Looking for AA#2?

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

ljnowell

Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
6,200
Location
The Peoples Republic of IL
OK everyone I've sat on this for awhile and replenished my stocks, so I want to share this. There are lots of guys in here looking for AA#2. It seems impossible to find.

That being said I did some research on new powders when I was running low. My search led me to Shooters World Clean Shot powder. This powder is sold overseas by the Explosia Corporation as Lovex D032. This particular powder is produced in the same factory that formerly produced AA powders. It is the exact same powder they always made for the Western Powder company, its simply called something else. I had to use Google translate on some pages from the Czech Republic but I found posts from people who worked in the facility verifying this.

Finding this I ordered some. When I opened the container it was very much obviously identical in appearance to AA#2. As I use a Lee auto disc I thought I would do some side by side to check out the VMDs. I was curious to see if they were similar.

First stop was the .30cc disc. This disc consistently drops 2.95 grains of AA2. The D032 dropped a perfect 2.95 grains. I tried the .46cc cavity that I use for 9mm. It dropped exactly the same also.

I went to the range with a friend and a chronograph. We ran two sets of ten of each for a total of 40 rounds of 148 grain hbwc in 38 cases with 2.95 grains, 20 with each powder. The results? I got single digit SDs and the funniest part? The first ten the shooters world average velocity was a little higher, by literally about ten fps. The second set of ten? The AA2 was just a touch higher by single digit amount. The end result? I'm convinced they are either the exact same powder or so close the difference is negligible.

I've stocked up very well on this powder and feel that I need to pass it on to all of you. This is the best forum on the net and you guys deserve this info.

Here is a pic of Lovex D032, also known as Shooters World Clean Shot.
A81480E2-D3C0-4E16-9B39-C5580C9A435D.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you for posting, I have been trying to find some AA#2 with zero luck.
 
Abear said:
Thank you for posting, I have been trying to find some AA#2 with zero luck.
Click to expand...


No problem. If you like AA#2 buy with confidence, you will be pleased. I've shot a few bullseye matches with these loads and get perform great on the 50 yard line.

They advertise this as "similar to AA#2" because I'm guessing selling it as "identical to AA#2" might get them in trouble, lol.

I sat down at my bench tonight and as I was filling my powder measure I realized that I really needed to share the info.
 
In looks like they have an equivalent for AA 2230 also, that being said I ran across this on the Accurate website:

SPECIAL NOTE CONCERNING WESTERN POWDERS, INC. PRODUCTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION:

Western Powders, Inc. currently does not supply any of our brands/powders to the EU. There is also no relationship with the CZECH company “Explosia”. As a result, Western Powders, Inc. has no quality control of the powders distributed in the EU by Explosia, which they claim to be “Accurate® equivalents”.

Please contact Explosia® directly regarding any powders distributed by them under the LOVEX® brand.

When Western Powders, Inc. supplies data for Accurate® powders, it is relevant only to the powders currently certified by Western Powders, Inc., Montana in the USA.
 
Abear said:
In looks like they have an equivalent for AA 2230 also, that being said I ran across this on the Accurate website:

SPECIAL NOTE CONCERNING WESTERN POWDERS, INC. PRODUCTS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION:

Western Powders, Inc. currently does not supply any of our brands/powders to the EU. There is also no relationship with the CZECH company “Explosia”. As a result, Western Powders, Inc. has no quality control of the powders distributed in the EU by Explosia, which they claim to be “Accurate[emoji768] equivalents”.

Please contact Explosia[emoji768] directly regarding any powders distributed by them under the LOVEX[emoji768] brand.

When Western Powders, Inc. supplies data for Accurate[emoji768] powders, it is relevant only to the powders currently certified by Western Powders, Inc., Montana in the USA.
Click to expand...


Yep. Accurate powders are no longer being made their, but they are still making the powder. Accurate is likely not happy about these powders being imported and sold here in the states.
 
ljnowell, are you saying in your experience the load data is interchangeable between D032 and AA#2? I thought I read they were similar powders but not necessarily the same, especially concerning load data. If I can just use my #2 data that would be great.

I recently bought a bottle of D032 to mess around with, loaded and shot a few rounds with pretty good results, but havent had a chance to really get into it yet. If it turns out to be AA#2 by another name I'm gonna stock up as that is my favorite powder by far, just havent been able to find any.
 
dave333 said:
ljnowell, are you saying in your experience the load data is interchangeable between D032 and AA#2? I thought I read they were similar powders but not necessarily the same, especially concerning load data. If I can just use my #2 data that would be great.



I recently bought a bottle of D032 to mess around with, loaded and shot a few rounds with pretty good results, but havent had a chance to really get into it yet. If it turns out to be AA#2 by another name I'm gonna stock up as that is my favorite powder by far, just havent been able to find any.
Click to expand...


Dave, I cannot offer tge advice of interchanging data. What I can tell you is that when you look at published data they certainly overlap. They measure the same weight by volume, at least my samples do. They produce the same velocity.

I have so far loaded 9mm and 38 special with it and I'm using the same discs in my powder measure and the same data.
 
PV and Natchezs are two resellers I have found.

WHAT I FOUND ON CASTBOOLITS THREAD, ZERO GUARANTEE OF ACCURACY. BE SAFE!

D 013-01 Disc powder Accurate® NITRO 100 equivalent

D 032-03 Spherical porous powder Accurate® No. 2 equivalent

D 036-03 Spherical powder Accurate® No. 5 equivalent

D 037-01 Spherical powder Accurate® No. 7 equivalent

D 037-02 Spherical powder Accurate® No. 9 equivalent

D 060-01 Tubular powder Accurate® 5744 equivalent

D 063-02 Spherical powder Accurate® 1680 equivalent

D 073-04 Spherical powder Accurate® 2460, 2520, 2474 equivalent

D 073-05 Spherical powder Accurate® 2230 equivalent

S 015-02 Disc porous powder Accurate® SOLO 1000 equivalent

S 016-01 Disc porous powder Accurate® SOLO 1250 equivalent

S 060-02 Tubular powder Accurate® 2015 BR equivalent

S 062-02 Tubular powder Accurate® 4064 equivalent

S 070-02 Tubular powder Accurate® 4350 equivalent

S 071-01 Tubular powder Accurate® 3100 equivalent
 
Western doesn't manufacture Accurate #2, they buy if from other factories and re-package it. I have 2 pounds of this stuff that was made in the Czech Republic, it is old. Over the years Western has sourced it from other factories and I believe the current supplier(?) is General Dynamics in St. Marks FL.

I like AA#2 and so I have been searching for it the last 2+ years. I've even sent letters to Western asking where or when. I have come to the conclusion that Western places the needs of the handloader far below the needs of their commercial customers. Not that I blame them but it wouldn't hurt them at all to be a little bit appreciative of the consumer of their canister powders and just simply tell us when, if ever, the product will become available at the retail level.

So for me I have moved on and will probably give Lovex D 032-03 a try but no hurry, I have plenty of powder at this point.
 
Only 1/2 lb. of AA#2 left and like others I haven't seen it in 2 years. Bought a 5 lb. jug which will last me a long long time. I use AA#2 in .380 Auto and .38Special. I like AA powders but tired of the "not in stock". It runs in cycles with one or another of AA powders unavailable for long periods of time. Next time it'll be AA#5 or 1680 or another popular AA powder that we can't get. I'm going to do load workups in .380 with AA#2 and D032. Their data in .380 matches AA data. Thanks for the tip!
 
thomas15 said:
Western doesn't manufacture Accurate #2, they buy if from other factories and re-package it. I have 2 pounds of this stuff that was made in the Czech Republic, it is old. Over the years Western has sourced it from other factories and I believe the current supplier(?) is General Dynamics in St. Marks FL.



I like AA#2 and so I have been searching for it the last 2+ years. I've even sent letters to Western asking where or when. I have come to the conclusion that Western places the needs of the handloader far below the needs of their commercial customers. Not that I blame them but it wouldn't hurt them at all to be a little bit appreciative of the consumer of their canister powders and just simply tell us when, if ever, the product will become available at the retail level.



So for me I have moved on and will probably give Lovex D 032-03 a try but no hurry, I have plenty of powder at this point.
Click to expand...


That's why this is a great deal. This I straight from the same line AA#2 used to be made. When accurate quit buying it from them they still kept making it for the European market.
 
^^^ we are in agreement. When I first started handloading I made a list of powders that would work and headed to the store. Call it beginners luck but they had some AA#2 and I bought some. Took it home and started loading.

Then I discovered that powder is in short supply everywhere so I bought all the AA#2 my local store had, 4 pounds total. I had some #2 and #5 on back order with several of the big on-line retailers for 2 years and finally just gave up.

It is interesting that accurate #5 has been showing up on-line and locally for about 2 months now. When everything else is out of stock #5 seems to be available. I think It's because many have given up on it and there is no demand now. Hard to believe but the factory that makes Hodgdon Clays was off line for over a year but this powder is in the stores now. Western does not have the excuse of a plant fire but has a worse supply problem. I would say if you like #2 get it if you can but it's not the only powder out there and it appears to me that Western has problems getting this stuff on the market. I think instead of being pissed at Explosia they should make an agreement with them to import it and package as #2. But they are not doing this because they have bigger fish to fry.
 
Last edited:
But to be fair, Alliant seems to have lost the ability to put out their American Select powder on the market also. A good powder for 9mm and 38 although marketed for shotgun. A real pity because it was inexpensive and a good powder. I would buy a couple of kegs if I could but I haven't seen it either for almost 2 years now.
 
thomas15 said:
^^^ we are in agreement. When I first started handloading I made a list of powders that would work and headed to the store. Call it beginners luck but they had some AA#2 and I bought some. Took it home and started loading.

Then I discovered that powder is in short supply everywhere so I bought all the AA#2 my local store had, 4 pounds total. I had some #2 and #5 on back order with several of the big on-line retailers for 2 years and finally just gave up.

It is interesting that accurate #5 has been showing up on-line and locally for about 2 months now. When everything else is out of stock #5 seems to be available. I think It's because many have given up on it and there is no demand now. Hard to believe but the factory that makes Hodgdon Clays was off line for over a year but this powder is in the stores now. Western does not have the excuse of a plant fire but has a worse supply problem. I would say if you like #2 get it if you can but it's not the only powder out there and it appears to me that Western has problems getting this stuff on the market. I think instead of being pissed at Explosia they should make an agreement with them to import it and package as #2. But they are not doing this because they have bigger fish to fry.
Click to expand...


It makes you wonder why they haven't went back to have explosia produce some? Perhaps it's sour grapes over Explosia continuing to produce it for the European market?
 
I really believe that the US cansiter powder supply chain in general is made up of a collection of businesses that are dysfunctional. Some are more dysfunctional than others but all of them seem to be infected at some level.
 
thomas15 said:
I really believe that the US cansiter powder supply chain in general is made up of a collection of businesses that are dysfunctional. Some are more dysfunctional than others but all of them seem to be infected at some level.
Click to expand...


Yes, I can't help but think they could have all done better in the last several years. I guess from their point of view life's perfect. They run at 100% and sell 100% of their product.
 
ljnowell said:
They run at 100% and sell 100% of their product.
Click to expand...

And that's just it.

You have a percentage of the public that owns firearms. A subset of that group shoots on a regular basis. A subset of the regular shooters reload.

Then there's the big commercial ammo companies...

It's clear who's business the powder 'companies' care about.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Quoheleth
  • Locked
Lee Auto Disc and AA#5/#9
Replies
15
Views
750
LiveLife
LiveLife
1
  • Locked
Loading 380acp with AA#2 and 100 gr Berry's plated HBRN bullets
Replies
0
Views
471
1John1:9
1
Hondo 60
  • Locked
Explosia/Lovex Powders
Replies
12
Views
2K
right winger
R
Toprudder
  • Locked
Shooters World Auto Pistol
Replies
8
Views
4K
trentcwwilson
T
LiveLife
  • Locked
Will "non-domestic" branded powders ever become popular?
Replies
22
Views
1K
smitty1942
S
Back
Top