Powder Prices & Availability

[billt460]

This is really starting to become a problem. And from what I've been reading, it's going to get a lot worse before it gets any better.... Assuming it ever does. A lot of powders are flat out unavailable, and the ones that are, are priced through the roof!

I just ordered 16 pounds, (2, 8 pound jugs), of Alliant E3 shotgun / pistol powder from Midway. And the total delivered price was $687.57 to my doorstep. That comes to a delivered price, (shipping, tax, and hazmat), of just shy of $43.00 @ pound. Some are exceeding $50.00 @ pound without shipping, tax, or hazmat.

I'm somewhat "lucky" because I'm sitting on a lot of shot, primers, and wads. All were purchased years ago before all of this nonsense started. I shoot a lot of Trap, and that amount of powder will cover about 6,600 rounds.

Add in shot, primers, and wads at today's prices, and it's not worth reloading. If I didn't have the other components on hand, and in volume, I would cover up my presses, and shoot factory ammo.

Also, if you do reload, beware of scam sites. They're everywhere. If you see low prices that are too good to be true, along with having everything in stock with no limit, and they only offer payment by Zelle, Venmo, and the other cash transfer methods, and accept no major credit cards, run like hell. They're phony.

With 2 wars going on, that we're giving aid to, (along with a lot of small arms ammunition), and the scarcity of components, this is only going to escalate.... Along with prices.

 

[billt460]

Talk about crazy. I just checked, and they raised the price up from $299.99 for a 8 pound jug, to $329.99. Up $30.00 in less than 24 hours. Insane.

Alliant e3 Smokeless Gun Powder 8 lb

Every container of Alliant Smokeless Powder is backed by a century of manufacturing experience and the most exacting quality control procedures in the...

www.midwayusa.com

 

[Slick3914]

Alliant is pricing themselves out of the consumer powder business. Hodgdon has any powder a reloader might need at significantly lower prices.

 

[billt460]

Alliant is pricing themselves out of the consumer powder business. Hodgdon has any powder a reloader might need at significantly lower prices.

It's not just them. Actually compared to some, their prices aren't too bad. The problem with Hodgdon shotgun powders is they're most always unavailable.

Clays, Red Dot, Green Dot, Clay Dot, even 700X are all but unavailable. Low prices mean nothing when you can't buy the product. And it's not the powder companies. It's the vendors, distributors, and retailers themselves.

I've seen Red Dot and Clay Dot going for over $400.00 a jug when you find someone who actually has it in stock. Same with many rifle powders.

As per my example... Midway was selling it at a profit less than 24 hours ago at $300.00 a jug. Now they're selling it for $330.00. Why? Because they can.

All you're seeing is Capitalism at work.

 

[BISCUT]

It's a big problem very few care about. I'm in the I care dept! If you ever need SMR primers let me know. I am well stacked.

 

[billt460]

Alliant is pricing themselves out of the consumer powder business. Hodgdon has any powder a reloader might need at significantly lower prices.

Also, in case you didn't know this, Alliant and Hodgdon are both owned by the same company, Vista Outdoors. Also, Hodgdon does not manufacture any of their own powders. Clays for example was manufactured in Australia, as well as Canada.

 

[wpod]

Monopoly and people paying the price. If everyone stopped shooting for 3 months things would change.

 

[billt460]

Monopoly and people paying the price. If everyone stopped shooting for 3 months things would change.

That will never happen. Even if it did it wouldn't make a dent when compared to how much powder is consumed by the militaries they provide with all the various different propellants.

 

[thastinger]

Vista owns everything but Winchester now.
I had not seen Alliant Steel or Remington RP12 wads in 3 years each, but both recently became available for 20 minutes until the BOTs chewed them all up, now that same stuff is on gunbroker.
As far as shotgun powders go, I could find Longshot, Titewad and WST during the woohan, shot was a hard no though, as were wads. I had been loading metallic for years but didn't get into shotgun until then. I just had to be patient and work with the components I could get. I was able to develop some nice loads eventually once some of the wads started to come back around. I only load 2&3/4 hulls but I was able to put together some nice steel BB, lead BBB, 00 & 000 buck between STS and Gun Club hulls.

 

[billt460]

High Gun is all but identical to Tite Wad, and it is available. It doesn't offer much in the way of 1-1/8 ounce loads however.

It is mainly good for 1ounce.

 

[JohnnyG]

Got a message from Brownell's on Dec. 22,2023 that BE86 is in stock. No idea on the price.

 

[thastinger]

High Gun is all but identical to Tite Wad, and it is available. It doesn't offer much in the way of 1-1/8 ounce loads however.

It is mainly good for 1ounce.

Yeah, same with tite-wad. it is too fast a powder for much over 1oz payload....but it actually works pretty well as a steel BB powder because you can't fit more than an ounce of steel BB in a 2.75 hull anyways.

 

[thastinger]

I've seen HS6 around lately, that might work for 1&1/8. Longshot is everywhere now and it would work well but it leaves a lot residue behind.
A lot of the load manuals call for powders that aren't even made anymore.

 

[billt460]

Got a message from Brownell's on Dec. 22,2023 that BE86 is in stock. No idea on the price.

They have it in stock, in both 1 and 8 pound quantities as I type this. 1 pound $44.99. 8 pound jug $307.99.

BE-86 Powder 8 lb | Brownells

The special extruded flake formulation results in excellent ballistics in a wide array of centerfire pistol loads, with high energy, an ideal burn speed and less flash. It meters well and is available in 1- and 8-pound canisters. Like all Alliant ...

www.brownells.com

 

[billt460]

I've seen HS6 around lately, that might work for 1&1/8. Longshot is everywhere now and it would work well but it leaves a lot residue behind.
A lot of the load manuals call for powders that aren't even made anymore.

Yeah, that's what I like about Clays and E3. They both burn very clean. And they are both fairly large grained flake powders, that meter very well though my charge bars.

Some of the finer grained flattened ball powders can leak, and jam up some powder bars.

 

[Astro14]

When I start adding up component cost, reloading still seems uneconomical. Because, even if I amortize the press and dies over 10,000 rounds, I am still at roughly the cost of new, and with new, I’m not having to pick up my brass.

Thats said, I save the brass, will probably reload for my 45-70, my 7.5 x 55 Swiss, my .30-40 Krag, and my 6.5 x 55 Swedish, since they are all fairly hard to come by. In that case, it is less an economic decision, and more one of simple availability.

Interestingly, I just bought a case of 9 mm, S & B, this morning for $229 at my local gun store. That’s a pretty good price for a case these days, and again when I start adding up the cost of components, I think it beats reloading.

so, I wonder if the cost of powder is the “canary in the coal mine“ of impending ammo price changes, or just an anomaly along the way.

 

[thastinger]

Interestingly, I just bought a case of 9 mm, S & B, this morning for $229 at my local gun store. That’s a pretty good price for a case these days, and again when I start adding up the cost of components, I think it beats reloading.

Yeah, it would be close on price but then you've got your time involved and you would be using fired brass. Not worth it for 115gr ball ammo. You can certainly save a ton of money on loading the hallow point stuff vs what you can buy it for. Sierra sells the same 125JHP projo that comes in the factory rounds. The subsonic 147gr rounds is another big cost saver if you roll your own. I use N320 powder for all 9mm so having one powder that works well for everything 9mm is nice and keeps storage space free but the primers are the killer on the economy side.

 

[Slick3914]

Yeah, same with tite-wad. it is too fast a powder for much over 1oz payload....but it actually works pretty well as a steel BB powder because you can't fit more than an ounce of steel BB in a 2.75 hull anyways.

You’re creating bombs using a fast powder like that with steel shot, even with the same shot charge weight. Loading lead and steel is vastly different.

 

[totegoat]

I haven't been shooting thousands of rounds like I used to so I'm stocked up.

 

[thastinger]

You’re creating bombs using a fast powder like that with steel shot, even with the same shot charge weight. Loading lead and steel is vastly different.

I'm not using the steel shot wads that don't have cushions, the MG42 wad works fine for steel.
I use Longshot or alliant steel for steel but the titewad worked fine for 7/8 steel, I didn't send them out for pressure testing no but no damage to the hulls (STS) and no pressure signs. You do need to use some mica on the MG42 to get it into STS hulls though.