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Unique not available

2K views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  Deaconfrost 
#1 ·
One of the local sporting goods outlets has had Unique on the shelves most of the time until about February or March. When I was in there yesterday looking for what they had for powder, I was able to talk to one of the guys who have been there forever. He said that they have been told they will not be able to get any Unique for the rest of the year because Alliant has received a government contract. Has anybody else heard this from your section of the world?
 
#2 ·
Not much in the way of pistol powders is available at ALL. It's rare that you'll find a tub, except the odd 1lb can, and typically twice the old price. Good luck!

JW
 
#3 ·
Some of the shotgun powders have quite a few pistol loads.

I've been using 700X for over 25 years to load .45acp, and you can load practically any pistol caliber with it.

I'll likely be loading 9X19mm with it when my VV N320 runs out.

Bullseye is another "old" powder than you can load most any pistol caliber with.
 
#4 ·
Powder is more available than the worst part, but its still pretty bad. I tried about 1 1/2 to 2 years before I could buy a pound of Hodgdon 4895, that's the powder I use in 30-06, 7.62x54R, and 8mm Mauser, finally got that. I'm not out yet but I'm the shortest on WW231, I've been trying to buy a pound of that for several months with no joy. I use WW231 in almost all of my pistol calibers. 22 rimfire? FUGGET ABOUT IT....
 
#5 ·
No. "The government" doesn't reload their pistol ammo, that's just crazy talk.
 
#6 ·
The Government sources ammunition by contract to various manufactures to meet Mil-Spec. Those manufactures use a non canister grade of propellant to meet the contract parameters.

The availability of "Reloading Grade Canister Powder/Propellant" is reappearing. I purchased recently two 1LB containers of Unique. The price per pound was approxmently $27 dollar range with tax.
 
#7 ·
Honestly, I think in this day in age you just need to be able to roll with the punches as a reloader. IMHO, the days are gone when you can work up your favorite load and then never buy a different powder again. Buy what pistol powder you can find, work up a load with it, and use it until it's gone.

Be happy that at least primers are usually on the shelf now.
 
#9 ·
I was lucky last week, and with the help of a member on another forum found a source for VV N320 powder.

After a little over 200 mile round trip; I got five pounds of the powder, plus 1000 9mm cases, and 1000 small pistol primers.

I had plenty of brass and primers; but their prices on those were pretty good.

Their powder prices are a bit high; but at least they have some.
 
#10 ·
A little powder showing up, after trying a long time, I dropped by a local dealer on Friday and low and behold they had WW231! I almost left skid marks whipping out my credit card! :yes
 
#11 · (Edited)
Not Me!!

I shot competition for years and reloaded my own ammo. When the latest insanity started, I decided that I had had enough and sold all of my reloading equipment. Still have some .38 and .44 caliber hard cast lead bullets, lead and primers laying around, but the rest is all gone. Factory ammo works fine for me now days.

If I ever get back into it, I will invest in a Dillon Precision progressive press. A friend had one of those and I was very impressed with it!! After the first five pulls on the handle; every pull after that resulted in a nice shiny new loaded bullet falls out of the press. That is the way to do it!!!

However, like when my kids were growing up, I had a lot better things to spend my money on. I now have three grand kids and one more on the way. Reloading equipment just took a giant slide down the list of priorities. It is at least number 5 now. Maybe even farther down the list!!!! :yes:yes:yes:crazy:
 
#12 ·
I just bought a pound of Unique at the LGS this week from their weekly arrival. There was also 3 pounds of Bullseye that came in but that was long gone by the time I got there (about 2 minutes after they opened up). That tells me that Alliant may be starting to trickle up their cannister allotments after fulfilling their loaded ammo commitments. That's 2 weeks in a row that they got any Alliant pistol/shotgun powder. The midwest (Ohio) seems to have a disproportional allotment of powders as it seems folks from there have found lots of powder in select locations.

I have a feeling that the big shortage will end this fall unless there is another SHTF panic run. I will be holding off and will not buy at crazy prices until I really run out of powder. At that time I will evaluate whether it is cheaper to buy loaded ammo, buy powder at inflated prices or simply slow down on my shooting.
 
#14 ·
Depending on when I go, I've been able to find a decent amount of Titegroup, W231, Power Pistol, Bullseye, CFE Pistol, Autocomp, and a good amount of rifle powder at a local outdoor store but that was hit or miss. They also had a "1lb per person rule until a week or 2 ago. Hopefully that's a good sign. I just bought the last can of WSF that a local guy had but I can't find any VVN320 or any of those. The guy I got the WSF from has a decent selection and even some I haven't seen in a long time, such as Blue Dot, Alliant Steel, Varget, and some others but it is a little bit pricey for some of them. Hopefully we'll start seeing more because I really want to try N320 and maybe the CFE Pistol.
 
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