Zirconium carbide (ZrC) and hafnium carbide (HfC) powders were produced by the carbothermal reduction reaction of carbon and the corresponding metal oxide (ZrO2 and HfO2, respectively). Solution-based processing was used to achieve a fine-scale (i.e., nanometer-level) mixing of the reactants. The reactions were substantially completed at relatively low temperatures (<1500&DEG;C) and the resulting products had small average crystallite sizes (&SIM;50-130 nm). However, these products contained some dissolved oxygen in the metal carbide lattice and higher temperatures were required to complete the carbothermal reduction reactions. Dry-pressed compacts prepared using ZrC-based powders with &SIM;100 nm crystallite size could be pressurelessly sintered to &SIM;99% relative density at 1950&DEG;C. (C) 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers.