Hodgdon is getting on my last nerve

[JSHKS]

Fires in powder plants are fairly common at one time, dunno about today. Shooting buddies family worked for Hercules for years. You should hear the stories.

 

[Eric H]

Found 2lbs of Hodgdon 4350 last weekend and paid $40 a pound. Now that vendors know of the shortage they're will start gauging. Was down to less than 1/2 lbs so what do you do?

 

[Wy Will]

I agree with having horrible luck finding H1000 and Retumbo. I did see an 8 lber of H4350 the other day and a 1 lber of Varget. I also can't find IMR 8133, N570, N565, or Reloder 26.

 

[5gauss]

I'm going to vent. I'm probably gonna get kicked off the forum, but I think I'm speaking for most of us when I ask if the people running Hodgdon have their heads up their --- or something. Retumbo, H4350, H1000, Varget, are all STAPLES of the Hodgdon brand, and it's like trying to find pixie dust. Do they want to lose customers? Why is it that a company who makes gunpowder, and has been doing so forever, can't keep up with demand? Are they not investing enough of their profits into the company and their equipment? You would think that the demand for their products would be incentive for them to make more of it.
Am I missing something here? For all of the powder companies out there, now is a great time for them to get their engineers and marketing teams in order and produce powders that are temp stable with comparable burn rates. When I find something that will replace my Hodgdon powders, I'm jumping ship. Their management appears to be about as in touch with their customers as Remington's marketing.

When I find a powder that works etc.....I get all I can in same lot

 

[Yeager]

As mentioned is as reloaders get the scraps left from military and other ammunition manufacturers. CCI was I believe the only company that started up geared towards John Q Public.
It is actually pretty simple to keep stuff on hand. What ever you use, say 1 pound per year of xyz powder. When you open a new one, you should be shopping for another to put on the shelf. Same with primers.
When I was shooting heavily on the competitive side, it was 8lb jugs and 5k of primers at a time. Hoarding? No not if you actually use it. Powder or primers on a killer sale,simple, stock up. Buddy and I ordered CCI primers years ago and folks said we were nuts. Maybe we were for ordering 500k. Ate ramen noodles and hotdogs for a while, but for half price at the time and they were available......it didn't hurt near as bad two years later when you couldn't find any, and when ya did they were 3x as high.
Kinda like my ex wife and here new car, never fill the tank and never fuel up till the light came on, yet she kept a small gas jug full in the trunk in case she ran out

No offense meant to anyone and not making excuses for anything.

I have a friend just like that: scary?

 

[BarrelTwist72]

No mystery whatsoever. I've been stockpiling for years. I still have Hercules Red Dot, Blue Dot, and Green Dot, in the cans/canisters. I'd have to dig for it but it's buried in there somewhere. Any person with a functioning brain knows what could happen. This country is one election away from a complete disaster. They won't get me!!

 

[deepseadiver]

Hodgdon is local for me so, a couple years ago I stopped by Hodgdon to pick up a few 8# jugs of Clays & Trail Boss for my college shotgun team & my 4-H Cowboy Action group. Out of Trl Boss! I use 8-10 lb. a year. Only had 5 lbs of Clays! Talking to Chris, both are made in Australia due to raw materials being sourced there. Biggest problem is not the source but the shipping. What he told me was the west coast, California in particular, has severely restricted importation of gunpower and some raw materials. Apparently, Australia is about the only source for certain raw materials as well. He's bitching about the problem too. "We can only sell what we can get" was his answer. He has been extremely helpful by calling me when he gets any here.

 

[tnek13]

Varget is a great powder for several calibers that I shoot- I buy it when I can find it, and I am always looking for it. Sometimes it shows up at out of the way stores that sell components, they don't have much left when I leave as I call friends to see if they need any and if they do we share what is available, Varget is not the only powder we look for. I also have alternate powders for most calibers. Which. brings me to the fact that I have different calibers that require different powders, I always have something to shoot, probably like everyone else here. Shortages have been a fact of life for well over 10 years, remember the 22RF situation? Adapt and overcome, just have fun and don't bash manufactures, they want you to spend money on their products.

 

[LVJ76]

I like to have a couple of set loads for almost every bullet just in case there is a shortage of one powder I'll have the other one good to go.

Now you can always go with another brand and problem solved.

I mostly use IMR powders and have not had any issues finding them in stock. I dont always get the most velocity but accuracy is always there.

 

[5gauss]

No mystery whatsoever. I've been stockpiling for years. I still have Hercules Red Dot, Blue Dot, and Green Dot, in the cans/canisters. I'd have to dig for it but it's buried in there somewhere. Any person with a functioning brain knows what could happen. This country is one election away from a complete disaster. They won't get me!!

I have Alcan 5, 7 Blue dot, some older ones stored properly for years and work fine....no red dust....no smells...it stores for longer than you think under right conditions. Of course for precision you will use fresh powders of same lot.

 

[wildwilderness]

Its the age of ordering online! if the powder I want isn't in stock here I just order it online to my local Cabelas, Basspro, or Sportsmans and it shows up from where ever they may have some.

 

[oldpilot]

Well, they lost me. I've been searching for Retumbo & H1000 for about a year now in AZ. Our Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabelas/Bass Pro haven't seen any in the last 12 months. I get the temporary flux of supply and demand, but not being able to get your product to the market in over a year? I've switched over to Alliant. At least I can find some of their powders every now and then. Given the fact that Alliant s now harder to find suggests that more than a few shooters have switched over. The question is: once Hodgdon corrects the problem, will they be able to earn these customers back.

Try Bruno's

 

[Tex_Hunter]

Well, they lost me. I've been searching for Retumbo & H1000 for about a year now in AZ. Our Sportsman's Warehouse and Cabelas/Bass Pro haven't seen any in the last 12 months. I get the temporary flux of supply and demand, but not being able to get your product to the market in over a year? I've switched over to Alliant. At least I can find some of their powders every now and then. Given the fact that Alliant s now harder to find suggests that more than a few shooters have switched over. The question is: once Hodgdon corrects the problem, will they be able to earn these customers back.

I have been able to find H1000 in stock on multiple occasions over the last year. Just because you arent looking in the right place doesnt mean it is Hodgdon's fault. The last time I placed an order there was actually still powder in stock for over a week after my order... and then about 3 weeks after I bought individual canisters of it, they got 8lbs jugs in stock too.

That said... go back and read my post on page 3, Hodgdon is selling 100% of the product they are making right now, so as satisfying as it is for you to say "they lost me!"... they really couldnt care, and it's nothing personal, but there are hundreds if not thousands of "you" who are just happy the line moved up one place now that you are gone.

Cheers.

 

[rdsii64]

I always have at least two powders and two bullets per gun to choose from. Right now I have enough powder to burn out the barrels of each rifle I load for. When the shortage happened in 2014-2016 I told myself I'll never be without again. Some of the powders I have as backups might not be what I want, but they will work.
Im always trying to be one step ahead.

I just ordered 14 pounds of my back up powder because my preferred powder is out of stock everywhere. I too learned the same lesson back in 2008.