Hodgdon Powder Shortage

hogfarmcaptain · Feb 18, 2020

A buddy of mine sent me this link yesterday. Sounds like it’s going to be awhile before we can consistently find powder.

Dude, Where's the Powder?!... Hodgdon Powder Update 2020

A lot of people within reloading circles have been wondering, 'where has all the powder gone' as of late? With Hodgdon Powder providing the handloading community with so many popular brands of smokeless propellants - Hodgdon, IMR, and Winchester - they have some answers for us in this 2020 Update.

www.thefirearmblog.com

308Gunner · Feb 19, 2020

I bet in February of 2021 they will say the same thing

30cal user · Feb 19, 2020

Free haz mat with shooters world powders at mid south

MACHTECH · Feb 19, 2020

Guys, I hate to even show this, but you have to start getting ahead of this shortage stuff and be proactive when the stuff does come available! I got so sick of scrounging for powder, I just made an investment for the next year or so worth of powder when it became available.

Steel head · Feb 19, 2020

^^^^^^^
cause of current shortages!

lol

Steel head · Feb 19, 2020

In reality the first Obama supplies rush should have taught us a lesson.
Before that it was cheap powder and primers all day.
Reloader supplies has been difficult ever since.
I certainly changed my buying habits.
It has also spawned some excellent hodgdon alternatives.

FLIGHT762 · Feb 19, 2020

30cal user said:
Free haz mat with shooters world powders at mid south

^^^^^^This^^^^^^^^^ For those that are pining for Varget, the Shooters world "Precision" powder looks like a very good Varget substitute.
A couple of articles on the subject:

http://www.mssblog.com/2018/05/18/new-shooters-world-precision-extruded-propellant-part-2/

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I have enough Varget to get by, but If I was out, I would jump on the Precision powder from midsouth. Free hazmat and a little cheaper than Varget.

1moaoff · Feb 19, 2020

MACHTECH said:
Guys, I hate to even show this, but you have to start getting ahead of this shortage stuff and be proactive when the stuff does come available! I got so sick of scrounging for powder, I just made an investment for the next year or so worth of powder when it became available.
View attachment 7253667

You shop like I do... I buy atleast x12 8lbers at a time if it's a powder I use.

Greenday4537 · Feb 19, 2020

I have tried Shooters World powder. I found it left a lot to be desired. With SMK 69gr, I tried 21, 21.5, and 22gr of precision for 223. 2129, 2145, and 2215 ft/s. Granted that's from a 16" barrel, but 22gr of H335 gets me 2407 ft/s and Win748 24gr gets me 2476. (God that short barrel robs me of so much velocity). SW match at least got me into the 2400s but 23.5gr got me case head separation.

Was the powder bad? Was it the case (I didnt see anything before and Lake City brass is good)? I don't know. But the lower velocities didn't do it for me.

FLIGHT762 · Feb 19, 2020

My 69 gr. SMK load using Varget is 25.0 grains. H335 is a faster burning powder, of course it takes less powder. Shooters World 5.56 reloading data shows a max charge of 26.6 grs. for 2900 fps. You weren't using enough precision powder. Not the powder's fault, you weren't using enough.

texastonk · Feb 19, 2020

I seen this on Hodgdon IG page a few weeks back. Very generic answers that don’t explain the reason for the shortages.
Has to be more to it.
Even if the powders start hitting shelves wen they say, folks will snatch up every drop that day. Continuing the drought for months to years to come.
This is Obama shortage 2.0 but it will be worse. If trump looses x1000

Doom · Feb 19, 2020

Hodgdon is pretty weaselly when asked about supply, at least in my experience over the last 10 or so years. I began looking at the ADI sourced (Australia) powders starting a couple of year's ago and found some interesting facts.

The powders mentioned are all manufactured by ADI (owned by Thales wHich is a French Co. I believe) in Australia, as is IMR 8208XBR and imported and distributed by Hodgdon. The powder manufacturers primary clients are military arsenals or ammunition manufacturers fulfilling military contracts. ADI has been working on plant replacement of damaged facilities and upgrading some of their processes. This is at least part of the issues. There is also an issue with many of these powders not being REACH compliant for import into the EU so some processes are probably being changed over to produce more environmentally acceptable powders (i.e. such as IMR 4166, etc), As far as I can determine none of the ADI powders are REACH compliment so who knows what will become of the existing products.

acudaowner · Feb 19, 2020

just wondering if and when the powder will return to shelves and how much the mark up will be .

Steel head · Feb 19, 2020

acudaowner said:
just wondering if and when the powder will return to shelves and how much the mark up will be .

Lol
True!

Bandit320 · Feb 19, 2020

1moaoff said:
You shop like I do... I buy atleast x12 8lbers at a time if it's a powder I use.

I think it’s pretty irresponsible that Hodgdon doesn’t produce enough powder so that every reloader can buy 96 pounds of powder at a time.

Mike

Steel head · Feb 19, 2020

Bandit320 said:
I think it’s pretty irresponsible that Hodgdon doesn’t produce enough powder so that every reloader can buy 96 pounds of powder at a time.

Mike

I should drive across the river to Portland and start a reloader riot!

“We want H1000. We want retumbo!”

PusherX11 · Feb 19, 2020

MACHTECH said:
Guys, I hate to even show this, but you have to start getting ahead of this shortage stuff and be proactive when the stuff does come available! I got so sick of scrounging for powder, I just made an investment for the next year or so worth of powder when it became available.
View attachment 7253667

Im right there with you!

Steel head · Feb 19, 2020

PusherX11 said:
View attachment 7253995
Im right there with you!

mmmmm yummy 8208 and W748!

lash · Feb 19, 2020

308Gunner said:
I bet in February of 2021 they will say the same thing

MACHTECH said:
Guys, I hate to even show this, but you have to start getting ahead of this shortage stuff and be proactive when the stuff does come available! I got so sick of scrounging for powder, I just made an investment for the next year or so worth of powder when it became available.
View attachment 7253667

This X 2

As was said in some other thread just recently, don’t wait until your winter slow season to buy your powder! Buy during the summer when it is more readily available and buy what you need for a year. Then buy again next time it’s available and you can afford it. I learned this early in the Obama years and it works.

Blame Hodgdon all you want, but every year at this time I see the same tired old thread bitching about powder supply. It’s a cycle! Use it to your advantage and stop bitchin’ already. ??

308Gunner · Feb 19, 2020

Oh I’m not complaining I have enough Varget to shoot out my new barrel, I am just saying

sinister · Feb 19, 2020

Hodgdon doesn't actually manufacture powder. They market and re-label North American (Alliant, IMR, and St. Marks) and import product (ADI-Thales and others).

lash · Feb 19, 2020

sinister said:
Hodgdon doesn't actually manufacture powder. They market and re-label North American (Alliant, IMR, and St. Marks) and import product (ADI-Thales and others).

Actually, since Hodgdon now owns IMR, they actually do manufacture some of their own powder if you want to get technical, but most of the favorite rifle powders for our purposes are manufactured by ADI and rebranded.

Hodgdon Powder and ADI; The Australian Connection - Revivaler

Hodgdon has been supplying shooters and reloaders with top quality powder since the end of the Second World War. They are a company that has earned the respect and trust of people involved in the shooting...

revivaler.com

Anb618 · Feb 19, 2020

I learned my lesson with .22 ammo during the Obama years. Over the last few years I bought whenever I found deals between $0.03-0.06/rd, always a few thousand rounds at a time to make shipping worth it. Shouldn’t run out of .22 with my current stockpile of CCI Mini-Mags, CCI SV, and Federal AutoMatch...at least not until my son is old enough to roam the woods with his own rimfire...

Now I just need to learn the same damn lesson when it comes to powder. ? I’m down to my last two pounds of H4350.

Greenday4537 · Feb 19, 2020

FLIGHT762 said:
My 69 gr. SMK load using Varget is 25.0 grains. H335 is a faster burning powder, of course it takes less powder. Shooters World 5.56 reloading data shows a max charge of 26.6 grs. for 2900 fps. You weren't using enough precision powder. Not the powder's fault, you weren't using enough.

Hm, in the same section, it lists .223 SMK 69gr as 18-24.4 grains precision powder. 21-22 puts me right in the middle of it.

FLIGHT762 · Feb 19, 2020

lash said:
Actually, since Hodgdon now owns IMR, they actually do manufacture some of their own powder if you want to get technical, but most of the favorite rifle powders for our purposes are manufactured by ADI and rebranded.

Hodgdon Powder and ADI; The Australian Connection - Revivaler

Hodgdon has been supplying shooters and reloaders with top quality powder since the end of the Second World War. They are a company that has earned the respect and trust of people involved in the shooting...

revivaler.com

Hodgdon does not manufacture IMR powders. They are manufactured in Canada by General Dynamics at a plant in Valleyfield. Hodgdon owns the rights to sell IMR, Winchester and Hodgdon branded powders in the United states. The IMR powders are sourced through the Canadian plant. Look at most of the IMR powder labels. Most of them will say "Made in Canada"

I believe the only powder they manufacture are the Pyrodex powders.

As said earlier, 8208XBR is an Australian ADI powder.

Brux · Feb 19, 2020

I agree with buying what you need for the year or even a little more. Nobody wants to be out of powder or primers. But hoarding enough powder that will last you 4 years or enough that you might not ever use is BS.

zeroz · Feb 19, 2020

Its only BS if it wasn't you that bought.

EN2722 · Feb 20, 2020

PusherX11 said:
View attachment 7253995
Im right there with you!

Dude! C’mon

todd · Oct 21, 2021

MACHTECH said:
Guys, I hate to even show this, but you have to start getting ahead of this shortage stuff and be proactive when the stuff does come available! I got so sick of scrounging for powder, I just made an investment for the next year or so worth of powder when it became available.
View attachment 7253667

I know, I know, "Necropost"

But...
This is "a year or so" supply for you? That's like 28,000 rounds with my current load. HFS

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Hodgdon Powder Shortage

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