Has the great powder depression caused you to develop new favorites?

USSR said:

chiltech500,

Sure glad you're not my doctor. You would be telling me my problem was fluid in my lungs while completely missing the fact that it was caused by pneumonia. Also, most of the guys who still have powder bought it well in advance of the current shortage.

Don

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Don,

This may be true, but how is stating that you haven't found any "new favorite" powders because your soooo we'll stocked, contributing to this thread.

Koz

PS: I found a 4lb jug of WSF early on in the shortage and snatched it up for 9mm. I had never used it before, I've grown kind of fond of it.

Yep, I was able to get some VV-n320 and like it alot better than the hp-38 I usually used for 9mm.

I found 4 new loads for 223/556; AR-Comp, H335, IMR-4198, and 8208-XBR.
I found AA7 works pretty good in 9mm with 124gr bullets

Has anyone else discovered a new favorite as a result of the current supply shortage?

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Yes I have, discovered CFE-223, now I need to just find more of it (LOL).

Jim

Where can I get ANY powder?

I just moved back up to Alaska, after a 9 year abssence in Georgia. I sold my significant stock of powder to a dealer for wholesale, because I couldn't bring it on the plane...What's that about???
Well, was I surprised that the home of the last Frontier, "ain't got no powder"!
I live 190 road miles from town (Anchoorage)...and when you get there, there is nothing...except 50 BMG.
What's a guy to do???
BTW This is my first post.
Sure could use some sage advice!
Thanks,
Willybsr70

I've been using old stock of IMR 4227 (DuPont metal cans) and finally found 8 lbs online.
H110 showed up at shop and I bought a good bit. You have to be flexible.

I'm lucky. My LGS has powder. Consistently there is a good enough selection to find a suitable powder for just about any caliber I load. I'm lucky too in the sense that I picked up reloading about a year ago and have been able to experiment with different powders to find my favorites. CFE223, Win296, 700X, and 800X are the powders I'm working with now.

Nope, had ample stock before the shortage. And still have ample stock now. I actually have a greater variety and quantity of powder then I did before the shortage. Been able to pick up what I wanted the whole time.

It's forced me to try different powders at a much higher price. The price of the powder is the same, but my local store is always out now, so I'm having to pay the hazmat fee which increases the price by 80% or more.

Yep, I was able to get some VV-n320

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Imjinscout That I am jealous of!!! Fortunately you found out that the VV powders are great - very hard to find now. I too was lucky and bought 4lbs of VV N310 before the shortage because I heard it wa like Bullseye but better and much cleaner.

I discovered that Green Dot and Red Dot (though not news to most) are great pistol powders, very consistent and accurate. However, dirty and smokey too.

A guy was telling me last night he goes to our local reloading shop several eves a week and checks to see if the order has come in for his favorite powder and that sometimes lines snake out the door cause others are doing the same.

I bring a list from this forum and a powder burning equivalent chart or two when going to his shop or other sporting goods stores because we need to be flexible right now and I am willing to try anything (though I hate buying just 1 lb of something new)

gonoles_1980 said:

It's forced me to try different powders at a much higher price. The price of the powder is the same, but my local store is always out now, so I'm having to pay the hazmat fee which increases the price by 80% or more.

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If you ever mail order powder you want to mail order a LOT of it. Price are lower for me online but it takes about 4-5 lbs for me to break even with hazmat. Any more than that and I start coming out ahead online.

If you ever mail order powder you want to mail order a LOT of it. Price are lower for me online but it takes about 4-5 lbs for me to break even with hazmat. Any more than that and I start coming out ahead online.

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+1. And order some primers while you're at it to spread out the hazmat and shipping cost.

Don

I didn't get into reloading until 2013. I stopped reloading in early 2014 because I couldn't find powder and live too far out to run into town searching every week. I haven't done a lot of research online so I don't know if it's available that way or not.
I will probably just wait until it comes back to the local guys on a regular basis and then load up with a 20 year supply. Until then I am shooting what I have

I have developed "favorites" for Power Pistol, Unique, Red Dot, Bullseye, Titegroup and CFE pistol Powder as these are the powders that my supplier usually has. If I can get another kind of powder I will develope a favorite for it also. To me it's fun working up a load and it keeps me off of the streets.

Where in the world are we finding powder online?

chiltech500 said:

Where in the world are we finding powder online?

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All over at this point. I bought two jugs of SR4759 from Grafs a few weeks back. All the retailers seem to be receiving shipments fairly regularly. They're still selling out in a short amount of time. But start naming a powder and it's been for sale at one of the retailers over the past month.

If you check Powder valley and Recobs every day, you'll run into some stuff. That, and check out BDS's thread "Where are their reloading components for sale". Ususally if any one of us see anything anywhere, we post it there. At least I do.


If you just take a peek every week or two, you wont find jack.

I got my 4227 from Powder Valley on the second try, comes and goes fast at times. Driving an hour tomorrow morning to pickup 7 lbs of Varget and 3 lbs of H110.

I ended up with a new favorite because I ended up getting a new rifle in 6.5 Grendel, which I'd never loaded for. Benchmark is my new best friend for 95gr Hornady V-Max bullets.

Is there any way to have an alert pop up or pre-order from any of these net vendors? Thanks

I got into reloading Dec 2012, and fortunately bought 8 # total of 3 different powders. As these are starting to dry up, I've bought whatever I thought I could use and have found some I really like. I probably wouldn't have tried these, if it weren't for the "I'd better grab whatever I can" mindset I've developed.

I started with 4lbs of Unique, 3# of Autocomp, and 1# of AA#2.

Over a year ago, I found 1 lb IMR 7625, 4 lbs Titegroup, and another 1lb of Autocomp.

Last week, I thought the powder shortage might be relaxing when I found a lb of CFE Pistol and 1 lb each of n320 and n340.

My new favorites are n320, Titegroup and IMR 7625 (too bad Hodgdon is tanking that one).

chiltech500 said:

Is there any way to have an alert pop up or pre-order from any of these net vendors? Thanks

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On the surface, this sounds great and convenient.

Unfortunately, a bazillion other folks will sign up for the service and if you do not react in nano-seconds of the posting, you will never see any powder.

By not having the alert service, it, at least, takes lazy folks like me out of the equation.

Short answer to the OP# question. YES. I really like HS6 and don't have enough to last too long in all my 40 S&W loads but was able to find 2lbs of Longshot so I switch 1/2 of my .40 S&W loads to long shot. HS6 for lead and Longshot for plated and jacketed. Even after the shortage I will stick with it.

I also started reloading 357 magnum in the middle of the shortage. I like A2400 the best with lead bullets and it works well with jacketed as well but I can't find it so I have started loading Jacketed with AA9 and think I like it better than A2400 with jacketed only, I wasn't impressed with AA9 and lead bullets.

Picked up 8 lbs of TAC. I've tinkered with it before, but now committed to it for 223 & most 308 loads. Still have 2 lbs of Varget for some 308 loads. Prior I was using W748 in 223, 8mm and a few others. I've tried to keep a good amount of powder on hand, so, not hurting in pistol yet. Still 6 lbs of Unique, good for most everything!

I bought my first LB of TAC a few wks back. The texture is very very fine. I had a little leakage with my PAD.