does anybody buy surplus/pulldown powder anymore and why?

[SODAPOPMG]

i have purchased hundreds of pounds of pulldown surplus in the past but anymore the price of it is the same as new commercial powders
and now that the new manufactured commercial powders are readily available why spend good money on old pulldown powder?
am i missing something?

[tazman]

In my opinion, you aren't missing anything. If the prices and availability are the same, or nearly so, I would always buy new powder.

[Lloyd Smale]

have to agree. I used to buy LOTS of it. Anymore its hard to find and when you do its so close to the price of new commercial powder its hardly worth working up loads with it just to find that 2 years from now you cant get it anymore and have to start over with a different powder. Now if it returned to half the price of commercial id be buying a bunch of it. sure wish I could get some more pr200,wc820, 844 and 846. thought I had a lifetime supply of all of them but its all gone but a couple jugs of 820.

[FLINTNFIRE]

wc844 and 846 in stock at gibrass , 844 is $99 a 8lb jug may not be 1/2 the price of new but it is still a considerable saving . As I had used the last of my older 844 I was glad to find this , Yes I would love to get wc820 again and rvo62 and some of the others .

[Maven]

Isn't RVO-62 essentially WC 860? If so, searching for WC 860 may turn up something: Pat's Reloading? Bartlett's?

[RichardB]

I bought a lot of surplus years ago and still do when I find it at a reasonable price. I won't pay anything close to commercial powder prices, thats just silly!

[FLINTNFIRE]

I have seen it referenced as h-870 and other guesses , guess it depends what lot one bought at what time ,and it has been awhile since I loaded it up have h-870 and some of the other 50 bmg and 20mm and 50 spotter powders am at work so can not look on loads for 30-06 to see which surplus I was loading it with in the 90's , I agree I will not pay close to new powder price either , though the wc844 for $99 8lb is a good buy and I suggest getting it while its available .

[ATCDoktor]

The last I bought was two years ago.

I bought 110 pounds of WC 844 for 9 dollars a pound.

[TCLouis]

RVO 62 was faster I believe.
RVO data sheet supplied by the seller way back when I bought mine put it in the 4831 speed range.
Still have some.

Luckily I bought enough when it was still "cheap powder" to last me til that final range day.
Course if I don't get off my duff and shoot more my widow will be wondering what to do with it and all my real reloading frinendsare even older so they will be gone on not in need.

[giddy]

RVO-62 was surplus WC872

[straphanger]

I buy it when I can get it delivered to Konb Creek. If I can duck the hazmat and the shipping, it is an even better deal. Its a pain sometimes to get it back to the car but I manage. I also do this w bullets and brass when there is opportunity. Hi Tech or Pats Reloading both will let u pick up and cash pay or pre pay in my experience. My biggest buy (although not from either Hi Tech or Pats) was a few years ago on a 100 lb drum of new WCC 868 for my .50s @ $5/lb. That was fun to handle.

[Elkins45]

You can still buy seven pounds of IMR7383 from gibrass.com for $65. That’s a pretty good deal if you can use it.

[Thin Man]

Two consideration drove me to the surplus powders. These were the lower cost and the availability (even before the powder shortages). Both of those advantages have evaporated. Commercial powders are readily available and surplus powder prices are bumping up very close to commercial powder prices. The incentives are gone, as is my interest in surplus.

[mattw]

Working with a buddy, years ago, that was a commercial reloader I was able to score over 100 pounds of H110 data powder but I am down to 4 1 gallon paint cans now . This is around 12% faster than standard H110 and it is amazing in 41 mag, 357 mag and 30 carbine. I also have many pounds of the 2200 varients, 2200s, 2200c and 2200, they have all been good to me. I am afraid that when I run out of them there will not be a powder that I like as well, really mainly concerned about the H110 Data. I just do not see the good deals anymore, and maybe the stuff has run it's course.

[andre3k]

I just bought WC 844 from a local guy Got 50 lbs for $10/lb and thought it was a good deal. Havent loaded any yer.

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[Lloyd Smale]

I would jump on that deal in a second!

The last I bought was two years ago.

I bought 110 pounds of WC 844 for 9 dollars a pound.

[Lloyd Smale]

why cant I find a deal like you two got. It would keep the ars fed for a couple years.

I just bought WC 844 from a local guy Got 50 lbs for $10/lb and thought it was a good deal. Havent loaded any yer.

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[Japlmg]

Just bought 48 pounds of WC846 (BLC-2) from gibrass, about $700 delivered.
That is about half of what Hodgdon BLC-2 would have cost me.

[andre3k]

why cant I find a deal like you two got. It would keep the ars fed for a couple years.

This will certainly last me a long time.

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[smkummer]

I am down to about 1 lb. of 846 from the days when it was $8 lb. I have a 8 lb. jug of varget to replace it both in 223 and 308. When the varget is gone, I’ll see what the market is on both new commercial and surplus. While I’ll buy primers when I get a good price and have a comfortable stock, I really really don’t like have much more than 50lbs. of powder in my basement if a fire would break out.