Alliant Reloder
Alliant Reloder 15
Alliant's all-around medium-speed rifle powder, with strong .223 and .308 performance and silhouette shooting as a secondary use.
The most respected number in the Reloder line, with a genuine service pedigree — it was the propellant selected for a US military long-range sniper load — and a deep reputation in .308 Winchester and heavy-bullet .223. It carries a de-coppering additive, meters reasonably for an extruded, and has produced match accuracy for decades. Its honest weakness is that it predates the TZ formulations: it moves with temperature more than the Varget-class powders do, which is precisely the gap Alliant built RL TS 15.5 to fill. It has also been effectively unavailable through the recent shortage, and users warn that the successor product is a different powder rather than a renamed one — old impressions and old data do not carry across.
- .308 Winchester match loads
- service rifle competition
- heavy-bullet .223 Remington
- .30-30 Winchester
Who has Alliant Reloder 15 today
Checked October 10Out of stock at every store we track
| Store | Size | Shelf | In hand /lb | Stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lohman ArmsHazmat charged, amount not published | 5 lb | $180.95 | $42.48 est. | Out |
| Graf & Sons$23.50 hazmat per package | 5 lb | $298.99 | $67.29 | Out |
| Lohman ArmsHazmat charged, amount not published | 1 lb | $39.95 | $71.39 est. | Out |
| Bruno Shooters Supply$26.95 hazmat + $19.95 ship | 5 lb | $331.99 | $75.78 | Out |
| Graf & Sons$23.50 hazmat per package | 1 lb | $65.99 | $103.44 | Out |
| Bruno Shooters Supply$26.95 hazmat + $19.95 ship | 1 lb | $70.99 | $117.89 | Out |
“In hand” is the shelf price plus that store’s hazmat fee and shipping, spread over one container. Stock is checked once a day — confirm on the store’s page before ordering. Compare all powders →
Specifications
| Manufacturer | Alliant |
|---|---|
| Product family | Alliant Reloder |
| Status | Currently produced |
| Application | rifle |
| Grain form | extruded |
| Lee VMD (bulk density) | 0.0706 cc per grain · 0.92 g/cc |
| Burn-rate position | 124 of 198 (fastest = 1) — what this means |
| Typical cartridges | .223 Remington, .308 Winchester, .30-30 Winchester |
Grain shape
Medium-length extruded sticks; the web thickness of the extrusion sets the burn rate and holds burning surface far steadier than a flake, which is what a bottleneck rifle case needs. Sticks bridge in a drop tube and get sheared by a measure's cutting edge, so thrown charges spread more than a spherical and serious loads get trickled.
Why geometry decides burn rate more than chemistry does: Shape Is the Product.
Alliant notes it was selected for the US military's M118 special ball long-range sniper round, and that it contains a de-coppering agent. Good in short-action calibers and high-velocity varmint loads.
Burn rate
The centre of the medium rifle range.
Chart agreement: consistent across charts - listed in the same relative neighbourhood by every publisher that carries it Ranked by: Hodgdon, Alliant, Vihtavuori, Shooters World, Wolfe/LoadData.
Powders charted near it — neighbours on the chart are not substitutes, and adjacency tells you nothing about what charge either one takes:
- Accurate 4064 (position 121)
- Shooters World Tactical Rifle (position 122)
- Accurate 2520 (position 123)
- Norma 203-B (position 125)
- Shooters World Match Rifle (position 126)
- Vihtavuori N140 (position 127)
What reloaders say about it
Unverified community anecdote. The following is a summary of what handloaders report in public forums. It is not manufacturer information, it has not been tested, it may be wrong, and it contains no load data by design. Treat it as colour, not guidance.
The Reloder line is discussed almost entirely through the lens of scarcity. Long-time users of RL15 in .308 report not having seen it in years, and treat the reformulated successor as an unknown they have not been able to try.
- strong historical reputation for .308 and service-rifle use
- reported as essentially gone from shelves
- reformulation to a successor product leaves users unsure whether old impressions still apply
Availability: Consistently reported as unavailable through 2025-2026. Users connect this to military propellant demand and to a broader shortage of highly nitrated nitrocellulose rather than to any one conflict.
Reported cautions:
- Users explicitly warn that the successor product is a different powder, not a renamed one — impressions and data from the original should not be carried over.
Consensus level: commonly held. Drawn from thread 1, thread 2.
Sources
The specifications above come from Alliant's own published documentation, linked below. The two “RCM's read” sections are ours, not theirs — our assessment of what this powder is like to load, drawn from its published characteristics and from what handloaders consistently report. No manufacturer endorses them and no source below backs them. If you think we have one wrong, tell us — we would rather fix it.