No more Bullseye! What are you switching to?

[glenwolde]

Reloaders are a very small niche market for powder manufacturers. Commercial and military contracts are their bread and butter. Big money.

Definitely. But we are useful idiots, here to soak up a little excess production in times of peace.

 

[glenwolde]

I'm pretty much replacing all alliant powders.
After how they left us high and dry on so many fronts, I simply don't trust them to supply me the goods I need.
That said ... I used to be highly reliant on Unique. So far CFE Pistol has stepped into its role fairly well.
There were certain blue dot loads that I used in large volume. AA#7 seems to be a fair candidate to serve in it's place 2400 .... if AA#9 isn't the answer, 4227 is.
we could go on and on with replacements ... but not without some admission as to just how good alliant was. This work wouldn't be necessary if they weren't. Still, they have much to atone for before I'll marry a new load to an alliant product

I gave up on Unique a long time ago, and moved to Universal. That's out of production now also. So I've been trying out CFE Pistol too and I think it might end up being a great all-around powder. I've had excellent results in 9mm and less-than-full-power .41 Magnum loads.

I did a double experiment with CFE Pistol and an old obsolete Lee 410 208 WC mold. Neither of which I had shot before. I cast a small amount of this full wadcutter bullet, and made an educated guess at a load (not a lot of data for .41 full wadcutters). First five rounds at 15 yards off-hand.....go figure. It also did well with semi-wadcutters. I was girding myself for a longer process. Pretty much done there on the first try.

 

[rwsmith]

I've got Bullseye out the wazoo. And if I do happen to run out there's Titegroup and Red Dot and if I run out of those, there's the Accurate and several other Hodgdon powders in that category.

 

[rwsmith]

Definitely. But we are useful idiots

True but we always seem to be burning up ordinance in other parts of the world and if we aren't we are supplying someone who is. What changed since we were heavily involved in a shooting war in Vietnam but you never heard about a shortage of ammo????

 

[glenwolde]

True but we always seem to be burning up ordinance in other parts of the world and if we aren't we are supplying someone who is. What changed since we were heavily involved in a shooting war in Vietnam but you never heard about a shortage of ammo????

Hard to say. I was in High School and not reloading. Ukraine has roughly twice the combat forces that we had at the peak in Vietnam. I think U.S. production capacity has not kept up and they were relying on inventory. The inventory went quicker than they expected. A lot of people thought this wasn't going to last long.

Throw in Israel burning through munitions. Not to mention other very nervous eastern (and western for that matter) European countries on the border that are now arming up like they are going to have to fight Russia too. Basically almost everybody in the developed world is restocking at the same time. Even the French.

A couple of Hodgdon powders like Trail Boss and Universal are made in Australia by ADI. I believe I read where their production capacity has been committed to France for military munitions. ADI (Australian Defense Industries) is actually now named Thales Australia. Thales is a French Defense company. Thales obviously owns a big piece of that now.

I doubt they gave American Reloaders much thought.

 

[tate razor]

WST shoots like magic in my .45 Colt.

 

[SASFixer]

I have been reloading since 1979. I was flabergasted to learn there will be no more Bullseye Powder. I used it for everything from .380 to .38 special, .357 mag, .45 ACP, .45 Colt etc. What are you going to switch to when your supply of Bullseye runs out?

I have been using Shooters World Cleanshot for several years now. Powder in general is in short supply now because of the war in the Ukraine, no powder is coming out of the Balkans now. All the powder is being consumed by artillery and small arms.

 

[SASFixer]

Hard to say. I was in High School and not reloading. Ukraine has roughly twice the combat forces that we had at the peak in Vietnam. I think U.S. production capacity has not kept up and they were relying on inventory. The inventory went quicker than they expected. A lot of people thought this wasn't going to last long.

Throw in Israel burning through munitions. Not to mention other very nervous eastern (and western for that matter) European countries on the border that are now arming up like they are going to have to fight Russia too. Basically almost everybody in the developed world is restocking at the same time. Even the French.

A couple of Hodgdon powders like Trail Boss and Universal are made in Australia by ADI. I believe I read where their production capacity has been committed to France for military munitions. ADI (Australian Defense Industries) is actually now named Thales Australia. Thales is a French Defense company. Thales obviously owns a big piece of that now.

I doubt they gave American Reloaders much thought.

I heard a story that New Zealand restricts how much smokeless powder can be onboard a ship, most ships dock in NZ after leaving Australia, Hodgdon used to have a years' supply shipped in one ship. To solve the problem they only buy half as much as the demand. In addition there is only one "gun cotton" plant operating in the US so there is a shortage there. If anything happens at that plant the US is SOL. Good news is White River Energetics is building a powder plant adjacent to their primer plant in Arkansas.

 

[MAUSER888]

Agree with AA#2 & #5

 

[muzzlestuffer2012]

I was not aware that BE was no longer available I did switch to N310 a while back for my BE loads it is much cleaner and extremely accurate with my 200 SWC's I have 12lbs of BE maybe i'll just sell it and buy some more N310.

 

[shil]

I've never tried Bullseye. Winchester 231 works for me.

 

[oneeyedpete]

WST is my go-to powder for target loads in .45 ACP and .38 Special. It's become crazy expensive lately, but you can still find it.

 

[Model19man]

I use it in a few places for a few reasons but I absolutely LOATHE Titegroup in .38 Special because of the absolutely ridiculous heat and the way it makes the cylinder of my revolver too hot to handle.

I agree - something is just not right about Titegroup. The heat is ridiculous.

 

[Jimbo41]

I have 30lbs of bullseye from 1979/80, it took a while to work through the first 15lb keg. I don't use it in suppressed loads, and thats mostly what I'm shooting these days.

 

[Oil Field Trash]

Since I've got a 75lb barrel of 231, it'll be my go to for a long long time. Been using it for over 35 years and love it. nuff said

 

[LouisianaJoe]

I have had good results with Shooters World Clean Shot using BE load data.
I now use Shooters World Match Rifle for .223 69gr and .308 168gr.
I checked Midsouth shooters Supply and they have these powers in stock.

I also sometimes use Hodgen Clays for .38 and .45ACP

 

[gjgalligan]

That, and it's nigh impossible to get made Bullseye dead to me.

For the life of me I cannot figure out what that statement means.

 

[Sevens]

Our guy Krogen has said this:

"Since I cannot FIND Bullseye in stock anywhere, I now move forward in the world as if Bullseye does not exist, and maybe never did exist. This way, I am not looking for it or hoping for it or planning to use Bullseye ever again."

 

[Eddie Southgate]

True but we always seem to be burning up ordinance in other parts of the world and if we aren't we are supplying someone who is. What changed since we were heavily involved in a shooting war in Vietnam but you never heard about a shortage of ammo????

The Chinese and nitrocellulose situation. Every time we quit or cut back on producing anything ( usually due to EPA ) the Chinese step up production to the point of controlling whatever it is . We need to step up production of nitrocellulose so the powder manufacturers have better access to it so they can make the powders they can't produce now.

 

[Eddie Southgate]

For the life of me I cannot figure out what that statement means.

He slept through 6 years of English classes . He quit Bullseye due to whatever reason someone else had already listed plus the fact that he didn't have the foresight to buy enough when it was available. He's out , can't buy more so he has quit using it.

 

[Rick Leslie]

My hording habits pay off sometimes. I started using Bullseye back in 1973 with my RCBS Junior press and dies. I used it because it was cheap, and I could get a lot of 38 loads from a pound. I never saw a reason to change. Hopefully there will be plenty of good substitutes available when I find the need. Nowadays I use 2400 more than Bullseye and keep most of my powder measurers set for that.

 

[Model19man]

Bullseye is a cheap powder that is pretty dirty. I used lots of it when I was starting out reloading. I have nearly two pounds of Bullseye but I use W231 because it is better.

 

[Tabby Lynn]

I have been reloading since 1979. I was flabergasted to learn there will be no more Bullseye Powder. I used it for everything from .380 to .38 special, .357 mag, .45 ACP, .45 Colt etc. What are you going to switch to when your supply of Bullseye runs out?

I'm not sure but Bullseye seems to be still available. Has there been an announcement by Alliant that it is discontinuing it's production? As of today, 06/20/2025 it is still available on their website.

 

[Petrov]

I know every one loves bullseye and it is a classic. I never used lead bullets only JHP and polymer coated bullets.
Bullseye always DID not get along with polymer coated bullets. It burned the coating.
N320? Just fine, Solo 1000? All day long, sports pistol loves polymer coated bullets.

 

[zodraz]

WST shoots like magic in my .45 Colt.

If you see WST for sale , please don't buy it. Just tell me where you found it.
Seriously, I love the stuff for Bullseye level loads, it's fluffy and burns so clean.
Data is not plentiful, but can be found .

 

[Kal.38]

+1 for W231.
Over the years I've bought it everytime there is a sale and now have a decent stock. I feel it works best with mid-range and moderate loads.

 

[stansdds]

I'm not sure but Bullseye seems to be still available. Has there been an announcement by Alliant that it is discontinuing it's production? As of today, 06/20/2025 it is still available on their website.

Alliant has not discontinued it, but has not produced it in a while, so whatever is on a dealer's shelf is it until Alliant makes another production run of Bullseye.

 

[SLT223]

I agree - something is just not right about Titegroup. The heat is ridiculous.

It's the nitro content

 

[roysha]

700X
I have been using it in place of Bullseye for the last 30 or so years. Despite what all the critics say, for me it meters just fine, burns clean and is every bit as economical as Bullseye.

 

[vulcan73]

If you can't find Bullseye, consider BE-86 (BE=Bullseye) which is supposed to be Bullseye with a flash suppressant. I read that someplace and it does make sense. I've been using Bullseye in recent years and find it about the same as Power Pistol in terms of felt recoil, accuracy, etc.