What happened to powder?

M

MartyK2500

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I do have a pretty good idea.
if only I would of known, I bought about 14 pounds of VVN320 at the end of 2012 for 30$/pound.
Right now, i'm at my last pound, and cannot find it in stock anywhere! It says backorder with 45-47$/pound beside it.
If I would of known I think I would of filled a CC with 10K$ worth of powder, could of made money off it.

Anyone know where I can find VVN320 right now?
PM's are good if you want to stay discreet, I just feel like this is going to prevent me from shooting very soon...
 
Yes some people are profiting from this. I know one retailer which will remain unnamed that I have seen some VVN320 this summer, the price was so outrageous he may still have it in stock.
My 1911 hates short factory 40s, I almost get the feeling ill have to buy factory and Mexican reload at some point :/
 
I'd try Higginsons, and if it's not in stock today, they might have some coming in later this year.

This is an opportunity to try something different as well.
 
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Yeah i called higginsons he is all out, i check their price lists everyday as he has too many customers for me tonprepay or put me on a waiting list.
My realoading manual says that Win231, Hogdon HP38 and Alliant bluedot are direct equivalents of VVN320, except they are much dirtier than Vivit.
I dont care about dirty, just dont want tomsoend winter shooting .22!

Edit: i neve tought of the EE as obliged to assist andy if ever than line was directed to me. I neve even mentionned EE, just a certain retailer that doubled his price as soon as it went low, guess what he still has some in stock.
 
MartyK2500 said:
Edit: i neve tought of the EE as obliged to assist andy if ever than line was directed to me. I neve even mentionned EE, just a certain retailer that doubled his price as soon as it went low, guess what he still has some in stock.
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Not directed at you and removed upon review.
 
A big part of the problem are hoarders. Guys buying 5K worth of powder at a time. Just wait till things level out..they always do and then you will see some good prices. Look at the situation with AR's, after Sandy Hook you couldnt find find one and the ones for sale were going for 4x the sale price. Now they are almost giving them away because its so saturated.
 
Yeah the ARs are perfect example, when i bought my NM at the time they were so scarce it was unbeleivable.
If someone would of told me that 2014 was the year of the LE colts under 1000$ i would of told them they were full of it!
No offence taken Andy ;)
Stranger, thanks i wasnt aware of titegroup, will look into it.
 
If hindsight was foresight we'd all be millionaires.But it's not and we aren't. :)

Some of us are a bit smarter than others. Quite a few of us looked at the shortages that have happened every few years over the last 12-14 years and decided to keep more powder and other components on hand. It wasn't exactly rocket science but it is amazing that so many people can get repeatedly kicked in the balls and still don't get it. It's kind of like voting for the NDP. :)
 
Yeah myself am still new to the shooting sports. Got RPAL in 2012 and got into the sport last year, right when i started higginson was keeping high volumes of the stuff. One day i drove down there and bought many pounds like it wasnt an issue.
I heard it was getting tight but i never expected this kind of drought, to make matters worse i just switched to .40 so i am consuming +/- 420 grains more a week than i used to with 9mil lol.
 
jethunter said:
If hindsight was foresight we'd all be millionaires.But it's not and we aren't. :)

Some of us are a bit smarter than others. Quite a few of us looked at the shortages that have happened every few years over the last 12-14 years and decided to keep more powder and other components on hand. It wasn't exactly rocket science but it is amazing that so many people can get repeatedly kicked in the balls and still don't get it. It's kind of like voting for the NDP. :)
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Its not as simple as you put it there. Times are changing...things aren't cheap and stocking up on pistol powder is pretty low on a lot of peoples list. Most people cant afford to drop1 k on a flat of powder like the hoarders do. For myself I have to pay for 2 kids schooling..feeding everyone ect..ect.. I have enough rounds loaded up for a SHTF scenario and past that My pistols collect dust right now cause there is no powder. Gun companies and Powder companies love this ####.....get everyone to believe the sky is falling and watch the corporate rich get richer. You even get individuals in the community hyping it up and encourage people to go deep in debt just so they have enough power and ammo for the next 15 years sitting in their basement.
 
Guys couldn't afford to buy powder for 160 bucks a keg when it was flying off the shelves in the States. I directed dozens of people to $110 a keg powder before and after the school shooting. Few bought.

Oddly, the same people will arm wrestle for the last pound somewhere for $45 a pound. The real hoarders aren't the problem, they bought theirs when it was cheap and plentiful.

Panic buyers are the ones that clean out shelves at the highest prices.
 
scott_r said:
Its not as simple as you put it there. Times are changing...things aren't cheap and stocking up on pistol powder is pretty low on a lot of peoples list. Most people cant afford to drop1 k on a flat of powder like the hoarders do. For myself I have to pay for 2 kids schooling..feeding everyone ect..ect.. I have enough rounds loaded up for a SHTF scenario and past that My pistols collect dust right now cause there is no powder. Gun companies and Powder companies love this ####.....get everyone to believe the sky is falling and watch the corporate rich get richer. You even get individuals in the community hyping it up and encourage people to go deep in debt just so they have enough power and ammo for the next 15 years sitting in their basement.
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Assuming you weren't forced to have your kids, you can't exactly use that as an excuse for lack of money for powder or primers. you just have different priorities in life other then shooting. it's not hoarders, it's people willing to pay the higher prices. i'm not sure i believe the companies would hold back product making a fake shortages, but i certainly wouldn't put it past them. i tend to agree with dogleg, people who panic buy and pay the absurd prices which in the end will bring about a new higher standard of pricing. if no one pays the higher prices and suffer for a bit, prices will drop.

i've got enough supply for 2-3 years of my regular shooting habits, but i've slowed my shooting down alot so that 2 year supply is now a 4-6 year supply. hopefully by then things will normalize.
 
scott_r said:
Its not as simple as you put it there. Times are changing...things aren't cheap and stocking up on pistol powder is pretty low on a lot of peoples list. Most people cant afford to drop1 k on a flat of powder like the hoarders do. For myself I have to pay for 2 kids schooling..feeding everyone ect..ect.. I have enough rounds loaded up for a SHTF scenario and past that My pistols collect dust right now cause there is no powder. Gun companies and Powder companies love this ####.....get everyone to believe the sky is falling and watch the corporate rich get richer. You even get individuals in the community hyping it up and encourage people to go deep in debt just so they have enough power and ammo for the next 15 years sitting in their basement.
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You could buy a few years supply of powder pretty cheap a couple years ago. So I did. I have paid a mortgage and fed two families and put kids through university. Don't give me that "my life is so hard" story because it just sounds like normal every-day life from where I sit. :)

When I was starting out, if i couldn't afford something then I didn't do it. Pretty well stopped shooting for a few years because i couldn't afford it. You seem like a responsible guy and smart enough to put your responsibilities ahead of your hobbies. Eventually you'll be in a better position to keep some extra powder on hand. That's how it worked for me.

Given the situation for the last 10-15 years it shouldn't come as a surprise that waiting until we run out of powder before looking for more will likely mean our firearms will "collect dust". Plan ahead, or don't. You decide what works for you and then you live with it. It's not like it's the first time this has happened and there is another US federal election in the US in 2 years.

People "can't afford" to buy a year's worth of powder but they have a $1000 smart phone, $30,000 car and go to Vegas or Hawaii twice a year. Priorities and entitlement. You make a plan (or don't) and then you live with the consequences.

It's no one's FAULT that people in the US are panicky and starting to hoard. Blaming the retailers and manufacturers is pathetic and pointless. If you need to have someone to dump on then blame US politics, but that won't get you any powder. People borrowing money to buy 15 years worth of powder to hide in the garage are just sheep and will find something else to panic about next year. Nothing yoou can do about it except stock up a bit more when you have the opportunity.
 
In the end we all live different realities when it comes time to income and priorities, i don't think i can judge the guy who is holding off a bit just as much as i won't judge the hoarder.
It's just sucks that this situation is where its at, and that can be true for the guy who has many kegs ahead, if he competes.
As ammo dries the number of competitors will lessen and quality of competitors too, in the last year i have had close friends skip ipsc practice or a match for lack of ammo.
 
Funny, I watched a couple of videos yesterday, one featuring Steve Hornady and the other an NRA VP (sorry, name escapes me) talking about this. Both credit the President's gun control wishes as responsible, but the government, they say, is not directly responsible (in terms of huge preemptive buys, shutting down component factories, executive go-slow orders, etc). There's simply no devious plot.

Both were very clear that is is private hoarding that is responsible, people seeing some .22 or powder or whatever on the shelf and buying huge amounts of it. The factories are running full-out and have been for a while, but demand is still exceeding supply.

I just can't believe in some govt plot capable of sucking in such people. There are people who would cheerfully spin things, but not them. They're pro-gun, pro-shooting, have no reason to BS anyone and are in a position to know. And sure, ammo companies would be delighted to charge more, but strangle the sport? No way.

As Pogo used to say, we have met the enemy and he is us...
 
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