Where has all the powder gone?

[J. W.]

Seriously, what's up with the powder shortage?

In my neck of the woods, ammo is once again readily available for the common calibers and prices are at or near pre-panic levels. Bullets and primers can also be had at acceptable prices and in acceptable quantities. Powder on the other hand is non-existent. I haven't seen a pound of pistol powder in particular for several months.




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[rwsmith]

I'm seeing more

I'm seeing more (finally) but not in any great variety or quantity. I've picked up several pounds over the last couple of months that would work, but aren't my favorites.

I'm pretty fixed up on powder except for Unique and Bullseye, which I wonder if they have quit making it without telling anybody.

PS I'm good on rifle powder too.

 

[mi2600]

I asked about Bullseye and Unique yesterday at my LGS and was told not to expect any relief until latter July because of a plant explosion in Australia...but he didn't say which year.

 

[perrazi]

alliant powders are made in the usa. a plant in Australia blowing up will have no effect on those powders. the ones it will affect are the clays series of powders sold by hodgdon. you dealer knows not what of he speaks.

 

[arjay]

Ive seen plenty of it at the gun shows,not so much in the stores.

 

[robertrwalsh]

I have recently scored six pounds of pistol powder, 3 at a gun show, three at a LGS, at a reasonable price.

 

[scooter123]

A plant in Belgium blew up a year ago, more or less. Earlier on a plant in Australia had the drying line catch fire. From the pics I've seen of the plant in Belgium it was located in an area that became built up so I am pretty certain it won't be rebuilt. The drying line in Australia was located out in the boonies as far as I know and I don't understand why the drying line hasn't been rebuilt, maybe it has. One thing for certain is that powders are currently difficult to find but it's NOT impossible.

Two weeks ago I picked up 4 lbs. of Hodgdon CFE Pistol at a local gunshow and last weekend I picked up 4 lbs. of Accurate #5 and 6 lbs. of SR 7625 down in Ohio. If you want to take a longish drive to a VERY pretty area in Ohio I would suggest a call to Fin, Feather, & Fur in Ashland, Ohio and then a drive. When I was in picking up that Accurate #5 I saw that they had plenty of Unique on hand and they said they were expecting some Bullseye. They also had a fair bit of SR7625 and IRRC some Longshot. As for rifle powders, they were pretty well stocked with Varget and CFE Rifle being among the more popular powders in stock.

 

[KLYDE]

I asked about Bullseye and Unique yesterday at my LGS and was told not to expect any relief until latter July because of a plant explosion in Australia...but he didn't say which year.

The LGS I visit got a large shipment of all the Alliant pistol powders last week. Unique, Bullseye, Power Pistol and a few others. Production stock may be hitting the market. Keep a watch.

 

[SMSgt]

alliant powders are made in the usa. a plant in Australia blowing up will have no effect on those powders. the ones it will affect are the clays series of powders sold by hodgdon. you dealer knows not what of he speaks.

Oh, I don't know. Ever notice how when a Chevron refinery goes up in smoke, all other brands seem to have a price-rising shortage also, even if their gas is not Chevron supplied? It's the profit-reaping game they play.

 

[Maximumbob54]

They don't make powder to sell. They make powder for loading ammo. They sell what's left over to the reloader. This is nothing new. Once ammo finally stops flying off the shelf we will start seeing powder creep back into stock. Simple as that.

 

[RussellD]

Locally we are seeing powder show up a couple shops and mainly at gun shows. The last gun show I attended had pistol powder. It lasted about an hour for the one vendor who had good prices. If you didn't mind paying $26 a pound for AA#5 and others there was powder available all weekend.

I am confident if you give a little more on where you live, someone can share where they last purchased powder.

 

[6thtexas]

The range I go to had plenty of Unique, RedDot, and the whole range of Reloader series powders 2 days ago. I am hoping to see some Bullseye and or 231/HP-38 soon

 

[scooter123]

I don't know where you guys are buying powder but I don't consider 25 dollars a pound to be high, in fact most places you look will be charging about that much per pound. Yeah, Powder Valley lists a lot lower prices but take a look at what they have in stock, absolutely nothing. Shops that have powder today have that powder because they have cast a wider net and are purchasing from second and third tier distributors. Right now the choice is to either pay more or do without.

 

[ANGST]

They don't make powder to sell. They make powder for loading ammo. They sell what's left over to the reloader. This is nothing new. Once ammo finally stops flying off the shelf we will start seeing powder creep back into stock. Simple as that.

Actually the powder they sell is different then powder used to load commercial ammo .

Component powder is engineered to be the same , lot to lot. Bullseye sold 10 years ago better match a lot made yesterday.

Powder used to load ammo by a manufacturer varies lot to lot and has to be tweaked to match the load . This is what you have to do when you load with pulled surplus powder . Load low and work up with you chronograph.