IMR powders $80 a pound?

Elkins45

Elkins45

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Location
Northern KY
I was in a local gun shop today and their IMR rifle powders were priced at $79.99 a pound! When did that happen? For comparison they had some AA number 5 that was $35 so it wasn't across the board.

At $80 a pound that's going to put a serious crimp in some folks shooting volume.
 
I just got a # of the elusive IMR8208 XBR for $65.99 at Sportsman's Warehouse. Still pricey in my eyes, but I was happy to find it at all. Looking at all of their offerings, most are around that, some cheaper, some more expensive like the IMR's you saw. Crazy swings in pricing like I've never seen before.
 
Decades from now, younger shooters will look at $80.00 per pound powder and think it was the good old days.

Their breakfast of two eggs and two slices of bacon at a diner will cost about that much, with coffee being $10.00 a cup.

I purchased several kegs of AA#5 and W231 this month. The prices were surreal for someone who purchased eight pound kegs of Bullseye pistol powder for $80.00 in 2005. And I thought primers at $89.50 for 5000 were a rip off. Was able to find WLP at $300 for 5000 (before shipping and haz mat), and I purchased it.

That sucking noise I heard was my bank account going down the drain.


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Did a quick check and most powders in stock at Midway are $40 to $65 per pound. So not $80. Bigger problem is "out of stock". Last time I was at Graf's, same problem. Cabinets were not bare, but not stocked up like they were a year or so back (then it was primers out of stock). Good news is that even with the tight supplies, there is something available to load most rifles and pistols. Shotgun powders........not so much. Alliant going idle has created a big hole there.

Good news (at least for some of us) is warnings were heeded and the stash is now big enough to see us thru..........for a long, long, long, long time.
 
Buy online in bulk when hazmat shipping is free. Maybe change some of your powder choices, I no longer use unique because it was made out of hens teeth during the last couple of shortages, I replaced unique with Win 231 and Zap, these 2 powders had better chances of being in stock and are used in most of my pistol calibers. I started using xterminator in my 223 easier to find and cheaper than IMR 3031. I have all my rifles down to 3 different powders and all my pistol calibers down to 2 powders. Could have gotten the rifle powders down to 2 but didn't want to try and find varget during shortages. I have never ran out of powder but I do keep 5 years worth of powder from now on.
 
It's only overpriced when cost adversely affects sales. When we over-buy, we create demand which drives prices up. When railguns can fit comfortably in your waistband, powder and primers will be on display in the museum, next to the buggy whips.
I have a few old cans with some small by today's norm pricing. I don't think I've bought anything gun related in quite a while. Sold a bit, but have given away several unopened cans of propellant. $80 a pound would explain the big smiles.
 
Lots of mistakes occur with so many different powders, applications. That I still have quantities of the stuff that are decades old says I'm guilty of over doing it. We would be better off if there were not so many variations. Less inventory, smaller cost, fewer cabinet queens taking up space, not so many mistakes.

If only black powder could be made as clean as smokeless, and a bit more energy dense.
 
Howa 9700 said:
Good news is that even with the tight supplies, there is something available to load most rifles and pistols.
Click to expand...

And that's really the thing. Some of you are forgetting that just a few years ago there was NOTHING available... at ANY price. I'm not saying I'm happy with, for example, the price of IMR powders, but I'm happy to at least see it on the LGS's shelf.

FWIW, the alternate to buying reloading supplies... is buying loaded ammunition. Maybe give it a price check before you start to complain. There are a lot of factors that are rolled up into the cost of a single item... be it a box of bullets, a keg of powder, or a box of loaded ammunition.
 
It seems like anything extruded is substantially more expensive than many ball powders. St. Marks is perhaps holding the line on costs. I can't see any other reason that many of the ball powders would be hovering in the $30 zone. Of course, the St. Marks stuff doesn't have to be imported but I don't think it's tariffs since it's been this way for quite some time now. IMR and 5744 have always been a bit more than other extruded. The shop I was in recently had most IMR at $75/lb except for 8208XBR which was mid-50's for some reason. I'm still seeing Varget for $55 locally but I've also been warned that Hodgdon is going to do a 15% across the board increase soon.
 
Well ... Some of these popular powders are "in stock" around $30s per pound (Yes, there's online HazMat/shipping charges but can do large enough group buy to reduce fees down to few dollars per pound) - https://miwallcorp.com/reloading/powder/?_bc_fsnf=1&in_stock=1&sort=priceasc

Lil'Gun $226/8 lbs ($28/lb) - https://miwallcorp.com/hodgdon-lil-gun-smokeless-powder-8-lb/

W231 $130/4 lbs ($32.50/lb) - https://miwallcorp.com/winchester-231-smokeless-powder-4-lb/

Titegroup $137/4 lbs ($37/lb) - https://recobstargetshop.com/product/hodgdon-titegroup-4-lb-powder/

H110 $259/8 lbs ($32/lb) - https://miwallcorp.com/hodgdon-h-110-smokeless-powder-8-lb/

H335 $145/4 lbs ($36/lb) - https://miwallcorp.com/hodgdon-h-335-smokeless-powder-4-lb/

TAC $295/8 lbs ($37/lb) - https://www.natchezss.com/reloading/powder/ramshot-tac-rifle-powder-8-lbs
 
As I've mentioned a few times, I resumed reloading about 4 years ago. At the time, there was almost nothing to buy. Equipment or components. By chance, one of the first component buy's I made was 3 pounds of powder. IMR 4064, IMR 4350 and H4831. Since then have kept an ear to the ground whilst padding the stash. Turns out the IMR powders have been pretty spotty all along. Have seen the 4064 only a couple times. IMR 4831 and 700X only once. IMR 4350 often enough to be stocked up, but still spotty. But other IMR powders? Not so much.
 
Another thing I realized when trying to stock the pantry........while you may have a legacy or favorite rifle on pistol, if it's very exotic, good luck finding components for it when the chips are down. If you must have a working weapon.......one you can find ammo for, or reloading components for........every well dressed shooter needs a 308 win rifle and 9mm handgun. Those will be the last to go down and first to come back up.
 
I'm fortunate that I only use a couple of IMR powders. I have one of the big cans of 4831 and that should tide me over until I die based on the rate I use it. I've always been leery of storing a lot of IMR powder because it's the brand that doesn't last in my experience. I've had both 4831 and 4320 decompose and eat right through the can in a cool, dry basement cabinet.

I've never had another brand of powder decompose, even some fairly sketchy surplus powders bought in a plain white plastic jug marked with a Sharpie. I have a few ounces of AL-8 from back in the 70's in a cardboard cube that's still hanging in there, but apparently that was too much to ask of IMR powders from the early 90's.
 
Elkins45 said:
I was in a local gun shop today and their IMR rifle powders were priced at $79.99 a pound! When did that happen? For comparison they had some AA number 5 that was $35 so it wasn't across the board.

At $80 a pound that's going to put a serious crimp in some folks shooting volume.
Click to expand...
Thats crazy! But the good news is that there is usually a suitable replacement for every powder out there.
 
IMR and Hodgdon have been getting pricey the last few years. I made the switch to Western powders(Accurate/Ramshot) a few years ago for that reason. Of course, they're under the Hodgdon umbrella now, but FOR NOW look like they're going to remain at a much lower price point than the others.
 
Rimfire McNutjob said:
It seems like anything extruded is substantially more expensive than many ball powders. St. Marks is perhaps holding the line on costs. I can't see any other reason that many of the ball powders would be hovering in the $30 zone. Of course, the St. Marks stuff doesn't have to be imported but I don't think it's tariffs since it's been this way for quite some time now. IMR and 5744 have always been a bit more than other extruded. The shop I was in recently had most IMR at $75/lb except for 8208XBR which was mid-50's for some reason. I'm still seeing Varget for $55 locally but I've also been warned that Hodgdon is going to do a 15% across the board increase soon.
Click to expand...
8208 comes from ADI in AUS the rest of the IMR line sticks come from Canada
 
Fortunately I was almost out of IMR 4198 my favorite rifle powder for my old rifles, and went to Powder Valley and ordered an 8 lb. keg about a year ago. It was $379 shipped to my door with hazmat fee, and a free shipping deal then. I wasn't happy at the price then, but now it looks like a real bargain!
 
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