This morning, I received an email from Midway stating that 2400 and Unique powders are no longer available as they have been
discontinued. I called Alliant and they should return my call with an answer.

Hope they are wrong about 2400 but right about Unique.

Another change in my life. The only 2 pistol powders I've ever used. I'll be 83 in a few days and I've saw a lot of changes and I guess I'll make it through this one. Larry

That will be too bad, since I use a lot of Unique for full shotgun loads
for shooting trap and in the field;
as well as all my revolvers and pistol, 75% plus, loads.

Why would you want ANY powder discontinued, especially one that many Forum members use?????????????

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

When I was reloading BITD, 2400 and Unique were all I used.

Unique was the perfect name for, well, Unique.

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I’m your Boogie Man, uh huh.

Mercy. Who'd've ever thought we'd see the day?

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How God has blessed us!

Plenty of fish in the sea.

This is a quote from the Alliant site in regard to Unique powder!

Remarks:
The world's most versatile reloading powder.

Why would they discontinue it?

I wouldn't believe this information unless it's confirmed.

If it's confirmed, I've found Unique very easy to replace in terms of accuracy and velocity. #2400 is much more difficult to replace, but I'm sure it can be done by experimentally inclined handloaders. I've yet to find a discontinued powder that can't be equalled in both accuracy and velocity considering the redundancy of currently marketed powders.

I received the same Email from Midway.
If this true what will replace Unique, Bullseye, and 2400 ?

titegroup, CFE pistol and Lilgun.

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it just needs more voltage

Unique has been around for something like 100 + years and is almost certainly the most versatile powder out there. I grant you it has issues and is seldom the BEST powder for any particular application, but you can use it to make a useable load for very nearly any metallic handgun cartridge and many shotgun shells. IF TRUE I am glad I have a some put away.

I read that Alliant has discontinued shipments of their powders "temporarily" due to the wars and shortage on nitrocellulose.

They are NOT discontinued. However, its anyone's guess when they will be back.

How about Power Pistol? BE-86?

I’ve used mainly Alliant powders but lookin’ hard at W231.

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Uvidíme se později, aligátore.

There are apparently a number of powders being discontinued for sale. Midwayusa notified me this morning that they were no longer carrying RL22 and HERCO as these powders had been discontinued. There could be any number of reasons for this but it’s certainly inconvenient.

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"Your other right........."

Just my personal opinion based on my experience with it. You like it, use all you want and can find.

Hodgdon Universal and "I" like it better.

Other forums are saying full removal of all alliant powdered from the market as vista shifts all focus to government contracts.
Quite plausible as it's pretty much what Ive said of Vista outdoors for at least a year now

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it just needs more voltage

This. And it’s not news. It was announced about a month ago. Given the shortage of motor glycerin due to production of small arms and artillery shells for the war in Ukraine Alliant is suspending production of its canister powders for reloading in order to support production of factory ammunition.

I have used Winchester 231/HP-38 in 9mm Luger, 9x23 Winchester, .38 Special, .44 Special, .45 Colt, and .45 ACP. It’s is great for middle of the road loads. Despite small charges, it is not position sensitive. (I’ve actually tested this.) However, if I want a higher velocity .45 ACP or .4r Special, I reach for Power Pistol. The 9x23 Winchester loads were just for practice ammo. For 9mm Luger I switched to AA #7 a long time ago … so long I don’t remember exactly why but I’m guessing it was accuracy. (I do have notes somewhere that would tell me, but I stopped bothering to reload 9mm.)

The only powder I have more of than W-231 is Hodgdon 4895, and that’s because rifle cartridges use so much more powder.

Interesting. I stocked up on 2400 a few years ago thinking I would shoot a lot of 357 but ended up shooting more 38's.

There is a LGS with a fair supply of many powders on the rack for reasonable prices. Maybe I should buy some and stash it? No Unique or Bullseye but plenty of 231 and BE86. Also some Sport Pistol.

...wants BE-86 to be the "powder for everything" in a pistol. Fortunately I am well stocked up on powder and on load data.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I stopped in a little roadside shop recently that has quite a bit of powder in stock. I am sure I saw unique on the shelf. I may have to swing by there again and buy up what he has.

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Sadly, I think Hodgdon's Universal may suffer the same fate. That was what I began using in lieu of Unique. CFE Pistol or Win244 may be the replacements. Universal is right between those two.

I think the "old" powders will be giving way to the "new" powders. The process has changed.

You guy's know how the dance goes ...
Create a shortage ... Double / Triple the Price ...
And Back it comes at the new price ...

The shortage / price increase two step .

They can do the dance really well now !
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

Nah .... it's closer to Vista outdoors Kinetic group wanting to shift EVERYTHING to government contracts, leaving us high and dry.
If it didn't just happen, bet that it will

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it just needs more voltage

that's part of the story. Hodgdon is not without some back office drama. The factory that makes the clays line (including universal) wither blew up or got retooled for cannon propellant. I've heard both.
What Hodgdon seems to be trying to do is open up options for these sorts of failures. It's kinda working

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it just needs more voltage

In these times, we see things almost every day we never thought we would see.
Almost all of them bad.
The frequency of them seems to accelerate every week, in all facets of our life.

How do you eat a elephant? One bite at a time. There is a attack on the 2nd Amendment every day somewhere. Just saying!! IMHO

I used to love watching Paul Harvey's "rest if the story" dialog.

In this case, regarding the source of "motor glycerine", where do you think the US of A sources the majority of this component?

CHINA.

What more need be said?

That is less than optimal, but I’ve shifted to other powders already anyway. Win 244 is an excellent “all around” midrange pistol powder. I’m using it in 38, 9mm, 357, and 44 mag for target/field loads. I use Titegroup for my 148gr DEWC 38 Special loads. Enforcer and AA#9 does a good job of getting me to the “2400” realm. #9 is a touch faster and Enforcer is a bit slower.

I’ve stocked up on 244, Titegroup, and HP-38/231 to make sure my “general use” pistol loading will be good for a while.

There were a lot of stories about the nitrocellulose shortage earlier this year. Many stories from manufacturers and distributors of price increases and shortages coming out in the first quarter. If you aren’t already stocked up, it would be wise to get what you need.

Graf's are stating that Bullseye is discontinued as well! Unless there are major changes in the world situation, it appears that primers and powder are going to be in short supply for the next several years!

Bullseye, Unique and 2400 have been my major use powders for over 57 years. It looks like I will be making some changes when I run out of Bullseye and 2400! Although that might take awhile! :-)

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

I too have shifted to other powders, come to think
about it, pass shortages caused not to rely on
supply.

There are so many different powers out there, using
the “old stand byes” is not necessary.

My deal now is to use Single Base powders (mostly
importantly in my rifles) to lengthen barrel life.
There have been discussions on other sites about
Powder Burn temperature.

They are also likely to cut production of 22lr like before.

Excellent thought, and reminder!

We are getting a new Shooting Range. It’s always
a good idea to have more 22lr ammo.

I always have a 22lr Revolver or Rifle with me at
a Shooting Range. I can alternate between Guns
when I’m testing reloads. I’m a very conservative
shooter so 22lr and reloads last me a while.


Thanks

Versatile... yes. I'll miss Unique. It is great for reduced loads for use in older black powder 45-70 rifles, and such. 12 grains is an accurate load for the trap door Springfield and other old single shot rifles from the 1800s. I know there are others, 4198 for one. But a pound of Unique goes a lot farther.

John

I'm one of very many that have used a LOT of Unique over the years.
I have jumped around and experimented with a few others.
I used to have a small LGS near me that had really low prices on AA powders...... - between AA-2, AA-5, AA-7 and AA-9 they cover a lot of different uses in handgun cartridge loading. AA-5 males a good stand-in for Unique, and meters better.

I just grabbed my first can of Alliant's BE-86, but have not loaded with it yet.

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Ret'd LEO
SWCA #2275

I'm guessing that Vista Outdoors/Kinetic is focused on government contracts. From a business perspective and given the concept of non-stop wars, it's probably a good financial move. Like Old Corp, I have found that Accurate Arms powders are quite good and they are usually available in good quantities when other powders are absent from the shelves.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

I don't use an inordinate amount of smokeless, my recent concern was the loss of Hodgdon's Black Powder interest: Goex. This led to a major shortfall in what I shoot the most of, fortunately they sold to the Estes Corp. Those of us that grew up playing with solid fuel rocket models are familiar with the Estes name, I have to assume that there are other interests in solid rocket fueled projectiles that keeps Estes in business. In the meantime we were forced to purchase from the Germans (Schuetzen) and the Swiss (Swiss). I have been using Swiss for years and use 1-1/2 F Swiss in nearly everything I shoot from Smoothbore musket to .45 target rifle, not to mention 45/70, 45/90, 50/70, .43 Spanish cartridge rifles. Swiss 3F is my preferred cartridge pistol powder as well as what my 38/55 Sharps likes.
I do have many uses for 2400, Unique, Bullseye and Red Dot along with H-110/W296. I just don't shoot enough of it to be concerned about a sudden loss, my cache is enough to last my lifetime or so I like to think. I feel for a few friends that shoot action pistol, they have been shorted on primers, etc. in the past and I helped where I could. Unless I get a wild hair to start shooting F-Class or something of little current interest I think I'm OK and will be able to help out friends where I'm flush. A friend of mine just offered a brick of large rifle match primers for which I was thankful as I have been in a dry spell or at least unwilling to pay the exorbitant price retailers are asking. I know a few action pistol guys that have been paying out the nose for small pistol primers, ridiculous prices. If all else fails I guess I can always go back to the beginning of my retirement years and dust off the old leather working gear. I am getting back into more woodworking than I thought and even bought another lathe after selling the last one twelve years ago.
Gotta stay flexible...."Bend like the willow or snap like an oak" Lao Tse.

Maybe there's some truth in that. The last time I saw Unique offered was maybe 4 months ago at $56 per pound and the vendor sold out. I procrastinated and got nothing.

I will not like it if the rumors are true. I have been using Bullseye, Unique and 2400 since they came in paper cans with a Hercules on them. Unique, most especially, lived up to its name and made usable loads in almost any pistol cartridge, and the best loads in several. Still lamenting the loss of SR4759 for reduced loads in rifle cartridges. Hopefully my current stash of powders will last as long as I do.

SHRIEK! Two of my favorite powders!

When I started reloading 50 years ago, Bullseye, Unique and 2400 were all you needed for all handgun shooting. And they were in good supply available everywhere.

Fast forward 25 years. I moved to a locale in which Alliant powder was just not regularly available at the any of the LGS. Hodgdon was readily available. So I switched to Hodgdon. There's no real substitute of the versatility of Unique (weird). But Titegroup, HS-6 and H110 handle everything (with some HP-38/W231 thrown in ).

The real tragedy is the sudden irrelevance all the useful loading data from decades and generations, especially for cartridges that are no longer deemed "worthy" of load development except as cream-puff noise makers. You could always find data for any handgun cartridge using Bullseye, Unique and/or 2400, and at pressure levels that made the cartridges useful.

Most of these ammunition companies don't care about reloading. They would rather sell you high profit loaded ammo. Reloading components were sold to take care of excess capacity. Now, they don't have to do that, they sell all the ammo they make.

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Retired LE Instructor/Armorer

Nothing like making yourself an ICBM target for the bottom line!

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Uvidíme se později, aligátore.

Drive on. It don't mean nothin. I switched to BE-86 and IMR 4227.

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never get out of the boat

I started out with Hercules Bullseye when I reloaded with a Lee Loader on my kitchen table. Bullseye was THE powder for bullseye pistol shooters for generations. I stuck with Hercules/ Alliant powders when knowledgeable gun writers, like Elmer Keith, recommended 2400 and Unique. I'll probably switch to Titegroup, H110, HP38 and maybe Accurate #2 and #5 when I run out of Alliant powders. A lot of bullet casting companies are going under, too and the prices are expected to skyrocket. Looks like I'll be dusting off my bullet casting equipment that I was considering selling!

Once it gets cooler I’ll start casting again. Sort and size projectiles then try some new powders and may use some Unique and Bullseyes for few 100 rounds. Really disappointed that the standard powders are going away.

Red and Green Dot are reasonable substitutes for Bullseye if loading mild handgun loads. Not quite as fast burning as Bullseye but close.