After reading the posts, here are some other observations. Aside from Pyrodex and some of the other black-powder substitute-type products, Hodgdon doesn't "make" rifle powders.
Instead they contract with other companies to produce them. H4350 and the other Extremes are made in Australia, and there have been some bottlenecks in supply from there, not caused in any way by Hodgdon. Among the bottlenecks is that, due to increased demand, more ships full of powder have been leaving Oz for the U.S. They normally refuel and resupply at Auckland, New Zealand, but the Kiwis got nervous about more than one ship loaded with powder being in their harbor, so ruled that only one powder ship would be allowed at one time. This naturally slows down shipments.
Two, the Australians can only make so much powder, and demand is still well above average. The old law of supply and demand definitely applies, even though many handloaders apparently can't understand such a basic economic principle. That's one reason the price has gone up.
In fact, apparently shooters in general can't understand why there are still "shortages" of rimfire ammo and some loading components. These are the same shooters who, two years after Obama's reelection, are often buying all the rimfire ammo they can find at inflated prices, anytime they can find it, or buying several 8-pound jugs of powder, where they used to buy a couple pounds. Factories can only produce so much, and they are NOT going to increase their capacity 10 times just to satisfy the panicky desires of shooters in the U.S., who may suddenly decide after next month's election there's no need to hoard .22 shells or powder anymore, or may finally fill their garages so full there's no more room for either.
I suspect (but don't know) that among the reasons for Hodgdon contracting with the factory in Canada for the Enduron powders is that shipping powder from Canada to Kansas is much easier (and cheaper) than shipping powder from Australia. The ability to make temperature-resistant powders isn't unique to Oz, and if Hodgdon can supply other powders that do the same things (actually more, with the decoppering agent) without the hassles and expenses of overseas importing, why wouldn't they?
I also suspect the reason IMR4451 isn't called some version of 4350 (HMR4350, or 4350.2?) is that there are already THREE versions of 4350 on the market. But 4451 fills basically the same niche, and may be the best version of all.
