Estes Energetics Acquisition of GOEX Black Powder Production

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GOEX Black Powder Production has been acquired by Estes Energetics

Powder Valley Inc is helping to announce some important industry news.  On January 31st, 2022 an announcement was made that Estes Energetics has acquired the assets of GOEX, the premier black powder brand, and will continue and grow production at its Louisiana manufacturing facility.

This is among the last remaining commercial scale black powder factories in the USA producing GOEX and Olde Eynsford brands of black powder, which are highly regarded by recreational and competitive shooters, re-enactors, and muzzleloading hunters, as well as fireworks manufacturers. GOEX black powder also propels the model rocket motors of sister company Estes Industries, the leading model rocket brand, and supports the needs of the U.S. Military.

GOEX has a long history dating back to 1802, when DuPont began producing black powder in Delaware. DuPont’s Belin plant in Pennsylvania became part of GOEX in the early 1970s. In 1997, the operations of GOEX were moved to Minden, Louisiana. Estes Energetics plans to continue this legacy of high-quality American-made black powder, bringing innovation and full-spectrum engineering capability to fortify safety and quality.

GOEX Industries manufactures high quality black powder that is used for sporting and fireworks applications and is a vital component for industrial and military applications. GOEX has been producing American-made black powder for more than 200 years and is the only U.S. manufacturer of black powder.  To learn more about GOEX Industries please visit https://goexpowder.com/

Powder Valley Inc will continue to keep its loyal customer base kept up to date with major industry changes as they occur.  You can continue to visit our Goex Powders page while this change is taking place.  Powder Valley Inc is the leader in reloading supply and equipment. 

Industry Update

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Things have been extremely tough here lately.  We have seen our inventory levels drop to an area we haven’t seen in the last 15 years. 

As we’ve seen the demand outpace supply we have also seen a significant number of price increases.  We are doing everything we can to keep our prices down and continue on focusing on Shooters supporting Shooters.  We have seen the price increases level off recently but we do anticipate there could be a couple more since some manufacturers have fought hard to keep their prices down and had forward contracts on metals that have or will soon expire.

I’m going to hit on each component below:

Primers:

We have seen very small amounts of primers.  They come and go very quickly.  With the small quantities we are receiving it’s hard for many people to even notice we had any for sale because they sell so quickly.  We will continue to have extreme limits on primers per individual purchase.  We do have reason for a positive outlook and I anticipate seeing improvement on primer availability within the next couple of months.  There has been additional manufacturing capacity added and Remington is back online.  Foreign primers are coming into the US for OEM only use which will allow for some relief on the US manufacturers. 

Powder: 

This is the scariest part for us.  We are known for powder.  Many people refer to us as the Powder Folks.  It is tough and stressful to be Powder Valley and literally have no powder.  We had been receiving a consistent amount of shipments and those shipments weren’t anywhere close to meeting demand but at least the supply line seemed open.  We were able to keep somewhat of a consistent supply to our large dealer and retail networks.   However, recently our quantities received from the manufacturers have decreased even more and the outlook on the horizon doesn’t look any better.  We anticipate availability to get worse before it gets better.

Bullets: 

Generic caliber target bullets are starting to become more plentiful.  Demand still outweighs supply on precision long range competition bullets as well as hunting bullets.  But, it is good to see inventory available on handgun target bullets.  Berger has done extremely well with the manufacturing upgrades they have done over the past several years and supply has been pretty decent.  We are seeing only tiny quantities coming out of Sierra.  Hornady has been supplying a steady stream of bullets. 

Brass:

 Brass from big manufacturers has been very sparse.  We have seen a pretty steady supply of Starline, however sparse the caliber availability may be.  Lapua has been great with their deliveries as most calibers are readily available.  Prvi has also been pretty decent.

Equipment

We chose some time ago to stock only Hornady equipment.  We are receiving shipments from Hornady daily and recently the availability of equipment has been much better.

I thought I’d also list the most popular questions we’ve been receiving:

How can you guys stay in business?  You have nothing in stock.  Are you going out of business?

It is definitely a challenging time.  Powder Valley is not going anywhere.  I mean, really, can you imagine a world without Powder Valley?  Yeah, me either.

When will you receive your next shipment?  When do you update the website?

We receive shipments daily from the manufacturers.  However, we rarely know when we are receiving a shipment.  Many of the products we are receiving now were placed on order 9-11 months ago.  We update the website when our receiving department gets everything checked in. 

Every time I try to order anything the bots beat me to them.  I can not buy anything.  Why don’t you do something about the bots?  I can’t just sit at home for 24 hours at a time and monitor your website.

We have taken extensive efforts to combat bot traffic.  It is highly likely somebody else was just a little bit quicker completing their order.  The things we have done have had a tremendous effect on decreasing the bots.  Some people complain about the efforts we have gone to with new product codes, product combinations and encaptcha.    As we continue to combat bot traffic we will keep working on creative ways to combat their evolving sophistication.  I know this is annoying to some people but if we must continue to be creative in our efforts.  Every time products are made available for sale we literally have thousands of people trying to buy as fast as they can.

What is causing the shortage of product?  When do we see things going back to normal? 

I’m going to refer this answer to our blog as we have written an article on this.  Check out our blog on the website for lots of good information.  The short answer is that there are so many contributing factors to the shortage that it’s impossible to list them all here.  But, #1 is unprecedented demand.  The better question is “What will be the new normal?”  Because I don’t think anything will ever get back to how it used to be.  Millions of new firearm owners will create extreme demand for many, many years to come.

Do we have a notification system and do we accept backorders?

We do not have a notification system and do not accept backorders currently.  It would be impossible to manage the backorders and people would receive notifications after the product was already gone.  Therefore we feel it would be counter-productive at this point.  There’s a good chance we will begin allowing notifications on some items within the next few months.

As troubling as current times appear we are optimistic for the future.  We fully anticipate that supplies will improve this year.  With tens of thousands of new gun owners the future of our industry is bright.

I hope these words provide you some comfort and help you understand the current status of the industry.  Please take a look at the website Blog Page for more information and like us on Facebook for updates.  Keep an eye on the website frequently.

Why Is There a Primer Supply Shortage?

Home / Reloading Industry

If you’ve tried to purchase ammo or reloading supplies lately, you’ve probably noticed a lot of products are out of stock. Of all the components needed to reload ammo, it seems primers are the toughest to find, prompting many reloaders to refer to the current crisis as “The Great Primer Shortage of 2020.” The primer supply shortage doesn’t just affect reloaders, though. It’s also limiting the production of many popular types of ammunition. This can be frustrating for shooters and hunters looking to keep their edge on the range, and can be concerning for preppers, survivalists, and others who are concerned about their safety.

We are in the midst of the greatest primer shortage of all time, and we don’t see things getting better anytime soon.  Read on as the experts from Powder Valley delve deeper into the primer shortage of 2020.

A Massive Increase in Demand

Like any other product in a market economy, primers are subject to the whims of supply and demand. As far as demand is concerned, a perfect storm of factors has caused a run on the ammo market like we’ve never quite seen before. A mix of the Covid-19 pandemic, civil unrest, and the possibility of an anti-2nd amendment President and Senate has caused demand to skyrocket. The pandemic specifically has incentivized shooters to learn how to reload their own ammo.

We have an extremely large number of new reloaders who have entered the market. The NSSF estimates that first time gun owners has increased to 6.2 million people over the past few months. Unfortunately, many of those reloaders entered the market anticipating that it would be easier to make their own ammo since readily available ammunition was so difficult to find.  With shortages of bullets, powder, brass and primers, that has simply not been the case

Since so many people have lost a chunk, or all of their income, it makes sense that reloading, which saves on the cost of ammo at the expense of time, would become more popular than ever. Even if you’re financially stable, reloading and shooting are great socially distant activities you can do while the movie theaters, bowling alleys, and bars are shut down. With little answers on the virus, it’s hard to see when these closures and limitations will end. This is why we believe this could end up being the greatest primer shortage of all time.

Hoarding

When there is a primer shortage the first thing people normally point to is consumer hoarding.  We believe this is having an impact on availability, but probably not to the extreme that many think.  There are definitely some profiteers who buy primers and then sell them on auction sites or other multi list sites.  This is why many online retailers have now chosen to limit the purchase quantities to an extreme low level in an effort to reduce this.

Disruptions in the Supply Chain

Demand, however, is just one part of the story. Disruptions in the supply chain have also made a big impact on the availability of primers. When it comes to ammunition supplies, bullets are easy to manufacture, brass can be re-used, and powder is generally stockpiled by companies (though perhaps not the kind you’re looking for). This leaves primers, which are relatively difficult to make, as the component that causes the bulk of ammo shortages.

In the U.S., only four companies (Winchester, Remington, Federal, and CCI) manufacture primers for civilian use, law enforcement, and the military. Even under perfect circumstances, there’s only so much they can produce at once, and needless to say, circumstances have not been perfect during the pandemic. People getting sick, missing work to take care of their kids, and self-quarantining – from factory workers to delivery drivers, and all throughout the supply chain – caused a lull in manufacturing this spring.

The Remington bankruptcy has had a large impact on the shortage of ammo and primers.  With Remington in a state of financial insolvency for the past two years, suppliers were demanding payment upon delivery for products.  Remington simply did not have the financial capabilities to have an abundance of raw materials on hand and had to shutter some of their production capacity.  Barnes bullets and primers were hit particularly hard in the reloading market.  With the recent purchase of Remington by Vista, there is a good chance that Vista will be diverting CCI and Federal primers that would typically go to reloaders to Remington ammunition production.  Remington primer production capacity has never been great.  The hope would be that Vista will place more emphasis on getting the Remington primer production capacity increased substantially and quickly.  The best news coming out of this is for Barnes fans.  With Sierra’s purchase of Barnes we anticipate the availability of Barnes bullets to increase substantially in a very short period of time.

In 2008 we saw a huge influx of Russian primers.  We are not seeing that this time as the Murom Apparatus Producing plant is only producing at partial capacity due to the COVID-19 restrictions. On top of that, there have been changes in upper management at Murom which have caused further disruptions. But, we are very hopeful that these changes will have a positive effect on production and distribution in the long run.

With import restrictions out of Russia, we do not anticipate seeing the help we had from them in 2008-2012.  We had also seen S&B, Unis Ginex and other foreign brands of primers enter the market during the shortages to relieve some of the pressure, but aren’t seeing that influx of primers this time around.  The lack of foreign primers on the market is a major reason we believe this shortage is going to last for quite some time.  We may see some help from foreign primers, but we don’t anticipate the large volumes we’ve seen previously.

What Should You Do?

As an individual, as of right now, there’s little you can do in the face of the reloading equipment supplies shortage. Keep checking your trusted online distributor Powder Valley for new arrivals of primers from all four manufacturers.

We have created some very stringent limitations on the purchase of primers in an effort to help as many people as possible work through this extremely tough time.  Normally, we would say “stock up.” But that time has passed, and I would encourage everyone to learn from this.  Stock up in times of plentiful supply so that you are not affected as greatly during these times of extreme shortage.

In the meantime I would encourage everyone to pray for our country and our leaders as we navigate this perilous situation.