We need pistol powder!!!

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I have not found any pistol powder locally in several months. A friend found some CFE Pistol a couple months back but I missed the sale.

Yesterday we took a trip north for some business, and along the way we stopped at a couple gun shops. Finally we found one with two pounds of Longshot, which are coming home with me. Another shop further on said on the phone that they had some shotgun powder, but they are closed today and I didn't make it there in time. Still, two pounds will keep my 9mm pistols fed for a while.

Keep looking. If you have the chance, try looking in other markets during business hours, and you might get lucky. I had to drive over 500 miles to find powder, but I'll bet you won't have to resort to that.
 
KansasSasquatch said:
Even if that is true.....so what? Most pistol powders aren't imported. Sure there's a few but the main imported powders that I'm aware of are rifle powders and the Clays line, and Vihta Vouri but the VV could be hard to come by before the demand spiked (around here at least). Now if the supply of nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose being imported were regulated down, that might be a problem.

I think the problem with is a cyclical issue. In the beginning of the panic pistol powders were still fairly available but rifle powders were gone as soon as they hit the shelves. Now we have just the opposite. Until everyone gets their fill pistol powder will be in short supply.
Click to expand...

And Hodgdons factory in Australia burnt to the ground..


Russellc
 
Ive been casually checking gun shops, websites and armslist and I havent seen bullseye or HP38 for sale in well over a year. I did manage to trade primers for a 3/4 full pound of BE, but that will hardly put a dent in the amount of primed sized brass ive been piling up. I did eventually caved in and bought a 4 pounder of 700x. it works ok for 45 loads but its not metering well at all for my 38 loads. half grain charges arent cool. I havent ran out of powder these past two years, but it sure would be nice to stick with one powder for once.
 
RussellC said:
And Hodgdons factory in Australia burnt to the ground..


Russellc
Click to expand...
What you mean is, part of ADI's factory in Australia caught fire. Hodgdon doesn't have a smokeless powder factory in Australia, nor in any other country. AND it didn't effect all of the Clays' powders like some people say it did, only Universal Clays (and the Australian equivalent AP50N, if I'm not mistaken). I've seen new stock of Clays and International Clays online and in person since that fire.
 
It was *really* bad a year ago...it got much better, now it's really bad again.

Luckily I still have enough powder (Unique) to get me to this time next year. Maybe a bit longer if I start to ration it....but I think an awful lot of folks got so fed up with the last ammo shortage that many more got into reloading which resulted in shortages of dies and all kins of stuff including primers.

So now due to the reconrd number of firearm aficionados and a record number of new reloaders buying powder the reloading component market is feeling the crunch again. Hopefully it'll only take a year this time for it to level out a bit.

Again.

VooDoo
 
I guess I should be grateful for having what I have. I started buying in 2006 and haven't stopped yet. It would be nice to walk into a LGS and see what I want on the shelf...at pre-panic prices. About 6 months ago I found (2) lb. bottles of HP-38 for $26 each. GULP!

I bought them.. :){
 
Maybe the shortage will be good for me. I have at least 11 different powders from fast to 2400 on hand. Since I rely on 231, unique, 2400, it is time to use up the others.
 
Jaxondog said:
I think people are starting to hoard powder also. I made a wise ass remark to one of my buddies for having so many different powders than what I know he has use for. He doesn't know that much about reloading anyway. Always, it's "I don't have time to load". His response was " want be long you want be able to find powder". I told him no damn wonder, if people like you that don't even load are going to buy up all the powder. That's just plain stupid. Then I hear it all again, "Its my money I'll buy what I want". I also have a friend that I went to vist just last week. while there I noticed he had two 1 lb. bottles of Unique. I ask him, what are you doing with powder, you don't reload. He say's he bought it to resell cause a friend of his said he could double his money on it. ....Oh well that's what we are having to deal with I think
Click to expand...
It is not the sellers fault the prices are so high and availability is low, it's all the buyer's fault. The seller can offer products at any price but it's the buyer who causes the price increases.

I have said this at least a dozen times here, supply and demand works both ways. If the buyers refuse to pay inflated prices the price of components and ammo would be forced down instead of up. (if we do our part)
 
ArchAngelCD said:
It is not the sellers fault the prices are so high and availability is low, it's all the buyer's fault. The seller can offer products at any price but it's the buyer who causes the price increases.

I have said this at least a dozen times here, supply and demand works both ways. If the buyers refuse to pay inflated prices the price of components and ammo would be forced down instead of up. (if we do our part)
Click to expand...
What are you talking about. I said nothing about a seller anything. I plainly mentioned that some people I know are buying it to resell later and try to make money even though they don't need it or use it.
 
KansasSasquatch said:
What you mean is, part of ADI's factory in Australia caught fire. Hodgdon doesn't have a smokeless powder factory in Australia, nor in any other country. AND it didn't effect all of the Clays' powders like some people say it did, only Universal Clays (and the Australian equivalent AP50N, if I'm not mistaken). I've seen new stock of Clays and International Clays online and in person since that fire.
Click to expand...
Just relaying info from Them. What you've seen, (if it sourced from there in Oz) was what was in warehouses or in process of being shipped. Have you had any luck lately? I've never used Clays but would consider it. Sitting on plenty of Unique, H-S6, HP-38 and Accurate No 2 right now, thank heavens!

This was one of the threads I saw, and for a while they (Hodgdon) had a little blurb on their site Post number 4 seems to state, like you said, only a partial fire...

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10599

And this:

http://www.trapshooters.com/cfpages/thread.cfm?threadid=326817&Messages=51

Sounds like it only affected Clays and Clays international. I sure hope I was mistaken, and only a partial fire, still not good.

All this cant help!

A little more info from the site about shortages in general: Doesnt mention the fire, just the giant demand world wide.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Web Page Buying Surge.pdf

Russellc
 
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reddot and unique is pretty common here.ive a load at home but see it at gunshows.there really is not a shotgun or handgun that cant be loaded with either.
 
Yep, I'm lucky to be sitting on enough handgun powder to ride out the 2008 shortage, the now 2 year long 2012 shortage and probably 2 more shortages like them. I am a little worried though, I'm down to 12 lbs of W231/HP-38 in closed jugs and an almost full pound I just opened. :p

Plenty of W296/H110, HS-6 and about 6 or 7 others too... :D
 
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Pistol powder supply = PITA right now.

Was able to find some Unique and Bullseye at a gun store about 50 miles away, drove to get it!

I think Universal Clays is AP70N not 50. My favorite and none any where.:banghead:

https://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/MSDS Files/Smokeless/Hodgdon/Clays Family/Universal (AP70N).pdf


https://www.hodgdon.com/msds.html
Clays (AS30N)
Universal (AP70N)
International (AS50N)
Extruded Rifle Powders
H4227® (AR2205)
H4895 (AR2206H)
H4198 (AR2207)
Varget (AR2208)
H4350 (AR2209)
H50BMG (AR2218)
H4831 (AR2213)
H4831SC (AR2213SC)
H1000 (AR2217)
Retumbo (AR2225)
H322 (AR2210)
Benchmark (BM2)
If our fearless leader is limiting powder imports we are in trouble, (don't know if it is true, have not checked yet)
If they can't get our guns they will take our ammo, and supplies to load ammo.

Maybe it's time to buy a Flintlock and a cow.
Found an interesting book at the library about BP production back when.
Seem to recall in the 1700s they got saltpeter from cow dung and urine to make blackpowder when they could not mine the saltpeter. Charcoal+Sulfer+saltpeter (Potassium nitrate)=BP

SWMBO will not be happy if I have a pile of $!@# in the back yard.:D
 
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RussellC said:
Just relaying info from Them. What you've seen, (if it sourced from there in Oz) was what was in warehouses or in process of being shipped. Have you had any luck lately? I've never used Clays but would consider it. Sitting on plenty of Unique, H-S6, HP-38 and Accurate No 2 right now, thank heavens!

This was one of the threads I saw, and for a while they (Hodgdon) had a little blurb on their site Post number 4 seems to state, like you said, only a partial fire...

http://parkerguns.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10599

And this:

http://www.trapshooters.com/cfpages/thread.cfm?threadid=326817&Messages=51

Sounds like it only affected Clays and Clays international. I sure hope I was mistaken, and only a partial fire, still not good.

All this cant help!

A little more info from the site about shortages in general: Doesnt mention the fire, just the giant demand world wide.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Web Page Buying Surge.pdf

Russellc
Click to expand...
Only effected AP70N http://www.adi-limited.com/handloaders-guide/news.asp
 
I was at the Oaks gun show near Philly today and there is no pistol powder but plenty of rifle powders. I went to the "TNT reloading" (big reloading supplier in Easton, Pa) tables and he indicated that he had some CFE pistol but sold the 6 or so pounds in a few minutes. I still have about 6-7 pounds of BE but I reload for the family and can eat that up fairly quickly. I have been lucky with my stocks but starting to see mostly blank spaces on my wall. I am glad to see primers dropping in price (i.e. paid 29.00/k for CCI pistol and rifle primers) today and rifle powder is a little expensive but plentiful. We all need to look at the bright side...vendors are swimming in pistol brass and bullets so buy now and cross your fingers for the powder shortage to end soon.
 
ridgerunner1965 said:
reddot and unique is pretty common here.ive a load at home but see it at gunshows.there really is not a shotgun or handgun that cant be loaded with either.
Click to expand...
Now that is promising to hear..I have a lot of Unique right now, but it wont last forever,
and I havent seen pistol powder in some time, even at gun shows for big money. Cant wait for HP-38 or WIN 231 to come back. Still have about 3.5 lbs, and 2 of HS-6. I would also like to try Power pistol, and several others mentioned here and elsewhere that I havent seen period! buy that Unique! Nice finds indeed.

Russellc
 
ArchAngelCD said:
Yep, I'm lucky to be sitting on enough handgun powder to ride out the 2008 shortage, the 2 year long now 2012 shortage and probably 2 more shortages like them. I am a little worried though, I'm down to 12 lbs of W231/HP-38 in closed jugs and an almost full pound I just opened. :p

Plenty of W296/H110, HS-6 and about 6 or 7 others too... :D
Click to expand...
Been looking for the H-110 for a while, understand it is the stuff for 300 Blk Out. Very jealous of that. I did find some 1680 for it at a gun show a few months ago. Not cheao, 190.00 for 8 lbs, but not horrible as I usually order online with shipping and hazmat. I just havent had the luck recently finding h-110 or lil gun, which I'm told is good for 300Blk out too.

Glad you guys are finding it, encouraging indeed...

Russellc
 
RussellC said:
Been looking for the H-110 for a while, understand it is the stuff for 300 Blk Out. Very jealous of that. I did find some 1680 for it at a gun show a few months ago. Not cheao, 190.00 for 8 lbs, but not horrible as I usually order online with shipping and hazmat. I just havent had the luck recently finding h-110 or lil gun, which I'm told is good for 300Blk out too.

Glad you guys are finding it, encouraging indeed...

Russellc
Click to expand...
The 2 guys I know who reload for the 300 Blackout tell me W296/H110 is the best powder for loading all bullet weights but for Lil'Gun. Lil'Gun will deliver higher velocities without sacrificing accuracy but at a price. Lil'Gun does burn very hot and if you are doing high volume shooting your barrel will heat up noticeably more than with W296/H110. With lighter bullets you can see 50 to 80 fps higher velocities with Lil'Gun over H110 and with heavier 200gr + bullets you can see very little increase and even less velocity from Lil'Gun. IMO such a small velocity increase isn't worth the excessive heat.

If we lived near each other I would lend you a pound or two until the supply of H110 returns and you could replace it.
 
RussellC said:
Know where any of the others are?

This part is hard at work regardless...as I already posted. If anyone else is wondering just ask KansasSasquatch, he seems to know all about it.

http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/Web Pag...ng Surge.pdf

Russellc
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm reading your post wrong but I detect some sarcasm there. You've posted links to pages where everyone is speculating and a Hodgdon PDF saying not to believe anything from any source except Hodgdon. Well, I posted a link to the company that makes the powder for Hodgdon, stating that only AP70N (Universal Clays) was effected by the fire. If you refuse to believe that then I won't argue with you anymore. But continuing to post bogus stuff about the situation isn't going to make the situation any better for anyone (except for gougers).

If you weren't being sarcastic then please accept my apology for taking your post out of context.
 
If Powder Valley and the other large powder distributors (how many could there be) are not receiving but token amounts from time to time tells me either powders are not being manufactured or it's being sent elsewhere not for public sale.

I just don't see how demand from Common Joe is causing this if Common Joe never gets hardly any.
 
I was lucky and had just bought pistol powder at Obama Panic I. I caught some primers before stocks were depleted. I am ok for at least the rest of this year.
A less fortunate friend was glad to run up on some CFE Pistol yesterday. We will be chronographing trial loads today to see how it differs from W231. Looks 10-15% slower.
 
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