Pistol powder availability sticky?

[DrCaveman]

Im still having a bit$h of a time finding pistol powders. I hear tell of them popping up locally from month to month, but those people with more time on their hands grab it all.

Gunbot is basically void of pistol every time i check, maybe some 4227.

Since surely some of you have your 30 year supply stashed away, hows about sharing where a person could acquire 4-8 pounds of popular pistol powder?

As a running thread, the info would only be good for about 30 minutes, but to the well-timed viewer of this thread, it could work out very well!

[kfarm]

Still none around Little Rock unless bass pro has it and I'm too far away to go just to see high prices.

[NC_JEFF]

Its showing up more often here, western NC. My LGS has some in stock. Maybe things are about to improve.

[twc1964]

In my part of tx pistol powders have been rare. Ive been looking for be-86 and w-231 for about 8 months. Havent had any luck at all. Heck, id go for a few lbs of power pistol but no go there.

[RogerDat]

Gunbot essentially has to be watched like a hawk, checked often and eventually some stuff will show up but it does not last long. Large jugs sell out the quickest so I'm assuming the high volume shooters are more motivated to lurk waiting for something to show up.

By not long I mean I saw some Unique was available 5 minutes after it listed. Hit the link, ordered 3# and it was sold out by the time I entered some info and went to check out. When I finally did get some the amount in stock went down by about 70 1# bottles during my ordering and checkout. But I now knew that putting it in my cart did not take it from stock so I flew through the checkout process.

[Rick Hodges]

I am seeing more and more pistol powders available. 296, 2400, hp-38, Cabela's even had a bunch of Universal Clays the other day. I think they are returning to the shelves...slowly and at a higher price....but returning.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

We have a thread like that on Illinois carry forum it works out pretty good

[9w1911]

gunbot . net

[9w1911]

or if you are in the Reno area I have a keg of E3 I will sell you and I have worked loads for 45acp with that powder, I had a vet bill i need to pay for

[jonp]

Gunshow in Raleigh Sunday. They had a bunch of powder. Bullseye, Autocomp, w231, Green Dot, H110, 2400 etc..all about $26/lb and under $200/8lb. 8lb Keg of 700x for $145. Even had some Universal.

Only odd one was a Keg of Unique. I walked past it, stopped and backed up then put on my glasses to make sure I had the price right. $275. I started laughing and told the guy "good luck selling that"

[Handloader109]

Kfarm, was at the gun show in Conway a couple of weeks back and a vendor from TN had a LOT of various powders including at least 4 or 5 pistol powders at reasonable prices. Probably several hundred pounds total. Keep an eye out for the next show and go......

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

in south west/central Wisconsin the local shops seem to have a fair selection again of 1 pound bottles at 26-34 dollars a pound depending, my best advice is if your hard up for powder , call every local shop that carried it in 30 miles and ask what they have and if they have it tell them you will be there in x time to get it do they want your card number to hold it.

or at the shops they already know you at tell them what you want and ask them if they will call you when they get it , and if 2 shops get it the same day go buy it at both cause you told them you would take it

I never see much for reloading equipment or powder at our gun shows maybe 1 booth but I tend to frequent the small shows

[SteveS]

What I've had to do is forget about which powder I want and make a list of all the various powders that could work. I buy what I can get.

Any time I'm on the internet I have a gunbot window open and check it frequently.

I stop by my LGS at least once a week when they are slow and talk with the guy at the reloading counter. I usually buy something cheap just because. He has become a very good source for me. Don't just look at what is on the shelf. There is more somewhere out of sight.

Just doing those two things I've gone from no powder at all to twenty pounds of usable powder in the past year.

If I sat around waiting to find some 2400, I'd probably never shoot again.

[RogerDat]

This link is a list put out by ADI powder manufacturer of powder equivalents. Note: the bottom states "within about 5%" but I have found it a solid indicator that there will be reasonable load data for the equivalent powder listed.

http://www.adi-powders.com.au/handloaders/equivalents.asp

Heck a lot of times I Google the powder, bullet and load data only to find that some powder I have never considered has a devoted group of reloaders that swear by that powder for that cartridge. YMMV and of course many folks on the internet are not risk averse (nut jobs) but still has broadened my search and led to about 10# of powders being purchased that work well but were not on my radar.

[blackangus]

Manuals show data for pistol powders being used to load shotgun shells. Can powder from shotgun shells be used to reload pistols? I'm told Winchester uses the AA super handicap powder in their 12 gauge AA super handicap shells. Since I can buy almost any shotgun ammo, what works for a 158 gr. swc 357 magnum, 9 mm, 45 acp?
thank you for your reply.

[JSnover]

Manuals show data for pistol powders being used to load shotgun shells. Can powder from shotgun shells be used to reload pistols?
thank you for your reply.
A lot of powders are interchangeable, that's why it's good to have a collection of load manuals. If you're talking about cannibalizing shotgun cartridges to fill handgun cases, it can be done but I would not, unless I knew exactly which powder was used.

[runfiverun]

things ain't bad enough to pull down shot shells yet.

I work 15 days out of town and then home for 6.
I have scrounged around some on those 6 days and have been finding pistol powder with some success about every two-three months.
I buy it when I find it.

unique/bulls-eye have been the powders I have seen quite a bit, and dribs and drabs of others
green-dot, AM select, BE-86, have all popped up over the last 6-7 months.
before that I found some red-dot and none since [shrug]
last trip I found some 2400, and some 800-x.
that was the day after I had been there and they didn't have any.