Where has all the powder gone...

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8x57mm

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... Long time passing. Where has all the powder gone... Where has all the powder gone?

Anyone even hear of powder starting to come back. Everywhere I go they only have a handful of obscure, specialty powders, and they just shrug their shoulders when you ask the guys behind the counter about when the drought might end.

JR
 
You're shopping at the wrong places... Shooter's Outpost, Riley's (I won't buy there, but you can), as well as Acme and others (north of the MA state line at least) have healthy supplies of powder with more coming in all the time. Last trip to Shooter's had almost all the space allocated for powders occupied. If you're looking for something odd, find an alternative. If you're looking for a common powder, chances are they have it, or something that's a very close match.
 
Many of the sources I use are out of stock on many of my favorites, including Riley's and Shooter's.

Speaking of which, anyone seen any Power Pistol anywhere?
 
I dunno, powder is still quite sparse. I use Unique, 231, 296, varget and 748. I have been opportunistic enough to keep a good buffer, but we are still far away from walking even into the largest stores and finding a reasonable supply. Primers, brass and projectiles are plentiful, but the powder is still in short supply.

Chris
 
rutilate said:
Many of the sources I use are out of stock on many of my favorites, including Riley's and Shooter's.

Speaking of which, anyone seen any Power Pistol anywhere?
Click to expand...

Hell, Power Pistol has been tough since Obamascare 1, I never really saw it come back into stock the way it should, at least not at the local level. I laid in a few pounds of it from 1 pound jugs I found here and there.

-Mike
 
8x57mm said:
... Long time passing. Where has all the powder gone... Where has all the powder gone?

Anyone even hear of powder starting to come back. Everywhere I go they only have a handful of obscure, specialty powders, and they just shrug their shoulders when you ask the guys behind the counter about when the drought might end.

JR
Click to expand...
Oops, sorry, have I been using too much lately? I stocked up on H335, CFE223, unique, and power pistol just before Christmas.
 
I find it far easier to be 'flexible' with the powders I use, especially for pistol. For 45acp, I will use AA5, red dot, 231, etc. I do the same for rifle, but generally only bother to work up loads with 2 powders (748 and H335/WC844 for 223 remington, for example). Makes life a lot more pleasant when shopping for powder.
 
I recently started loading, and have been using red dot because that's what I could find, but I scored 8 lbs do bullseye from an unnamed vendor on the intertubes, then stuffed the box with as manny primers as would fit to spread out the hazmat fee. Just got here yesterday, so il be working those loads up soon. Oh, btw Martha, I'm in NH, so don't get your panties wet about shipping Killy stuff to mass....


Sent from my phone....which isn't really a phone anymore, it's a computer on my pocket
 
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Well seems there's only 2 places in the us that manufacture powder. I would assume they have to make runs on what powder they make.
Correct me if I'm wrong but both powder plants are owned by US gov and companies lease them from US like ATK. France and cananda have powder plants also.... I find powder in stock but its never what I need or still so over priced I don't bother.
 
mac1911 said:
Well seems there's only 2 places in the us that manufacture powder. I would assume they have to make runs on what powder they make.
Correct me if I'm wrong but both powder plants are owned by US gov and companies lease them from US like ATK. France and cananda have powder plants also.... I find powder in stock but its never what I need or still so over priced I don't bother.
Click to expand...

ATK, that's my best IRA performer. I dumped OLN back in the summer of 2012 and bought ATK @ 50.00 and doubled the amount in the fall @ 60.00. I think it was @ 140.00 on Friday. I wish I'd bought more.
 
You have to be dilligent and patient. In the past 6 months, I have found powder here and there. And not the unusual stuff. I have found Varget, Win 231, Win 296, IMR 4895, IMR 4198. I was just in Acme last week and they had about 5lb of Unique and a bunch of Reloader. Along with primers. I picked up some of the Unique.
 
You obviously don't get out much. Riley's, Shooters Outpost, Skip's all have more than 70 pounds on display. Hell even the Barn Store in Salisbury has that much.
 
I've been north of the border 3 times in the last month....231 is as elusive as a fart in the wind!

I've moved on to other options but I'm not sold!
 
Smokewagon said:
That's impressive. I've yet to be in a store in New England that had anywhere close to 70lbs total of powder in stock.
Click to expand...

Rileys, shooters and others probably have 70+ pounds in stock. Problem is if it's stuff like Unique, Power Pistol, Titegroup, Win 231, Varget, Reloader 15.... Good luck finding those. A lot of the "old standbys" are very hard to come by.

-Mike
 
psst - guys South of Boston.
Hunters Trading Post does not inventory a lot of reloading gear, but they have a few pounds of Varget on the floor along the back wall, and some other smokeless powder.
My own experience is too limited to recognize the utility of the other powders they have, but they had several more varieties.
 
Really, because I was at two of those places myself fairly recently, and neither had W748 or H322, which are 2 of the powders I was (am) seeking for 223 loads. I have (for now) enough 4064 and R15 to cover just about every other rifle cartridge I reload, and the same with Unique for my pistol rounds, but again, those are powders I stocked long ago. I confess that I get a little twitchy every time I look in the old powder box these days.
 
Supermoto said:
D&L in warwick RI
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+ this. When ever anyone asks about powder, I recommend D&L. They have a $hit ton of powder. I don't think anyone actually goes there after asking. Not sure why. Closer than NH not limited to one pound. Lots of ammo, some primers, no bullets to speak of. Great selection of used guns. Heritage just up the road on Route One in the old "Post Road" shop too. Frank is back. Run back through Woonsocket and check Bullseye. I make the route about once a month.
White Feather
 
drgrant said:
Rileys, shooters and others probably have 70+ pounds in stock. Problem is if it's stuff like Unique, Power Pistol, Titegroup, Win 231, Varget, Reloader 15.... Good luck finding those. A lot of the "old standbys" are very hard to come by.

-Mike
Click to expand...

I haven't been up to NH in a few months, when I was up there late last year they were both pretty bare. Riley's had a limit of 2 containers and were limiting primers to 500 or sumsuch. Glad everyone is getting stuff back in. That said, I'll probably keep my stocking up for my yearly pilgrimage out west. I'm able to find 4/8lbs jugs of most things, including Titegroup, Unique, Power Pistol, etc, when I'm out that way. Best part is the price. I think I gave $125.00 (Could have been slighly more) for the 8lb jug of Titegroup I bought. Anytime I've seen an 8lb jug of anything here in the Peoples Republic it's been closer to $170+, but it's never anything I want anyway. I'll keep a lookout up north, I head up that way about once a month, but havent' had time to stop in and shop about lately. Unless things change though, on my next trip out west I'm coming back with multiple jugs of pistol powder for sure.

Folks keep saying D&L, but I never make it down that direction. If I do i'll stop in and see what's what.
 
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Bendad97 said:
Was at Riley's last weekend, and the shelves were looking a bit bare.
Click to expand...

I'm sensing a new round of hoarding. Bullets that were traditionally available online all last year are a lot tougher to find. Powders don't last as long on the shelf. Primers are easy to find though. Now.

I wonder if all those $500-1000 reloading setups I saw flying out the door last summer are finally being used...
 

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