Old Question but...Powder

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I know this is and has been asked many times before but as of today, not one of our LGS have had any kind pistol powder at all since around mid December 2013. I've talked to many reloaders here in my town and adjoining towns and they also say they have not seen nor heard of any. There's some rifle powder to be had but not much but mostly H50BMG that's been sitting on the shelves forever or black powder. I'm here in Oregon and just wondered if any kind of pistol powder is available on the east coast or anywhere?

Every know and then I find some online but they limit to 1 pound and the haz fee is ridiculous.

 

[jonbearman]

Stick with recobs and check it 2 times a day.Their hazmat is way cheaper than most.

 

[CJ6]

Depending on what cartridges you shoot (say 9mm, 45 acp) shotgun powders like Blue Dot or Universal work well as do others. and YES they ARE listed in some manuals.

 

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I have a list of about 12 different powders I "could" use if I could find any of them. Right now all I have left for pistol is 800-X which is a PITA to meter, well it doesn't meter and I'm loading each round by hand.

I have used Blue dot and Universal also. I load 380, 38, 9mm, 357, 40S&W, and 45 ACP

 

[SmokinJoe]

FWIW, Clays, Solo 1000, PB & other similar shotgun powders make good loads for pistol cartridges like you mention, though not necessarily top performing loads, just good shooters. Hope this helps.

 

[artbosco]

I'll make it easy for you.

Hodgdon has a list of - dealers, stores near you, distributors - for all their powder brands by state: https://www.hodgdon.com/distributors.html

The Distributors were the most helpful because they pointed me to the stores they recently sent powder to.

Start calling. I found all the powder I needed, which was significant, by doing a little research and making phone calls to stores in my local area and state. Call surrounding states if needed.

It's out there, you just have to go find it.

 

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I wish that would work but I have called and even gone into the stores and they tell me flat out that nothing has come in and they have no idea what is coming in on the truck. I will check out the distributors though and see where it's all going to. Thanks

 

[liljoe]

I found a little bit at my local store. The prices aren't great but nothing out of the ordinary. They don't have a lot of rifle powder in 8lb jugs, but most of them in 1lb cans.

I hope the pic works.

Joe Hynes

 

[liljoe]

There is also another shelf at the top you can't see in the pic.

Joe Hynes

 

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So that's where all the powder is! Are you back east liljoe?

Our biggest store here is Sportsmans Warehouse and they're shelves have been empty for months now. Even the Pistol ammo is hard to come by and the shelves themselves actually are collecting dust. The last time they had any pistol powder they got a whole 3 1lb jugs and they were gone before I could get to them. The smaller LGS laugh when you ask them if they have or will have any powder. It's like we're in a "No Powder Zone" here! :'(

 

[liljoe]

I'm in Michigan.

Joe

 

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Wouldn't you know it, I start up this thread and go to one of our LGS today and they had about 50 cans of Bullseye and about 20 of the AR-Comp powder. No limit so I bought 8lbs of Bullseye and 2lbs of AR-Comp. Put me back $240 but at least I';ll be able to load this year. ANother good thing is I can take that 800-X powder and put it in storage...deep in the back! ;D

 

[mshelton]

I've had some fine 12ga crow loads with that 800x.

 

[amlevin]

This should be "lesson learned" for the future. If we do start seeing powder available then buy for a year's supply, not just a "bottle". Based on my LGS prices I only need to buy a 4# jug of pistol powder (for my pistols) to more than offset the cost of the Hazmat Fee and Shipping.

By buying a "jug" versus "bottle" I also don't have to rework my loads every time I go out and buy another bottle.

 

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I've done just that in the past week. I got a tip that one of the very little LGS always has powder so I went there and what do you know, I bought 8lbs of Bullseye last week and 2lbs of Unique today. In one week I have already reloaded 1200 45's and 600 40 S&W. I've got about 3ooo more 9mm to load and a few hundred 380's. Then I get to load up some .223 and 22-250's.

I'm a happy man now! ;D