I think we all know smokeless powder for shotguns use is hard to come by these days. We all speculate on a cause or hear various stories of why. A retailer in powder, other components and ammunition etc spoke with me yesterday. He asked me to not use his or his companies name. He was quite discouraged having received a partial order of powder, one small bottle of 800-x. He called his wholesale distributor to ask what is going on, how much longer etc. The wholesale distributor was upset as well as his customers are climbing up his butt too. The wholesale distributor told the person I spoke with yesterday that his contact at a major powder company told him the government has and continues to purchase 85 to 90% of their entire production and we are doing the best we can. Third hand information, rumor, sure it is, but it is what I heard from a retailer I know and spoke with. Why wouldn't powder makers tell us this, fear of IRS audits, OSHA inspections, cancellation of government orders to their parent companies perhaps? If it is true it will eventually come out. I am not sure what to think but the scarcity and duration of the scarcity of almost all shotgun powder and 22 rimfire is difficult to explain. I am not intending nor want to turn this thread into a political commentary. My point is powder is scarce and it may be scarce for some time to come, buy it when you see it is my advice.
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