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 |
Similar Posts:
- Hodgdon Powder Availability — Q&A about Supply in 2020
- Hodgdon Equivalents for ADI Product Codes
- Hodgdon and ADI Powder Equivalents
- Hodgdon Equivalents for ADI Powder Codes
- ADI Powder Info for Hodgdon Reloaders
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.
I truly believe that if Trump was President we would not have this Liberal inspired problem. I personally believe that our current government (as it may be) is making treats to some manufacturers too limit or change production schedules!
The very last part of the article defines the problem, “we cannot control what happens AFTER we sell to our traditional sales channels”.
Did Hodgdon acquire any manufacturing facilities when it acquired other powder brands? If so, are any of these facilities still in production or available to be reactivated to supplement current supply?
Can I order powder from Hodgdon? I have a new 6.5 prc and no ammo. I can reload to obtain ammo. Thank you
Reversed gun control!
supply and demand? or demand with no supply? All of the stored i have visited say the same thing. We cannot get any of these reloading supplies. Question is still WHY??
What.? They’ve shipped more powder than ever in 2020? REALLY? Where is it? I haven’t seen a single pound of Varget or any popular powders since March of 2020. I am in the gun business and I haven’t seen a single bit of powder available either at the wholesale or retail level. I guess it doesn’t matter, I haven’t seen any primers either.
I don’t know where all these record amounts of reloading powder is going. No store near me, including Bass Pro and Academy are getting any Hodgdon products other than Shotgun and a few pistol powders. Someone in the supply chain is lying.
With Biden and Harris at the controls, I am surprised we still own guns. Get out and vote all liberals out of office from the town level to the top. They want your guns…… period. This is another way of getting them. It is like having a vintage auto but no gas..
I am sorry, but with the shortage or reloading supplies at the level it is now days there has to be some manufactures who are willing the invest in new equipment. This is not a shortage, it is almost a total shutdown of supplies. The demand is so high it will easily pay for any added expenses of increased production. As you all say, there are more guns being sold daily which will just push demand for supplies even higher. The answers being given for supply shortages does not add up. A shortage is one thing but a total lack of stock at all distributors or supplies is just totally unbelievable. Only thing showing up are bulk boxes of cheap low quality small caliber ammo. It has just been to long for us people to keep believing this B.S.
To add to the question, where is all the supply of Lapua and Tenex 22 caliber ammunition going. These are not bullets that the everyday shooter can afford to plink with. This is expensive extremely accurate bullets intended for competitive shooters. I have had several suppliers trying to find at least one or 2 bricks of these ammos for over 9 months. None available. If they are at full production, where are they going to ?
You can go ahead thank our current administration for this crap!
First we were told it was the virus impact. Then it was demand, then it was couldn’t get workers, now it’s shipping issues….So what is it really…
Unprecedented demand since 2020? and they cant make more because it would go unsold? GTFO!!!
It’s amazing all the new gun owners purchasing firearms and there’s no ammo to be had!
I think with this administration underbidding France from the submarine deal, I wonder if this administration had something to do with the powder making it to our shores in the United States from Australia?
I have plenty of powder. I need primers for 5.56. I will NOT buy primers from Brownels for 110 bucks per thousand. I will not buy primers from Midway at 90 bucks a thousand. Plus hazmat fee. plus shipping. I will just buy a nice air rifle
I don’t think Hodgdon is being honest with us. They maintain that production is at an all time high, and they ship 80% to the reloading market. I think they are selling more to new ammo manufacturing than they are letting on. The numbers just do not add up.
Why does the USA not manufacture gun powder? Labor cost – NOT. A quick Google search for average factory worker salary in: USA, $16; Canada, $14.75; Australia, $26.50. Excessive shipping container cost does not apply to imports from Canada. Is there a dramatic increase in firearm purchases worldwide (I doubt it) or just the USA? Since ALL retail suppliers can not get powder where is it going? Sounds like a good PR story from our “friends” at Hodgdon.
Its been over a year.. still no powder? Where can a guy get 8 lbs of H1000?
Dont tell me its “covid shortage”, “Labor Shortage”, “Personnel shortage”, “Transportation issues”… We have been waiting a year. Seems like those issues would “work themselves out” in that time…
If Hodgdon is producing, where can I buy some? Because its not available anywhere.
Quite frankly I do not know what to believe anymore. I have not been able to find any 700X powder in Wisconsin for almost two years–looking for it is like have a root canal done with a chainsaw– without any pain killers. I do not believe hodgdon–produce more than ever last year–WHERE THE F IS IT!!!!
we don`t need excuses we need powder
So here it is middle of April 2022 and no powder for normal target reloads, have seen pistol, rifle, black powder. At one point i was believing what Hodgdon was saying about shortage, but not any longer. It does not take 2 years to get the product back to market, someone is lying about this mess. Sure maybe more people bought guns, but most newbies do not reload.
Hodgdon personnel need to provide an explanation
Guns & Ammo’s take on it that twelve million new shooters (up from 50M in 2019 to 62M in 2022), panic buying / hoarding, and supply chain disruptions due to COVID are causing the shortages.
Link to the article follows:
https://www.gunsandammo.com/editorial/ammo-shortages-whats-really-happening/458804
You cast lead? Obama closed the only lead mine in the United States. Obama’s apparatchiks if you remember was
buying up all the pistol rounds to resupply the Forest Rangers and guards at Federal buildings just a few years ago. Powder is being hoarded by Democrat governments nation wide at secret locations and in the meantime millions of illegals of military age are being sent secretly to Red States. Why is this happening?
I am 82 why is it so hard to by shot gun powder?
If every one is making powder, where is it going? I guess not to a Albuquerque NM
To my understanding a lot of Ammo manufactures use their own blend of powders? Correct me if I’m wrong? I live not to far away from a super large ammo manufacture and this is the information that I’m told. So now where is the powder going? I’m with everyone here. Something does just not seem right. I want to believe Hodgdon. I plead to the Hodgdon staff please get this worked out for us? You say you are working hard? Well work a little harder? LOL.
You guys in the USA think you have it hard. Here in Australia we have NO pistol powders at all. ADI has ceased production of all pistol/shotgun powders for the “forseeable future” according to their web page. Check the equivalent powder charts and see what you wont be getting anymore. The rifle guys are not so bad off as they are still producing most of the AR range all be it in limited quantities.
They built a new factory for the pistol (APS) range and demolished the old one then found out that the new one did not work as planned – great management!!
As for primers – no hope as nearly all our primers come from the USA and we are on the bottom of a very long list.
Vista outdoors has committed to donating 1 million rounds to Ukraine, go figure their prices are going up.
Fortunately the only product under their umbrella I buy is Federal primers and I am already stocked up pretty well.
It’s 3/24 now, I have been in the South and came back North to NY and I took a week to do the trip stopping at every gun store I could find. Over 1200 miles and 30 stores, some of the largest in the Country and I only found 13 pounds of powder. Not 13 suppliers, 13 pounds. Mostly VV magnum powders. No pistol or shotgun powders, no Red Dot, Bullseye, Unique, nothing on the Eastern seaboard. The people and owners I talked to say to a man they have seen nothing. Without a doubt it’s the US Government pressuring manufactures and suppliers to eliminate the supply.