Powders Available Lately?

Well, I started using 700-X almost two years ago mainly because literally no other pistol powder had shown up on the shelves locally for about 6 months.

Saw Bullseye exactly once since then.  Tried Win Auto-Comp in the non-bullseye shooting loads for a bit, haven't seen any since. Have NEVER laid eyes on a container of BE-86, CFE-Pistol, and probably a few other newer powders. Can't even remember if I've seen Power Pistol since before the 2012 elections.

So, what IS getting on the shelves these days? I am seeing a lot of rifle powders, a LOT, but pistol powders remain even more scarce than .22 LR ammo.

I'm about to use some of the 700-X in 9mm loads mainly because there are no other choices for local pickup. I just don't want to mail order and have the price jacked up so much with HazMat, and would rather ration my funds to other things than getting 7 more pounds of powder than I want this year.

Hoping that anything useful in my "known good loads list" is showing up elsewhere, and will soon arrive here...

For about 6 months its been good around me. Northeast Ohio area has Pretty much any pistol powder I know of except for the Vihtavuori stuff.

Where are you located?

Two years ago 700X was all I could find here. I never did come up with a satisfactory 9mm load with it BUT, I was trying to shoot 147gr cast lead bullets (not bullseye). I was right up to max by the book and while they would function in my old S&Ws and 92F, they were too weak for an XD and the new Sig 320. I had to go to CFE Pistol to feed those guns. It and BE-86 were readily available in the LGS here, in fact they had it 'on sale' for less than $20 much of the summer. I did luck into a can (I guess 'bottle' these days) of Bullseye recently and last month they got in enough CCI sv that I was able to buy 10 bricks. That is a whole lot better than two 50rd boxes per day (if they had ANY .22lr) that has been the norm for a few years. While not where I would like it to be things are improving here.

Bruce

I've seen much more pistol powder in the last few months around here (west central Missouri).  Saw Bullseye and several others including Accurate #7 which I use in my 38 super.  Hadn't seen it for a LONG time.

Here in northern Vermont there are ample supplies of TG, VV and BE-86 in 1 lb. cans.  I have not been able to find WSF, PP or Bullseye in the local shops.

After being on back order for 14 months I finally received 4 pounds of N310 from Brownells.

I started reloading about 6 months ago. There was nothing available then. I too settled for 700x, which it turns out is pretty good for .38. The situation improved dramatically about 1 month ago... Lots of HP-38, Titegroup, Clays. Some Alliant Bullseye.

Similarly, 22 is a lot more available. It's in every store, and as far as I'm aware, they all lifted their restrictions (such as 1 brick per customer). A local hunting store I visited last week had just received 30 cases of Remington and was selling it at a very decent price. There's a fair bit of CCI standard too. My club just purchased 1,400 bricks of Federal 711b.

I don't know if its still available, but I bought 4 lbs of Bullseye from the BassPro Shop web page about a month ago.  They shipped it to my local store at no cost, and I didn't have to pay a hazardous material fee.

My local guy seems to get Bullseye in every month or so. I know a guy that has a bunch of VV310 for sale. 

Powder Valley seems to have a lot and they have tite group cheap a friend told me. I am good so I passed but its much better now. 

A little down turn in commodity prices seems to be freeing up supply.

I had Alliant American Select on back order for around a year. It finally came in a couple of weeks ago. I had to buy more than I had planned on (bigger container) but I finally got it! .22 ammo has been hit and miss at Bass Pro and local gun shops. I haven't seen any on the shelves of the local big box stores, i.e. WalMart and Meijer for years.

Jwhelan939 wrote:Where are you located?

St George UT

It's been a while since I was able to check a few places in the LV valley.

Fire Escape wrote:Two years ago 700X was all I could find here. I never did come up with a satisfactory 9mm load with it BUT, I was trying to shoot 147gr cast lead bullets (not bullseye). I was right up to max by the book [snip]

Bruce

Yeah, I tried that too, the alloy had them dropping more like 150 gr and primers were uncomfortably flat at both 2.55 gr and 805-25 fps (cycled okay) and 2.45 gr (cycled but one string did not lock the slide) and 790 fps or so.

This was with the H&G 73 SWC. Never really found a real "book" load for them but found QuickLOAD using Red Dot, sometimes a bit adjusted, was close to observed values. Some groups showed promise but always had one flyer beyond the 10-ring.

Grafs is listing N310 in stock in 1 and 4 lb jugs.

http://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/category/categoryId/3512/page/3?

Yesterday seen, CFE Pistol, tightgroup,  296,700x,800x and most all other IMR rifle powders here in Pa. USA.

Seeing Titegroup at guite a few places here in upstate SC.

Hey...my first post.

Titegroup is everywhere and cheap.

Titegroup has shown up here in both 1- and 4-lb containers, also at a reasonable price.

I went for the single expensive 1-pounder of Win Auto-Comp. I have worked up some 9mm loads with it, will try it for +P .38 Specials sometime. I like the flash inhibiter it has, compared to Power Pistol (still unobtainium here, but that classic 6.0 gr load in 9mm with 115-gr H-XTPs was showing some promise...).

Haven't ever used TiteGroup, will pass since 700-X fills the role I would use it in.

Glad to hear things ARE getting better. BE powder seems spotty depending on where you are, but at least it's getting out here into the wild.  I keep getting tempted by BE, but IF I go back onto the load development train, my first choice would be BE-86. Don't think I have EVER laid eyes on a jug of that stuff, and it's been out, what? 2 years now?