What was your first powder buy?

[BNE]

Blue Dot for a 44 mag. It was 1999.

[maglvr]

UNIQUE, never regretted it one bit!

[waco]

I think it was a can of Varget for my .22-250 in 1999

[thehouseproduct]

I think it was a can of Varget for my .22-250 in 1999

Mine was varget when I realized how much match 308 ammo cost. I just purchased my 15th pound now.

[wistlepig1]

Red dot (1969)

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Early 1960's. My brother and I drove up 20 miles to Godfrey Reloading in Godfrey, Ill, and paid 95-cents a pound for surplus H4831. It cost a nickel more if you wanted it in a quart paint can.

[Newtire]

1-square cardboard can of AL-5 and a steel can of Red Dot for 12 gauge in Davenport, Iowa, along with a Lee Hand Tool Loader at the tender age of 16.

[Got-R-Did]

1 lb of Bullseye, 1969, from the Rod & Gun Club in Giessen, W. Germany, with the help of my Father (USArmy Ret. E-7). I was 9 yrs old and shopping like the Big Dogs. We loaded .38 Spls with a Lee Loader. The cartridges looked like hell since we didn't have a way to polish the cases, but they all went bang.
Still at it today after all these years and countless pounds of propellant, primer, bullets, etc consumed!!!
Got-R-Did.

[troutman]

Red dot for loading shotguns for skeet & doves. 1982? Still use the Pw press mostly use Promo now since it is basically same. Hercules back then. Bought a 4 lb. about the same time which followed me around for about 10 years while I wasn't shooting trying to get a start in life w family.

[troutman]

What exactly is "surplus" powder and how do you buy it?

[CPL Lou]

Hercules Reloader 11
Was for my 30-30 back in 1979

CPL Lou

[Crusty Deary Ol'Coot]

troutman,

Much of the surplus powder that I know about is that such as Jeff Bartlett sells. Pull down powder taken from loaded ammo.

I believe he also has some which probably came from overruns from places like ammo manufactures and was not loaded.

It is usually NOT the standard canister powders we typically know and use.

Hodgon must have sold tons and tons of what we know as 4831, after WW II.

Some was repackaged and sold and some would be like the 10lbs of bulk 4831 that a friend and I bought in a paper bag from Lolos in Lewiston, Idaho. $.50 a LB. They were scooping it out of a cardboard keg that must have held 50 or 100lbs.

Those were the days! Bulk surplus powder and Speer rejects sold by the LB at Lolos.

Likely other sources also, but if you go to the Jeff Bartlett web site, you can see how and what he has available.

The costs for surplus powders are not always worthy it, depending on what they have and what the cost is.

Crusty Deary Ol'Coot

[1950Hudson]

Mid 70s, 20#Keg of Unique to feed the .45 I had back then. Shot in the old subterranean range at Foothills Shooting Center in Lakewood, CO. I guess it's still there and it was a neat place to shoot because they had a 100 yard indoor rifle bay. Ventilation was not up to modern standards back then, and I remember coming home and blowing unburned powder flakes out of my nose for a day after shooting there. Yes, those were the days.

Surplus powder used to be a resource, but like everything else, it's gone into hiding. Jeff Bartlett doesn't have anything except some 4831 substitute and a bunch of magnum rifle powder. Nothing suitable for pistol or smaller rifle cases. Spoke to Brian McDonald, another supplier of milsup powder and the situation is the same. Both companies have some brass and bullets, but no powder and no estimate when any is due in.

[SciFiJim]

Places to look for surplus powders.

http://www.wideners.com/itemview.cfm?dir=278|283|999

http://www.patsreloading.com/patsrel...ategory=Powder

http://www.gibrass.com/gunpowder.html

http://hi-techammo.com/

[trys357]

Red Dot 1965 and a LEE loader for my 16 gauge double barrel.

[gwozdz]

My first powder was Herter's 101. Got it in 1968 and I believe it cost less than 2 bucks.

[boatworks]

A pound of Bullseye and a 38 cal Lee loader, 1978 in Caribou Maine. Still have the empty can, they have changed the design at least twice since then.

[brasshog]

Reloader #7 for 30-30 in 1994 from our local gunshop. The same day I purchased my beloved Springfield 1911, my first lee single stage press, 300 primers, a Dywer Group Gripper, a memory groove beavertail, a Nosler Manual, and a pack of Wilson Shok Buffs I believe. I saw the receipt's the other day in my 1994 Nosler reloading book. I still have all of the packages except the #7 somewhere too. Guess I need to clean out some drawers lol.

[skeet028]

1st shotgun Powder was a can of Red Dot. Think it cost 2.95. First rifle powder was a 100 lb can of 4831 Surplus..70 bucks delivered Railway express. I was too young to sign for it. Hell I went to pick it up on a bicycle. I did have rope to tie it on with. LOL Wish I still had the bicycle... and the powder

[Mark Daiute]

I had an aunt give me some $$$ for Christmas and had my Dad take me to Harveys Pawn. Bought a Lee loader in 30/06, a box of primers (100 seemed like a lot then),a box of 150 grn Sierra bullets and a # of IMR4064. This all occured in
1960-61. I still have the empty can. Plus the first can of 2400,Unique and Green Dot. I get warm fuzzys just holding the first ones.......Who would have thought I'd still be doing the same things 50+ years later.

BTW,An M-1 carbine and a press with dies came next year. Casting boolits to feed the hungry beast came that same year.......I got checked by the sheriff soon after as I had found a "flash hider" and a couple 30 round mags. It looked "evil" to someone as I rode my bicycle the 2-3 miles thru town to go shoot.........try that today!

This is on my bucket list for 2014 and I have every intention of doing it, only it will be my Krag.