Hodgdon Powder

[Butch McGie, SASS#71758]

Watching an inter view on the news last night.  It was an interview of a gunshop owner in Wisconsin lamenting the dearth of various firearms-related items.  Also mentioned was a comment that the owner found out last week that Hodgdon is going out of business.  Is this fake news or true?  I am not trying to start a rumor.

[Branchwater Jack SASS #88854]

Hodgdon, the owner of Goex, announced that they were closing the facility that makes Goex black powder.

 

Quote

"Effective immediately, Hodgdon Powder Company, Inc. has decided to cease manufacturing operations at the company’s Camp Minden, Louisiana site while evaluating strategic options for the black powder business," Hodgdon stated in its release. "The business will wind down operations while an evaluation process on the future of the black powder business takes place."

 

[Snakebite]

At the rate that they have been buying up other powder companies I doubt that they will be going out of business anytime soon. However, I expect to see them drop a bunch of the powders that they now have control over. Some of them might be long time favorites. It just makes good sense to remove the competition, then cut down on the number of different blending's required to make so many different powders, many of which are virtually identical in performance. IMR made "Red" to compete directly with "Red Dot", now that Hodgdon has acquired IMR they have dropped "Red". I fully expect to see this scenario played out for many powders now under their control. New powders that are very universal will take the place of any number of powders.... just wait and see. Look at the New WW 244. IMO you will see this powder's Loading data amplified greatly in the coming years, after which you will see production stopped on a number of other powders that deliver the same performance and don't have the new Cleaner Technology.  We all know that there are far too many different powders out there that do the same thing. Dropping about half of them would be a good business decision. As for closing the BP plant.... I would have done that a long time ago. IMO it was a liability and a big risk factor. 

 

[watab kid]

spunds like they are considering repurposing that facility to fill the void of black powder supply that recently dried up , 

[Painted Mohawk SASS 77785]

ADI Australia supplies Hodgdon with a lot of powder sold under other names, so some  pistol & shotgun powders like Clays, Trail boss etc will be no longer available as they have ceased being made.. another problem we have down -under is BP with maybe the last shipment of Wano   arriving  in Aus  next May..if that is the case we are stuffed as the only other is Swiss who also could be stopping imports as the costs are getting to high.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

 

On 11/26/2021 at 6:19 PM, Painted Mohawk SASS 77785 said:

so some  pistol & shotgun powders like Clays, Trail boss etc will be no longer available as they have ceased being made.

 

Not true for the Clays family of powders, at least, and probably a new producer of Trail Boss is being arranged, too.   The clays family  (Clays, International and Universal) are being produced in Canada now.   They just aren't produced by ADI in Australia any longer.

 

I think I remember reading the Clays family of powders are being made in a General Dynamics facility up there.  But I barely know my way around a couple of provinces up there.

 

good luck, GJ

[Painted Mohawk SASS 77785]

5 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

 

 

Not true for the Clays family of powders, at least, and probably a new producer of Trail Boss is being arranged, too.   The clays family  (Clays, International and Universal) are being produced in Canada now.   They just aren't produced by ADI in Australia any longer.

 

good luck, GJ

Interesting ..thanks for that info GJ

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

On 11/26/2021 at 12:19 PM, Snakebite said:

…….then cut down on the number of different blending's required to make so many different powders, many of which are virtually identical……..We all know that there are far too many different powders out there that do the same. 

 

Absolutely…..Alliant IMR Ramshot Accurate Winchester are all redundant to each other and the Hodgdon line.
 

Vihta Vouri seems to be the only major player not under their umbrella and it is far over priced around here

[Happy Jack, SASS #20451]

We will probably learn a bit more about this at the SHOT show in January.

[Sedalia Dave]

I wouldn't be surprised if a few more powders get discontinued. Started about 5 years ago with the new ce compliance requirement. Powders that are not ce compliant cannot be sold in certain countries. This is one of the reasons ADI is having so much trouble manufacturing powder. 

 

I wonder if the reason IMR Red, Green, and Blue were dropped is they failed to gain ce approval?

[JP McLintock]

39 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

I wouldn't be surprised if a few more powders get discontinued. Started about 5 years ago with the new ce compliance requirement. Powders that are not ce compliant cannot be sold in certain countries. This is one of the reasons ADI is having so much trouble manufacturing powder. 

 

I wonder if the reason IMR Red, Green, and Blue were dropped is they failed to gain ce approval?

What is ce compliance?

[Sedalia Dave]

5 minutes ago, JP McLintock said:

What is ce compliance?

 

A RoHs and REACH Primer – Understanding CE Product Requirements for the European Union

 

So you want to sell your products in the European Union?  You’ve got everything set up and ready to go and then you come across a requirement you have not heard before – something about a “CE” mark on your product.  You may ask yourself, what does this even mean?  Well, let’s talk about that in a bit more detail.

 

Regulatory Requirements for the European Market

 

The CE mark stands for Conformite Europeenne and it is a requirement for products to get into the European market.  Much like other regulatory requirements, we may be more familiar with such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) or Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the CE mark is a regulation which businesses must follow to conform to the laws of the market. 

The CE mark is a product’s passport into the European Union (EU) marketplace.  It means that the product meets certain legal requirements for safe use in the EU.  Seeing the CE mark on a product indicates that the manufacturer of that product asserts that the product is compliant to the applicable harmonized legislation, directives, and regulations. 

 

What are the Identified Hazardous Substances in Europe?

 

Some of the most well-known regulations and legislations required to affix the CE mark are RoHS and REACH. RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances and came into force in July 2006 and it covers electronic and electrical equipment (EEE) put onto the EU market.  Currently, the directive covers 10 different substances.  These 10 substances must not appear above specific concentrations of inhomogeneous items placed onto the EU market. 

REACH stands for Restriction, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals.  REACH came into force in June 2007 and attempts to regulate chemicals known to cause cancer and reproductive harm to humans or adversely affect the environment.

[JP McLintock]

Thank you.

 

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

3 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

I wonder if the reason IMR Red, Green, and Blue were dropped is they failed to gain ce approval?

 

I can report that the jugs of IMR Red that I have are conspicuously missing the CE certification mark.

 

Whereas the recent IMR 4895 jug has a CE mark.   And all my bottles of Alliant powders dated after about 2010 we commonly use, including Bullseye, Clay Dot, Red Dot, and Unique, also have CE certification labels.

 

CE may well have denied those IMR "color" powders entry to the EU.

 

good luck, GJ

[Marauder SASS #13056]

So much bureaucratic  dictatorship now days.
Tis sad.

[H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619]

Wait...  No more Trailboss?

[Major Crimes]

11 hours ago, H. K. Uriah, SASS #74619 said:

Wait...  No more Trailboss?

A link to the ADI site where its made. The date is April 2021.

 

Some of the other powders are also sold by Hodgdon (2207 is 4198)

 

http://www.adiworldclass.com.au/2021/04/16/propellant-update-rifle-powder-update/

 

From that link

 

Trail Boss – This propellant is unlikely to be released in 2021 and there continues to be an active research and development project associated with its delivery.

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

There was an explosion and fire at the GOEX plant at Camp Minden back in June.  They decided to sell off the property rather than rebuild.  Just a business decision.

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

 

1 hour ago, Nostrum Damus SASS #110702 said:

There was an explosion and fire at the GOEX plant at Camp Minden

...

Just a business decision.

 

Almost all decisions in the firearms world are more than just "business decisions."   Often there are regulatory pressures that cost a lot to comply with, labor concerns, market demand, and many more issues.   The Minden plant has had a few blowups over the years, usually in the milling or drying buildings.  They recovered from all the previous ones.  This time, the governmental, social, labor and economic environments are changed drastically.   If I had to guess, sales volume was probably down due to SO much easier storage and sales of substitutes.

 

If you find an announcement giving a full post mortem report on Minden, let us know. 

 

good luck, GJ

 

[Kid Rich]

2 minutes ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

 

 

Almost all decisions in the firearms world are more than just "business decisions."   Often there are regulatory pressures that cost a lot to comply with, labor concerns, market demand, and many more issues.   The Minden plant has had a few blowups over the years, usually in the milling or drying buildings.  They recovered from all the previous ones.  This time, the governmental, social, labor and economic environments are changed drastically.   If I had to guess, sales volume was probably down due to SO much easier storage and sales of substitutes.

 

If you find an announcement giving a full post mortem report on Minden, let us know. 

 

good luck, GJ

 

All of the factors you list would weigh heavily on a business decision.

kR

[Garrison Joe, SASS #60708]

Here's the latest word that I find comes directly from Hodgdon's web site, in a news release from late September:

 

https://hodgdon.com/minden-closure/

 

which says they are examining options with what to do with Camp Minden, which might include sell off of the Goex business.   That sounds less than 100% firm they are selling it off, unless there is some published substance behind other posts.

 

Although when a company says they are "examining their options", it's often about like a police investigator telling the medical examiner to "examine for cause of death".

 

good luck, GJ

[Nostrum Damus SASS #110702]

It also says: "The business will wind down operations while an evaluation process on the future of the black powder business takes place. Strategic options for the GOEX and Olde Eynsford brands of black powder, along with the manufacturing capabilities, will include a potential sale of the business. All affected employees will be retained through December 31, 2021 to assist in an orderly closing of the site and receive severance commensurate with their years of service to the company."

You don't "wind down operations" and conduct "an orderly closing of the site" and pay severance to all employees "commensurate with their years of service" unless you are either (1) shutting it down completely, or (2) selling the corpse to a new owner who can then do with it whatever they please, including "reanimation" and hiring back anyone they like.  But first, the plant will need some rebuilding.

[The Rainmaker, SASS #11631]

12 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

 

 

Almost all decisions in the firearms world are more than just "business decisions."   Often there are regulatory pressures that cost a lot to comply with, labor concerns, market demand, and many more issues.   The Minden plant has had a few blowups over the years, usually in the milling or drying buildings.  They recovered from all the previous ones.  This time, the governmental, social, labor and economic environments are changed drastically.   If I had to guess, sales volume was probably down due to SO much easier storage and sales of substitutes.

 

If you find an announcement giving a full post mortem report on Minden, let us know. 

 

good luck, GJ

 

This... PLUS, a lot of folks haven't been so focused on BP shootin' over the past almost two years. Stop typing, I know there are many who shoot nothing but BP, but we have seen a drastic rise in plastic oriented hardware and consequently, the smokeless that goes inside. It's a $$ decision. If BP was very profitable, they'd be shutting down smokeless selections that were not.