Hodgdon Powder Update — Why Are There Shortages?
As any handloader knows, popular reloading powders have become difficult to find. And when you do locate the powder you want, the price might be twice what you paid a year ago (or even more on auction sites). Across the nation, shooters are asking “What gives? Why are powder prices so high? And when are the shortages going to end?”
Hodgdon Powder Company (“Hodgdon”), supplier of Hodgdon, IMR, and Winchester powders*, has attempted to answer these questions with a “Powder Update” posted yesterday. Along with addressing the shortage issues, Hodgdon explains the challenges involved in increasing production in the USA and/or increasing imports from overseas. The ultra-popular H4198, H4895, Varget, H4350, and H4831 family of powders are produced by ADI in Australia**. So Hodgdon can’t ship more Varget or H4350 in the USA unless Hodgdon can get more from Australia.
In the Powder Update reprinted below, Hodgdon answers many key questions, and debunks some misconceptions. For example, Hodgdon is NOT selling its powders on auction sites such as Gunbroker. That is completely false.
POWDER UPDATE from Hodgdon Powder Company
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 United States 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 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 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 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. [Editor: If you see Hodgdon powder on auction sites, that is listed by third party vendors.]
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.
* Hodgdon also sells certain Ramshot, Accurate, and Blackhorn powders along with Goex black powder.
** Here’s a list of ADI to Hodgdon Powder equivalents from the ADI FAQ Page:
| ADI / Hodgdon Propellants Equivalents | |
| ADI Powder | Hodgdon/IMR Name |
| Trail Boss AR2207 AR2219 BM2 Bench Mark 8208 AR2206H AR2208 AR2209 AR2213H/AR2213SC AR2217 AR2225 AR2218 |
Trail Boss H4198 H322 Benchmark 8208 XBR H4895 Varget H4350 H4831 / H4831SC H1000 Retumbo H50BMG |
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Tags: ADI, Gunbroker, H4350, H4895, Hodgdon Powder, Powder Sales, Powder Shortage, Varget
Nice piece of journalism. Very timely,and informative. Thanks
St. Marks Powder Commercial Propellant – image on the right, back row, right side.
https://www.gd-ots.com/propellant-and-propulsion/st-marks-powder-propellants/
ELR Researcher. Hodgdon sources its ‘spherical grades’ from St Marks, hence the Hodgdon branded product in the pic. SMP also makes all Winchester ball powders, as well as bulk quantities for Winchester ammunition and military ammunition suppliers. No extruded tubular powders have been manufactured in the US since Dupont Industries closed. IMR grades excluding a couple of exceptions, IMR-8208XBR / Trail Boss, are made in Canada by another General Dynamics division and all Hodgdon extruded tubular grades + IMR-8208XBR/Trail Boss are made by ADI in Australia, a division of the Thales multinational.
Yep. Hodgdon is a smokeless powder distributor. Their answer above implies they are manufacturer. They are not. The company was started by re-selling surplus military powder in consumer friendly quantities. I believe that they do manufacture Goex black powder.
What I wonder about is why the rest of the planet has not jumped in to fill the void! Their are plenty of companies that make ammo around the world . You would think they would be going nuts to fill the shortages we see. Even if it was just primers and bullets. But thanks for the info. I know you are doing your best.
The rest of the world would love to jump in, and some have. But, the big country we truly need to jump in would be russia and China. They produce more ammo than any other countries, except for the U.S.
Unfortunately, they too were hit like the u.s. with everything. I know they say that their producing all they can, and that there are more over 3 million new active shooters, but it still doesn’t feel like it adds up to what were witnessing.
Keeping my tin foil hat close at hand, lol
The company I work for does a fair amount of business overseas and I watch this closely. Even if you could get the manufacturer to make more, it was loaded into containers, and the containers moved to the docks in a timely fashion, they would likely sit on the docks for 6 to 12 months or more waiting for a ship to pick them up. Shipping space is in extremely short supply and grossly expensive.
I belive currently all reloading suppliers are playing a game with us. They supply the government munition manufacturers with all they need and I know this to be fact or they would be crying along side of us. The reloading suppliers are keeping the government happy OR they have been told by the government to limit supplies to non military/government accounts. Talking with our local Police, Sherriffs, and State Troopers they do not see any shortages in their supply. Just my opinion.