Powder find?

While traveling the pacific northwest I stopped in a sporting goods store and found some Bullseye and Unique powder.  Is this type of random powder availability normal or is it just now that supply is getting back to normal?

No BE where I am for a long time.  Local shop owner says his supplier indicated maybe in the spring BE will come available

It appears randomly.  I walked through a Bass Pro Shop in San Antonio yesterday and saw 5 or 6 1-pounders of Bullseye on the shelf.  They had no more than 10 containers of other powders.

Sorry I didn't mention it before but this is the sporting goods store that had the powder.  Besides buying the Unique and Bullseye I also picked up a container of Power Pistol.  Any opinions on this powder?
http://tillamooksportinggoods.com/

Ive had good luck finding it, but I don't use a lot, so maybe ive been lucky. I had a tough time finding Bullseye BEFORE the shortage, but my first visit to the shop looking during it, they had it. Granted its not pistol powder... but after getting my Marlin 336 in 30-30 I went looking for 3031 and found it no problem. I have been at a loss to find Unique though. But granted I haven't looked for a few months. Its seemed to me that if you open yourself up to a second or third option for powders to use, you will luck out and find something.

Yesterday in the local Sportsman's, there were THREE 1-lb jugs of Bullseye AND an 8-pounder!

A. I just bought a second pound of something else that's working okay last Friday or so;

and

B. BE powder is such UNobtanium locally; 

AND

C. I've never used BE so far thanks to great results with W-W 231 (now also UNobtanium) and making do with Power Pistol for a few hunnert rounds last year.

So I left it all there.

First time I've seen any BE for probably two years or more.

Bass Pro must have gotten a big shipment of Bullseye in 1# containers.  I was in the Ft. Myers, FL store on Sept. 12 and there were about a dozen cans on the shelf..........let's just say there were a few less, but still some, when I left.  There were maybe a dozen cans of all the other powders they had that day.

1 LB contianers! Add that restriction to our list of "tribulations'!

Ron Habegger

I bought the only two pounds of BE that I found in the past year, and the only pound of Unique I found since 2012.
I scored 2 pounds of HP-38 today.
They have 2 more pounds of it. I plan on going back to get them. They have a 2 bottle limit on powder purchases, due to to supply problems.

I've been using Red Dot as a replacement for BE and it's worked well for me.
Now I have HP-38 as well.............

Now, for a Unique replacement. Seems CFE Pistol gives velocities similar to Unique, if not a little higher. At least I have a couple of pounds of it.

My biggest problems are finding HBWCs to load for my 52-1, and .45 Colt brass to load for my Ruger BH.

Of course, now the Red/Green/Blue Dot powders have dried up.
Guess every other reloader in the area learned that those three can be used to load pretty much all the different handgun rounds.

the company that makes hp38 also owns the licence for Winchester powder and it is the same powder sold under the  Winchester brand as W231, good bullseye loading info is available.

DavidR wrote:the company that makes hp38 also owns the licence for Winchester powder and it is the same powder sold under the  Winchester brand as W231, good bullseye loading info is available.

Well, 231 WAS my standard powder for all non-Magnum pistol loading since about 1987.  Even have some .45 bullseye course loads for it, and a pretty good plated bullet .38 Special load.

But I've seen only three 1-lb jugs of it in the past three years but bought only one of them. Based on what's STILL NOT appearing on the shelves, plus my desire to not order powder on-line, I just might be standardizing on 700-X from now on.

Wherever all that 231/HP38 is going, it's not coming to my parts of the world...

GrumpyOldMan wrote:

DavidR wrote:the company that makes hp38 also owns the licence for Winchester powder and it is the same powder sold under the  Winchester brand as W231, good bullseye loading info is available.

Well, 231 WAS my standard powder for all non-Magnum pistol loading since about 1987.  Even have some .45 bullseye course loads for it, and a pretty good plated bullet .38 Special load.

But I've seen only three 1-lb jugs of it in the past three years but bought only one of them. Based on what's STILL NOT appearing on the shelves, plus my desire to not order powder on-line, I just might be standardizing on 700-X from now on.

Wherever all that 231/HP38 is going, it's not coming to my parts of the world...

I suppose the pdr co's are the same as the .22 rf mfgr's, running flat out, 24-7, but NOBODY has any of the pdr or ammo from all this production!?

AND remington is supposed to be bringing a new factory on line for rimfire? I was hopin' that enough people  would jump on it so there would be a little CCI & Aguila left that I might get a few meager rounds.

Ron Habegger