Executive order

[xd ED]

Estimates range from months, out as far as 2 years as to when the domestic supply of smokeless powder could disappear.

Source?

Loss of Smokeless Powder The Greatest Threat to the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in the United States Today

Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- Without ammunition, our firearms are just awkward clubs, and our cherished right to Keep and Bear Arms is worthless – literally worth nothing.
Let me explain this threat.
To the best of my information, there are only two plants in the United States that manufacture smokeless propellant to load ammunition for our firearms. All else is imported, from Canada, Scandinavia, Europe, Israel, and Australia primarily.
These two plants are both owned by giant defense and government contractors for whom sales of powder for civilian ammunition consumption is but a tiny fraction of their business.
One is the General Dynamics plant in St. Marks, Florida, which produces for Hodgden, Winchester and others, and the Alliant plant in Connecticut which produces for the Alliant family of companies and for the Lake City Arsenal (currently under Alliant management).
If Obama were to instruct his appointed Secretary of Defense to quietly lean on these defense contractors to quit selling smokeless powder for civilian consumption or put their next contract for an aircraft carrier at risk, I believe they’d bail on civilian powder sales in a heartbeat. And, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could end smokeless powder imports tomorrow with a stroke of her pen.

[Heffay]

These two plants are both owned by giant defense and government contractors for whom sales of powder for civilian ammunition consumption is but a tiny fraction of their business.
One is the General Dynamics plant in St. Marks, Florida, which produces for Hodgden, Winchester and others, and the Alliant plant in Connecticut which produces for the Alliant family of companies and for the Lake City Arsenal (currently under Alliant management).

See, I don't get this. I thought the civilian market for guns and ammo dwarfed the military market. Like... not even close. I have to question their assumptions there.

I can't see a company saying "I can protect 20% of my business in exchange for losing the other 80%? SIGN ME UP!!"

[xd ED]

These two plants are both owned by giant defense and government contractors for whom sales of powder for civilian ammunition consumption is but a tiny fraction of their business.
One is the General Dynamics plant in St. Marks, Florida, which produces for Hodgden, Winchester and others, and the Alliant plant in Connecticut which produces for the Alliant family of companies and for the Lake City Arsenal (currently under Alliant management).

See, I don't get this. I thought the civilian market for guns and ammo dwarfed the military market. Like... not even close. I have to question their assumptions there.

I can't see a company saying "I can protect 20% of my business in exchange for losing the other 80%? SIGN ME UP!!"

I'm inclined to agree as to which group might purchase the greater number of AR platforms, and related ammo.
But there's more there than rifles and bullets.
More than simply "Who buys more 9mm and 223 ammo: the shirts or skins. I assumed they were speaking 'defense spending on what any given company might sell' vs their share of the civilian ammo/ component market.

And I have no clue about the size of either market, but I'm guessing one fighter plane or cruise missile battery trumps a whole bunch of good ol boys' toys...

[Rip Van Winkle]

It would be interesting to find a breakdown of the powder market, it does seem unlikely that the government market would be larger than the public market but numbers are hard to find. It would also be interesting to see a breakdown of the types of powder manufactured in this country. I know the former Olin plant in St. Marks produces Ball powder but I don't know what the ATK plant in Connecticut produces.

I know IMR powders are imported from Canada, the Hodgdon Extreme rifle powders come from Australia and Alliant imports their Reloader series powders from Sweden. I have heard that Accurate powders come from Israel and the Ramshot powders from Belgium.

[minnhawk]

I don't know about the other powder companies, but this is off of the Hodgdon website about that great company. Note the companies and locations of several of their acquisitions of other powder companies: http://hodgdon.com/history.html

Hodgdon Powder Company offices are located at 6231 Robinson in Overland Park, Kansas (even though the mailing address is Shawnee Mission, the destination of the central post office). The Powder magazine, packaging and manufacturing facilities are maintained about 140 miles southwest of the main office, in Herington, Kansas. Additional magazine space, located on a closed military base, is also leased from the City of Topeka, Kansas.

To better serve our reloading customers Hodgdon Powder Company continues to grow. Hodgdon purchased IMR® Powder Company in October 2003. IMR legendary powders have been the mainstay of numerous handloaders for almost 100 years. IMR powders continue to be manufactured in the same plant and with the same exacting performance criteria and quality assurance standards that shooters have come to expect.

In March 2006, Hodgdon Powder Company and Winchester® Ammunition announced that Winchester® branded reloading powders would be licensed to Hodgdon. Winchester smokeless propellants, the choice of loading professionals, are available to the handloader to duplicate the factory performance of loads from handgun to rifle and shotgun.

In January 2009 Hodgdon acquired an American icon GOEX Powder, Inc. GOEX has a rich history dating back to 1802 where E.I. Du Pont de Nemours broke ground on his original black powder plant along the Brandywine River in Delaware. Goex Powder, Inc. manufactures black powder used for sporting applications such as civil war re-enactments and flintlock firearms, and is a vital component for industrial and military applications. Located in Minden, Louisiana, GOEX Powder, Inc. is the only U.S. manufacturer of black powder.

Hodgdon, IMR and Winchester smokeless propellants and Goex black powder continue to introduce many new, innovative, technologically advanced and unique propellants to the marketplace. Today, as over the last sixty five years, the success of the Hodgdon Companies depends upon the good will and satisfaction of our loyal customers. Thank you for the trust you continue to give our products; we only hope that they are a part of the reason you enjoy your chosen sport of hunting or shooting.

[minnhawk]

Wouldn't be too hard for Hodgdons to relocate IMR from Canada if the executive order came through. I think the Hodgdon boys (I Scouted with them back in the day) would die before they'd let Obammy stop God fearin' American reloaders from getting their powder. I know their dad would roll in his grave at the thought of the Federal Government doing something like that to the American people.

[whiteox]

Say the gov did put the squeeze on these two powder producers and stopped their private sale.

Wouldn't that just create a huge demand for powder? Somebody would come in to meet that demand.

[xd ED]

Say the gov did put the squeeze on these two powder producers and stopped their private sale.

Wouldn't that just create a huge demand for powder? Somebody would come in to meet that demand.

I'm only guessing, but I suspect somewhere there's some aft paperwork to fill out before you start up a gunpowder factory...not that it would get political