When this shortage situation began I more or less had to go from IMR to H4350. Turned out great but of course someone try to find me some Hodgdon 4350 this entire last year...

I have missed reloading as a hobby and wonder if any others are in same boat- to what extent you are going to in order to get back on the bench.

My range time has been rare to nonexistent over past 2 years due to coveting what little powder I have.

I always use Sierra's but with certain bullets still hard to find I bought some 90 grain Speer to try in my 6mm Rem.
I wanted to go back to140's in my slow twist 260 - yes I know they shouldn't shoot well but they do and those long Gamekings dropped deer quicker than any other caliber-bullet combo I have used.
Of course, I couldn't find .264 140gr GK's so I bought Speer hot core 140's ( they weren't overly long to inhibit magazine length any worse than GK's)
So to get back at it, I just ordered some Accurate 4350 ( seems like the red headed stepchild of the 4350 realm). It is easy to find so my plan is use it for Speer bullets and keep what little Hodgdon I have for my tried and true Sierra's loads.

That's the plan.... least I will be pulling the handle on the Classic Press again.

I've switched over to gas-checked cast lead bullets. This solves a bullet supply shortage. Make friends with fellow reloaders and be willing to deal fairly. You'll be able to swap for anything lacking

powder valley and midsouth have h 4350

I've pondered the question as well recently.

I have plenty of components to continue shooting and competing for quite some time, but have basically stopped. One of the reasons I've stopped is the situation with supply and pricing. The "favorite reloading manual" thread upstairs had me thinking that soon, all that some will be able to to is read about loading instead of doing it.

rcmuglia- kind of where I was at so am glad to have some components and not feel like I was in some sort of countdown.

One thing I will says is I am darn glad I neck size only for rifle. I can use this brass over and over and over...

Fotis I checked midsouth several times- no luck. Powder valley had a minimum purchase that I didn't want to reach- when they had it.

Anyone else switching to Accurate powder because of availability? How about going to Speer bullets?

Cooler mornings have me itching to be at the range beating the mid-day warm up. Hoping this thread inspires others to do same.

I’m thankful I have plenty, but after the first big panic I switched from a partition guy to ballistic tips and Barnes TTSX. I have enough to take me out I think, but don’t shoot as much, hoarding my loaded stuff which ain’t no damn fun. I shoot 223’s now when I do get to shoot, cause it’s much cheaper

Primers are curtailing my R&D and general range time. Only have 1,000 left (combined LR and LRM).

Bullets and brass are a non-issue for me.

Bottom line for me is that the difficulty in finding components and the prices for what is available has driven me away from handloading as a hobby. I still have lots of components, but the thought of replacing them at current prices takes the fun out of buring them up.

Yep. Been seeing more of it and it's staying in stock for more than 10 minutes too. That is a good thing.
I never stopped "pulling the handle, but did change some things and tried new things to keep going. I tried some Ramshot powders, as it seemed like they were always around and may have saved me a few times. Prices of those powders were never really high, as compared to some of the others. Hovering around $28-$32.00/pound. Luckily last year I found 6 pounds of Hunter, 6 pounds of Big Game, 10 pounds of X-terminator, 10 pounds of TAC at a local shop. An archery shop of all places!! It was $30/pound and I gladly paid the piper. Now I am hooked on some of that powder. It works great in my rifles, so there is a silver lining there. For my 6.5's, I did like you and gave up on Sierra. They were nonexistent, so f them.. Hornady was pretty available, but there was some stretch of time where you couldn't find the 140gr ELD match bullets. The 140gr BTHP match was available and at a good price:

(this was 3 months ago at a store I found about 5 months ago^^^^)

.....but I went to Barnes and tried some of their match burners. I'm still on the fence with them, as they do not shoot as well in my rifles as the ELD match. But the prices were very good on them, so I bought quite a few of them. If nothing else I'll shoot them in my iron sight m96 6.5x55. I was getting to a point in my powder supply where I had to conserve what I had. H4350 and AR Comp were the 2 main powders that I had to watch my use on because those are my favorites and they were very hard to find for a while. Luckily I found 6 pounds of H4350 and bought it at $47/pound a few months ago. I lucked into 10 pounds of AR Comp at the beginning of the year. That was a god send and I have already used 5 pounds of it. That was $37/pound, but worth it. Yesterday I was at the very small LGS and this is what I saw:


So this thread reminds me, I need to run down there and buy a few pounds of RL23 to try out. Heard it was pretty good. I also saw RL15.5 for the first time. I shake my head with that one. Its good to be stocked up, but that is difficult if you keep shooting it up..

Primers have pretty much been my Achilles' heel through this entire shortage, specifically large rifle. I'm not a huge volume shooter, so I've got enough of everything else for several years, but my stash of LR primers has dwindled to the point I've curbed my larger cartridge shooting quite a bit.

I have taken the opportunity to try some new powders that have been more readily available than some of my old standards, and found some new favorites. Accurate 4064, CFE Pistol, and BE-86 have all worked out very well for me.

I've also taken to air rifle shooting a lot more because it's still really cheap. You can have a lot of fun for 10 bucks with air guns.

I got a mold for the bullets I didn't have and fired up the ProMelt. Had plenty of primers on hand already and cast loads don't burn that much powder.
Be nice when (if ever) we will be able to go down to the LGS and just buy what we need.
Those really were the good old days.

Rimfire competition has blossomed big time at the club I frequent.

I've cut in half the amount of OCD "tweaking" I do for load development of big game hunting cartridges intended for distances of 300 yards and less.

I still have a [bleep] ton of surplus ammo for the Garand and so use that combo for regular field practice.

Ha so typical. I know I am not only one feeling irony Gods shaking there snakebit finger at me so of course everyone can now find Hodgdon 4350. LOL oh well- I won't be loading high volumes of stuff but at least get to try and get back to fixing what ain't broke....right ?

My range time is more with the small rifle or Varminter cartridges and rim fire. That usually means the 223, 6 ppc and k Hornet. I can load almost three 223 for what I can in the 06 type casings and I can get good, accurate bullets cheaper as well. The Hornady SP 55 grain are surprisingly accurate and only about $.14 a piece, I stay far away from FMJ because I’ve never found any that are accurate to me. The main hassle is Primers. I still get notifications when they’re available so I order the max amount, or two boxes, and I’m good for a month or more which is when they are usually available. I recently loaded up some 300 WBY and you can watch the level of powder in the measure drop with each round. So those I shoot less if I want to afford to keep shooting, especially if the bullet is over a dollar a pop, not taking the cost of other items like powder and primers.

I still tweak my loads, but it's with more 3 shot groups than ever.. Was out yesterday because a guy here suggested I fine tune my load with the BOSS on my winchester model 70. This is on a load that I had developed in the rifle set on a setting already. What a waste of my components. I walked away from that seeing that when I develop a damn load in that rifle and its set on a certain setting, it's not going to get any fu cking better. Makes sense, as the load was developed at a certain setting. OCW to find a node just works. Turing the dial on the BOSS verified that. Now to blue loctite that sumbitcch and not mess with it again.

When I saw Lapua available, was able to snag a few hundred small rifle primed .308 Win & 6.5 Creed. That should keep me hunting after my large rifle primers are gone.

How do you like the Hunter and X-terminator? What do you load it in?

I have a few pounds of each. Was thinking of loading for .223, .243, and .308.

Had a few dollars left on a gift card so I bought a couple Berry's ammo holders with hinged flip up tops. I always worry my box will spill out the various test loads and get them mixed up. The different colored tops will help me identify my Speer- Accurate loads from my Sierra Hodgdon loads.

After all, being OCD is the best part of reloading!!.

One thing this shortage has me fuming about are shipping costs- and haz mat fees....grrrrrr

I use ziplock baggies and mark the bags and primers with different color Sharpies for test batches. It ain't pretty, but it keeps them sorted and is cheap😁

I just dropped a flip top box full of 300 Blackouts and broke the lid off the other day. Thankfully those were not test groups.

Handloading is about options people forget that. More options to the shooter with an open mind. People who buy factory ammo limit their options while they are busy buying a couple of boxes of each kind, then jack around to long to determine which is best, when they figure it out and go back to get more they find it gone or a different lot number. Then they come on the fire moaning ,wailing, knashing their teeth and tearing out their hair. The problem is their mindset the days of buying what you want, when you want, for how much you want to pay are long gone. The same applies to components. Read that again. Some guys find a favorite load for their old deer killer like imr 4350 and can't find any because it was everyone's favorite and the dirty hoarders bought it all. Or the guys now lost because the dirty bastards at hodgdon's discontinued their favorite powder imr 4320. The unwillingness to try primers you can get in different brand of brass with other suitable powders and other bullets than the ones you prefer is the problem. You don't want to try other loads than your favorites. The problem is only you, you don't want to exercise the greatest part of our hobby trying other components than your favorites. The rules and guidelines have changed so now you need to.Rise to the challenge instead of complaining about it....mb

Sharpies do write quite nicely on the brass. Rubbing alcohol and a paper towel takes it off when you wish to change the case labels.

I'd say the real challenge right now is finding large rifle primers, ANY large rifle primers. Doesn't matter if you have 15 new powders and a dozen new bullets to try without primers.

Man, I really like Hunter and X-terminator, as well as many of the other Ramshot powders. For Hunter, I have used it in my 6.5x55 with 140gr bullets. It is very consistent shooting. Here are a couple groups shot with irons at 100 yards:



The X-terminator works very well in 223's with heavier bullets. I have an AR that is kind of a problem child. It is one of my least accurate rifles, but it likes X-terminator with 77 smk bullets. That's about the only load I run in that rifle now. As for other Ramshot powders that work well for some cartridges I've tried:

TAC: 308, 204 Ruger, 223, & 6X45
Big Game: 7mm08, 30-06 and 300RSAUM

When I look in my load manuals and I see one of the Ramshot powders listed, I try it. I like how it meters through the uniflow. There are many plusses to using their powders. Those include price, availability, load consistency, accuracy and how it meters. The shortages may make you veer away from your tried and true, but sometimes that is not a bad thing..

While I have around 10,000 LR primers and can keep going for quite a while, what I have an obscene amount of are LP primers. For the little .45 shooting I do, I thought I was waaaaay overstocked. And then I figured they work just fine in medium capacity rifle cartridges also- with reduced cast bullet loads which is the bulk of what I shoot anymore anyway. I can now truly tell the components makers to take a hike. I have way plenty jacketed stuff on the shelf for my .22, 6.5, and .30 shooting/hunting that I do. What has me getting a little edgy are SP and SR primers, and lead. The half ton of lead that I gloated over a couple years ago isn't so much now. But lead can still be found dirt cheap with a little ingenuity.

While I do enjoy hand loading though never really thought of it as a hobby…..more of a necessity! When growing up, it was a necessity as to provide ammunition to shoot! As I grew older, I saw it as a necessity to provide ammunition when things go absolutely to hell……a point that we are rapidly approaching! memtb

Natchez and Powder Valley have been getting some SR and SP in from time to time this year. Ends up being over a bill (well over if they're magnum or match) per 1000 after hazmat and shipping, but they do have them sometimes.

I agree. The main reason I got started in handloading was because I bought a 300wby rifle and didn't know what factory ammo sold for. Damn, no wonder I got a stellar deal on that rifle!!! Never once regretted the decision to start handloading, but it sent me down a path of shooting, loading and buying a [bleep] load of rifles and pistols. Still don't regret it though. Still have 2 300wby rifles and the original die set that started the whole process... Just used it last week in fact..

I've had to buy my primers exclusively online for over a year. Hasn't been anything at all on shelves locally.

Last thing I actually got in a real store was a brick of CCI500 and that's been probably 18 months ago. Haven't seen diddly since, aside from a few percussion caps and ML primers.

I feel your pain. I went from using WLR primers in 270 and CCI250 for 300 WM to using CCI34 across the board as my primer supply is getting low and they have been the only LR primers I’ve been able to find. The Tikka 270 does ok but not as good as WLR. The Ruger M77 300 WM hates the CCI34 primers.

Production is catching up and inflation is slowing down buying, so except for Retumbo, seems like a lot of options coming back. I picked up some MP540 the other day and have a handful of testers to try out for the next range trip. That worked out to $28/lb for me shipped, which is better than the $68/lb that RL17 cost.

This has been my problem as well. I’ve been able to keep stocked with powder and bullets, but primers have been extremely hard to come by locally.

What lessons I hadn’t learned, I learned during the Obama hoarding era.

I have enough components to keep me in elk meat for the rest of my life…….

Clinton educated me and I started hoarding before Obama graduated from Muslim High. I’m glad I did, but the primer shortage is starting to worry me some, I am down to 20,000 small rifle primers and I can’t make myself pay for 1000 primers what I used to pay for 5000…

The lesson I hadn’t learned during the Ibama reign was components for my 357’s and I had to scramble some.

I’m good for my hunting rifles, but I am being a bit more careful about burning through components for my play rifles.

I too am struggling with the idea of paying 3x-4x more for primers……

Bumping this thread back. So I have not been able to shoot much these last two years but using Accurate 4350 and Speer - has been nowhere near as fun as other 4350 with Sierra's.

Getting the 6mm close with those 90 grain hot cores- which sound like a perfect 6mm thing.

My 260 is slow - 1-10 twist I am trying to get 140's to shoot again. I know.....not optimum but MD showed me years ago they should be okay and my groups were good. Performance - outstanding.

I shot modest loads with H4831sc but am STILL not seeing things on the shelves or online that I hoped- and seems most thought- would be more readily available now. Was willing to find and retry some Nosler ballistics (shot well) but even those have been scarce. The Speer and Accurate loads are .....pffft so far.... Trying a few grains more of powder per Muledeers advice. Seemed to work on the 6mm but not the 260...yet.

Wish I could shoot more.

Lucky I still have a a little H4350 and a few Sierra's for the 260 and 270.

LR primers seem to be coming back a bit better now, but prices remain (and imo will continue remaining) salty. I've picked up some CCI200 online from PV and Natchez in the past month, and I finally saw some WLR at a LGS, so I snagged a few.

LGS had about 3/4 of brick, so I bought 400 @ $10/100 and left a few for someone else. First primers I'd seen in that shop in 2+ years... since I bought my last brick of WLR in there, and the price on those is $33.95

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product/imr-4350/

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/pro...hanger-polymer-tipped-spitzer-boat-tail/

I also give these a try in the ol 260

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product/hornady-264-6-5mm-129-gr-sp-100/

Far as 270 this is all you need these shoot extremely well out every 270 I shot them through

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product/hornady-277-6-8mm-140-gr-btsp-100/

A guy with any common sense who saw the shortages coming three years ago now would've stocked up, and should still be ok by and large. But, nobody can accurately read the future, and no gun loony can predict what new guns might catch his fancy and present a need for components that he doesn't have. I consider myself to have been somewhat farsighted back then but have acquired guns that require powder/primers/bullets that weren't on my radar when the stockpiling took place.

I figured it was coming, but 3-5 years ago I didn't have the budget for buying in quantity. I had focused more on brass and bullets since I had come into several new cartridges, when in hindsight I shoulda stocked up more on primers... oops.

With the exception of still needing to find some more WLR, I've gotten my primer stash into pretty healthy territory over the past year after things started popping up again here and there. I just keep buying a brick or two of the stuff I use as I come across them online. Most supplies are still unobtanium locally, so I was pleasantly surprised to find those WLR.

Got a thousand primers from Natchez a few days ago. I was excited

Natchez has had quite a bit in stock lately. I got some CCI200, Fed205 and Fed155 from them a couple weeks ago. They've even had some Remington lately.

I have enough components to keep me in elk meat for the rest of my life, and enough components to develop new loads for quite a while. If things don't change I may have to start rationing my shooting and playing with loads at some point though.

My concern is LR primers, although it 's good to hear some of you have found some recently. The info I have is most primer production is being directed towards SR and SP primers because that's what most military small arms use. Some of that production is being shunted off to commercial sales and that is why we are seeing more SR and SP primers on the market.

That seems to be the big issue with most.

I still haven't seen seeing much in the way of LRM online, but CCI-200, CCI-BR2, and Fed210 standards have been popping up here and there the past couple months... generally around $100 a brick, give or take.

I already had a couple of lifetime supplies of everything i use but bought several more lifetimes worth when it looked like osama was gonna get inigurated. After he got out of office and Trump was in availability went back to normal more or less so I bought another $3000.00 worth of primers and the same of powder. In hindsight I should have bought another $3000.00 worth split between 5744, IMR4320 , and RL 7. Price on 5744 has gone up a bunch , IMR 4320 is discontinued and RL 7 is just not to be found.

PV has had R7 in stock recently. Out of stock currently, but I know they had some in the past week or two.

I did as some have mentioned and just watched the political climate change and stayed ahead of that game. I had friends that reloaded and they had mentioned that sometimes during and after an election it would cause some issues. I started reloading back in 2001. So I payed attention to those tid bits. People buy expensive houses, cars, phones, vacations and all manner of income draining BullChit and then cry about no ammo or even components when they had CRAP TONS of time to get some shooting supplies.

Lots of military pulldown powders work very well and cheap. Primers ....dont need alot unless your super anal about accuracy and thats all up to you. Hunting development and that is all during times like now. Maybe and I mean maybe 25-30 rounds total. I am not looking for gilt edge accuracy just 200-250 yard shooting distance and 1 1/2"- 1 3/4" groups at 100 and I that is it...I stop. Did that with a new 300 win mag in October of last year and got a buck opening day. The month Biden was elected I bought a new Browning 270 WSM and found all I could want for it. Buying it at that time had nothing to do with the election I just had planned it that way and that is how it ended up.

Anyway, It does not take 100's of rounds a year to stay proficient.

I shoot my buckmark .22LR if I get the itch for a pistol shoot on a good afternoon. Or I pop a few mags of 9mm out of G17 (handloads) at steel. Its not alot and it does not have to be either.
Pellet guns offer A CHIT TON of cheap azz fun and especially practice of the basics of marksmanship. Does not need primers. Does not need powder. Does not need brass. Just air and a relaxing afternoon of your time.

Best
HeavyDove

79S thanks for the tip on powder valley. I suppose I could go back to IMR 4350 for some things - at least I have proven loads- and H4831sc for heavier bullets.

So far Iam having a hard time warming up to Accurate 4350

True, sort of, if all one does is use a rifle to hunt with. Untrue, for sure, if handloading/experimenting/target shooting/competition/etc. is one's passion in life.

That's definitely true... I hunt a little, and always keep a small stash of hunting rounds aside for my cartridges, but I punch paper and steel a lot more.

It doesn't take long to rip through primers working up loads and playing around after you get a good one dialed in. Some cartridges are powder sippers, but unfortunately they're all 1 for 1 on primers.

I use a lot of IMR 4350, does well for me. It ain’t the fastest, but all the deer, aoudads, and pigs I’ve shot haven’t said one bad thing !!

I’m sure that in 5-10 years there will be countless threads about how we shoulda stocked up back in the post pandemic days when primers were $100/1000…the good old days.

I’ll continue to buy and lay in more stores but I don’t have to rush and I can afford to wait for decent prices or sales.

I was smart enough to stock up here and there, and over 4 years added up to quite a bit... was buying primers when I was up in Eugene or Potlandia, and would stop at Cabelas, primers at $15 a brick....same with powder, I'd buy it when it was on sale...

bullets in bulk aren't a problem under Joe, not like powder and primers, everyone is now trying to hoard.. at $100 a brick or more...
I've had one theft of primers and powder, by someone I've trusted for decades.. they were over here and hard times I guess makes good people start doing bad things... did find out who ( which ones) they were eventually.. got into drugs in a hard way.. they are over in Idaho now, with the states of Oregon, California, Nevada and Washington looking for them.... so that is a down side...If I could even find the stuff for sale.. it would run me $10K or more to replace it all now... down side of planning ahead...

I spend a lot of range time... but am shooting 223 and using shotgun powder as usual...been using Unique a lot over the last year... get almost 800 rounds out of a pound of that....but still able to hit steel gongs at 300 and 400 yds pretty consistently...

Under Trump most weren't buying much.. I didn't go crazy, was just consistent and buying when prices were pretty low...

If another democRAT doesn't get in after Biden, I should make it to my good time of life I'll have left...I should be thankful for that...

I’m re-organizing my loading area. Once I started, I was pretty amazed at all the bullets I have. Really need to shoot those up. Probably have enough primers to do that too.

9mm and .223 are getting pretty cheap. My go-for-it price is $.30 for 9s and $.60 for the .223. Not worth loading for either at those prices. I try for the aluminum 9s so I don’t have to pick up the cases. Can’t quite bring myself to leave my brass from either round on the ground.

Just got email from palmetto 9mm .28, 22rf .08.
Ordered a pile.

Figured that out long ago. Save the stuff for what matters. I bought a sh*t load of 223 55 gr for 23 cents and 62 for 28. Picked up a bunch of Norma awhile back 55’s were 38 and 62’s were 43 + free shipping. 9mm & 380 been taking advantage of sales + free shipping. They been running ~28-32 cents shipped.

You can’t have too much reloading supplies in my opinion.

I have been fortunate in the past that I was asked to sell off reloading components and equipment for the wives of friends that had past . I was told to keep some of what I could use and sell the remainder. Which I did.

I have enough loaded ammo to last me the next few years for deer, elk, and antelope, even if my health gets better. Probably 5 years is max for any more hunting. I have several thousands LR, LP, SP primers and have not had much use for SR. Since acquiring an AR, my stash of SR is about 700, but I have a few thousand Mag SP that I can use if I need.I have more than enough Varget, m4350 H4831, W231 and 2400 to meet any of my shooting needs . Enough 22rf and .357 bullets covered too.

With the price of diesel fuel and the range an 80 mile round trip though , I won't be doing much though.

Probably y wife is going to have heck of sale one of these days.

About 99% of the time I pul the trigger, an arrow goes flying. Problem solved and I enjoy it too.

Norma .223 in the 30-round box shoots pretty well in my Mini-14 and can be found for about $15 pretty often. I just dump a bunch in a plastic ammo can and take that to the range, same as the aluminum 9s. This is kinda new for me. Before I always loaded some, shot ‘em, back to the bench.