First Big Order

[Olon]

Up until this point, I've been a 1lb of powder at a time sort of reloader. Maybe 2 lbs if I feel lucky. Well, I think I'm pretty well settled on some loads I like (good because I'd rather be shooting for fun than testing groups) and I made my first "big" order from powder valley last week. A couple thousand large pistol primers (they were out of sp), 4 lbs. of trailboss and 4# of blue dot. These are two of my favorite powders and between those two I can reload every pistol cartridge I shoot.

Hopefully I have a chance to put a couple more orders in. I finally sat down and figured out what equates to a year's supply so my goal is to get at least that much. I'm just tired of constantly going back to the store every week to buy some other component that I've run out of.

A shipment notification from powder valley marks a change in the trajectory of my reloading hobby

 

[Obturation]

For 4# of trailboss, they'll pull up with a dump truck.
I love trailboss, every cartridge I load has a trailboss load worked out for it. My favorite being 45-70, it's like a popgun but is tossing a 405 grain @ 950-1000, that'll go clear through anything squishy and is amazingly accurate to 50 yards. Does ok past that but the trajectory is a bit steep at that speed.

Haven't tried any blue dot, what cartridge you like that powder in?

I always buy 1 lb jugs because it sneaks under the wife's radar a bit better than a big purchase. Plus she busts me it's just $20 here and there- she doesn't mind that but I don't tell her about it either way. It's the brass purchases I try to hide from her, that is costly every so often.
Good luck!

 

[sparkyv]

Blue Dot works for me as well. I'm about ready for big orders, too...but up to now it's been like this for me as well:

I always buy 1 lb jugs because it sneaks under the wife's radar a bit better than a big purchase

 

[adcoch1]

Up until this point, I've been a 1lb of powder at a time sort of reloader. Maybe 2 lbs if I feel lucky. Well, I think I'm pretty well settled on some loads I like (good because I'd rather be shooting for fun than testing groups) and I made my first "big" order from powder valley last week. A couple thousand large pistol primers (they were out of sp), 4 lbs. of trailboss and 4# of blue dot. These are two of my favorite powders and between those two I can reload every pistol cartridge I shoot.

Hopefully I have a chance to put a couple more orders in. I finally sat down and figured out what equates to a year's supply so my goal is to get at least that much. I'm just tired of constantly going back to the store every week to buy some other component that I've run out of.

A shipment notification from powder valley marks a change in the trajectory of my reloading hobby

Buy as much as you can afford in one order, and even find friends to go in with if necessary to save money on hazmat and shipping. I order powder and primers rarely, but I will buy 10k primers and at least 10-16 lbs at once. Last order was over 500 bucks with everything on sale, but I am set and so are a few of my buddies who went in with me. Its cheaper in the long run this way...

 

[FROGO207]

I find that $500+ a time at PV is a normal order these days. As long as you are not shorting yourself on anything like food and shelter. Come to think of it there were some weeks in the distant past that PB&J along with ramen helped me afford an order or two. Sometimes a guy's gotta do what he has to.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

I've always been that 1 or 2 pound at a time guy as well.
However, now I want to get into shotgunning more since I bought a nice old Wingmaster.
I already load for .357 and .44 magnum.

So, I'm thinking a 4 or 8 pound jug of Blue Dot may be in order since it is good for both magnum pistol and buckshot loads.

 

[Olon]

For 4# of trailboss, they'll pull up with a dump truck.
I love trailboss, every cartridge I load has a trailboss load worked out for it. My favorite being 45-70, it's like a popgun but is tossing a 405 grain @ 950-1000, that'll go clear through anything squishy and is amazingly accurate to 50 yards. Does ok past that but the trajectory is a bit steep at that speed.

Haven't tried any blue dot, what cartridge you like that powder in?

I always buy 1 lb jugs because it sneaks under the wife's radar a bit better than a big purchase. Plus she busts me it's just $20 here and there- she doesn't mind that but I don't tell her about it either way. It's the brass purchases I try to hide from her, that is costly every so often.
Good luck!

9.5 gr. Of blue dot under a 158 gr. LSWC is my favorite load for 357 mag, and it's what I like best with blue dot. Super accurate out of my Henry and quite a flamethrower out of my 4 5/8 blackhawk.

I'll also do 14 grains under 240 gr. LSWC for my heavier 44 magnum loads (though I usually use trailboss with those as at the upper end you get a nice "moderate magnum" with a cheap powder charge). I also like it for .40 S&W.

I'm almost to the point of sprinkling it over my eggs and bacon as I'm sure it would work well for that too.

 

[Olon]

Blue Dot works for me as well. I'm about ready for big orders, too...but up to now it's been like this for me as well:

"Honey, you stay home and I'll run the errands. You need to relax while I go get groceries"

 

[Olon]

I find that $500+ a time at PV is a normal order these days. As long as you are not shorting yourself on anything like food and shelter. Come to think of it there were some weeks in the distant past that PB&J along with ramen helped me afford an order or two. Sometimes a guy's gotta do what he has to.

$500 is hard to swallow but I'm sure I'll get there. Baby steps...

 

[mokin]

9.5 gr. Of blue dot under a 158 gr. LSWC is my favorite load for 357 mag, and it's what I like best with blue dot. Super accurate out of my Henry and quite a flamethrower out of my 4 5/8 blackhawk.

That is really close to one of my favorite loads under a 180 grain bullet for 10mm Auto. Then one afternoon while I was cleaning up at an indoor range I noticed a lot of unburned powder. I was kind of sad to switch to 800 X but I got another 100fps out it.

 

[Olon]

That is really close to one of my favorite loads under a 180 grain bullet for 10mm Auto. Then one afternoon while I was cleaning up at an indoor range I noticed a lot of unburned powder. I was kind of sad to switch to 800 X but I got another 100fps out it.

800x is one I like too, but it doesn't meter as consistently for me sadly. It's funny I came to like both 800x and blue dot over time, and then I saw a burn chart showing them as near equals in burn rate. Who'd have thought?

Before I started using trailboss I liked 800x in my 38 spl reloads and it was going to be my powder for 40 S&W until I started using blue dot for that.

It seems like 800x is one of those generally ill favored powders you can almost always find so it's good to have loads for it I say.

 

[FROGO207]

Olon I am in a much better place financially these days (at least pre covid) and find the price is close to half off what I would spend at the LGS for the same supplies once I get to that point. I bet a single 8 pounder and a couple K of primers would see savings from local even with the assorted fees. Or those primers with multiple smaller bottles of powder to help stock up. I find I can save about $10 a pound over what the LGS charges and about the same for 1K of primers. It does not take long to add up with those amounts IMHO. I mostly buy from Powder Valley as they usually they have the best in stock selection.

 

[adcoch1]

If I need 1 lb of powder to try something out, or maybe a few hundret to 1k of primers for a specialty project I will hit my local stores. But if it is just for shelf stock for the next few months(or years) I order big quantity online.

 

[Toprudder]

I've been lucky up to now. I usually buy all my hazmat stuff at the local gun shows, and prices have been good compared to online. I have been buying 1 or 2 pounds at a time, and building up my stock, but not long ago I picked up a couple of 8 lb jugs. American Reloading has a sale now on powders, and I picked up their WC844 (H335 equivalent) for $14.34 per pound, shipped, splitting the order with a friend.

Gun shows are not happening now because of the virus, so not sure when that will start back up. But, I have plenty now to keep me busy for several years.

 

[Skgreen]

It's an addiction.
Starts off 'locally' with a pound of powder here and there, hundred bullets, couple hundred primers, but before you know it,,, you dealing with 'enablers' who prey on us addicts,,,10,000 primers, Kegs of powder, Bullets by the 1,000's.
Me? Problem?? Nah!!!

 

[OrangePwrx9]

I sort of panicked during the Obama years when everything started disappearing. Selection was thin and, when I could, I picked up jugs of the powders I'd used that I knew would work along with thousands of primers when I could find them. Spent more than I should've back then, but thought the hobby might die.

Along with a bunch of rifle powders, Red Dot, and a few jugs of Red Dot equivalents, l did manage to eventually score single jugs of Bullseye, Unique, and Blue Dot. Bullseye I really wanted, most of my handgun reloading revolved around that powder. I knew Unique could load about any handgun cartridge, though I'd never used it much. And the Blue Dot...well...it always seemed available but had received some bad press concerning pressure spikes and magnum primers. I finally got a 5# jug for old-times sake as it had treated me very well in the 44 magnum.

Turns out, Ken Waters really liked Blue Dot for 44 Spcl loads and right now I'm using his data to work up some loads for that cartridge. Since they'll be shot in a 44 Mag, the pressure spikes won't hurt the gun even if they do occur...or at least I'm not too worried about them. A spike would have to be really something to go from the 14K psi of the 44 Spcl to reach and exceed the 35K psi limit of the 44 Mag.

So, thanks to Obama and volume buys from Wideners, Natchez, Midway and a few others, I'm probably set for life...if the powders and primers don't go bad. The bad thing is that all these powders are old-school. With what I have invested, there's no incentive to try new powders. Oh, that and I've got more Red Dot/equivalents than I'll ever use. Maybe I'll take up trap shooting.
Bob

 

[Trashyshoots]

"Honey, you stay home and I'll run the errands. You need to relax while I go get groceries"

"He says as he switches his peepers for his creepers"

(Clears vs shades)

 

[Demi-human]

I, too, have found the joy of 8 pound kegs recently.
One in CFE223 and another in H-110.

The happiness of pouring a one pound jug in the hopper and knowing I don’t have to shoot twenty or thirty to find the sweet spot, because I filled it from my keg, sublime!
One pound only gets me 260 rounds of .223. That’s barely enough to get started, just to redo the chronograph test again.

I don’t want to shoot my mouth off, but shooting to shoot, instead of shooting to see how it shoots so I can make a bunch to shoot really is happiness in handloading.

 

[9mmepiphany]

Up until this point, I've been a 1lb of powder at a time sort of reloader. Maybe 2 lbs if I feel lucky. Well, I think I'm pretty well settled on some loads I like (good because I'd rather be shooting for fun than testing groups) and I made my first "big" order from powder valley last week. A couple thousand large pistol primers (they were out of sp), 4 lbs. of trailboss and 4# of blue dot.

I wish I had that much self control. My first powder purchase was 8lbs of WST and 8lbs has turned out to be a convenient size for efficient storage..

I have some 1lb containers that came as part of a trade, but they take up a lot of room. I have purchased 4lb containers of Vihtavuori powder, only because that's the largest size them come in.

Primers are purchased in multiples of 5k, again for efficient storage. 5k CCI only take about a much room as a box of butter...5k Federal primers are about the size of a loaf of bread

 

[Texas10mm]

I wish I had that much self control. My first powder purchase was 8lbs of WST and 8lbs has turned out to be a convenient size for efficient storage..

I have some 1lb containers that came as part of a trade, but they take up a lot of room. I have purchased 4lb containers of Vihtavuori powder, only because that's the largest size them come in.

Primers are purchased in multiples of 5k, again for efficient storage. 5k CCI only take about a much room as a box of butter...5k Federal primers are about the size of a loaf of bread

What size boxes of butter are you buying?

 

[9mmepiphany]

What size boxes of butter are you buying?

Oops, must have been thinking of Costco sizes

A 5k count box of CCI SPP is 3"x 6"x 9", a 1k count box of Federal is 3.5"x 4.5"x 7"

 

[WestKentucky]

When I moved I got set up, immediately got notification that we were approved as pre-adoptive placement for 2 little yayhoos that became my daughters. I knew reloading time would be sparse so I got a LCT to speed me up from the LCC single stage I was using... I think it got set up on 9mm, but I’m not sure. I know I got it set up and haven’t touched it in basically 2 years. I have done some small batches and case forming for my dad, but nothing notable. I’m glad somebody is picking up my slack. I haven’t ever bought an 8# jug, I keep picking up partials and keeping leftovers from bench buys (I haven’t stopped that entirely). I was just looking at powder valley though, I was considering buying bulk in trail boss or some other extremely low pressure powder. I need to feed some 38sw revolvers.

 

[bullseye308]

I drove up to midsouth not long ago and picked up another 8# jug of BE-86, a 4# jug of Bullseye, and another 10k primers. It’s only 60 miles and cheaper than paying shipping and hazmat. I’ll have to do it again in a month or so and should be good for a couple years.

 

[NapalmMan67]

Up until this point, I've been a 1lb of powder at a time sort of reloader. Maybe 2 lbs if I feel lucky. Well, I think I'm pretty well settled on some loads I like (good because I'd rather be shooting for fun than testing groups) and I made my first "big" order from powder valley last week. A couple thousand large pistol primers (they were out of sp), 4 lbs. of trailboss and 4# of blue dot. These are two of my favorite powders and between those two I can reload every pistol cartridge I shoot.

Hopefully I have a chance to put a couple more orders in. I finally sat down and figured out what equates to a year's supply so my goal is to get at least that much. I'm just tired of constantly going back to the store every week to buy some other component that I've run out of.

A shipment notification from powder valley marks a change in the trajectory of my reloading hobby

You are coming along well young Padawan.

Now don't be surprised when you think you have "enough" powder/projectiles/primers and everything else on hand... then see a sale and end up with another big order, just because you can't pass up the deal at hand. And then have 3 years worth of supplies... then 5... then 8... And in the next political or pandemic shortage you'll shrug and say "What shortage?"


.

 

[Olon]

You are coming along well young Padawan.

Now don't be surprised when you think you have "enough" powder/projectiles/primers and everything else on hand... then see a sale and end up with another big order, just because you can't pass up the deal at hand. And then have 3 years worth of supplies... then 5... then 8... And in the next political or pandemic shortage you'll shrug and say "What shortage?"


.

I can only hope

I bet some of you have sent UPS drivers into early retirement with the stashes I hear about