Having loaded ~40k of 7/8 oz #9 AAHS 12ga, CB0178, W209 with 16.9 of Extralite without an issue, wondering if there’s a more common powder substitute? This is the only load I’ve ever done, and would like to continue, but it seems that ExtraLite is even harder to get than more common powders.

In these crazy times I guess we all can't afford to be less than flexible and must be willing to utilize what we can get our hands on.

My go to load for 3/4 thru 1 oz. loads ever since it hit the market, has been Extra Lite.

That said, before that for 7/8, I used mostly Hogdon Clays, and sometimes Red Dot. Both worked fine. Although as I recall, both used a heavier drop than Extra Lite, and Red Dot was a little more dirty.

Extra Lite is by far my favorite and I will always use it if I can get it. If not, I'd use Red Dot or Clays again with no qualms. I'm sure others will be along with additional alternatives, but those two are the only ones I have experience with.

By the way, the last time I used Red Dot (8 lbs.) was during the last shortage as no Extra Lite was available. Neither my scores nor my enjoyment suffered.

Good luck.

E3 would be the next best bet if you can't find Extra Lite in my opinion. Then things start getting squirrely if you are loading very light 12ga loads.

I got lucky with buying Extra Lite this year. I bought 8lb just as the lights were dimming on the start of the "shortage". Also picked up a couple thou primers (was restricted to that amount as shortage was just starting).
So for now, Im good with 12ga powder, running low on 20ga powder, and am nervous about having primers to see me through.

Red Dot, 700X, Titewad and e3 are great 7/8ths powders.

I was looking through Recobs last night and they had Extralite in-stock for sale.

I like Extra Lite, but have actually used more Titewad and have been able to score 2 8# jugs of Titewad so I'll be going back to that in about 4-5 boxes.

I loaded my first 3/4 loads with Red Dot. Worked great, but was dirty. Plenty of 7/8 oz loads published with Red Dot.

For 7/8, clays, claydot, red dot, and promo all work well. I believe 17.5g works well for all 4 of those powders in a rem or aahs hull.

Did you use the latest version of the RedDot? The newest is quite clean when compared to the older stuff. I loaded some 3/4 oz and some 7/8 with the newest and was pleasantly surprised.
Of course, it doesn't really matter in this period of poor supply, we need to load what we can find, Right?

Curly, it was the old regular Red Dot, and I load them at 1200 FPS.

I use Titewad for 7/8 and 1oz loads in 12g.

Don't overlook Nitro 100. There are lots of data for it in 7/8 oz. And it's now marketed by Hodgdon. It's made by the same people who make most all of the Win powders and all the "Tites." I have used it and it works well (for that matter, I have never used a powder that didn't work well if I used it for what it was designed for).

Pretty tough to beat Titewad for 7/8 oz in a AAHS hull. It's a very compact powder that fits well in that role. Use a red powder baffle to mitigate powder migration.

Also, the Universal charge bar is not a good fit with Titewad powder. It leaks from the bottom of the bar around the sliding segment of the UCB.