Powder and primers

[Munny$hot]

I haven't started loading yet, but I wanted to pick up some powder and primers at the next show to avoid shipping/hazard charges. I usually buy items that are best for the value for the money with Safety, Reliability, and Cost in that order. Any recommendations for Powder and Primers for 5.56, 9mm and 45 ACP? Also any idea on what the going rate is and what to avoid like expiration dates etc? Thanks in advance.....

[Na-vah-duh]

Powder and primers can be stored "indefinitely" if stored correctly. The best value will always be in bulk of course.

[pdq_wizzard]

I haven't started loading yet, but I wanted to pick up some powder and primers at the next show to avoid shipping/hazard charges. I usually buy items that are best for the value for the money with Safety, Reliability, and Cost in that order. Any recommendations for Powder and Primers for 5.56, 9mm and 45 ACP? Also any idea on what the going rate is and what to avoid like expiration dates etc? Thanks in advance.....

you will need Small Rifle, Small Pistol and Large Pistol primers. (but some 45 now have SPP its a pain in the ***) during the big shortage in 2008 I used whatever primers I could find, so now I just get the cheapest I can get. they all seem to go bang.

as for powder,
5.56 H335 or Varget,
9mm I like HP38 and
45 I use Bullseye.

Powder should be ~$20 per LB
Primers should be ~$22 per 1k but you can sometimes find 5K for ~$110.

[Waldog]

There are no expiration dates on primers or powder.

For 9mm and 45 ACP I recommend Winchester 231 or Hodgdon HP-38 (SAME POWDER) HP-38 is usually a bit cheaper.

For 223 I recommend Hodgdon H322 or H335 or BL-C(2)

For primers, I like Federal and Winchester. However, during the last primer shortage all I could get were Wolf primers. I bought 20,000. I have about 4000 left and they worked just fine. I had no problems what so ever with Russian primers

[kmca]

Get prices off the internet, once you decide what you want. Last show, I bought an 8lb keg of powder on impulse, looked up the price, and found it would have been cheaper for me to order on line, even including the hazmat and shipping fees.

[puRe59]

If you're going to buy a small amount to try I suggest you buy locally. The last time I went to Angeles I picked up some powder and primers. If you want to save money, you should buy online in bulk.

[socal425]

I load for the same calibers. Very happy with the following:

Powder:
556- H335
45ACP and 9mm- Bullseye and Win 231

Primers:
Win SR
Win SP and LP
Magtech Small Rifle

I've made purchases both online and through local gun shows.

[huckberry668]

Varget for most rifles calibers and W231/HP38 for most pistol rounds. These are the only 2 you really need to start with.

I've tried a whole bunch others over the years just ended up with a bunch half used bottles.

[Divernhunter]

I use Win748 or benchrest in the 223 and small rifle mag primers. I just got some IMR8208XBR to try.
I use Win231 for the pistols with large and small mag primers prefered.

[ns3v3n]

Go browse powdervalley.com, they have good prices and ship fast too.

[Munny$hot]

Thanks guys.

[Sideline Shooter]

No real way around it, you have to buy online to get the best deal. Look at what you want from several vendors then wait for a sale or deal like free shipping of no hazmat. $20 bucks for 1 pound of powder, no way jose!! When you buy a 4 or 8 pounder that price is more like $16 to $12 a pound.
But if your experimenting then yes the one pounders are good, so if you don't like it, then it's not such a loss. I try to support my local vendor also, but those prices are ridiculous.

[PhantomII]

Go browse powdervalley.com, they have good prices and ship fast too.

I suspect you meant http://www.powdervalleyinc.com/

Powdervalley.com is a DNS holding page with nothing but ads.

[rsrocket1]

If you haven't started loading yet, then you don't know what the best powder is for your shooting needs. It would be frustrating for you to buy 8 pounds of powder and find out it doesn't fit your needs. 1 pound is good for about 1400 rounds of pistol shots and about 250-300 rounds of .223 shots assuming a WAG of 5g for a pistol charge and 25g for a rifle charge.

Add the parking gas and admission costs of a show and you might be better off starting with a pound at a time from your local gun store. I get 1 pound of Alliant pistol powder locally for $17 and Hodgdon rifle powder for $20-24. That's a decent price for learning the ropes. Once you find what your favorite powder is, then do your research for best prices. Once I determined what I liked, I bought an 8 pound jug of rifle and 4 pound jug of pistol powder.

Primers locally are $30/k for Rem/Win/Fed/CCI and if you can beat that at the gun shows, then stock up. One domestic brand is about as good as another with the exception that Federal primers are softer than the others and some shooters don't like imports like Tula or Wolf.