them in person.

Do you stock reloading components in San Diego?

Yes — brass, projectiles, primers and powder, when available. That hedge is doing real work: primers and powder are the most supply-constrained products in this trade, what reaches our shelf follows what our distributors can get, and this site is written by hand rather than wired to the till. Read it as what we buy for reloaders, not as today's shelf.

Do you have primers and powder in stock right now?

Not honestly, on a page written before today. Call 858-987-0509 or text 310-499-3499 and somebody will walk to the shelf while you are on the line. Have the specification ready — primer size and type, or the powder by its full published name — because those are the two where near enough is not an answer.

Do I need a DOJ eligibility check to buy brass, bullets, primers or powder?

Generally no. For California's ammunition sales rules the Penal Code defines ammunition as a loaded cartridge — a primed case with propellant and one or more projectiles — so components on their own fall outside it, while ammunition you have already reloaded does need a check. That is general information, not advice about your situation: stores may apply stricter rules of their own, and separate requirements govern storing larger quantities of powder. Call and ask before planning a big order.

Do you sell reloading presses, dies or tumblers?

This is a components counter rather than a full reloading-equipment shop, so do not plan a trip around collecting a press or a die set. What we carry for reloaders is the consumables — brass, projectiles, primers and powder. Need equipment? Call and ask rather than driving out on the assumption; you get a straight answer either way.

Can you ship powder or primers, or sell them online?

No. There is no checkout on this site and we do not ship, so components are bought face to face in Kearny Mesa. Two different reasons sit behind that: for loaded ammunition, face-to-face delivery at a licensed vendor is California law; for components it is simply our own decision, since we run no online store. One is a statute, the other could change with a phone call.

Can I substitute a different powder or primer for the one I wanted?

Not on our say-so. We will tell you what is on the shelf and what a box is marked; we will not tell you one propellant stands in for another, or that a magnum primer drops in for a standard one, because neither is true and neither is our call. Your powder or bullet maker's current manual is the authority on what your data covers — if it covers an alternative, give us that name.

Keep reading

Where to Go Next

Where We Are

LAX Ammo San Diego4411 Mercury St, Suite 103
San Diego, CA 92111
Kearny Mesa, San Diego

Open in Google Maps

Hours

Mon – Fri: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Sat – Sun: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Call or Text

858-987-0509

Calls only

310-499-3499

Text only

Text anytime. Anytime — immediate during business hours, forwarded after hours.

info@laxammosd.com

Before You Visit

Bring your California ID — every ammo purchase needs an eligibility check.
Purchases happen at the counter. No online checkout, and we don't ship ammo.
Ammunition and accessories only. No firearms, no range at this location.