The OP asks this question "So what is wrong with Alliant!".
My answer to that question is that most of the suppliers of powder intended for use by pistol shooters and shotguns are too busy trying to put the "fun" back into DysFUNctional. Here we are 3 years into a major powder shortage and we are still going around praising the good Lord when we stumble upon a pound of our favorite smokeless powder.
Anyone who thinks that the leadership at Western (Accurate/Ramshot/Norma) or Vista (Alliant) or to a lesser extent Hodgdon is losing sleep over the lack of powder in Jimmy Handloaders supply cabinet is kidding themselves. When they say they are working overtime to meet demand at this point it's not "our demand" it's the demand of a customer(s) that they value more than us. Sorry if that offends.
tightgroup tiger sayeth:
....snip......
I have a really good source for powder of all kinds with my LGS and other than the 5lbs I bought when I started the post that Rule 3 referenced, I haven't seen it since anywhere. My LGS has Trailboss and Universal and the others that are supposed to be hard to get but no BE-86.
That or it's really popular and they can't keep up.
If it were that popular there would be all kinds of sucess stories on the various handloaders forums. Few of us are talking about BE-86. The company rolled this product out a year at least before they had any in distribution.
On the other hand, certain powders like Bullseye and Hodgdon Clays will fly off the shelves at a fantastic rate without any real effort from the supplier. But you ask Alliant when will (for example) American Select be available again and they pretend that it is but due to the bad behavior of certain handloaders the rest of us cannot buy any. Two years ago that excuse worked but again we are 3 years into the debacle and still the powder suppliers have no clue when some of this material will make it to market. At least Hodgdon had the gumption to tell us that there was an incident in the factory that makes Clays.
I ask the question, what would it cost this industry to simply inform us something like "Powder A will not be available for the next 12 months, powder B will hit distribution in 4 months and powder C will be back in the pipeline in 18 months." "We regret the inconvenience but are informing you so that you can plan accordingly." Answer: nothing and this would be considered normal procedure for any other industry in the world.
We think that the powder suppliers are our friends. They are not. As a industry they have found out that they can take us for granted and we will do nothing. In the last three years I have read one or two articles in a magazine ( I think one was in the American Riflemen) about powder shortages. Why are there not any reporters writing for firearms related media willing to demand an answer to the basic question of what is the industry doing specifically to address our concerns? .....Crickets...chirping... There hasn't been one word of inquiry into this mess in the last two years from Handloaders Journal, a magazine intended to service the handloader.
If you want load information on some new powder that is hardly available then you need to insist that the suppliers take the time from their busy schedules to do some testing. Simple as that.
The situation is getting better but is far from normal.
Now gentlemen have a nice evening.
