Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles IMR 4350 - Price Rant

replace 30 grain with what you want.

Papypay348 (and all): Thanks for the input - I am just a bit discouraged by the puzzling and exorbitant prices and shortages befalling us reloaders of recent.
Seems to me that powder prices (let alone primer prices!) have DOUBLED in just a very few years.
And I find it hard to understand/rationalize.
Your optimism gives me a tad bit of hope.
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Demand vs. Supply

That, and Hodgdon pretty much has a monopoly on reloading powders.

I haven't had to buy any powder in a couple of years now and it certainly has gone up for sure.Makes me thankful for the supplies I do have on hand.But take a look at the price of ammo on the shelf.If I didn't load my own it would really take the fun out of it.I'm still able to load at around $12-$15 a box for what I paid for my stuff.Sure beats the hell of paying around $50 a box for loaded ammo.

My LGS has 8#r's of H4350 @ $349.99 and Varget @ $389.99... Got told what a fool i was 2 1/2 yrs ago for payin' $208 and $165 respectively for kegs of H4350 and H414... Was gonna' wind up in an old shack down by the river or sumthin'... Got home that day and seen a keg of H4350 trade on GB for $840... Then i got "Ya Dumbass why didnt' ya buy more"...

I think the problem with H4350 being so expensive is it is so useful in so many cartridges.
PJ

At my LGS, the same powder has been on the shelf for 2 years, and done nothing but gone up. An 8lb jug of AR-Comp was $420. Glad I don't need it.

I recently bought two 1lb bottles of IMR4350 for $43 each. The shop had a 8lb keg for $309.

I use to look for good deals on components but with current pricing, I look for good deals on loaded ammo and am coming out ahead in $$$ and time. My .222 is the only rifle I have to reload for anymore and a pound of 4198 last a bit dropping 20 grains at a time for low volume coyote and groundhog hunting. My other cartridges are vanilla ice cream, so easy to find. Been very happy with Sako and Norma ammo in price and performance.

Hodgdon appears to be trying to position the Accurate/Ramshot line of powders as a somewhat cheaper alternative to the Hodgdon and IMR lines. Last week Brownells had several different 8 pounders in stock for substantially "cheaper" (used loosely) than the H or I powders.

You might be able to find a halfway decent alternative in those lines.

I was sitting good at the beginning of this craziness but then I went and bought a rifle chambered in a new-to-me cartridge I was not prepared to load for in the way of brass, powder, and bullets. I shelled out more for powders than I thought I would ever tolerate. I’m good now and tired of chasing components.

Demand is falling off because the economy is slowing down, prices of everything else is going up, and I think a lot of handloaders are plumb satiated with components. Which is why we are seeing powders come available. Primers should be next. I think we will see prices come down somewhat dependent on politics and the economy.

Can I please get a new truck at 1999/2009 prices?

Guy

I started loading in late 2019. I had bought powder and primers a few years earlier, but never had time to actually reload. While I don’t remember the prices before 2020, for powders and primers I bought in early to mid 2020, I’ve seen a 35-50% increase for the cost of powder and 100-175% increase in the cost primers in a 2 year period. When you do the math and break it down like that, it gives you second thoughts on reloading, it I do like to shoot.

Hudge: I also immensely enjoy shooting/Hunting but it is starting to become a "rich mans" sport.
I see NO rational reason for the recent prices jumps (price gouging) by reloading component manufacturers and ammunition manufacturers!
Sad - what ever is the cause.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Varmint Guy. Dont worry.

They will start to choke on their own greed.

Just smile and say "no thank you".....and keep walking. They will get tired of that.

Demand will slow and keep slowing.

They will be stuck with product on their books.......and it will sit there.

No business can keep that up for very long without losing.

None.

Best
HeavyD.

Yep. They will, but will take time.

I look at this way, I do not shoot alot...I do not "need" to.
I shoot and reload as a hobby. I also like to BBQ and do carpentry.
I have other hobbies that are just as fun and fulfilling.

I reload for myself , i am not a competitive shooter. I just enjoy the process of it all and the nuances that come with it.

I am sure many of you have typed the same or more less the same sentiment as I have sometime......or had that thought generate itself.

We see greed right now...REMEMBER WHERE AND WHO. Wisdom will come from this memory of when, where and who, this is a much more valuable tool.

Anyway.......smile and say "no thank you".......it will burn them every time you do....

They cannot keep making house payments and car payments and pay taxes when they cannot sell enough.......they will gag and choke as you smile and keep walking.

Best
HeavyD.

You are too nice. I go in, they ask what I'm looking for, I say a "good deal". Then if I see their prices are way over what other shops are asking, I'll tell them they are way overpriced and ask how many guys actually pay that much. I tell them they should lower their prices because people will remember who is fu cking them over right now and not buy from them again. Also, your kind sentiments towards the OP is comical. That guy has been known to say he went in and bought every 22lr or 22mag the store had just because it's been hard to find and he really didn't care how much it cost or that he was not saving any for anyone else. It's that kind of person that screws the rest of us over. It's a supply and demand issue and when you have old retired guys going out and buying up all the product, it fu cks the rest of us over. That really is not hard to understand. I will not pay exorbitantly high prices. There are still good deals out there, you just have to know where to look and how to buy. If you go into a shop and they are price gouging, tell the mother fu ckers! You guys have an issue speaking up to people, outside the keyboard???? I've came right out and told shops their prices are too high and they ask, "well how much would you be willing to pay?" I tell them I can get it for so much here or there and they will sometimes sell it to me for that price. Some of you guys need to grow a set... Don't feel bad for the OP either because he'd buy the last 10 pounds of powder a shop has, if it doesn't cut into his SSI check too much. Where a decent person would leave some on the shelves for someone else, that may be more in need.

While I have plenty of handloading supplies I am hooked on shooting my rimfires these days. A handgun day out tomorrow with three recent purchases.

Varget here at only local shop that can get it was $56/lb and of course I bought 2. Freaking crazy