Is pistol powder scarce?

P

pyscodog

Active member
Ran into a guy that claims he can't buy powder to reload his pistol ammo with. Is it just hard to find or is he just spouting internet BS?Claims rifle powder will be that way soon.
 
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Many of the most popular handgun powders are hard to come by. I don't have a shortage, but I'm not looking lately either.

I bought a fair supply of Win-231, Titegroup, H. Universal and others before it was hard to get. It seems to be coming back slowly.
 
Here in Texas there is no shortage of powder now. The last two gun shows I went to, you could buy just about any IMR or Hodgdon powder you wanted at $28 a pound. Several gun stores around me are beginning to refill the shelves as well.
 
Ya'll that have plenty of powder are LUCKY. Still pretty hard to find in my area of NW Ga. Haven't seen any 231 in months, and rifle powders are about the same.
 
Most powder has been hard to get for a couple years. Some of it is just starting to come back. How long has it been since you shopped for it?
 
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Originally Posted By: ninehorsesI will say, I have not seen any 2400 or Clays in a long time. The Reloader powders(19,22) are nowhere to be found either.

I had been looking for RL19 and got lucky on a recent trip to NC. BIL took us to a local gunshop near his home that had 3# at a reasonable price. They now reside in Tx.
grin.gif


Regards,
hm
 
Locally, I can’t get squat. Has been that way for a very long time.

Fortunately, I’m in good shape powder wise.

More thanks to King Obama. Don
 

I load Hodgdon Universal in 380 Auto, 9mmx19, 40 S&W, 45 Auto,
10mm Auto, 28 ga. target, 20 ga. target, and 12 ga. target
loads. I usually buy it from the Rod&Gun club, where I shoot
trap. Last Fall, I bought the club's last 8 lbs, in their
club store. I really didn't need it, but I had a bad feeling
about powder supplies. Sure glad I did! This Spring, I was
talking to the club person that handles buying for the club
store, and he said, due to a fire at a factory that supplies
Hodgdon shotgun/pistol powders, there would be no supplies
until later this year, at the earliest. Then I was REALLY
glad I bought the last 8 lbs! I did find a notice from Hodgdon
about the fire, and the supply issue, on an internet search,
so the story appears legit.

This summer, with a heavy pistol and shotgun shooting
schedule, I was getting a little concerned about my
powder supply, and started looking for alternatives.
I found none, until one day I peeked into the Rod&Gun
club store, and there sat an 8 lb jug of Alliant Promo.
I have never loaded it, but I knew it was a budget version
of Red Dot, so it came home with me. I have ran development
loads in 12 ga. target, 45 Auto and 40 S&W, with plans
to add 9mmx19. The shotgun loads patterned nicely, and
were relatively clean burning...Not something I expected.
Shooting an O/U, I was expecting to find unburned powder
in the barrels, and basically was pleasantly surprised, to
find none. Good wads and primers! The 45 and 40 loads ran my
Glocks well, and after a tweak or two, had acceptable accuracy.
So I have refreshed my shotgun/pistol powder supply until
my favorite Hodgdon Universal gets back on the shelves, and
I found a suitable substitute for future reference.

Squeeze
 
Around here Alliant powders (everything but R15) is plentifull. Lot of Hodgdon (including IMR) rifle powder available. Varget, H4350, H322, 8208 & a few of the more popular are still hard to find. Still MUCH better than it was 6 months ago.

Shotgun & pistol powders are still near non-existant. I know I could sell a trailer load of 2028 &/or titegroup this week around here.

 
Originally Posted By: pyscodogRan into a guy that claims he can't buy powder to reload his pistol ammo with. Is it just hard to find or is he just spouting internet BS?Claims rifle powder will be that way soon.

Is this some kind of "Government/Obama is buying it all up to keep it away from gun owners" conspiracy theory rehash?

Rifle powder will be that way soon? Huh? Has your buddy been living under a rock or on the planet Zog or something? Rifle powder was "that way" for the past 2 years. Only very recently have rifle and pistol powders been showing up with any frequency.

Powder supplies are getting better across the board, but are still inconsistent. One area/region will have powder, others won't. Great example, I just saw a whole shelf full of RL 19 yesterday. Probably 10 pounds or more.

Grouse
 
Originally Posted By: The Famous GrouseOriginally Posted By: pyscodogRan into a guy that claims he can't buy powder to reload his pistol ammo with. Is it just hard to find or is he just spouting internet BS?Claims rifle powder will be that way soon.

Is this some kind of "Government/Obama is buying it all up to keep it away from gun owners" conspiracy theory rehash?

Grouse



Naw... the government is buying up all the powder to make bombs to blow up the new World Trade Center,, and then blame it on handloaders.
 
Pistol powder has been unseen around here for so long I can't remember last time I saw any.

Rifle powders have been super scarce, recently every few weeks a few lbs of IMR stuff 4064, Varget, etc shows up but it gets bought FAST even with a 1 lb per day limit. For a while I went almost daily to the only store around here with reloading stuff hoping to get lucky. I got 1 lb of H4350 after a few weeks. $34 after tax. Nothing else.

Buying online is tough too, it goes real fast.
 
Many of the pistol powders double as shotgun powders. Hogdons Clays series of powders have been the mainstay of shotguns sports for many years. Do to some production problems in Australia Clays series powders have been absent from the states here for a long time and everything else has been in high demand to fill the void. Just recently some things are starting improve. Just recently 700X, Claydot and Promo have actually shown up on Gumbot, meaning that some has hit the stores that weren't already backordered out.

From what I understand that many of the major trap clubs have standing backorders for shotgun powders and some are actually getting filled mainly in the Midwest the hotbed of trapshooting.

Since last Feb I've been able to pick up and 8# of Green Dot and PB. The Gunbot list gets longer each week so I think things will improve, I even found a pound of X-Terminator in a shop the other day
 
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No Titegroup or Power Pistol to be had around SE Iowa.

Most of the rifle powders except Varget can be found at a reasonable price
Chris
 
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