WT-Heck is up with powder prices !

M

Metal god

New member
Seriously !!!

I was just on powder, Valley and Midsouth :eek: . Last time I bought 8 pounds of cfe pistol and H-335 neither were over $200 , close to that but not over .Now I’m seeing $300+ and some are $400+ :eek::eek::eek: .

What happen …… no serious question did something happen in the last year or so , well maybe it’s been close to 2 years since the last time I bought powder . I thought the prices were supposed to be coming down a little more ( from 2 yrs ago prices ) or at least stabilizing ?. I mean IMR-4064 is like $430 for 8# . You know there’s a problem when the cheap powders cost more than Vihtavuori powders !
 
Then the price is not high enough. :)

I have been through a few shortages. It has taught me to improvise. Can't insist on the powder we like or the price we used to pay when were little. When I started 15 years ago, $30 a lb was normal. Today $40 - $45 is reasonable. There are number of powders in this price range today.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
Listen to the messages and the posts…

Someone is buying $50/lb powder and $150 per 1000 primers. Then Alliant tells everyone they are stopping consumer sales, but their volume available to consumers went up….wel, first price went to $60+ per lb, then volume jumped….liars.

I just buy reasonable amounts and shoot reasonable amounts. Some primers dropping to $70-$80/box. Some powders dropping to $40/lb. Huh, I wonder if those work? Generally, yes, they do.
 
Today I had to dispense another pound out of my 8# jug of AA2230. I noticed that the price on it from Sportsmen's was $179.00. My records show I purchased it in March 2017 (in California - prices tend to be higher).

I just now looked in Powder Valley and they are out of stock, but show the 8# price to be $300.99.

So yeah, prices are way up; and, availability is way down.

We're going to need a favorable election and fewer wars before the prices come down.

Speaking for myself: I thought I was fairly stocked up, but was wrong (primers and powder). But I'm going to live my life, and that involves shooting. But I'm shooting less.
 
Yeah I was supposed to go to the gunshow yesterday but a work thing came up . Wish I went to the show now . I don’t “need” anything but had a little extra cash and thought I’d top off my stash . IDK maybe I can spend $300 but over $400 , C-mon man that’s over double what we were paying when it was high a few years ago . That’s why I was asking if I missed something.

I guess I’m going to have to do some math :-( . See how much powder and compare that to projectiles I have and see how many I can load respectively. This will tell me what I actually need , powder or bullets . If I had to guess based on the powder and bullets I have I’d say I need primers haha maybe more rifle projectiles . I’m good on handgun primers for now I think I mean I said that a few years ago and I have many less now but still think I’m ok for now .

It’s just A LOT of money I could put somewhere else . I mean It’s why I have very few firearms worth more then $1k . Every time I see something I really want in that price range . I’d often think I could get so much powder , primers etc for that or even two decent guns for the price of that one . Now it’s like $320 for powder or that red dot for my pistol I’ve been holing off on .

Oh crap it just hit me … is this an inflation thing ? I mean everything cost more now . I’m about to run to the grocery store. I’m sure I’ll shake my head at check out when I see the price. Like I always do.
 
Between Bidenflation

and the Ukraine conflict(which has created a worldwide shortage of nitrocellulose from which gunpowder is made) things are looking bleak.
I use Alliant powders in rifle and handgun and Alliant suspended civilian powder sales earlier this year.
It sucks.
 
Or perhaps the worldwide shortage of nitrocellulose that is all going to the proxy war in Europe might have a little something to do with it.
 
I talked to two powder manufacturers at the NRA Meetings and Exhibits this year, who blamed the shortage on price increases in nitrocellulose. They can’t get the stuff unless they pay big money for it, a 200 to 300% increase. I guess you can’t really call it a shortage if you can buy all you want at 3X the previous price.
 
I just read the last page of Keith Wood's editorial in the August Edition of Guns&Ammo and it relates exactly to the last 2 posts here- a shortage of nitrocellulose. The only USA manufacture is at the Radford Army ammunition plant in Virginia and that use goes to military ammo production. So any other powder manufacturer relies on worldwide nitrocellulose producers, who happen to be 3 - Swiss, Russia, and China.
 
Yeah had no idea the nitrocellulose issue was even a thing . I’m sure it doesn’t help that two of the three manufacturers are not playing nice or at least we are not playing nice with them.
 
What happened is Europe's environmental regs have made it very unattractive to set up new NC facilities, so they started buying it from China. Then China, being friendly with Putin, just stopped shipping to Europe in February, and here the Europeans are cranking out 155 mm artillery shells and find they have no propellant to fire them with. Only the old Vihtavuori plant still makes the stuff there.

Radford Green supplies both military and civilian requirements in the US. It's a big plant and was expanded a few years ago, IIRC. However, at the NRA Annual Meeting, the Hodgdon rep I spoke with said powder is flowing to the military. For example, he said 4350 is normally sold 80% to the civilian market and 20% to the military. Currently, however, the numbers are the other way around as the military uses it for their newer 6.5 CM machine guns and sniper rifles and also for some 20 mm rounds. How much of Radford's output goes into powders being shipped to the NATO allies, I can't say. An article I read (Forbes, I think) said the Europeans are pushing the EU to allow accelerated permitting for building new NC plant capacity, as they realize they will have to start building their reserves, as well as shipping to Ukraine. Even if they get a short path to permits, it's normal to take a couple of years to get plants up and running with good efficiency, so I would expect powder to be expensive for at least that much longer.
 
Graf's is running 10% off on VV and SW powders. Free shipping and no hazmat fee. Good deals.

Goodness SW used to be cheap and now it is more expensive than VV.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
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