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Why don't the powder companies up production?

Tommytornado
It would seem like they would start producing more smokeless powder to take advantage of peoples' mood to buy. Just tried to order from Midway and was told they can't ship any powder now due to lack of supply. Hopefully Obamamania ends soon.
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Rocky Raab
    Uh huh. They are selling it faster than they can make it. They have delivery orders backlogged for months. I'm SURE it has never occurred to them to make more.
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  • Tailgunner1954
    TT
    Powder is batch processed. There's only so many mixing vats, and each batch takes a given amount of time to process. And you know they're going to take care of there "premimum" customers (those that buy several 10,000lb totes a month), before they worry about the 1-10 pound a year guys
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  • Tommytornado
    Just a frustrated consumer right now.
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  • Rocky Raab
    Yeah, I hear ya. Understood. But it isn't the suppliers' or distributor' fault, but the guys who are buying it up to hoard it.

    There are also military contracts and ammo maker contracts, but even though those have grown, there should be a good amount that could get to store shelves - if hoarders would stop snapping it up off the loading dock.
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  • bpost
    Another reason; Our government made tax laws so messed up the manufacturers moved production elsewhere. Hodgdon powders are made in Australia.
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  • Rocky Raab
    Hodgdon has never manufactured a kernel of smokeless powder in its history. It buys powders to meet Hodgdon specifications, then packages and sells it. They have used powders (at various times) made in the US as well as many other countries. South Africa, the Czech Republic and Australia are three I'm aware of.

    Ramshot powders are made in Belgium. Accurate Arms powders were or are made in Scotland. IMR powders are made in Canada. Vihta-Vouri powders are made in Finland, of course.
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  • jonk
    So? Build more vats. Build a new factory.

    Ditto on primer companies.

    For whatever reason people are buying. The market should respond.
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  • Rocky Raab
    A year ago, gas supplies were tight and prices were obscene. So if they had started to build new refineries then, where would they be now? Even deeper in trouble.

    It sure sounds easy to say "build new gunpowder factories" but in practice it'd likely be darn near impossible even to get the approvals. You'd be talking a decade of proposals, government reviews, environmental studies - and lawsuits. That's before you turned a shovel.

    And all for something that may not even be legal to sell by the time the plant is done.
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  • Odawgp
    quote:Originally posted by jonk
    So? Build more vats. Build a new factory.

    Ditto on primer companies.

    For whatever reason people are buying. The market should respond.


    The market will respond with a 15-20% increase in prices [^]

    supply and demand
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  • swill
    Ramping up production to meet an instant demand may not always be a good thing. As an example, my ffl is lately complaining about and sending back new S&W revolvers. He thinks it's lack of qc due to the high volume of orders.

    Like everyone else Midway's shelves are pretty bare lately. Try Powder Valley for powder. Best prices that I have found.
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