We need pistol powder!!!

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nix4me

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Where is all of the pistol powder. I went to 4 stores today and been watching a dozen websites continually for months. The stores and online have plenty of rifle powder but zero pistol. It's like fairy dust again.
 
^^^
Same here, almost nothing for pistol. I did find one re-seller that had BE, one lb. for 46.99 ???? I would sell my guns and soul, then move to NYC, first. :(
 
Its cotton and nitro glycerin right? I have some t-shirts and natural soap here at home, how hard can it be?

Famous last words by,

Edfardos
 
I'm just getting into reloading. Having the same problem. Either the websites sell out in 5 minutes, or all I can find is slow / rifle powder. It's worse than 22lr! I'd be happy to score a single pound of a pistol powder good for 45acp.
 
On top of everything else that has been going on our dear leader has cut the import allowances of gunpowder.

Being a community organizer isn't so funny anymore, is it?
 
ArchAngelCD said:
On top of everything else that has been going on our dear leader has cut the import allowances of gunpowder.

Being a community organizer isn't so funny anymore, is it?
Click to expand...
Even if that is true.....so what? Most pistol powders aren't imported. Sure there's a few but the main imported powders that I'm aware of are rifle powders and the Clays line, and Vihta Vouri but the VV could be hard to come by before the demand spiked (around here at least). Now if the supply of nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose being imported were regulated down, that might be a problem.

I think the problem with is a cyclical issue. In the beginning of the panic pistol powders were still fairly available but rifle powders were gone as soon as they hit the shelves. Now we have just the opposite. Until everyone gets their fill pistol powder will be in short supply.
 
KansasSasquatch said:
Even if that is true.....so what? Most pistol powders aren't imported. Sure there's a few but the main imported powders that I'm aware of are rifle powders and the Clays line, and Vihta Vouri but the VV could be hard to come by before the demand spiked (around here at least). Now if the supply of nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose being imported were regulated down, that might be a problem.

I think the problem with is a cyclical issue. In the beginning of the panic pistol powders were still fairly available but rifle powders were gone as soon as they hit the shelves. Now we have just the opposite. Until everyone gets their fill pistol powder will be in short supply.
Click to expand...
Like many other commodities we have to import much of what we use because we no longer have the ability to manufacture it ourselves. We are importing more powder than we produce so if the amount we are allowed to import is restricted there will be ongoing shortages because like I said, we don't have the ability to manufacture what we need.

We are importing powders from all over the world including Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Canada, Australia and probably a few others too. All but 1 of the Ramshot powders is made in Belgium including the handgun powders. I think the Alliant handgun powders are being made in Canada. (I think) In any case we are no longer able to make what we need and that's the real shame...
 
All of the powders listed on the first page of this link are made in St Marks, Florida, http://www.hodgdon.com/PDF/MSDS Fil...rs/All Hodgdon Spherical Powders_02-11-14.pdf And so are ALL Winchester branded powders and one of the Ramshot powders is made in St Marks too (Zip, I think). Then there's ATK who also manufactures some powders in the US, in Virginia I believe. As far as I know General Dynamics and ATK are the only companies making canister grade powder in the US, but they make quite a few canister grade powders here, as well as many OEM powders.

So sure, regulating the imports might hurt those involved in the hobby, but that still wouldn't explain why you can't find any Winchester or Hodgdon pistol powders being out on the market. Maybe you're right though, IF there's limitations on imports the demand for the domestically produced powders would probably go up, but I don't think that's what's causing it.

And there's one thing you're definitely wrong about.... We DO have the ability to make everything we need and/or want with a very few exceptions (just about anything involving rare-earth metals comes to mind). The problem is a lot of products would be more expensive than the imported stuff. Now if only people would understand that buying quality domestic goods means more Americans would be working, then people would have an easier time paying for those slightly higher priced goods. Maybe I'm wrong but that's the way I see it. Look at Germany, their economy is turning around and they don't let much (if any) of those junk imports in the country.
 
I think this pistol powder thing is gonna last a good while longer.

(very informative post there, Potatohead)
 
Supply problem or overwhelming demand?

1lb of most powders makes nearly 1000 rounds.
 
I think we may not be into the middle of the pistol powder problem yet. We're still at the part where nobody sees any. Next comes the part where people see it sporadically, and buy all they can afford, over and over.
 
Seriously...where is the powder going? It has been long enough. I have been looking for 1 lb. of Red Dot for over a year. I may have to buy shotshells from the sporting goods department (Ugh) this year. VVtF?
 
Wish I knew. Supply seems pretty bad...on top of insatiable demand. Its just not pretty. What re people getting on Gunbroker right now? Might be time to sell some.

Checked: 40$+ Some for 60$ lb
 
I think people are starting to hoard powder also. I made a wise ass remark to one of my buddies for having so many different powders than what I know he has use for. He doesn't know that much about reloading anyway. Always, it's "I don't have time to load". His response was " want be long you want be able to find powder". I told him no damn wonder, if people like you that don't even load are going to buy up all the powder. That's just plain stupid. Then I hear it all again, "Its my money I'll buy what I want". I also have a friend that I went to vist just last week. while there I noticed he had two 1 lb. bottles of Unique. I ask him, what are you doing with powder, you don't reload. He say's he bought it to resell cause a friend of his said he could double his money on it. ....Oh well that's what we are having to deal with I think
 
I talked to three of the LGS's in this small AZ town and they all say that pistol powder is really hard to get. But as people have mentioned, tons of rifle powder. I look on my shelf and shake my head when I see and old pound priced at $15.50 and a new one (different powder of course) that's 14oz and priced at $27.95. So..........the hunt goes on!!
 
Unique, Power Pistol, and AA #5 are my general purpose powders. I'm low on my magnum powders, but can still shoot using any of the three I mentioned.

I haven't seen 231 in quite some time...
 
I just talked to my LGS and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. The only thing he has is 3 bottles of 800x, which nobody seems to want.
Luckily I have enough powder to last a long time. {unlike my supply of 22 ammo.} :banghead:
 
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