Powder availability at my LGS

[Nick_C_S]

I know the great powder shortage of 2013 has been over in the eyes of most for some time. But it has been stubborn here in northern California for sure.

For the first time since early 2013, I walked into my LGS today and they had a better selection of pistol powders than I personally own. To me, I define that as the shortage finally being over.

They had Bullseye, Unique, MP-300, and Power Pistol.

They had the "full spectrum" of Accurate Arms' - #2, #5, #7, & #9.
And likewise for AA's next of kin, Ramshot - Silhouette, True Blue, Enforcer, etc.

They had pretty much the full lineup of Vihtavuori.

And in the Hodgdon world they had HS-6, Trail Boss, TiteWad, TiteGroup, (edit: Clays), AND - get this - W231 (as 231, not HP-38).

It was good to see and I just felt like sharing. Now would be a good time for would-be loaders to get started in this crazy craft.

 

[MarkCO]

Still can't find Federal Gold Medal match magnum rifle primers. When those are on the shelves, I will agree we are GTG.

 

[Nick_C_S]

Still can't find Federal Gold Medal match magnum rifle primers.

Primers are being stubborn still. I noticed that.

Around here at least, they got pretty easy to find; and then they got hard to find again - like the shortage got a second wind with primers or something.

 

[SHR970]

The last panic was assuming Hillary would be POTUS.

Now for Kali the issue is the soon to be requirement for background checks to buy ammo and components.

 

[TMD]

The shelves are full of powder at my LGS's. Problem is they still have shortage prices on them like to the tube of $35-40 a pound.

 

[iraiam]

It's much better, BUT...

It is certainly much better, but it's still not like it used to be. I can remember being able to buy virtually any powder I wanted in most any size locally. It also doesn't help that a couple local stores that were heavily into reloading components are gone now, I know they had issues because they could no longer order specific products for me and had purchase limits on many products.

I was recently on vacation in another state, I went to a gun show and wound up buying 20 lbs of powder (4 and 8 lb. kegs). I'm seeing more large containers locally as well.

 

[Nate762]

One of my lgs's is getting out of reloading so all stock is on sale, so I just picked up 8# of IMR 4064 for $150. I use a lot of universal and unique as well and those are at $18 per pound. I'm buying up what I can. Out of useful bullets though and no rifle primers.

 

[Road_Clam]

Reloading components are in excellent supply here in NH. I'm even observing powder prices dropping slightly (from $26/lb for your typical rifle powders down to $24). The only powder i'm still having a hard time finding is Alliant 2400 pistol. Unique and RL15 were very scarce up until about 6 months ago and i'm happy to report they are both back in stock. With Trump in office we are now in a relaxed "buy as we only need" atmosphere. I think we will continue to see inventories rise which causes prices to decrease.

 

[Metal god]

There is only one store here in San Diego that I know of that has a real good selection of powders . I'm talking 30 to 40 different powders Maybe more . Problem is they are all $35 a lb . Since the panic is for the most part over I'm looking to see his prices come down . I'm seeing Titegroup for $17 on the internet as well as many others right around $20 .

I have a good supply of powders but went kinda crazy on primers working up to the election . Something like 30k so I'm gtg there as well . I've got a good amount of brass with most calibers in the 2k+ range , my lowest count is 45 acp at just under 2k .

My issue with brass is losing 30%+ of my pistol brass every time I go shoot . That really bothers me . My rifle brass including semi auto , I come back with darn near 100% of it .

I need projectiles and if I could stock up on those I'd be pretty happy . The issue is my budget , There are three things on my short list right now . Projectiles , Dillon 650 , S&W model 69 ( 44 magnum ) . I can only have one of those in the next 6 months

 

[Road_Clam]

My issue with brass is losing 30%+ of my pistol brass every time I go shoot . That really bothers me . My rifle brass including semi auto , I come back with darn near 100% of it .

Do you mainly shoot at an indoor range or outdoor ? When I shoot outdoor at my gun club I lay a 8'x8' tarp on the ground to my right. Most all my semi auto casings eject on to the tarp. At the end of my shooting I simply fold up the corners of the tarp trapping the brass, then dump the brass into a 5 gallon bucket. Works awesome and I I don't have to keep bending over picking up a ton of brass. If I shoot my handloads indoors (which is very rare) I just sweep up a couple large piles of brass for me to take home. I find myself shooting my revolvers and my bolt actions more in the winter as I hate scrounging my brass in the snow and ice. I also have a Caldwell brass catcher for my AR which also works great.

 

[ed308]

Supply has improved but prices are high and not everything is available in my my area of DFW, Tx. I wonder if the Good Ol' Days will every return?

 

[shootbrownelk]

Supply has increased, but the sellers have gotten used to the higher prices and are reluctant to lower them. I doubt they will decrease much, if at all. Suck it up and bend over...lube optional.

 

[Nick_C_S]

Sportman's Warehouse has decent prices.

In my OP, my mentioned LGS would be Sportsmen's Warehouse. They seem to keep their prices moderate. That's also why I use them as my "bellwether," as opposed to other stores. Everyone knows they have the best prices in town, so if they have powder in stock, things are getting better.

Metal God: I too am curious why you loose 30% of your pistol brass? When I shoot semi-auto (about a third of the time, since I'm mostly a revolver guy), I usually come home with 95+% of it. Of course, when I shoot semi-auto, I select range times when it's no so busy. If I have a hankerin' to go shooting and it's a busy time (Sat afternoon, for instance), I'll grab a revolver for just that reason. (My range is really close, so I usually only bring one firearm per trip.)

 

[Metal god]

Do you mainly shoot at an indoor range or outdoor ? When I shoot outdoor at my gun club I lay a 8'x8' tarp on the ground to my right. Most all my semi auto casings eject on to the tarp

Yes mostly outdoors . The tarp idea is a good one and one I've used in the past when shooting on BLM land or private . That is not an option at my local range .

1) it's to busy and they would consider it a tripping hazard .

2) to many other people shooting with lots a brass on the ground but even when it's slow I can't find all my brass . I put my brass back into the cases I brought the loaded rounds in . I rarely come home with it more then 2/3 full . I mean the number could be 25% or 20% lost , either way it's a large amount IMO that I'm loosing .

3) I used to mark my loaded rounds on the head with a sharpie to keep track of which were mine and which were others but that does not really seam to help me retrieve more of my brass .

I will admit that I don't look uber hard for my brass . I don't look under everybody's table , real close around there gear , under the gun racks etc . I give it a good look around and pick up what I see .

Indoor ranges are more like loosing 50% of "my" brass because a lot of it goes forward of the firing line and you can't retrieve anything out there . How ever I usually come home with more then I went with . Almost nobody saves there brass at indoor ranges compared to my local outdoor range . So I scoop up a lot of others brass . If I catch them in time I'll ask other shooters when they clean up there brass to put it in my brass bag rather then the stores 5gal bucket .

 

[Nick_C_S]

Thanks for the detail Metal god. That's too bad. If I lost 20+% of my brass, I would rarely shoot semi-auto (less than I do now).

I really am glad I like shooting revolver so much. And not having to police the brass is a major advantage of revolvers. And I just think they're a lot more fun to shoot, mainly. (More fun to reload, too.)

At my range, (http://www.lincolnrifleclub.com/ranges-2/dillmanrange6d58/), you can walk out in front of the benches and police your brass (during cease fire periods, of course , and you need to keep yourself rather clear of the benches while sweeping/collecting.) There's a lot of concrete area for the brass to fall and not be under and near fixed objects. I guess I didn't realize how good I have it. I do like my range.

 

[Metal god]

Are outdoor range has ceace fires and we can collect brass forward of the line . How ever the indoor range does not have cease fire so you can't get your brass forward of the line .

 

[Nick_C_S]

However the indoor range does not have cease fire so you can't get your brass forward of the line.

Ahh, I see. I've never been to an indoor range. Probably never will. Perhaps I might think differently if I lived in a colder climate.

 

[Metal god]

I don't go indoors often . first is I don't shoot handguns nearly as much as rifle . The only reason I do go is my local range is 40min away . sometimes I just want to go plink my 9 & 45 and a quick 5min drive to the indoor range works best rather then the 1.5 hours total drive time to and from the other range .