Bottom line
The Small Rifle band runs from Accurate 5744 through H380 and Big Game on the merged chart — the .223, .300 Blackout, Grendel, .308 and benchrest powders. It had the best fill rate of the four editions: 75% of Graf's listings in stock on 27 September, against 63% for the whole catalog, and 39 of the band's 58 powders in stock at Hodgdon direct, Graf's or Lohman on every day we sampled.
The every-day list is the modern AR and .308 canon: H335, CFE 223, BL-C(2), TAC, 2230, 2460, 2520, 8208 XBR, Benchmark, H322, H4895, Varget, 748, StaBALL Match, the Vihtavuori N100 line from N120 to N140 plus N540, the Blackout powders (1680, CFE BLK, LT-30, Shooters World Blackout and SOCOM), LEVERevolution, and — unusually for their brands — IMR 3031, Reloder 7 and Reloder 10X.
The never list is the older extruded canon: IMR 4198 and H4198, IMR 4895, IMR 4064, 4166, Reloder 15 and TS 15.5, AR-Comp, Power Pro Varmint and 1200-R, Accurate 4064 and 5744, N530, X-Terminator, Big Game, and all four Norma rifle powders (200, 201, 202, 203-B). Prices did not move: Graf's median for the band was $51.99 in August and $51.99 now.
Cheapest in stock
Shelf price per pound, cheapest in-stock listing on 27 September at Hodgdon direct, Graf & Sons and Lohman Arms. Every row but the last two is an 8 lb jug, which is where this band is bought.
- Hodgdon LEVERevolution
- Hodgdon H380
- Accurate 2230
- Accurate 2200
- Accurate 2520
- Hodgdon H335
- Hodgdon BL-C(2)
- Accurate 2460
- Hodgdon CFE BLK
- Ramshot TAC
- Hodgdon CFE 223
- Vihtavuori N140
| Powder | Cheapest $/lb | Size | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hodgdon LEVERevolution | $34.88 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Hodgdon H380 | $40.72 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Accurate 2230 | $41.40 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Accurate 2200 | $41.40 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Accurate 2520 | $41.50 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Hodgdon H335 | $42.50 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Hodgdon BL-C(2) | $42.50 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Accurate 2460 | $42.56 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Hodgdon CFE BLK | $42.62 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Ramshot TAC | $43.25 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Hodgdon CFE 223 | $43.59 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Vihtavuori N120 · N130 · N133 · N135 · N140 | $44.62 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Accurate 1680 | $44.75 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Winchester 748 | $45.25 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Shooters World Match Rifle · AR-Plus | $47.25 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| IMR 8208 XBR | $51.25 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Hodgdon Benchmark | $51.52 | 8 lb | Lohman |
| Hodgdon Varget | $52.12 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Hodgdon H322 | $53.37 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Hodgdon H4895 | $53.75 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| IMR 3031 | $54.87 | 8 lb | Graf's |
| Alliant Reloder 10X | $48.79 | 1 lb | Graf's |
| Alliant Reloder 7 | $79.99 | 1 lb | Graf's |
If you load .223 or .308 on a ball powder or an Extreme powder, September was a month with nothing to report. If you load on IMR 4064 or Reloder 15, it was another month without one.
Two tiers, and a plant behind each. The $41–45 tier is ball powder — St. Marks (H335, BL-C(2), CFE 223, the Accurate 22xx grades, H380) and Belgian (TAC) — plus the Finnish N140 and a Hodgdon–Hornady blend. The $51–55 tier is the Australian extruded line: Varget, H4895, Benchmark, H322, 8208 XBR. That $10-a-pound step is the price of stick powder in a ball-powder market, and it has been there since August. Reloder 7 at $79.99 in a one-pound can is what an Alliant powder costs when a retailer has one.
Availability by maker
Share of each maker's Small Rifle-band listings in stock on 27 September at the three retailers. IMR's six in-stock listings are 8208 XBR and 3031; Alliant's three are Reloder 7, Reloder 10X and Power Pro 2000-MR.
- ○5744 — never in stock
- ●1680 — in stock every day
- ●Blackout — in stock every day
- ●LT-30 — in stock every day
- ●CFE BLK — in stock every day
- ○200 — never in stock
- ●2200 — in stock every day
- ●Reloder 7 — in stock every day
- ●LT-32 — in stock every day
- ○4198 — never in stock
- ○H4198 — never in stock
- ●SOCOM — in stock every day
- ●N120 — in stock every day
- ○201 — never in stock
- ○Power Pro 1200-R — never in stock
- ●N130 — in stock every day
- ●H322 — in stock every day
- ●2015 — in stock every day
- ●Reloder 10x — in stock every day
- ●3031 — in stock every day
- ●N133 — in stock every day
- ●Benchmark — in stock every day
- ●H335 — in stock every day
- ○X-Terminator — never in stock
- ●AR-Plus — in stock every day
- ●2230 — in stock every day
- ●2460 — in stock every day
- ●8208 XBR — in stock every day
- ○AR-Comp — never in stock
- ●TAC — in stock every day
- ○Power Pro Varmint — never in stock
- ●H4895 — in stock every day
- ○N530 — never in stock
- ○4895 — never in stock
- ●N135 — in stock every day
- ●2495 — in stock every day
- ○Enduron 4166 — never in stock
- ○4064 — never in stock
- ○202 — never in stock
- ○4064 — never in stock
- ●Tactical Rifle — in stock every day
- ●2520 — in stock every day
- ○Reloder 15 — never in stock
- ○203-B — never in stock
- ●Match Rifle — in stock every day
- ●N140 — in stock every day
- ●Precision Rifle — in stock every day
- ●Varget — in stock every day
- ●748 — in stock every day
- ●StaBALL Match — in stock every day
- ●BL-C(2) — in stock every day
- ●N540 — in stock every day
- ●CFE 223 — in stock every day
- ○Reloder TS 15.5 — never in stock
- ●Power Pro 2000-MR — in stock every day
- ●LEVERevolution — in stock every day
- ●H380 — in stock every day
- ○Big Game — never in stock
| Maker | Listings | In stock | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shooters World | 12 | 12 | 100% |
| Hodgdon | 66 | 54 | 82% |
| Winchester | 10 | 8 | 80% |
| Vihtavuori | 16 | 12 | 75% |
| Accurate | 44 | 30 | 68% |
| IMR | 34 | 6 | 18% |
| Ramshot | 12 | 2 | 17% |
| Alliant | 25 | 3 | 12% |
| Norma | 4 | 0 | 0% |
Ramshot at 17% is the surprise in this table, because Ramshot is Belgian ball powder from PB Clermont and has no feedstock excuse. TAC was there every day; X-Terminator and Big Game were not, on any day. Whether that is Hodgdon (Ramshot's U.S. distributor) allocating a limited import to its best seller, or simply two slow movers between shipments, one month cannot say. Two would.
Prices and the bulk discount
Three moves touched the band. At Graf's, Shooters World Match Rifle and AR-Plus 8 lb both went $389.99 → $378.00 (−3.1%). At Bruno, LEVERevolution 1 lb went $44.09 → $41.29 (−6.4%). Hodgdon direct did not change a rifle price.
The median 8 lb saving is 9.8%. The deep discounts are Lohman's — 748 at 40% off the can price, AR-Comp at 31%, LT-32 at 25% — and 748 and LT-32 were in stock, which makes 748 at $45.25 a pound in the jug at Graf's, and cheaper still at Lohman when it is in, one of the quiet bargains of the month for .223 and .308 ball-powder loaders. Two pairs are inverted: Power Pro 2000-MR at Graf's (−3%) and Accurate 2495 at Lohman (−1%).
Late in the window
Bruno's 26 September sale
Thirty-seven listings from this band carried Bruno's sale tag on 26–27 September, 34 of them shown in stock by Bruno's own flag (which we are not yet using for the figures above). The prices are $5–8 a pound under the table above: H380 8 lb at $32.50, 2230 8 lb at $34.02, 2200 8 lb at $36.61, BL-C(2) 8 lb at $37.50, N135 8 lb at $38.06, H335 8 lb at $38.25, N133 8 lb at $39.42, H322 8 lb at $40.37, 2015 8 lb at $41.25. One retailer's clearance; if the flags are right, it is the cheapest .223 powder we have recorded.
What to do with this
- .223 / 5.56 on H335, CFE 223, TAC, BL-C(2) or 2230: buy on schedule. All five were in stock every day at $41–44 in the jug.
- .308 / 6.5 Grendel / benchrest on Varget, H4895, 8208 XBR or N140: same. The Extreme powders cost $8–10 more per pound than ball, and were just as available.
- On IMR 4064, 4895, 4198 or Reloder 15: the second-powder rule. The cross-reference puts Varget, H4895, N140, 2495 and the Shooters World grades in the neighbourhood; pick one with published data for your cartridge and bullet, and qualify it now.
- Blackout loaders: 1680, CFE BLK, LT-30, Lil'Gun and H110 were all in stock all month. This is not the band with a problem.
- Set a watch on any of the nineteen missing powders and we email you the morning one comes back.