Zilloion powders/nothing available issue!!!!!!!!!!!!

[winchester 71]

What's going on........manufacturers are making new types daily but can't supply old
standbys first and then focus on the LA-LA powders to capture marketshares..........They spend all their time setting up to make small batches of magic powder and cant fill
the orders of established products and we are sitting on our thumbs sniveling about no powder..............this sounds like the government ........running around chasing their tails
and producing NOTHING but grief!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[9w1911]

people like me are buying it and shooting it

[Love Life]

What magic powders are you referring to? Don't get married to a powder. I've had no issues adding a ridiculous amount of powder to my cupboard during the shortage.

Additionally, the demand is ridiculous right now. Everytime I see a powder I use, or can use, on the shelf I buy as much as my bank roll can bear at that moment.

[35remington]

"Zillolon?"

[9w1911]

yep my bank account is all that kept me from ordering another 8# today

[Ole]

If I had to guess, I'd say there are a lot of new reloaders that have taken up the hobby since the last ammo scare and they are still looking for powder.

[btroj]

I don't think the OP wants anything made but what he wants. Seems he likes the classics, but which ones? By what company?

Learn to make do with what you can find. Live a little, make new friends, expand you horizons.

Being married to a powder is a bad idea in this day and age.

[dragon813gt]

Where are you guys living? I have no issue finding powders. But I do have access to a lot of stores. If you only have one in your area I can see how it could be a problem. It may take a few weeks to find what I'm looking for but I always end up getting it. The selection has gotten a lot better over the past two months or so.

[btroj]

I can certainly find enough variety to shoot anything I need to shoot.

[xacex]

I have got everything I have needed so far. I had a hard time finding varget, and H4895, but found a jewel that had it in stock. When it comes in have a card ready, and the bankroll to order more than 3#. I figure each time I see a powder I need it is going to cost 200$ or more to make the shipping and hazmat even worth it.

[Love Life]

The internet is your friend.

[plmitch]

No shortage of powders out there, plenty to be had if you just look.

[TMenezes]

Those of you that have powder locally available, awesome. Good for you. But some of us are not so lucky. Locally about all you can find is Black Powder, which I tried and don't particularly like. For those of you that are in my situation I feel your pain. I have very slowly added a few powders through carefully watching my local guys stock. And allot of internet shopping and hazmat fees. Also got 1 pound of Tight group through a fellow reloader.

[762 shooter]

Love the one you're with.

762

[Garyshome]

There is more powder than $$$$ in my house.

[dbosman]

I can find powder locaally, but not necessarily the powder I prefer. A pretty fair supply of RAM Shot, but no Hercules or Winchester.
Part of my attitude - these days - is that I'm just forced to research (shoot) more variety. Maybe one of the new powders will be better in some way than the classics.

The internet, credit cards, and online ordering has to be your 2nd option or plan B. Sign up for online notification of new stock and be prepared to place an order instantly.
Get on a back order list for your preferred powder. Either it will show up eventually or you'll decline if you don't need it at the moment.

[fatelk]

Those of you that have powder locally available, awesome. Good for you. But some of us are not so lucky. Locally about all you can find is Black Powder, which I tried and don't particularly like. For those of you that are in my situation I feel your pain.

I agree. I haven't been able to find any for over a year, but then again I haven't been real "serious" about it. I only check the local Bimart any time I'm in there, in any town I'm in (NEVER anything but black or pyrodex), and the rare but occasional gun shop or gun show (either nothing or embarrassingly overpriced).

I did find one shop that had a pretty fair supply of powder, $28/lb (high but not as crazy as most I've seen). I was going to buy a pound until I saw their sign that said they limited purchase of powder to buyers of bullets. You had to buy a box of overpriced jacketed bullets before they would sell you a can of overpriced powder. Never mind.

I won't order powder online. I'm not a serious enough shooter to make that worth while. The small quantity I would buy would not be anywhere near worth the shipping/hazmat. Maybe I should check with the local gun club and see if anyone ever does group buys.

Since I'm not a serious enough shooter to go to any extraordinary effort or expense to find powder in these lean times, I guess I'll just have to wait until you all stop buying it all up so I can walk into the local Bimart and buy the couple pounds I need. :)

[Maximumbob54]

I have to admit I agree with the OP. I wish they would do like Hornady did with dropping the line on the lower selling stuff for a while and focus on the power sellers.

And I hope you guys that have easy access to powders still are stocking up. I thought I had easy access at one point and then the next month it was all gone.

[btroj]

The next month it was gone? That isn't stocking up. Stocking up, to me, is laying in a few years supply.
Want to reduce the chance of running out? Don't buy pound containers unless try it a new powder. I pretty much use 5 powders or so for most loading and they are bought in 5 or 8 pounders.

You can be an ant or a grasshopper, you decide.

[freebullet]

I like trolling for walleyes, salmon, and even pan fish. It's more fun.

If all I could find were black guess what I'd be shootin.

I really don't know why they even make powder containers in less than 8 pounds. How can you give a powder an honest chance if you only try a pound. I can load/shoot a pound so fast its not worth buying such a small minute amount. I don't buy primer 100 or even 1k at a time nor gas 1gal either.The simple solution is to buy some powder. Don't forget the primers and gas fer yer car too, its out there for you.

[dragon813gt]

A pound of rifle powder doesn't make much sense. But a pound of Bullseye is two thousand rounds. That's not a small amount.

[sidecarmike]

Over the weekend I was in the Fleet Farm stores in Fondulac and Oshkosh. Both had at least a dozen different powders in stock. Just because your favorite gun shop doesn't have it, doesn't mean the whole country is dry. I bought Varget, IMR3031, Power Pistol, and Unique before I came home.

[Shiloh]

Everytime I see a powder I use, or can use, on the shelf I buy as much as my bank roll can bear at that moment.

This is good advice. Kind of like Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper.
I have a supply. I replace what I use. It isn't hoarding if you purchase when it is available to everyone. Any ex Boy Scouts out there. "Be Prepared"

Shiloh

[freebullet]

A pound of rifle powder doesn't make much sense. But a pound of Bullseye is two thousand rounds. That's not a small amount.

I must disagree with the last sentence. 2k in a pistol is just a fun weekend maybe 2 round here. Guess I must have fallin off that slippery slope I keep hearing about. I want them to sell pistol powders in 25 pound kegs. Ever figure the price difference between 1lb containers and 8lbs? It's usually 5-6$ per pound minimum cheaper. I want the 25-50lbs container price.

[dragon813gt]

You are not the average shooter if you think 2k is just one range session. For most of us 2k rounds will last quite awhile. If you compete then a round count like that is nothing.

[Crash_Corrigan]

We had a loose group of shooters/reloaders in this area a few years ago. We pretty much all shot Swiss BP and it is not available locally at all. Everybody would chip in and one designated shooter would order and take delivery of the powder. Now as to finding the powder available it was tough for a while until we decided that everyone would have the cell/phone/internet email address of the holder of the funds. We all would comb the internet and seek the powder we wanted at a decent price. The actual person who located the powder for the best price was granted a bonus of 2# of his favorite powder as a finders fee.

Ergo there were soon no problems finding powder for a decent price. We got some great deals on powder and we had a lot of discussion over which powder to buy etc. We usually always bough Swiss BP but then we started to also buy smokeless powder as well. The powdermaster would collect the funds and order and pay for the powder. He would take delivery. Then the word would go out and either each individual buyer would stop over and pick up his powder or wait until the next big shooting day where all the remaining powder would be distributed.

A few orders got to be really big and our powdermaster had run out of room in his garage for the storage of powder. By this time some of our group had spread the word amongst other reloaders and starting selling powder also from their share. Finally one day the local Fire Department made a visit and ended it all. There are limits to the amount of powder one can store in a private residence without suitable approved storage facilities.

I learned that the amount of primers and powder stored in my tiny tin trailer exceeded the limit by many multiple factors even though I only had powder for my own consumption. As this is written I have probably over 150 lbs. of powder and over 100,000 primers stored in racks in my bedroom. I have no wife or GF to limit my follies and Sgt. Rambo (Dog) and Boy George (cat) are very close mouthed about my activities if I continue to feed and spoil them rotten.

Over time the group kinda broke up and we no longer order such big amounts of powder. A few smaller knots of shooters pool their funds and buy in quanity via the internet and it a great way to save major funds in our sport but stay aware of the local regulations and try to keep things on the down low by keeping the participants low in number. If you keep the orders down to less than a thousand dollars at a time and quickly disperse the powder then a group should have no problems.

However we got a mite big for our britches and we should have thought things through better. It was not a problem until our members started to also buy for their friends also and somewhere along the line a snitch dropped a dime to the local authorities. I keep my activities hidden and nobody in my neighborhood knows that I reload ammo, cast boolits, collect firearms and or shoot target as much as I do. What my neighbors do not know about me will not endanger them and I want to keep it that way.

As for the powder and primer shortages that we have endured for the past few years, they have not bothered my to any degree. Long ago I stopped shooting .22 LR as I could reload a .38 Spcl or a 9 MM for less money. My stash of primers are sufficient for another few years. My powder stores are not as healthy and I am on the lookout for powder all the time without much success so I have cut back on powder usage a mite and then some.

A trip to the range starts the night before when I load all my range gear into my vehicle under the cloak of darkness and prying eyes. The long guns are stored in the trunk of my car in cases and only in the morning do I haul out my handguns in a disguised manner and put them in the car. Again I am trying to stay under the radar. I shred all my discarded mail and those gunzines that are always accumulating are taken out and I leave them in various doctors offices in their waiting rooms after I remove my subscription labels. Anything that would identify me as a shooter or reloader or such is shredded or discarder away from my residence after all identifying marks have been removed.

With over 35 various weapons that I keep around I carefully keep a low profile. I have a Canon gunsafe which I have bolted to the floor in the garage of my ex wife a few miles away. I pretty much keep all my weapons there except for a few and they are defensive handguns. Two are in the car and a pair in the trailer. Even my powder and primers are kept on shelves with blankets hiding the contents. Loaded ammo is also stored offsite in cardboard cartons in another location. Empty brass is still a problem since I have so much of it. However I am working on it.

[psychicrhino]

Some posts make me feel less ill by comparison ;)