Olpeddler wrote on May 14^th, 2020 at 1:33pm:

Hello from central Massachusetts.  Since early March I and my family have been sheltering in place. and I have not been to my gun club.   As such, I have not spoken to any of my reloading buddies.  On this and other forums I have recently noticed  references to members' inability to purchase various brands and types of powder.  What is causing this?  Did reloaders begin hoarding powder late last year, and/or have powder manufacturers cut back on production, or are there other reasons for the powder shortage?  Thanks for any insight you can provide.

In one word, hoarding. Think of grocery stores. You don’t call ahead and tell them that you’ll be there in an hour to buy some milk and bread yet they always have it. They have it despite them not knowing that you’re coming and not being able to get it from the farms and bakeries when you show up. They do that by knowing buying patterns and forecasting enough to have on the shelves but not so much that it spoils. This works well as long as the demand is stable and predictable. When there are catastrophic events that disrupt the equilibrium, you run out. Much like toilet paper, people began to panic buy ammunition. When ammunition ran out, many began buying reloading supplies. Eventually people realize they don’t need 2 years worth of toilet paper and things get back to normal. I suspect you’ll begin to see ammunition and reloading supplies returning shortly. Just my thoughts and 2 cents...