When I retired on 4th of July 2019, I thought several 8 lb jugs of W231/HP-38, Promo/Red Dot, Sport Pistol and BE-86 would take care of .380Auto/9mm/40S&W and 45ACP calibers I planned to reload into retirement. For .223/300BLK/.308, my choices were H335, A1680, H110/W296, H4895 and Varget. Fast forward to 2024 after gifting/paying it forward most of my powder stock during post Covid shortage, I have been able to source on a group buy No. 2, Titegroup, H335 and BL-C(2) most of which were PIF to others in desperate need for powder.
By now, I figured prices and inventory would somewhat return back to "normal" but war in Ukraine may have contributed to extension of shortage. And while inventory has improved with Alliant powders having been non-existent, perhaps affected by the sale of Vista Outdoor/Federal/CCI/Speer/Alliant Powders, they are becoming more available but my preferred Alliant powders like Promo, Bullseye, Sport Pistol, BE-86, AR Comp all have gone up in price.
No, I won't pay $60 for a pound ($479/8 lbs) of AR Comp even though it may produce smaller groups than Benchmark (Heck, even some VihtaVuori powders are cheaper than Alliant powders now). I have been wanting to try Benchmark for some time with report of group size smaller than H335 but it's now $367/8 lbs -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ad-link-required.910908/page-23#post-12806760
On a recent 3 county sweep, only powder I was able to find that I wanted to try was StaBall Match and I paid $59/lb ... Wow.
So ... I am getting ready to do another group buy to alleviate HazMat/shipping charges but I am having second thoughts about powder selection choices and considering substitution referencing same/comparable powders thread -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ble-powders-during-component-shortage.890865/
Pistol powders:
- W231/HP-38 - I will keep it as general purpose reference pistol powder as 8 lb prices have been more reasonable than other popular powders
- Promo/Red Dot - While I liked this powder for blowback action PCC loads, I am considering substituting with No. 2/Clean Shot (I have some No. 2 so I will do some testing before I place my powder order)
- Sport Pistol - I already have Titegroup on hand and may consider going back to N320 if pricing is good enough
- BE-86 - I replaced WSF with BE-86 and won't have any problem returning back to WSF for duplicate factory JHP practice loads
Rifle powders:
- H335 - I will keep it as general purpose reference .223 powder as 8 lb prices have been pretty much lowest of all .223 powders
- AR Comp - I was considering testing Benchmark but now open to testing A2460, 8208 XBR and TAC
- H4895/Varget - While I am happy with both, issue is availability and pricing. BL-C(2) is more available at much lower pricing and recently picked up StaBall Match to test for .223 RMR 69/75 gr. Thinking about testing IMR 4064, A4064, N135, N140
Anyone else going through powder selection choices/substitutions due to availability or price increase?