No more Winchester powder???

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shooter_john

New member
I went out to the gun show today and I found a gentleman with 2 8# cans of 748. I asked about them, and he informed me that it 748 (and all other Win powders) is no longer available since Winchester has gone out of buisness. I knew they had quit making several guns but I didn't know they were no longer producing components too:( . I load decent quantities of 308 and 223 with 748 and I found this to be quite disappointing news. Has anyone else heard about this or have I just been completely out of the loop?
PS- I bought a can for $125
 
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Powderman

New member
Not too surprising...

The two direct powder equivalents I know of are HP-38 (aka WW231) and H110 (aka WW296). It would not surprise me if there were more.
 
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Ammo Junky

New member
w540 is hs6
w571 is hs7
I am sure there are more and Hodgdon is gona sell some of the other win powders, I think most bases will be covered even it there is a name change on some powders. I cant belive Hodgdon would not cont a win powder that has a market if they don't already sell the same powder under their name.
fret not. :D
 
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Jim Watson

New member
Winchester Ball and Hodgdon Spherical powders are manufactured by St Marks Powder Co. in St Marks, Florida. The plant was built by Olin-Winchester, divested and operated independently for a while, and then acquired by General Dynamics.

Hodgdon has taken over distribution of Winchester brand powders and will keep packing their own flavors from the same plant. Hodgdon also bought up IMR Powders of New York, the US distributor for IMR products made in Canada. They do not own either factory. Hodgdon does not manufacture anything except Pyrodex and Triple 7 fake black powders. They get their flake and extruded powders from ADI in Australia.

Olin-Matheson owns the Winchester brand name and produces Winchester ammunition in Illinois and now Mississippi. They licensed the brand name to USRA for rifles that were made in Conneticut until the foreign owner FN Herstal shut them down for lack of profit, and to FN directly for guns imported from Japan and Europe.

Shooter_john, the guy at the gun show was mistaken or lying. Who was it, Alabama Ammo or the other outfit selling components at that show? $125 was not too bad for 8 lbs of powder, though, not if the alternative was mailorder and hazmat ripoff plus shipping.
 
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wixedmords

New member
There is a rumor that some of the redundant IMR and Hodgdon powders are going to be eliminated.

Anyone else heard this?
 
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Mike Irwin

Staff
These rumors are going on all the time.

Some years ago there was a rumor floating around that Winchester was going to get rid of 231.

People were panicking, so I called Winchester's director of media affairs (I was with American Rifleman at the time) and chatted with him for awhile.

He was quite amused at the concept that Winchester would drop its single most popular powder.

He also sent me 3 pounds each of 231 and 296.

FUN!
 
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shooter_john

New member
A fool and his money are soon parted. :D :D :D :D :D


I don't know that I'd call me a fool... You find an 8# can of 748 for $125 (no tax, no hazmat, no shipping) and get back with me. I'd really like to know where you found it.:)
 
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Chris McDermott

New member
Go to the Hodgdon website, and they say that H4227 and HS7 are being discontinued. I have read from other websites what Hodgdon intends to do is sell their H4227 as IMR4227, and the IMR4227 won't be made anymore; you will be buying H4227 in a can labeled IMR4227. Since H4227 is one of the powders that was re-formulated as an "Extreme" powder with reduced temperature sensitivity; but the IMR line is the original and better known line of powders, this almost makes sense. I wouldn't be surprised to see the same thing happen with other powders that are duplicates between IMR and Hodgdon.
 
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dakotashooter2

New member
:D Just havng fun with ya. I didn't mean to imply that "you" are a fool or that the price was out of line, only that the salesman is probably using rumors as a sales tactics to "push" his product and it raised enough question that it succeeded. It's a decent price and you can use it so nobody is hurt. Have fun burning it up.:D
 
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Scott5

New member
H/imr 4227

Hey Chris,
Here is some corespondence that I have from serveral sources back if Febuary.
This is from ZZTOP on Graybeard Outdoors.

Acording to R.H VanDenburg. Jr. February 2006 Hanloader Pg. 26 ... "With the availability of its new Lil'Gun powder, Hodgdon doesn't promote 4227 for use in the .410 shotshell any more but IMR does. It performes well in both 2 1/2- and 3-inch shell with traditional payloads and velocities. It may require a somewhat heavier powder charge than some of the newer .410 powders, but patterning is generally excellent.

All that said, with the recent purchace of the IMR Powder Company by the Hodgdon Powder Company came the realization that IMR-4227 outsells H-4227 by a very wide margin. Consequently, I've been informed that sometime in 2006, as supplies run out, there will be no more H-4227. IMR-4227 will continue on serving handloaders as it has since 1935. Supplies of both will no doubt be on dealers' shelves for some time to come, be forwarned. "

Happy shooting
Scott5
 
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