Giving up hand loading?

[Bobbygun]

I have noticed that is a common issue with people who complain about price and availability of powder. It often turns out they just can't find their favorites or their favorites are expensive.

There is so much data out there these days that, it should make it easy to find a substitute.

No need for the personal attack my friend.

You have failed to factor in my laziness.

I didn't hear you complaining about my lack of flexibility when you sold me that pound of old school BULLSEYE.

 

[arakboss]

No need for the personal attack my friend.

You have failed to factor in my laziness.

I didn't hear you complaining about my lack of flexibility when you sold me that pound of old school BULLSEYE.

No attacking here. I have seen so much powder available both locally and online it's hard to imagine it being viewed as shortage.

 

[Bobbygun]

No attacking here. I have seen so much powder available both locally and online it's hard to imagine it being viewed as shortage.

TBH, I'm pretty well hoarded up at this point, but still open to a good deal when I see one. Thus, the PM I sent you the other day.

 

[arakboss]

TBH, I'm pretty well hoarded up at this point, but still open to a good deal when I see one. Thus, the PM I sent you the other day.

One of the great things about having poor accuracy skills is, I don't notice the subtle differences between powders. That means whichever powder is the cheapest gets the nod.

 

[Mikej]

I have noticed that is a common issue with people who complain about price and availability of powder. It often turns out they just can't find their favorites or their favorites are expensive.

There is so much data out there these days that, it should make it easy to find a substitute.

Of course were not talking the powders people use to shoot the hind leg of a fly of a 600 yards! But there are a lot of powders that should work just fine for your hand gun play.

 

[metalhead68]

There are still deals out there on consumables and though I havn't had a great deal of time late last year or so far this year I doubt that I'll ever stop reloading or at the least I'll keep a neccessary stock of consumables on hand for my own personal piece of mind. I still buy items if the deal is good enough to warrent the purchase and if I can I'll always help out a fellow loader if I can . Today I picked up an unopened five pound jug of H322 for $100 and was going to sell 3 of the 5 to a friend at my cost but after looking over my spreadsheet of my stock I just let him have it all for what I paid. I know, I'm a saint

 

[Camelfilter]

When I started with Lee hand loaders reloading without a press in the late 60's, I remember my total cost (with reused brass) was just slightly less than 15% of available modern factory ammo using basic lead or some jacketed bullets that were on sale, and about 20 to 30% when I started using the new available bullets like Nosler, Speer and Bitterroot were putting out.
Oh, the days past!

While it's unlikely we'll see those types of savings again, reloading will give us the option to continue enjoying shooting during a future blight. And shooting what we enjoy. Rather than crud ammo at inflated prices.

There will be another blight/run...and another...and another...

 

[2ndtimer]

I actually saw some Unique on the shelf today. They had it tagged for $60 a pound. Silhouette was $34.95. Tough call, but then I remembered I had a full 8 lb keg of BE-86 at home and decided to save my money for .22LR ammo.

 

[metalhead68]

I actually saw some Unique on the shelf today. They had it tagged for $60 a pound. Silhouette was $34.95. Tough call, but then I remembered I had a full 8 lb keg of BE-86 at home and decided to save my money for .22LR ammo.

$60 a pound for unique ?!? that's outrageous, I see that quite frequently at Bimart stores which is where I buy the majority of my consumables

 

[Croat]

No attacking here. I have seen so much powder available both locally and online it's hard to imagine it being viewed as shortage.

Honestly, that's what I find perplexing. Powder is widely available, and not just obscura types. Yesterday, along with an 8-pound jug of RL-15 at my LGS, I saw an 8-pound jug of H1000. Clearly, the "shortage" is no more, but prices are still sky high. If powder is that available, why is so much of it selling over $60, $70, even $80 per pound? Consider: For a guy making $25/hour, and taking home maybe $20 of that, he has to work more than 32 hours, almost a full week, just to afford one of those powder jugs. Color me disgusted.

The primer gouging we endured the past few years was bad enough, but the powder gouging going on right now is on a biblical scale.

 

[arakboss]

Honestly, that's what I find perplexing. Powder is widely available, and not just obscura types. Yesterday, along with an 8-pound jug of RL-15 at my LGS, I saw an 8-pound jug of H1000. Clearly, the "shortage" is no more, but prices are still sky high. If powder is that available, why is so much of it selling over $60, $70, even $80 per pound? Consider: For a guy making $25/hour, and taking home maybe $20 of that, he has to work more than 32 hours, almost a full week, just to afford one of those powder jugs. Color me disgusted.

The primer gouging we endured the past few years was bad enough, but the powder gouging going on right now is on a biblical scale.

If we refuse to buy it, prices will likely come down.

I have been buying powder from American Reloading at less than $20 per pound.

Lots of deals on powder in the classifieds too.

 

[metalhead68]

If we refuse to buy it, prices will likely come down.

I have been buying powder from American Reloading at less than $20 per pound.

Lots of deals on powder in the classifieds too.

American reloading? Is this an online retailer? I cannot buy powder or primers online due to my location. My driveway is gated and the property is vacant most of the daytime hours when fedex or UPS delivers so I buy pretty much everything from private sales or Bimarts.

 

[JDubDub]

Honestly, that's what I find perplexing. Powder is widely available, and not just obscura types. Yesterday, along with an 8-pound jug of RL-15 at my LGS, I saw an 8-pound jug of H1000. Clearly, the "shortage" is no more, but prices are still sky high. If powder is that available, why is so much of it selling over $60, $70, even $80 per pound? Consider: For a guy making $25/hour, and taking home maybe $20 of that, he has to work more than 32 hours, almost a full week, just to afford one of those powder jugs. Color me disgusted.

The primer gouging we endured the past few years was bad enough, but the powder gouging going on right now is on a biblical scale.

Supply and demand economics. Can't fault the manufacturers and distributors for trying to maximize their profits unless you want to go down the socialism route. The only response is to stop buying until the prices comedown. Primers are no where near what they were before COVID and I don't see powder dropping anytime soon as long as there are still people buying everything they can find.

I'm not going to bother reloading 9mm at this point. The same supply and demand has driven the price of loaded 9mm ammo down to the point where reloading doesn't make any sense to me. With the cost of components even with a lifetime supply of free brass, I'm barely saving 25% over loaded ammo. I'll save my components and time for other calibers where I can save way more money.

 

[metalhead68]

Supply and demand economics. Can't fault the manufacturers and distributors for trying to maximize their profits unless you want to go down the socialism route. The only response is to stop buying until the prices comedown. Primers are no where near what they were before COVID and I don't see powder dropping anytime soon as long as there are still people buying everything they can find.

I'm not going to bother reloading 9mm at this point. The same supply and demand has driven the price of loaded 9mm ammo down to the point where reloading doesn't make any sense to me. With the cost of components even with a lifetime supply of free brass, I'm barely saving 25% over loaded ammo. I'll save my components and time for other calibers where I can save way more money.

Can't argue that point, pretty much common sense if you can buy and shoot store bought comparable to reloading it yourself especially when you take the time factor into the equation. I personally haven't had squat for time to load let alone shoot but I still try to keep up on the case prep as far as depriming and cleaning. I don't like having boxes or bins of dirty brass lying around and it speeds up the process when time is available

 

[arakboss]

American reloading? Is this an online retailer? I cannot buy powder or primers online due to my location. My driveway is gated and the property is vacant most of the daytime hours when fedex or UPS delivers so I buy pretty much everything from private sales or Bimarts.

Yes, online.

 

[WillametteWill]

I enjoy and learn from the information all of you are sharing.

There is so much data out there these days that, it should make it easy to find a substitute.

For me, it's not just about having data, it's about loads that work. Unique has been my go-to powder for a 38 wadcutter and other low-power 38 loads. I found some Win 244 at a good price and tried it for some 158 gr SWC. It works, but super smoky and 150 fps under the "book" velocity rating. I have a load I tried with both Blue Dot and W231. The Blue Dot had a huge standard deviation/velocity range in one load, the 231 worked well, but Blue Dot works great in other loads. Red Dot is not my fav, but have a load it works really well with.

My minds set is, get a burn rate chart and get powder that's somewhere near the Beloved Bullseye and Unique, and available, and you will find powders that will work. 231/HP38 work fine and are clean. HS6 seems to be a little dirty in lower pressure rounds like .38sp and .45acp.

Agree, this is a good place to start. HS6/W540 has been great to me in 38 Super loads, but no surprise you have found it dirty in lower-pressure rounds. Unique and W231 just seem to work well for many loads, which is why many of us are not rushing to jump onto another powder ship.

I've been using the same shotgun load for trap for what will be 48 years this May. (I started loading shells when I was pretty young!) The wad has changed, and the hull are now Remington STS from RXP and Peters Blue Magic. But it works, and unfortunately, 700X is extremely difficult to get (thought it was discontinued, but they apparently did a run this year).

To me, this is the difference between handloading and reloading.

 

[Croat]

If we refuse to buy it, prices will likely come down.

And therein lies the problem. While at my LGS I asked, are people really paying more than $80 per pound for powder? The answer: yes.
A fool and his money are soon parted, but there has to be a more profound word than "fool" for those people...

 

[Mikej]

"Waiting for powder to come down in price" I look at the powder/primers pretty much every week at Bimart. I don't think Bimart is going to lower the prices on anything they have in stock. And when they restock looks like their suppliers aren't lowering any prices. They have had the same 4 bottles of RL-16 on the shelf for months at $64.95. And they actually lowed that on a "Sale" tag from $76.95 ,months ago! It's been close to a year when there were 6 bottles. So sometime someone bit that bullet and paid that $65.00 for two of them!

 

[TimKG]

I am giving up hand loading, but not because of the cost of supplies. I dabbled with a friend's Lyman press under his guidance. Then I bought a full Lyman kit and never took it out of the box, although I also accumulated primers, bullets, powder, used brass and other supplies. Now I am getting ready to move and I have it up for sale on this site for a pretty good price considering the dies and materials that are included.

 

[arakboss]

@Akfromportland has some very good deals if you want to by reloading components in larger quantities.

See his ads at link below:

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www.northwestfirearms.com