Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles I thought I was going to start reloading.

I had no idea powder and other components were so hard to find. I knew about 22 lr, 223, and some pistol ammo but no powder took me by surprise.

What's the best way to find some powder and other components. Looking to reload 243 and 270. I did buy a few bullets but no powder yet at all.

Try looking online. Several stores have powder but it sells out quickly. Shopping online also requires the buyer to pay hazmat shipping.

Locally I've had better luck with the smaller mom and pop type stores. Most folks seem to clean out the larger box stores first.

Bottom line is powder is around, it just takes a bit of patience. Wish everyone could walk in to their favorite store and grab their favorite powder.

What powders are you looking for?

Gunbot.net is your friend.

Not really sure since I'm just now trying to put my kit together and trying to gather knowledge of powders. Primarily for the 243. I was thinking RL 19, RL 22, RL 17, Varget H 380. Open to any suggestions. I would like to get good speed out of some 80 grn TTSX 243's.

Seen a fair amount of RL22, 19, and 17 available in the last week or two. Varget is much more difficult to find but works well in my 7-08. Not sure about H380.

Also doesn't hurt to poke around your local gun club. Some folks might have extra powder around to help out new reloaders.

I may do that but my local gun club is over an hour and a half away. I'm out in the boonies.

There are FAR worse things in life. Best of luck in your powder search. If you were able to find primers then powder may not be far behind.

Here in the middle of the country, it seems that primers are now available, bullets are very iffy (with light-for-caliber ones being somewhat more available), the slower rifle powders are fairly available, the fast to medium rifle powders and all pistol powders are basically non-existent.

In my "neck of the woods" most rifle powder is not that hard to get, neither are primers and bullets, but finding any type of pistol powder is akin to finding a "pro second amendment Obamanite"...

I did luck up and find several pounds of Longshot the other day though....

I've just started myself over the last few months, and must be lucky. My local shop had what I was looking for. I picked up H4350, Reloader 17, IMR7828ssc, Fed 210 primers, and Rem 9 1/2 Magnum primers. I know they also had Varget, Reloader 19 and others. Not much for bullets, but have found those on here or online.

I would look for some IMR4350 works well in my 243 and 280ai so check your reloading manual but i'll be it's good for 270 also. it doesn't meter as well as some others but has been very easy for me to get at the local gunshop (hour away, so call ahead)

H4350 is the powder for my 243 and 3006. H4831 for the 270win and 270wsm

You don't need all those powders to start out. I don't care for the RL powders and I have no use for them, so I'm happy when guys scramble around to buy it all up and leave a pound or two of 4350 or 4831 behind... either will drive your 243 and 270 for a while.

I've found the key to finding powder and bullets is to just stop and check a few times a week. I drive past 3 gun shops everyday coming home from work. About 1 in 20 odds they'll have something I want. If I see something I may want,but aren't sure, I buy it. If I see varget, rl15, 17, 19, 4831, or 4350, I pick up a pound. I now have too much powder. But it's better than not enough and I can trade for things I need.

Same thing for bullets, I've been looking for 8mm accubonds for about 9 months with no luck....

If you are flexible on which powder you use, you can generally find something to work and may even decide to stick with it after the current craziness subsides. By flexible I mean look at several different sources of loading data and see all of the powders that the various sources cite. Even if you don't find any of those particular powders in your LGS, look at the Relative Burn Rate tables which are in just about every loading manual and see if one of the powders that the local store has is between 2 of the powders in the various sources of load data for your 270.
For example, for a 270 2 very common powders are IMR4350 and H4831 but your LGS only has Norma 204. Since the Norma 204 is in between IMR4350 and H4831 on the relative burn rate chart, you can use it in a pinch. Just start with the data of the FASTER powder you have data for (in this case the 4350) and cautiously work up your loads. Note that not all relative burn rate charts agree and sometimes powders will be listed a little faster or slower in various charts.
Normally I would not recommend this procedure for a novice reloader but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Just don't try to stuff a fast burning pistol powder like 700X into a 270 and be cautious. As long as you find a powder that is slower then the fastest powder listed in the reloading tables and faster than the slowest powder listed you should be able to use it. It might not be the best of the best but it should get you by.

mr. clark , I dont know where in NW Alabama you are , but True Value Hardware in Russellville is where I pick up powder and other reloading supplies . Also Lawsons just across state line in TN carries reloading supplies , Thats off hwy 43N from Killen . PM me if I can be of any help .

Got to get a shot in my knee tomorrow and was going to stop by True Value. I've bought 3 or 4 guns from there.

Blacktailer
Thanks for that information. Very helpful to someone not even knowing yet what powder to use. I'm sort of putting the cart before the horse looking for components before getting all my equipment but I want to make sure I can buy a cart before I get the horse.

Topcat
I won't be buying but one or two at the most different powders. I just wanted to know all my different options since supplies have been so low. I would likely try anything that someone recommends.

If you go to Huntsville; JC's on Jordan Lane has had some powder. Prices were not bad

Great news...the 243 and the 270 like very similar powders.

If you run mid-weight bullets (~80 gr in 243 and ~130 in 270) you can run them both well with H4350...

If you run heavy-weight bullets (>90 gr in 243 and >140 gr in 270) you can run the both well with H4831SC....

Moral of the story, watch gunbot for an 8 lb jug of one of those two to pop up and then buy one powder for both and don't look back. Using this method will also help mitigate the Hazmat fee.

For your .270, it's Rldr-22 for me. Lots of guys swear by H-4831 and/or H-4350. Also, you might try IMR-7828 although I haven't used it myself. Sorry, can't help with the .243.
I would recommend that you copy a page of reloading data from a manual for each of your rifles. Carry these in your wallet and refer top them each time you go into a store selling reloading gear/supplies. That's what I did when I needed powder to load my 9 mm.
Bear in Fairbanks