Powders and Prices

[TheDomFather]

As I searched on today to order some new powders for reloading for my .224 Valkyrie I want to touch on a subject we discuss here from time to time, PRICES! Holy crap its amazing how much prices on the same product vary from sight to sight. Locally the only place within an hour that actually has any selection other than the gun show when it comes to town is Cabela’s. I like Cabela’s because I can actually look at items and might be tempted to buy something that I can actually see and touch. Now that being said their prices aren’t the best but aren’t egregious either.

I was looking for Power pro 2000 MR $22.35, Reloader 17 $23.50, Win 760 $22.75 and Ramshot big game $21.95, 4 powders I have never used before. These are the prices from powderalleyInc.com which I found to be much cheaper than all of the usual sources which I also checked including brownells, midwayusa.com and midsouthshootersupply.com . Some of them were over $30 per pound and most were at least $5 more per pound. Pays to shop around.
Dom

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The Cabela's near me has very high prices on powder and primers but when you only need a pound or two hazmat fees are worse.

 

[bbqreloader]

I save $$$ and make one order from Powder Valley, went local just to get some H4895 for the Garand and prices were definitely higher, but name of the supply game. I load multiple calibers so it makes more sense to do a bulk order.

 

[Hokie_PhD]

The last time I checked the Sportsman's Warehouse in Roanoke had BE86 at an ok price. Cabelas in Gainesville, Va had the same powder for about $5 a pound more. Powder Valley was $5 a pound less than Sportsmans. So best to worse was about a $10 difference. So location and shopping really matter.

As others have said when you only need a pound the hazmat fees will kill the savings. But one thing to consider is who has what you want locally. I’ve yet to find BE86 locally in Central Va. Gainesville is an hour drive and Roanoke is 3.

So unless I find a shop that has it, my choices are wait to a gun show and hope a vendor has it at a good price, or save up to buy in bulk and then order from Powder Valley (or other online source).

 

[ray15]

If you need 4lbs., it's hard to beat Grafs. They've got $10 hazmat (4lb. minimum) all the time now and fixed rate shipping for 7.95. The price per bottle may be a touch higher than powder valley but Graf's hazmat and shipping is a lot cheaper. If you buy enough PV may be the cheapest, but Graf's is great for the 4-8lb. purchases I usually make.

 

[FROGO207]

The savings are to buy in bulk on line to mitigate the Haz Mat fee. The local vendors do need to make a profit but some seem to go overboard with their pricing so it pays to shop around. I like PV for their prices/stock and they will ship primers and propellant in the same box to save that extra Haz Mat fee. I will try to max out my weight with a Haz Mat order. I tend to bulk order about 3 times a year. Graf's is also a good one but the in stock selection is not always as big when supplies are tight though.

 

[Toprudder]

I guess I am lucky, the local gun shows have a couple of vendors with good prices and great selection. That is where I usually get my hazmat items. I like to buy one pound containers sometimes just to try a new powder, and that just is not cost effective to do online.

 

[iShoot17]

It does appear that at least a handful of companies have significantly dropped their HazMat fees (under $10). With this, in some cases, if someone can get a free shipping code, it almost makes it competitive at even buying one pound of powder off the internet - as compared to some local places.