I read some speculation above about more Hodgdon/IMR/Winchester powders being discontinued. When the discontinuance of several powders was announced about a year and a half ago, I spoke with Hodgdon's about it, as they were axing two of my favrorites, IMR SR4756 and even the fairly new IMR 4007SSC.

I was told that there are two methods of producing gunpowder and the newer method takes one-third the man-hours of the older method so one by one, powders were switched over to the new method. The trouble was that numerous powders could not be made that way and were becoming money-losing propositions, so the ones that weren't setting the sales world on fire were dropped.

Given that, it would seem safe to speculate that any powder that remains in production will continue to be made as long as it is profitable for them to make it.

If one of the discontinued powders is a favorite of yours, commence beating the bushes for what remains on gun shop shelves. Between my own shopping and the help of two members of this forum, I accumulated 15 pounds of SR4756. And by just looking for it, I found four pounds of 4007SSC so the stuff is out there. Small gun shops are your best bet - the "big box" sporting goods stores are where everyone shops, so their supply is long gone. For example, I know where two eight-pound jugs of PB are resting comfortably in plain view on a dealer's shelf. If I still shot trap competitively, they would not be there.

Ed