Powder On The Shelves

[dale2242]

I went shopping at some of the larger sporting goods stores and have been finding more and more powder on the shelves lately.
22 lr is still not there.
Bullets came back first, then primers, now powder.
Hopefully a sign of better times ahead.......dale

[nagantguy]

Sure hope so; right before Easter I got that big score, 6 pounds bullseye and a pound of red dot, first time I'd seen either in years. Can't imagine what the supply chain will look like when old pay to play pants suit queen gets selected. I have noticed primers in more abundance as of late.

[Wis. Tom]

I thought powder was coming around and started to see alittle more, of sorts, but as fast as I started seeing some powders, now most are gone, and they are telling me replacements aren't coming again. What a game. It's like you have to have a bankroll on you, at all times, just in case you score that one pound of powder, or hit the jackpot, with a #8 sitting on the shelf. You leave that store without your limit, don't expect it to be there when you return.

[bangerjim]

Lots of rifle powder round these parts. Some pistol......but very high price.

i like my ert7 powder!!!!

[berksglh]

Powder has been making apearances in GB Wisconsin area now for 6 months or so. You have to catch it on the proper day, but I take note of the way the shelves are tagged, and even if empty, they seem to update when they restock and remove old tags. HP-38, 110, Unique, varget, benchmark, have all been available for 2-3 days every so often if you check daily. WSF and TAC have been my go to for the 45 and 223 cause they seem to always be in. Stock the last few months.

[berksglh]

This was last sunday at cabellas in GB.

[runfiverun]

nothing there I need.

[Screwbolts]

When did they start selling powder in them little bottles? I can't even remember the last time I bought a little 1 pound container.

Yes , Cabella's will have a higher profit margin by selling little 1 pound bottles.

Ken

[dragon813gt]

Yes , Cabella's will have a higher profit margin by selling little 1 pound bottles.

Ken

Not necessarily. They could do what shops around here have started doing. There is no price break for buying an 8# jug. 1# at $25 means 8# at $200. I know they pay less per pound for the jug. So they're making more profit on the jugs. It's just not coming out of my pockets. Widener's had a lot of what I needed so I placed a large order. Just need some W231/HP-38 and I'm done.

[Handloader109]

Looks like nwa cabelas. All rifle powder and no pistol primers. It is amazing to me that the powder producers are making rifle powder and not pistol powders.

[RogerDat]

I think the ADI powder facility that was off line due to a fire was a pistol production facility. That may have had a lot to do with pistol powder shortage. Now that the facility is back online there is both pent up real demand (I have x bullets to load and need y lbs. of powder for that) and scarcity demand (took me forever to find this I'm buying a whole bunch to avoid that problem in the future). The second can be huge.

One has had to search without success for months and possibly had to do without or had to ration available supply it makes sense that one would stock up to avoid that in the future or to provide some cushion. Problem is that type of demand is pretty open ended, not easy to calculate projected need across an unknown time frame of uncertain availability. Thus one is willing to pay more AND will tend to purchase in quantities based primarily on what they can afford or how much is available. That last one can suck up the supply really fast. People who may use 2# of something in a year may well buy 4 1# bottles or an entire 8# jug. Just to be secure in their supply. Real PITA for the manufacture to meet that sort of demand. Will probably die out eventually so investing in a plant or equipment to meet it not worth the money.

Not much in local stores so I pretty much stopped checking but am seeing more online and at gun show. May head to a Cabela's soon for something and will see what they have, could use some primers.

[bangerjim]

QUOTE: When did they start selling powder in them little bottles? I can't even remember the last time I bought a little 1 pound container.



They have sold powder in 1# bottles, cans, etc for many many years. Some just cannot afford to lay out all the money for 8# jugs at a time. I always buy 8's whenever I can find the right powder.

[DrCaveman]

I think the ADI powder facility that was off line due to a fire was a pistol production facility. That may have had a lot to do with pistol powder shortage. Now that the facility is back online there is both pent up real demand (I have x bullets to load and need y lbs. of powder for that) and scarcity demand (took me forever to find this I'm buying a whole bunch to avoid that problem in the future). The second can be huge.

One has had to search without success for months and possibly had to do without or had to ration available supply it makes sense that one would stock up to avoid that in the future or to provide some cushion. Problem is that type of demand is pretty open ended, not easy to calculate projected need across an unknown time frame of uncertain availability. Thus one is willing to pay more AND will tend to purchase in quantities based primarily on what they can afford or how much is available. That last one can suck up the supply really fast. People who may use 2# of something in a year may well buy 4 1# bottles or an entire 8# jug. Just to be secure in their supply. Real PITA for the manufacture to meet that sort of demand. Will probably die out eventually so investing in a plant or equipment to meet it not worth the money.

Not much in local stores so I pretty much stopped checking but am seeing more online and at gun show. May head to a Cabela's soon for something and will see what they have, could use some primers.

Well said. One of the most sensible descriptions of the reason for pistol powder shortage I have read. The little that shows up here is gone very fast

[Petrol & Powder]

I think the ADI powder facility that was off line due to a fire was a pistol production facility. That may have had a lot to do with pistol powder shortage. Now that the facility is back online there is both pent up real demand (I have x bullets to load and need y lbs. of powder for that) and scarcity demand (took me forever to find this I'm buying a whole bunch to avoid that problem in the future). The second can be huge.

One has had to search without success for months and possibly had to do without or had to ration available supply it makes sense that one would stock up to avoid that in the future or to provide some cushion. Problem is that type of demand is pretty open ended, not easy to calculate projected need across an unknown time frame of uncertain availability. Thus one is willing to pay more AND will tend to purchase in quantities based primarily on what they can afford or how much is available. That last one can suck up the supply really fast. People who may use 2# of something in a year may well buy 4 1# bottles or an entire 8# jug. Just to be secure in their supply. Real PITA for the manufacture to meet that sort of demand. Will probably die out eventually so investing in a plant or equipment to meet it not worth the money.

Not much in local stores so I pretty much stopped checking but am seeing more online and at gun show. May head to a Cabela's soon for something and will see what they have, could use some primers.

Well said. One of the most sensible descriptions of the reason for pistol powder shortage I have read. The little that shows up here is gone very fast

I concur, well stated. No wild conspiracy theories or trailer park economic analysis.

[ejcrist]

It seems to be coming back here in AZ but you have to keep a close eye out and get it while it lasts. Seems to be lasting slightly longer that earlier in the year. I picked up a couple of new revolvers over the last three years so I've been on constant watch for some new powders I want to try, and it gets irritating when I can't find stuff that used to be readily available. Also, I'm always tempted to get the 4 lb or 8 lb jug if they're available rather than just a pound but I hate to do that when I don't know if it'll work well or not. Plus the prices have been quite a bit higher than they used to be.

[gloob]

Looks like nwa cabelas. All rifle powder and no pistol primers. It is amazing to me that the powder producers are making rifle powder and not pistol powders.

It wasn't too long ago when it was impossible to find medium rifle powders. There are 300 different powders out there, and I don't think they are all made concurrently. The plant has to switch up machinery, tune settings, human workers have to recalibrate/relearn specific procedures, etc, to make different powders. It's like having your Dillon setup for a specific 30-06 load. Once you've got everything dialed in, you're not going to switch it to 38 special after making 5 rounds.

[runfiverun]

nope i'll just move over to the 550 set up for small pistol primers and use that one..


the odd thing about the hodgdon plant being down was that alliant, Imr, Accurate, and everybody else's pistol/shot shell powder seemed to be burned down too.

[ejcrist]

nope i'll just move over to the 550 set up for small pistol primers and use that one..


the odd thing about the hodgdon plant being down was that alliant, Imr, Accurate, and everybody else's pistol/shot shell powder seemed to be burned down too.

Man you got that right! That's exactly what I was thinking. Even though the fire was at the plant that Hodgdon buys powder from it seemed like the Hodgdon pistol powders started appearing on the shelves before the others. I still can't find Western Powders (Accurate and Ramshot pistol powders) or VV pistol powders. So I've been wondering what gives.

[dragon813gt]

We honestly have no idea how they normally produce powders. It's obviously in batches. But we don't know when or how they run them. Before it looked like they were constantly producing it because it was always available. In reality they could have produced it once and it lasted two years. So if a production cycle is that long, or longer, it will take a long time to catch. Especially since they're most likely making bigger batches at a time. Or not switching production over to another powder as quickly.

A box arrived at my house from Wideners today. I didn't know Christmas on May 1

[oldred]

I think the bottom line is they will first produce the most profitable, I would tend to think it would be profitable to be producing more pistol powders right now (sure would like to find a pound of Bullseye!) but I suppose the bean counters know best.