"Supposed" 30% Alliant Powder Increases Inbound

NHCraigT

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Posted on 5/12/23:
Just an FYI, I work for a gun shop and my Federal Ammo/Alliant powder sales rep was in our shop 2 weeks ago. He informed me that Alliant was taking a 30% price increase. He blamed the price spike of nitrocellulose due to the war in Ukraine and one of only 4 nitrocellulose plants in the world had an explosion last fall. So I am now seeing most retailers pricing at the new price. I was also told that Alliant has been shipping a fraction of what they normally ship for powder. At one time they shipped 30 Million dollars a year and last year they shipped about 2 million dollars. We have only received about 100lbs of Alliant powder in that last 3 years. Unlike the Hodgdon brands, I can not order direct. I can only order from distributors and they have been very stingy with their allocations. I think if you look, BPI is not the only one selling it at the new price. Brownells is also at that price. This time it is not a price gouging issue but just a price increase from the manufacture.
 
It makes one wonder whether the outfits that make reloading components are desirous of killing reloading or simply willing to tolerate it?
 
Alliant is just following market demand behind Hodgton . Last time I checked Varget was around $54 / lb ? Got guns ? You better have the big coin to continue to feed them. No more skinflinting .

I put most of my shooting on hold. Invested in archery and crossbows, far more stabil market pricing that's totally unaffected by political environment and panic.
 
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Decent .308 match rifle bullets $55 to $78 per 100- insane!
for that - there is SPS site with blem noslers. those blem RDF noslers shoot as good as non-blem, the only ones i get brand new now are very expensive berger hybrids.
only pity they did not have 175gr rdf for an eternity now, and i want to stock those up a bit, as got plenty of 168gr now.
 
I know it is not Alliant, but MSS finally received 8 lb jugs of IMR 4895 to feed your Garand. No Hazmat fee today as a special.

$318 for 8lbs with no Hazmat is $40/lb
 
It's proportional to everything else in Biden's USA.... $6 for an ice cream from the ice cream truck tonight...
 
for that - there is SPS site with blem noslers. those blem RDF noslers shoot as good as non-blem, the only ones i get brand new now are very expensive berger hybrids.
only pity they did not have 175gr rdf for an eternity now, and i want to stock those up a bit, as got plenty of 168gr now.
@mac1911 told me about SPS and I've bought several orders of CC blems in various calibers. MSS also has some great deals on bulk house brand, which I think are CC blems or just a bulk purchase of standard CC's. I only use 175's for vintage sniper competition. For that I'll use TMK's or non-blem RDF's, might try Bergers. It's hard enough to hold the 10-ring at 600 yards with WW2 equipment and the matches are infrequent, so no 2nds for that.
 
@mac1911 told me about SPS and I've bought several orders of CC blems in various calibers. MSS also has some great deals on bulk house brand, which I think are CC blems or just a bulk purchase of standard CC's. I only use 175's for vintage sniper competition. For that I'll use TMK's or non-blem RDF's, might try Bergers. It's hard enough to hold the 10-ring at 600 yards with WW2 equipment and the matches are infrequent, so no 2nds for that.

Agreed on SPS , ive bought thousands of CC blems and ill be dammed if i can tell any difference from 1st's . I even use a 30x optical comparitor at my work and the ogive profile looked identical. I got a DEEP stash of 168's . They shoot excellent in all my rifles out to 600 yds
 
@mac1911 told me about SPS and I've bought several orders of CC blems in various calibers. MSS also has some great deals on bulk house brand, which I think are CC blems or just a bulk purchase of standard CC's. I only use 175's for vintage sniper competition. For that I'll use TMK's or non-blem RDF's, might try Bergers. It's hard enough to hold the 10-ring at 600 yards with WW2 equipment and the matches are infrequent, so no 2nds for that.
I have both CC and RDFs from sps and kinda like rdfs better. I shot them at 300 and groups were good.
 
I have both CC and RDFs from sps and kinda like rdfs better. I shot them at 300 and groups were good.
On the contrary , i've been trying to get my McRees Precision 6.5 manbun rifle to shoot 140 RDF's and H4350 and the accuracy is good but for a $500 barrel i'm not really 100% satisfied. I got frustrated and gave up, have not shot that rifle in years, I probably need to get back on the bench and try load development again.
 
On the contrary , i've been trying to get my McRees Precision 6.5 manbun rifle to shoot 140 RDF's and H4350 and the accuracy is good but for a $500 barrel i'm not really 100% satisfied. I got frustrated and gave up, have not shot that rifle in years, I probably need to get back on the bench and try load development again.
What's the twist rate on your barrel? That will affect what weight projectiles will be optimum. And to fire up the broken record, try Varget. [laugh] At least you can find it in stock now.
 
On the contrary , i've been trying to get my McRees Precision 6.5 manbun rifle to shoot 140 RDF's and H4350 and the accuracy is good but for a $500 barrel i'm not really 100% satisfied. I got frustrated and gave up, have not shot that rifle in years, I probably need to get back on the bench and try load development again.
my 6.5cm bergara really likes hornady 140gr eldx on 41.8gr of R16. it shoot them a bit better than RDFs, but in gas 6.5cm guns RDFs group better. go figure.
but it is exactly the part that keeps this hobby interesting.
 
1-8" , and thanks for the tip, i'll keep in mind the Varget suggestion.
dunno, varget is not common for 140gr 6.5cm loads. it will work, sure, but, dunno. it is not common.
and hornady manual cuts it rather prematurely at the 2600fps point, i guess by pressure reasons.

my RL16 140gr ELD-X load goes at the 2780fps, 41.8gr - a bit hotter than suggested.

1684281855755.png
 
my 6.5cm bergara really likes hornady 140gr eldx on 41.8gr of R16. it shoot them a bit better than RDFs, but in gas 6.5cm guns RDFs group better. go figure.
but it is exactly the part that keeps this hobby interesting.

I did try some RL17 and the 140 RDF's and my best was a 1.78" group at 200 meters. Again good, but not $500 barrel good IMO. McRees claims "1/2" MOA " but i'm not there yet.
 
I did try some RL17 and the 140 RDF's and my best was a 1.78" group at 200 meters. Again good, but not $500 barrel good IMO. McRees claims "1/2" MOA " but i'm not there yet.
that is my typical 300yds group from the 'assortment' brass at 300yds. top circle is a 1/2".
i had some better, but, one below is typical. dunno how many went into the center, i left no comments. a mag is 5 rounds, probably did 3 mags there.
it shoots good, but there is still some spread, and it did not hit center consequently.

1684282219452.png
 
and here, as i was in the same folder - a picture of 140gr RDFs at 300, from same bergara lrp2:
kinda interesting how on same load it dropped down to the right.

1684282503006.png
 
I did try some RL17 and the 140 RDF's and my best was a 1.78" group at 200 meters. Again good, but not $500 barrel good IMO. McRees claims "1/2" MOA " but i'm not there yet.
i found a picture of the 140gr RDF noslers from the 18" faxon 6.5CM barrel ar10, 100yds - here:
speed was 2590 - vs high 2700s from 24" bergara. target`s grid is 1" in size.
1684283482691.png
 
Ain’t nuthin’ coming down in price until we have to stop supporting Ukraine because they’re blackmailing pedo Joe…I’m surprised there is any ammo or components available cuz Democracy!
 
As much as I like loading .32 and .45 Colt and other oddball calibers, I'm not so interested in doing it when primers and powder are over double their price 3 years ago.

.22 and 9mm mostly and some occasional 10mm when I get bored. The .32 and .45 revolvers will get some time, but not this year.
 
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