Hodgdons new shotgun powders
- Thread starter Tomme boy
- Start date
Ian
Notorious member
I think I've given up on nitro powders. Companies can't keep the ones we know in stock and keep putting new ones on the market that we either can't get or are too damned expensive. If they'd spend half the effort to produce Varget/ H335/H322/Universal/Clays/Titegroup that they do on r&d and marketing of new stuff we'd all be happy. Steve Garbe was right.
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
not to mention 2400 and Reloder 7, Give 'em hell Ian!
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I'm completely baffled by their marketing.... strategy(?).
Can't keep up making what people want and need but keep coming up with new, dandy do-dads (powders and cartridges) anyway. USUALLY, you come up with something new because sales are stagnant/slow/down and you are looking to liven things up. When things are already this lively, making up new stuff (inferior copies of existing things), you're just wasting resources and throwing opportunities away.
I've lost all faith in almost all of our component manufacturers.
How about:
A new powder you can make at home, kids, with stuff from your kitchen and garage!
A bush that grows primers!
50# spools of cartridge brass wire you can use in your 3D printer to make your own brass!
Man! Those ideas are dumb enough that I could probably get ajob top position, working for the component manufacturers!
Yeah, I'm feeling surly too.
Can't keep up making what people want and need but keep coming up with new, dandy do-dads (powders and cartridges) anyway. USUALLY, you come up with something new because sales are stagnant/slow/down and you are looking to liven things up. When things are already this lively, making up new stuff (inferior copies of existing things), you're just wasting resources and throwing opportunities away.
I've lost all faith in almost all of our component manufacturers.
How about:
A new powder you can make at home, kids, with stuff from your kitchen and garage!
A bush that grows primers!
50# spools of cartridge brass wire you can use in your 3D printer to make your own brass!
Man! Those ideas are dumb enough that I could probably get a
Yeah, I'm feeling surly too.
Snakeoil
Well-Known Member
My guess is the ammo people contract with them to develop new powders for new ammo. Military might play a role in this too. Then they take what someone paid them to develop and market it commercially.
I have to agree that you would think that they would have a line dedicated to what sells in the highest volume. I've never seen any marketing where one powder maker tries to outdo the other. Popularity seems to be driven by what works. Varget is a great example. F-class guys love it. I am told that one of the people "in the business" that I know has hundreds of pounds of Varget.
I have to agree that you would think that they would have a line dedicated to what sells in the highest volume. I've never seen any marketing where one powder maker tries to outdo the other. Popularity seems to be driven by what works. Varget is a great example. F-class guys love it. I am told that one of the people "in the business" that I know has hundreds of pounds of Varget.
Ian
Notorious member
Don't get me started on Alliant......
fiver
Well-Known Member
they are from St-Marks.
quick and easy to produce.
they are pretty close to the red-dot and a slowish green-dot burn speeds.
i've talked to a couple of guys that actually have a jug in hand... and the price was decent.
i'd get some if i seen it in person.
chuckle.
what sells the best in the highest volume is red-dot.
Alliant could make a half million dollars a day every day by simply putting some on the shelves.
they kind of busy running the lake city plant though.
quick and easy to produce.
they are pretty close to the red-dot and a slowish green-dot burn speeds.
i've talked to a couple of guys that actually have a jug in hand... and the price was decent.
i'd get some if i seen it in person.
chuckle.
what sells the best in the highest volume is red-dot.
Alliant could make a half million dollars a day every day by simply putting some on the shelves.
they kind of busy running the lake city plant though.
Reloader762
Active Member
Are Alliant powders hard for you guys to acquire? My little hole in the wall reloading supplier has all the Alliant powders on a pretty regular basis, although at around $10 higher per lb. than they were a couple of years ago. H4198 or H4895 are the powders that are impossible to get, luckily I have a couple lbs. of each put back for specific loads I use those powders with.
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Pretty much the same here, Alliant powders common and IMR impossible to find without regard to price. I haven't seen 4895 in at least five years.
quicksylver
Well-Known Member
If shot gunners don't use it , it ain't on the shelves here
richhodg66
Well-Known Member
No Alliant powders around here in years.
richhodg66
Well-Known Member
What, exactly, does Hogdon expect to do with the introduction of these new powders? Seems like 700X, Red Dot, etc. have well established themselves. Hard to figure they've developed something significantly better.
I think @Tomme boy nailed it - the powder companies make big batches of powder, somewhat close to something they did the last time and the ammo companies test it and adjust charges to the new "lot."
MAYBE...
1) An indication that ammo production might be slowing and they have a bunch of whatever it is left;
2) They are getting lazy and don't want to have to mess with the concept of "canister powders" these days;
3) The "newer/cooler" concept of outdoing what's established is the in-vogue way of feeding powder into our corner of the market, which also neglects the concept of "canister powders."
My money is mostly on 2 and 3, but I wouldn't discount 1 being a "problem" presented in a meeting and some "good idea people" simply stated the obvious (2 and 3) as a solution. Win, win, win and Joe, the good idea fairy gets suck-up points in front of the boss in the meeting for being a genius.
Cynical? Yes!
Realistic? Absolutely!
I've BEEN in those meetings. Maybe not in the ammo and component industry, but I've BEEN in those meetings.