by Until now, only two companies controlled the market for primers in the United States. Olin Corporation through their ownership of Winchester and Vista Outdoor with their ownership of Federal, Remington Ammunition, and CCI. A third manufacturer intends to to begin producing by 2023.
Expansion Industries of Carrolton, Texas will be opening a new plant on the site of the former Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant outside of Texarkana, Texas.
According to reports in the Texarkana Gazette, Expansion Industries has already invested $100 million in the effort.
The facility will specialize in the production of primers, a key component in ammunition manufacturing, for the small arms industry.
“We have invested $100 million into the site so far,” said Richard A. Smissen, owner, Expansion Industries. “This is all about supply and demand. There is serious demand in the industry for this product and right now, for various reasons, the supply chain is falling woefully short. So we are getting ready to do our part to help out with that issue.”
Smissen describes the new facility as state-of-the-art, featuring a high level of automation. He said the site at the former Lone Star Army Ammunition plant is uniquely situated for what they will be doing.
“The manufacturing facilities at Lone Star were set up for ammunition manufacturing,” said Smissen. “Not only the way the facilities are laid out on the former base, but the facilities themselves are hardened to protect against possible accidents working with this material. What is here was ready for someone like us to come and set up shop. So we’ve had our people in there getting it ready for a modern manufacturing facility. We aim to be up and running in the first few months of this year.”
They intend to employ up to 400 employees by 2023 and have already started their employee recruitment efforts.
This is good news as primers are the key component which seems to be in the shortest supply. I know it was a topic of discussion this week among my friends at the SHOT Show.
Red River has seen a number of iterations over the years… Glad to see them ‘returning’ to business, as it were.
Think you forgot Sellier & Bellot. They built a ammo facility in the US some time ago. They sell primers to the domestic crowd.
Recap: primer manufacturers are Federal, CCI, Winchester, Remington, S&B & soon to be Lone Star. With primer prices approaching U$.10 cent each, they now cost the same as most 9mm bullets. Nevertheless, even at that price primers get snapped up quickly, & in quantity. The hoarding has not been satisfied. Yet.
Good to see, but Primers are not my problem. I have several thousand LRP and SRP, and a few hundred LPP and SPP I bought years ago. My reloading is curtailed for lack of powder. Brass and projectiles I have, gathering dust because no powder to load them. It’s been 2 years since I was able to get any powder that I use.
Powder Valley and Hodgdon
Most are OUT OF STOCK except pistol and shotgun powder.
Rifle Powder OUT OF STOCK.
I need H335.
They just had some today at Powder Valley
That makes little to no sense. I re-started to reload starting March 2021. I have more powders than anything else. Ranging from shooters world to H1000, pistol and rifle. All bought new locally or online. You gotta pay to play and set up an ammo search alert that texts you.
You can get it online at the link below, Hodgdon, IMR, Accurate, Winchester. The rest of the country does need primers.
https://shop.hodgdon.com/hodgdon
Everything OUT OF STOCK.
Told ya!
Check MidwayUSA $33.99/lb 2 lb limit
Hodgdon has powder available all the time for resale to the public. The Hazmat charge is a bit spendy but if you watch their website they do have powders available.
I have the exact opposite issue, plenty of powder and no primers. Our local suppliers are getting weekly shipments of powder so Most of us are just waiting on LRP and LPP primers.
I bought a billion primers just so nobody else could get them
Have fun.
H E L L
Y E A H
This is fantastic news! I’m tired of paying to much because of lack of supply. But I also agree that finding the right powder for the job is hard as hell! Maybe these guys will build a powder production facility as well. Build in America and buy American product! F— China!
This is great news for me. I have brass, bullets and powder with no SPP.
One shop I go to always has powder, not everything, but enough to load pretty much anything you’d shoot. What are you looking for?
H335. Loads all my rifle rounds except for 300BLK and 458 SOCOM which use H110.
Best news I’ve heard in over two years!
Well, I don’t know whereyou get your powder, but every site I check is OUT OF STOCK.
Graf and Sons, Midsouth Shooters, Bass Pro Shops (local), Brownell’s (H335) unavailable.
Same goes for every other online place I usually bought from.
No Backorder, Out Of Stock or unavailable.
Call Penquin pawn, in Overland park Kansas, Powder has never been out…..
Powder valley has quite a bit instock right now
H335 in stock 8lb 224.00 at powder valley right now.
If these guys go public, I’m in.
I have the exact opposite issue, plenty of powder and no primers. Our local suppliers are getting weekly shipments of powder so Most of us are just waiting on LRP and LPP primers.
lets hope they sell to open public and not to loaded ammo plants. let us get back to some normal rate WITHOUT the greedy HOARDERS.
Just for the heckuvit I checked my local Bass Pro in Myrtle Beach.
They have 3 powders in store, CFE223 ($34), TiteGroup ($27) and IMR4064 ($38). (at least the website says they do)
All at 30% to 40% more than they used to be.
While I can use CFE223 for my 5.56, I’m not paying $34 a pounds and limit one.
That is $8 to $10 more than usual.
I found H335 online for $25 a pound, but the company won’t answer a message or email.
So I’m thinking scam website.
I put the address of the company claiming to have H335 into Google Earth Pro and it is a residential home on a City Street. So, yeah, not ordering from them.
Decided to check the local Bass Pro. Website lied. No powder in the store, no primers, a limited selection of projectiles and ammo, but plenty of Pyrodex for muzzle loading.
I read your whole content it’s really interesting and attracting for new reader.
Thanks for sharing the information with us.
Check MidwayUSA $33.99/lb 2 lb limit
it’s hard to believe people are scratching for powder, primers and bullets. with the abundance that has been available over previous years all one would have to do is stop going to burger king or buying a bag of weed, etc.
it’s amazing how much money people waste on a daily basis, but they never think of investing in reloading supplies or ammo rather than junk. so much for the well armed militia. if your service was needed all you would have is clubs or sharp edged weapons. i take my shooting very seriously, obviously some do not.