Smokeless Powder Shortage

[Agustav]

I am new at reloading (.223, .308, and 7.62X54R), and I am amazed at smokeless powder shortage. I am especially interested in Varget, because this is the most versatile powder for my application and from my past experience. However, I can't seem to be able to find them anywhere online. Is this normal or a temporary situation?

PS. I am also interested in hearing what other powders will work well for all 3 calibers. Thanks!

[bohoki]

i'm a win 748 guy and probably always will be
my second choice would be h335

[ocabj]

It'll be fine after the holiday season. Lots of powder is imported. Hodgdon extruded comes from Australia (that includes Varget). Alliant comes from Sweden. IMR comes from Canada. Vihtavouri comes from Finland.

Pretty much all of the powder retailer shortages are based on importation and customs.

[Beelzy]

H335.

Very clean and yields very accurate loadings in .223 and .308. without
the envelope.

[Sunwolf]

Win-748,Blc2,H-335,Varget.

[rksimple]

Remember the ball powders are temp sensitive. Could cause you problems depending on what you're doing.

If Vargets not available, try RL15. If you still want ball, H335 and 748 have worked well for me.

[dreyna14]

H322, 223 backwards, works great for me.

[becxltoo984]

Shortage , were did you hear this news ? I hope this dose not start something like the big primer scare back in the 90's that drove the prices through the roof !

I just bought 8lbs of H335 from a local dealer he had plenty .

[ocabj]

Shortage , were did you hear this news ? I hope this dose not start something like the big primer scare back in the 90's that drove the prices through the roof !

I just bought 8lbs of H335 from a local dealer he had plenty .

H335 is produced in the USA, hence the availability.

Again, the popular imported powders are out-of-stock in most places.

For instance, the big 3 used by Service Rifle High Power AR shooters, Vihtavouri N140, Hodgdon Varget, and Alliant RL15, are in short supply everywhere.

But I reiterate, after the holiday season, the imports should pick up again come the end of January.

[rayra]

It's got jack **** to do with the holidays and everything to do with who was elected President. Folks are hoarding all the things they expect to get banned or restricted. Semi-auto rifles, pistols, higher-cap mags and reloading components.

[ocabj]

While the whole "OMG, Democrat in the White House" did start a buying craze for gun stuff, the powder issue really wasn't affected by it.

I'm not saying the Holiday season has much to do with it either. I'm just saying that after the season, more of the foreign produced powders will make it across the ocean and through customs to your wholesalers and then the dealers.

Vihtavouri is notorious for having importation issues. They'll have a huge shipments sent to the Stateside importers, then it dries up until the next one. That's why Hodgdon is actually an official importer of Vihtavouri powders. Yes, it's pretty ironic that a company would import a competitor's product for them. I even asked one of the Hodgdon reps at SHOT Show 2008 about this and since Hodgdon has a good import infrastructure/system, they setup a pretty good deal between them a Vihtavouri to make it profitable and beneficial for both companies.

The whole "Obama will ban everything. Buy buy buy" is a poor blanket excuse to throw over the entire gun related supply/shortage. .223/5.56, 7.62x39, and surplus .308 was already in high demand long before the Presidential elections. Same with the small rifle primer shortage. Kind of hard to 'horde' when the stuff was already in short supply to meet high demand to begin with.

[dark45]

reloading is probably the last thing the new demi scared gun owner is worried about taking up right now. but the avrage reloader might feel a bit pressed to stock up a bit.

[ghideon]

I use Ramshot TAC for 223, and I've read that's it works for 308 as well. Dunno about 7.62x54R tho.

[nobs11]

As has been said, things slow down every so often and has nothing to do with Obama or the elections. Complete ammo yes, reloading not so much. Usually the panic buy nuts are more interested in hoarding guns and ammo and not so much reloading components (tends to be an older, more mentally balanced?? crowd).

[Sunwolf]

Have had no trouble

getting 748 or blc2 and and I order every 2 weeks or so locally.Plenty of varget also,vv doesn`t seem to be much of a problem,but oh that Ramshot Tac took several months to get.