Why are MY powders Out of Stock??

[fnbrowning]

(Rant On)
I don't reload with the trendy powders. For instance, I never drank the Varget Kool-Aide. I don't use TAC or CFE223 or other fashionable powders.
Yet, it's been 10 months since the Panic started, and I can't find my unloved, disfavored, powders in stock.

FWIW I use:
Unique. (Maligned as: Your grandfather's powder. It's dirty, It's flake powder that doesn't meter well in "their" favorite Dillion press, unsuitable for best 9mm loads)
Accurate 2520. (Disdained as: It's not Varget. Is not now/never was a "Camp Perry Powder". Temperature sensitive. It will bend/break the op-rod in their favorite battle rifle. Inaccurate in "their" rifles)
Winchester 748 (Ridiculed as: It's not Varget. Very temperature sensitive, wild velocity swings will probably pop primers in the summer heat. Old powder. It's dirty, It will sludge up the BCG with soot & carbon, Not accurate in "their" rifles.)
Alliant 2400 (Disregarded because: It's not H110/W-296! It's not Titegroup! It's an olde powder from when Elmer Keith was around!)

So, why are my old-fangled, unfashionable, disfavored, powders out of stock? Nobody should want them! You've been told not to use them! Why is somebody buying up and hording powders they are not going to load because they'd have to hang their head in shame at the range?

Or, possibly, is St. Marks Powder only running the lines with the popular powders / canister grades for manufacturers, and I'm out of luck for the foreseeable future? WTF is going on here?
(Rant OFF)

 

[hrfunk]

Good luck. It took me 9 months to find some 4064.

HRF

 

[bkw1911]

For exactly the reason you are saying. No one wants them so the manufacturers choose to make what is most wanted and back off production of less popular powders. Varget is hard to find but they make a ton of it. Hornady dropped alot of bullets to make just 22cal and 30cal bullets that the mass population wanted. Same reason you won't see less popular pistol and rifle ammunition. They aren't going to spend time making it when the high demand is for 9mm and 223

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[SomeOtherGuy]

Ironically I have sealed containers of Unique, W748, and I think A2520 all sitting around, the last two bought a month ago because I wanted Varget or TAC or CFE223 and couldn't find any, but could find those.

Would happily trade with anyone for like amount of sealed Varget, TAC or CFE223 (also RL15 or RL17).

I think it's just randomly what your local shop or preferred mail order house happens to have on hand.

 

[fnbrowning]

Ok, bkw1911 I see your reasoning regarding NEW production of popular powders; but who bought up all the (for instance) AA2520 that was in the pipeline?? If there ever was an unremarked upon, unloved, powder, AA2520 was it.

I was the only person in America that got nice results with it & my 69gr SMK's. I could not remark on my results in a forum thread w/o being run over by the Varget bandwagon.

So did the newbies to reloading grab up the 2520 before they knew better, <lol> and think now that they'll never find another fool to buy it off them?
Where can I post an offer to buy up all the neo's 2520 & Unique supplies now that they've learned what a colossal reloading n00b mistake they made??

 

[fnbrowning]

Ironically I have sealed containers of Unique, W748, and I think A2520 all sitting around, the last two bought a month ago because I wanted Varget or TAC or CFE223 and couldn't find any, but could find those.

Would happily trade with anyone for like amount of sealed Varget, TAC or CFE223 (also RL15 or RL17).

I think it's just randomly what your local shop or preferred mail order house happens to have on hand.

OH GOD SomeOtherGuy! Don't be "that guy" that has to soak your BCG in kerosene for days to get the W748 soot/carbon out! That AA2520 will give you 3" groups at 100yds, and the temperature swings will have the BCG/Op rod in your eye on an 89 degree day!

Save your shooting career! Save your life! Sell that powder to me!

Srsly SomeOtherGuy: On a sober note, can you tell the readers WHY you bought powder you did not care for

 

[dang472]

Powder valley has 8lb jugs of AA2520 as of right now.

 

[FALex]

desperation has driven folks to get real creative!

 

[SomeOtherGuy]

OH GOD SomeOtherGuy! Don't be "that guy" that has to soak your BCG in kerosene for days to get the W748 soot/carbon out! That AA2520 will give you 3" groups at 100yds, and the temperature swings will have the BCG/Op rod in your eye on an 89 degree day!

Save your shooting career! Save your life! Sell that powder to me!

Srsly SomeOtherGuy: On a sober note, can you tell the readers WHY you bought powder you did not care for

I haven't even heard the complaints about the powders mentioned. I just find more reloading data with higher velocities (at safe pressure) for the three I mentioned as being most interested in.

I bought a pound each of the rifle powders because I recently got into F/TR shooting, and 1lb of powder is basically enough to load for one practice session and one match. I was able to find at least some reloading data for those powders for my selected bullet weights. I'd rather have Varget, TAC or CFE223 because all of those work for both .223 and .308, the main rifle calibers I shoot, while W748 and AA2520 don't seem to be good choices for .223.

I've had the Unique for a couple years, got it when I was doing a lot of pistol reloading but didn't get around to using it, and right now I'm doing mostly rifle shooting.

 

[Darkside-Six]

any of you guys ever look on gunbroker.com? I always see powder like this on there. Sure, sometimes you have to pay a little more but it's often times the only powder you can find.

 

[fnbrowning]

any of you guys ever look on gunbroker.com? I always see powder like this on there. Sure, sometimes you have to pay a little more but it's often times the only powder you can find.

Hello again Darkside-Six! You recommended gunbroker to me several days ago. I looked at at the auctions, and while I agree that the powder is there, I disagree that you are only going to pay a little more. After viewing a couple of Buy It Now prices, had to grab a quick breather on an Oxy tank - some of those prices were sooo high.

No, Mr. Larceny Backstab has posted those auctions, and I'll be damned if I'm going to support gouging.

 

[vinsonr]

Ok, bkw1911 I see your reasoning regarding NEW production of popular powders; but who bought up all the (for instance) AA2520 that was in the pipeline??

People who couldn't find their preferred powder and had to make do with your favorites. It's better to shoot with shitty powder than not at all.

 

[Darkside-Six]

Hello again Darkside-Six! You recommended gunbroker to me several days ago. I looked at at the auctions, and while I agree that the powder is there, I disagree that you are only going to pay a little more. After viewing a couple of Buy It Now prices, had to grab a quick breather on an Oxy tank - some of those prices were sooo high.

No, Mr. Larceny Backstab has posted those auctions, and I'll be damned if I'm going to support gouging.

Oh I feel ya, I was just saying....if you absolutely needed a specific hard to find powder then that is usually the only option there. while I agree that most of them are very over inflated prices, there are a few that are reasonable. I purchased some Varget for about $35 a pound which wasn't too bad. I never do the "buy now" option though, I just try and win the bid and hope I can catch it before a ton of others do.

 

[fnbrowning]

desperation has driven folks to get real creative!

Or to discover that the W748 and AA2520 criticism was misguided all along? A product of the pro-Varget, Tac, CFE233 regenerative feedback loop?
Horrors! What if the folks do a load workup & find that W748 and AA2520 will not just work in their rifles, but work well? DAMN! I'll never get more!

 

[bkw1911]

I worked at Sportsmans warehouse parttime during this mad rush and every pound of powder is bought no matter what. "Is titewad for a rifle?" "No its the hottest burning powder and its for shotguns youll blow your rifle and yourself up" "oh ok ill get it and play around with it starting at 30gr for my 308". Those were daily conversations. Had a guy loading his 308 for a big 3gun match and he had loaded 40gr of titegroup under a 168. He luckily asked me if I thought that was to small of a charge and if he should do more

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[JSTARSZ]

This thread had me laughing... The powders that you are talking about are powders I am using, Win 748 for 308 and also AA 2520. They work great for me and not everyone uses them and more importantly, they aren't Varget.

 

[fnbrowning]

I worked at Sportsmans warehouse part-time during this mad rush and every pound of powder is bought no matter what. "Is titewad for a rifle?" "No its the hottest burning powder and its for shotguns you'll blow your rifle and yourself up" "oh OK I'll get it and play around with it starting at 30gr for my 308". Those were daily conversations. Had a guy loading his 308 for a big 3gun match and he had loaded 40gr of titegroup under a 168. He luckily asked me if I thought that was to small of a charge and if he should do more

On a sober note; that is both scary, and close to what I was thinking was going on, is still happening. F*ing newb reloader / panic behavior.

I'm hoping that come the holidays, the Mrs. will put her foot down on speculative reloading component purchases vs. gift & holiday spending. And when the New Year's bills show up, there will be no credit left, and no paycheck either for lining the man cave with 1lb powder bottles.
At least I can hope. . . .

 

[fnbrowning]

This thread had me laughing... The powders that you are talking about are powders I am using, Win 748 for 308 and also AA 2520. They work great for me and not everyone uses them and more importantly, they aren't Varget.

A fellow acolyte, a traveler from the wilderness! I can tell from your last sentence you passed the Kool Aide cup w/o sipping!
Tell your fellow believer when & where in the hell we're going to restock for less than $30/pd???

 

[Cartman]

I read "Unique" and it got me thinking. I did an email search and sure enough there was the invoice from Sinclair Int. The order included Unique and is dated January 22. I'm still waiting.

 

[lash]

Another thing you should consider is that there are many, many reloaders that have been doing it for years and really don't bother with internet forums and sometimes not even computers. These guys are often using the very same powders as you, aren't going to change, and also got scared when their supplies dried up. So "your" powders are really the same as many users out there that are not a part of the trendy groups. They are out there shooting and hunting and reloading and do not want to run out again either.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

I "knew a few guys" who believed in thinking ahead, and working towards the future. I sometimes wish I had their insight. As seen here, some time ago:
View attachment 19434
And then there's the primers....

 

[fnbrowning]

I "knew a few guys" who believed in thinking ahead, and working towards the future. I sometimes wish I had their insight. As seen here, some time ago:
View attachment 19434
And then there's the primers....

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[vinsonr]

I've done a bit of 'forsighting' myself...

 

[RHunter]

I was the only person in America that got nice results with it & my 69gr SMK's

Nope, you were second, or maybe third. I use it all the time for the exact same pill.

I have 16 lbs of AA2520 it sitting on my shelf and half a keg of varget that I use only in my .308....

 

[MikeeBooshay]

I luckily took some advice from an old time BR shooter friend -

"Mikee, you want to find a powder lot that is consistent, plan ahead, never know when a panic might hit." ( This was summer of 2012 0

Well G, how much powder and primer do I need to keep on hand for a seasons comps?

Eight 8# jugs of 133 and 10k of primers will do it, along with 5k of competition bullets, and another 1k for breakin and fireforming.

ok - Got an order in for more than the above, and haven't sweated THAT this year.