A message from Hodgdon

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Lennyjoe

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POWDER UPDATE

WHY CAN’T HODGDON SHIP MORE POWDER? The current powder situation is due to a record demand for all reloading components and NOT a reduction in the supply of powder. With long-time handloaders looking to stock up and new gun owners looking for ammunition, there is an unprecedented demand for powder and other reloading components. We shipped a record amount of powder in 2020 and will ship even more in 2021. We are doing everything in our power to get the most powder into consumer hands this year. We are running overtime in our facilities, have hired additional staff and have leveraged relationships with shipping partners to add new shipping options.

WHY CAN’T HODGDON BUILD ANOTHER POWDER PLANT? The “normal” powder demand for the U.S. would not support an additional plant. Hodgdon, like most companies, cannot afford to build a new production facility then have it sit idle until demand spikes.

WHY IS HODGDON SELLING POWDER TO AMMUNITION MANUFACTURERS? The heart of our business is smokeless powder for the handloading enthusiast. Yes, we sell some powder to ammo manufacturers, but that is a small part of our business. Every day, we receive calls from potential OEM customers looking for powder to load in ammunition. We politely decline so we can focus on our long-term, handloading customers.

WHY IS HODGDON SELLING POWDER TO THE GOVERNMENT? Hodgdon does not sell powder directly to the government. We sell some powder to manufacturers making ammunition for our military, but that is a small part of our business.

WHY IS HODGDON SELLING POWDER ON AUCTION SITES? We don't. Period. We recently began selling a limited amount of powder on our own websites but prioritize our shipments to our traditional sales channels to maximize powder availability at sporting goods and gun shops.

WHY IS THE PRICE OF POWDER SO HIGH ON THE INTERNET? We do not set sale prices or MSRPs for the price of our powders at retail, nor do we encourage any of our retailers or dealers to sell on auction sites, but we cannot control what happens after we sell to our traditional sales channels.
 
Most places don't care who buys it as long as it's selling.

Reminds me of the decommissioned M45s that were sold on GunBroker for something like $1200 that are now going for $10k+. Dealers bought them by the dozens and trickled them out to artificially inflate demand.

Demand for components is high, but I have to wonder how much of the shortage falls directly to the scalpers.
 
For some reason, I didn’t think Hodgdon “made” powder, I thought that was General Dynamics https://www.gd-ots.com/propellant-and-propulsion/st-marks-powder-propellants/ and they just put their name on a container.

How we get things like Winchester 296 being the same powder as Hodgdon H110.

Maybe if places would limit the amount per customer to 1 instead of ten

Maybe we could get the Government to limit how much ammunition 1 person can own...on second thought, that’s the worst idea I have ever heard. Be careful what you wish for.
 
If what they say about pushing product into their normal distribution channels is true, there is something not right. They are producing it, yet it does not seem to show up on retail shelves. So where is it going?

I'd like to see the tracking for even a day's production. Where it goes when it leaves the loading dock.
 
Maybe we could get the Government to limit how much ammunition 1 person can own...on second thought, that’s the worst idea I have ever heard. Be careful what you wish for.

He didn't say a word about getting government involved.

Nothing wrong with doing business with companies who go a little further for their customers.

My gun shop does it.
 
Last time I was in town at an Academy they had changed from a limit of 2 or 3 boxes of 9mm & .223 to 100 rounds total of anything. I guess they don’t expect to get any ammunition in bulk packs and not really gun people, changing what would amount of 223 being 40 or 60 (2/3 boxes of 223) to 100 rounds or 5 boxes...
 
If what they say about pushing product into their normal distribution channels is true, there is something not right. They are producing it, yet it does not seem to show up on retail shelves. So where is it going?

I'd like to see the tracking for even a day's production. Where it goes when it leaves the loading dock.

How conspiracy theories are born.
 
It's getting out there. It was about 2 weeks ago but one local shop got a supply of H4350 and Varget. They must have had 50 containers of each. Of course it was one container per customer per day and $50 each. That was 2 weeks ago and I haven't been back. I wonder how long it took to sell out.

Loaded ammo is getting there too, but selling out in hours. You have to be in the right spot at the right time.
 
For some reason, I didn’t think Hodgdon “made” powder, I thought that was General Dynamics https://www.gd-ots.com/propellant-and-propulsion/st-marks-powder-propellants/ and they just put their name on a container.

How we get things like Winchester 296 being the same powder as Hodgdon H110.



Maybe we could get the Government to limit how much ammunition 1 person can own...on second thought, that’s the worst idea I have ever heard. Be careful what you wish for.
I didn't think Hodgdon made powder either. Thought they bought their powder from all over the world and put their name on it, just a distributor. Here's an interesting read on their "Australian connection" with ADI.
https://revivaler.com/hodgdon-powder-adi-australian-connection/
 
I feel like Hodgdon has been the only distributor getting powder on shelves lately. They are always at BPS when I drop by. I haven’t seen any Alliant powders in a long time here.
 
I feel like Hodgdon has been the only distributor getting powder on shelves lately. They are always at BPS when I drop by. I haven’t seen any Alliant powders in a long time here.
I was an Alliant only buyer, but after how things were going I bought some powders on Midway last year that I was intrigued in and all that was available was Hodgdon. I wanted to try Red Dot for .32's and I needed more Unique, a lot more Unique and nothing was available, so I ended up buying a bunch of Hodgdon powders and I'm glad I did because 700x is awesome, Titegroup has its moments, Lil' Gun is good for some rifle applications, and now I cannot wait to get some 800x in the future.
 
The problem is a preper walks in and see powder he will buy all up and screw everybody else!!

The entire concept of being a “preper” is having everything you need before they become scarce. One of them would need powder now as much as they would have needed toilet paper last year. It’s the unprepared and new to the game, that are circling the places to buy powder now.
 
I didn't think Hodgdon made powder either. Thought they bought their powder from all over the world and put their name on it, just a distributor. Here's an interesting read on their "Australian connection" with ADI.
https://revivaler.com/hodgdon-powder-adi-australian-connection/

Bruce Hodgdon’s powder business was and is a powder distribution business, not a powder manufacturing business. So the powders sold under the Hodgdon brand name are not made by Hodgdon and never have been.

That is what I understood. Thanks for the link.

So they would be in the same boat we are asking them to increase production, both from a customer point of view as they are the “middle man” between us and the MFG.
 
The entire concept of being a “preper” is having everything you need before they become scarce. One of them would need powder now as much as they would have needed toilet paper last year. It’s the unprepared and new to the game, that are circling the places to buy powder now.

Sure, but not every "prepper" started a decade ago.
 
Nope, the prepper already has his supply.
You're not prepared if you wait till the last minute to buy supplies. Being a prepper means you prepare ahead of time when times are good for when they are not it's not like this hasnt happened multiple time before over the past twenty+ years. Back in January of last year you could walk into the store at least in my area and buy anything you wanted at normal prices so I added about four lbs. of powder and a couple extra brick of primers to my stash because it was pretty easy to see what was coming down the road.

As a side note I stopped in at the local shop that pretty much only carries reloading supplies and has good reliable sources for stock, but the entire shop was basically picked clean with only a couple lbs. of power and several boxes of jacketed rifle bullets on the shelf and the owner had not idea when he would have anything back in stock. If he can't get anything with all his connections it's pretty bad out there.
 
I think this is the thired panic sell out that I can remember (by far the worst). I took the lesson to hart after the first one so when I went to a reloading shop and they had primers or powder I would buy some even if it was somthing that I did not normaly use, good for swapping when times get bad.
 
If you’re just now becoming a “prepper”, you would be known as a “panic” buyer.

Or, you're a relatively young person who got started before all this hit and didn't have the financial capital to buy everything all at once.

Not everyone starts out the same way, in the same position, with the same supplies.

I'd say gunpowder should be somewhat low on the priorities list for anyone just getting started.
 
I think Hodgdon does package the powder they sell. It comes there in great big bulk containers, and is put in those slick little cans.

The powders I've seen at LGS lately have all been under the Hodgdon umbrella with the exception of a pound of Unique my guy admitted they found misplaced in the warehouse while moving some other stuff, and all St Marks or GD manufactured. Yesterday they had TG (a lot of it), IMR 4064, StaBall and a couple of the new ones I can't remember the designations. Haven't seen any of the R series (Sweden) or Ramshot/Accurate in a long while.
 
Or, you're a relatively young person who got started before all this hit and didn't have the financial capital to buy everything all at once.

Not everyone starts out the same way, in the same position, with the same supplies.

I'd say gunpowder should be somewhat low on the priorities list for anyone just getting started.

If you were just getting into reloading a year ago, you weren't necessarily a prepper... You were someone who was just starting to reload.

If you want to reload ammo then powder, primers, bullets, and cases are all equally important.
 
If you were just getting into reloading a year ago, you weren't necessarily a prepper... You were someone who was just starting to reload.

Not all preppers reload, or even shoot.

If you want to reload ammo then powder, primers, bullets, and cases are all equally important.

I disagree. Cases can be reused many times, and it's much easier to make your own bullets than anything else. There's a reason primers and powder are the bottleneck in a panic.
 
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