Sigarmsp226 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 (edited) We were told about 6-12 months ago price increases were coming but I am really surprised as to the most recent prices for various pistol and rifle smokeless powders. Most have gone up at least 25% and some have almost doubled. As primers start to slowly come down (very slowly) powder is going up. Makes me pause when I get ready for a range trip now as compared to several years back when I carried a variety of guns and lots of ammo. Just hope the powder prices will settle and maybe eventually come back down (supply vs. demand). Edited February 9 by Sigarmsp226 Spelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 27 minutes ago, Sigarmsp226 said: We were told about 6-12 months ago price increases were coming but I am really surprised as to the most recent prices for various pistol and rifle smokeless powders. Most have gone up at least 25% and some have almost doubled. As primers start to slowly come down (very slowly) powder is going up. Makes me pause when I get ready for a range trip now as compared to several years back when I carried a variety of guns and lots of ammo. Just hope the powder prices will settle and maybe eventually come back down (supply vs. demand). predicted this years ago with all the consolidation going on.. Hodgdon buying out everyone creating a monopoly.. IMR, WIN, Western, Accurate, who is left ? Used to be VV was sky high, but the seem about the same Hodgdon has raised their prices to match. With the primers so high I figured everything else would drop due to low demand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Postal Bob Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) I've noticed this. And it's even worse if you reload rifle. Rifle powders are almost double what pistol powders are, and usually not even available. Edited February 10 by Postal Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 well I guess that ws one advantage to chasing the magic powder and changing games/divisions a couple times.. You end up with a bunch of almost full different powders that all basically do the same thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HHjr Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Been out of shooting touch of sorts… I know prices crazy though… I old been reloading when primers were 15 a though or Less… reload for a dozen cals. Just shot 10mm 30 carb and my 22 n GSL suppressor….. I’ve got a small stash of supplies. I’ve Stopped competing completely as I can not afford to shoot 150+ rnds in a match. Shot 30 rnds in my session other day… on a pension I just can not replace what supplies I use. My sons and in-laws will do alright some day. Hope I live to see a Better shooting/reloading day for the low Enders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4n2t0 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 (edited) Up north, SPP have doubled in price over the last 4 years. Powder has seen a small(er) bump in price. I don't do any rifle reloading, but everything related to rifles has gone bonkers. With the recent consolidation that has occurred with component manufacturers and multiple conflicts going on, God only knows what we're in for over the short-term. Edited February 11 by 4n2t0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmc45414 Posted February 10 Share Posted February 10 Fortunately with pistol rounds powder is the smallest part of the financial puzzle, in my case (with 147gn bullets) 12%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haywizzle Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 (edited) I just got into loading 6.5cm in the last year, along with .308 and .223 for the last 5 years or so. Loading pistol for 10+. I've been making hard decisions lately I know I will regret with the way things are trending. I was stocking up on a years worth of HS-6 for the open gun on Jan 5th (36 days ago) and couldn't pull the trigger on two 8lb jugs of H4350 on the same order at $350 each. Well it went out of stock at midsouth and came back at $390.. Doh. I guess I should be happy (not really) since the Hs-6 was $266 and it's now $304. I don't see this changing any time soon. Edited February 11 by Haywizzle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 I had bought up several powders for rifle, shotgun and pistol before the pandemic. Just saw that Varget is now $67 per pound and I think I payed $17 a pound for a #8 jug. The other thing I noticed is that there’s not much discount between a one pound or eight pound jug, and on some items the larger quantity is actually more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezra650 Posted February 29 Share Posted February 29 I load commercially on a small scale. Pricing is to the point now that I will be using all viht powder the next time I restock. Occasionally I might get lucky and snag a batch of imported powder from the few companies bringing it in. But otherwise the prices for H powder are not worth it. Alliant has always been high price and difficult to get consistentlyso I never touch it. The western powders (now owned by Hodgdon) were a economic safe haven in the past. However, now they are so close to viht powder you might as well pay a few pennies more per round to get the performance gains. The Russo/Ukraine war is one of the main contributing factors I believe. Read up on the artillery shell usage from both sides and you will see where all the gunpowder/raw ingredients are going. Pretty insane volumes in play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJBriggs Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 It's naive to think that the price increases are about anything other than greed. Why on earth would the primer/ power manufactures provide their components to consumers at a price that saves the consumer money, when they could make more money off ammo sales? They are purposely making it so that there is no real savings by loading your own ammo, which means more money for them. As of right now, you can buy 9mm for almost as cheap as it was pre-pandemic, while in the meantime, component prices have gone up by at least 30 - 50%. How does that make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyScuba Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 ezra650 nailed it. The US has increased supply of 155mm artillery shells as it turns out the military itself owns the production facility. That powder has to come from somewhere. And one major supplier was in the Donbass region, now recently under Russian control. As a side note, the equipment at this facility looks older than the workers, and that is saying something! in Finland, home of VV, they just further escalated just yesterday. I don’t see prices going anywhere but up as the raw materials are in ever increasing demand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 competition... butt tons of companies making ammo and importing it.. With consolidation, very few making primers and reloading powders. probably way easier to import live ammo than primers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmer Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I just got word from a local supplier that the US is going into full production to replace the armament that they had given to Ukraine. What that means is that after the last batch is gone there probably won’t be any more for another year. So if you’re on the fence about picking up supplies you may want to jump on whatever you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyScuba Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3253928/europe-battles-gunpowder-shortage-supply-shells-ukraines-defence-against-russia Turns out Europe outsourced guncotton production to China and suddenly the Chinese cut them off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miranda Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 If I did advocate for making primers, I don't for powder. Making powder, while easier, requires enough volume that it becomes a bit more dangerous. It takes a while to get consistent. I also am wary of the result from the chemicals in a double base. from previous primer shortages, once the primers reappear, the powders get tight. Ah well, I am outta rifle powder... dingit. miranda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe4d Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 19 hours ago, Farmer said: I just got word from a local supplier that the US is going into full production to replace the armament that they had given to Ukraine. What that means is that after the last batch is gone there probably won’t be any more for another year. So if you’re on the fence about picking up supplies you may want to jump on whatever you can. didnt know it, but next town north of me there is a Hodgdon plant. Evidently business is booming as they have want adds on Indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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