longrange454
Member
Heard Winchester is going to curtail production of their 231 powder. Any body have any input.
Win. 231
- Thread starter longrange454
- Start date
Originally Posted By: longrange454Heard Winchester is going to curtail production of their 231 powder. Any body have any input.
I hadn't heard that but as long as you have HP38 it is all the same anyway.
Greg
Found this on several forums:
LIMITED POWDER READ THIS
Received this email today in response to an inquiry about Win231 Powder.
"Winchester 231 certainly has been hard to get. The plant that makes Winchester powders does not want to make 231 as well as a few other powders. These older technology powders have different chemistry than the new powders and this older chemistry makes it much slower to make powder: basically, you can make about 2.5 times as many pounds of new chemistry powder in the time it takes to make 1 pound of old chemistry powder. During the process of making the old powders, the waste stream created is huge compared to the waste stream of the new chemistry powders. Chemical waste is very expensive to get rid of. So, the plant wants to phase out the old chemistry powders and replace them with new chemistry powders. While they are still making 231, the amount is being reduced and the amount of new powder such as Titegroup and Longshot is being increased.
Now, we are kind of stuck in the middle. The market is demanding 231 but the maker is not wanting to produce the powder. The result is, over time, 231 is going to go away. Shooters should begin using other powders as they can.
Mike Daly
Hodgdon Family of Fine Propellants
Hodgdon Smokeless Powder
IMR Powder Company
Winchester Smokeless Propellants
GOEX Blackpowder"
But then I found this:
W231 production cut rumors are false
I've started a new thread so it could be more readily found in a search.
In the Powder Availability Thread there is an repost of a post made by Mike Daly of Hodgdon predicting the demise of W231. The same repost can be found on multiple shooting forums. Various posters weigh in, claiming some inside knowledge and confirm or deny that production is at an end.
I emailed Hodgdon Customer Service last night because I thought it was a fake post and just an Internet rumor. I was both wrong and right. They confirmed that Mike Daly did send the email, but say he was wrong and there are no plans to discontinue productions.
Here is there response and my email to them below.
Help Account
9:28 AM (21 minutes ago)
to me
We have seen the post and Mike was mistaken. There are no intentions of discontinuing this powder.
Mike Van Dyke
Customer Service Representative
Hodgdon Powder Company
6430 Vista Drive
Shawnee, KS 66218
913-362-9455 Ext. 109
I believe the later vs the former.
I hadn't heard that but as long as you have HP38 it is all the same anyway.
Greg
Found this on several forums:
LIMITED POWDER READ THIS
Received this email today in response to an inquiry about Win231 Powder.
"Winchester 231 certainly has been hard to get. The plant that makes Winchester powders does not want to make 231 as well as a few other powders. These older technology powders have different chemistry than the new powders and this older chemistry makes it much slower to make powder: basically, you can make about 2.5 times as many pounds of new chemistry powder in the time it takes to make 1 pound of old chemistry powder. During the process of making the old powders, the waste stream created is huge compared to the waste stream of the new chemistry powders. Chemical waste is very expensive to get rid of. So, the plant wants to phase out the old chemistry powders and replace them with new chemistry powders. While they are still making 231, the amount is being reduced and the amount of new powder such as Titegroup and Longshot is being increased.
Now, we are kind of stuck in the middle. The market is demanding 231 but the maker is not wanting to produce the powder. The result is, over time, 231 is going to go away. Shooters should begin using other powders as they can.
Mike Daly
Hodgdon Family of Fine Propellants
Hodgdon Smokeless Powder
IMR Powder Company
Winchester Smokeless Propellants
GOEX Blackpowder"
But then I found this:
W231 production cut rumors are false
I've started a new thread so it could be more readily found in a search.
In the Powder Availability Thread there is an repost of a post made by Mike Daly of Hodgdon predicting the demise of W231. The same repost can be found on multiple shooting forums. Various posters weigh in, claiming some inside knowledge and confirm or deny that production is at an end.
I emailed Hodgdon Customer Service last night because I thought it was a fake post and just an Internet rumor. I was both wrong and right. They confirmed that Mike Daly did send the email, but say he was wrong and there are no plans to discontinue productions.
Here is there response and my email to them below.
Help Account
9:28 AM (21 minutes ago)
to me
We have seen the post and Mike was mistaken. There are no intentions of discontinuing this powder.
Mike Van Dyke
Customer Service Representative
Hodgdon Powder Company
6430 Vista Drive
Shawnee, KS 66218
913-362-9455 Ext. 109
I believe the later vs the former.
longrange454
Member
I bought a pound of CFE Pistol to play with. We'll see.
Aznative
New member
I too heard this rumor at my favorite little gun store so I called Hodgdon. First off Hodgdon does not make powders. They are a retail reseller of smokeless powder. My answer from HOdgdon was 231 and hp38 are not being made because they take too long to make and tie up the equipment longer than other powders. The manufacturer has other powders that are flying off the shelves that take less time to make; thus, the manufacturer wants to maximize profit by making powders that have faster production times. Once they get caught up and have spare production capacity, production of our favorite small pistol powder will resume. I expect to see it fairly soon because powder stocks have been going up.