Swiss, German, Goex?

[flashpoint]

Wow! It's frightening how much BP costs these days. I was visiting Powder , Inc and Swiss was $328.80 for 10 pounds. The last time I bought Swiss, it was $15/lb and thought that was highway robbery. I remember Goex going for $6/lb back in the seventies. I'm glad I still have a quantity stored away. If I'm shooting a 70 gr load of Swiss today, that's just shy of 33 cents per load! BP used to be cheap, and fun!

Dave, that is a really beautiful bag. DId you make it?

 

[david w]

Dave, that is a really beautiful bag. DId you make it?

Yes, I made this about 10 years ago. I sold it on ebay. Now that I'm retired, I'm thinking on making bags again.

 

[B P Arn]

I don’t want to make y’all feel old, but the ‘70s was 50 years ago.

Us'all AM old, and 50 years closer to glory!

 

[smoothshooter]

Wow! It's frightening how much BP costs these days. I was visiting Powder , Inc and Swiss was $328.80 for 10 pounds. The last time I bought Swiss, it was $15/lb and thought that was highway robbery. I remember Goex going for $6/lb back in the seventies. I'm glad I still have a quantity stored away. If I'm shooting a 70 gr load of Swiss today, that's just shy of 33 cents per load! BP used to be cheap, and fun!

Of course back in the 70’s you were probably only making one tenth of the wages per hour that you do now.

 

[gvandersluis]

Wow! Swiss bp cost you $15 a pound and that was highway robbery, here in Australia only Swiss and Wano (Scheutzen) is sometimes available, Wano $A 108 per kilo and Swiss $A 125 per kilo and I have to travel 2000 miles to pick it up as can’t be sent.

 

[flashpoint]

Yes, I made this about 10 years ago. I sold it on ebay. Now that I'm retired, I'm thinking on making bags again.

Let me know when you start making them again. What price range do you think?

 

[good ole boy]

Schuetzen shoots better and is priced the same as Goex. The big difference is...Schuetzen cleans up better than GoeX.
Another big feature is...Schuetzen is available.
I quit using Goex several years ago.
Swiss is better powder, but tougher to find.

Goex cleans up easy for me.

 

[ord sgt]

I'm looking at surgery sometime soon. It only hurts when I move it!

I had my surgery a year ago. Still doing exercises to get more strength back. For 2 months before surgery, I had a T-Rex arm. Only movement was my forearm. Very limited movement in my shoulder. Pain was almost unbearable. Sleep deprived. Full movement now.

 

[user 48702]

Yes, I know, the inflation. I was just reminiscing! I bought Unique powder from Walmart back in the seventies too, for about $5 something a pound, or was it cheaper than that? Primers were about a penny ea. If Sam Walton were still alive today! Things wouldn't be as cheap, but they would still carry reloading supplies, I bet.

Can't remember what primers were going for back then, but I've got a tin of percussion caps "Leon Beaux" Milano, Italy, sold by Dixie from about 1974 and still has the price on it $1.25.

 

[Tom A Hawk]

Us'all AM old, and 50 years closer to glory!

You know you're getting up in years when your childhood toys are now in the display case at the antique shop. Saw my old Mattel fanner with stag grips recently.

 

[OhioHawkeye]

Personally, I think anyone buying powder since the announcement of GOEX closing, ....any powder, not just GOEX is a fool.

Wait 6 months to a year before your purchases.

Otherwise, your purchases are contributing to the false shortage, and are paying 8nto the profetiers pockets.

I feel for those in California though who are restricted to a single pound if powder in that commie state. Heck that would fill only one of my horns. But, is why I keep the maximum amount allowed by law. My muskets and cannon eat far to much some years

 

[deerstalkert]

Personally, I think anyone buying powder since the announcement of GOEX closing, ....any powder, not just GOEX is a fool.

Wait 6 months to a year before your purchases.

Otherwise, your purchases are contributing to the false shortage, and are paying 8nto the profetiers pockets.

I feel for those in California though who are restricted to a single pound if powder in that commie state. Heck that would fill only one of my horns. But, is why I keep the maximum amount allowed by law. My muskets and cannon eat far to much some years

there is no limit on the amount of Kno3,sulfur, and charcoal one can have.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

Goex cleans up easy for me.

I'm glad it cleans up nicely for you. I've never had that much luck. It use to put 25-30 patches down to get my 50 calibers clean. I still have some, but quit using Goex 3-4 years ago.
Swiss & Schuetzen cleans up in less than 5 minutes for me.
But...as long as you're shooting, that's all that matters!

 

[MooseHunter92]

Swiss is good stuff!

 

[Cattywompuss]

"I remember Goex going for $6/lb back in the seventies."

In the 70's I was poor enough I qualified of the earned income credit.

Everything is relative.

I wasn't even born in the 70s and I'm nearly 40. When I was a kid, my dad, who will be 70 in a month, talked about how the 50s and early 60s were the good old days. Now people are longing for the 70s, which is widely understood to be the tackiest and least enjoyable decade of the 20th C.

And we got folks out there paying stupid money for 1970s Fender guitars, which are crap. Funny how human memory finds a way to make the past better, despite the overwhelming prevalence of both cheap big screen TVs, central heat/air, and high speed wifi nowadays.

I say all that to say: good point, well made.

 

[LeftHandGuy]

Wow! Swiss bp cost you $15 a pound and that was highway robbery, here in Australia only Swiss and Wano (Scheutzen) is sometimes available, Wano $A 108 per kilo and Swiss $A 125 per kilo and I have to travel 2000 miles to pick it up as can’t be sent.

To be fair I think you’re getting more screwed by the journey than the price difference! Last time I bought GOEX (about this time last year) I paid $30/lb. I have seen Swiss for $35/lb. $A125 is about $90 at the moment, and a kilo is 2.2 lbs. Meaning that your Swiss comes out at a little less than$45/lb. Plenty of places here could get away with charging that much and people would pay.

What surprises me is that Aus doesn’t have a domestic producer - you would have thought that the industrial demand would be there if nothing else. Either way, hopefully you have enough to keep shooting for a good long while yet.

 

[Art Caputo]

Having used all three over several decades, I have never felt that there was enough functional difference for me to be selective.. Just happened that GOEX was most frequently available…so that is what I have used the most. When supplies are short, I use what I can get. I’m predominately a hunter with my practice and casual shooting structured to this end.

 

[david w]

Can't remember what primers were going for back then, but I've got a tin of percussion caps "Leon Beaux" Milano, Italy, sold by Dixie from about 1974 and still has the price on it $1.25.

This is from the mid seventies

 

[Stone]

@Stone do you *know* that the place you found has powder? Like you’ve been there and seen it? I ask because a few months ago I thought I had found somewhere with Retumbo a friend had been looking for. My LGS had just got a shipment of Hodgdon so I wasn’t all that surprised to see another Hodgdon product finally available, and I sent him the web link. But it turned out to be a scam after he’d “purchased” it. Very embarrassing position for me!

But if it’s a real business and he really has genuine black powder then buy some now whilst it’s available. Swiss is notionally better, but like premium gasoline you probably only really get the benefit of it when you are already shooting at a high level and with premium equipment. YMMV but I would pick whichever one he has most of and is likely to be able to get again…..

I do. They are very reputable

 

[FPDoc]

I don’t want to make y’all feel old, but the ‘70s was 50 years ago.

Well... that sure as heck snuck up on me. It also explains why my class reunions are full of old ugly wrinkled people.

..and to keep it appropriate for the thread:
Whatever your rifle likes best (that can include preference for FFg vs FFFg as well as BP manufacturer).
If you notice that all the other shooters are drinking tea and have their little finger out straight,, that could possible make a difference as well