Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Hodgdon rifle powder gets the boot

MD,
I had a varmint shooter from the U.K. Send me a message today that I found interesting.
Seems that the EU/UK REACH regs has decided to ban every Hodgdon rifle powder except Varget. But he was unsure as varget wasn't listed at all. Neither approved or banned. So as of now seems that the only Hodgdon powders approved are pistol/shotgun. The Alliant and IMR powders were left untouched.
Was it that IMR and Alliant bought off the EU/UK org and Hodgdon didn't, or was that Hodgdon just decided that the market for rifle powders over there wasn't worth a reformulation and told em to pack sand.
I have a list but no way to post it. Pb sucks

Doesn't Hodgdon own IMR?

I'll be the reason was, that it was at the request of Australian Defense Industries...ADI

They make a big batch of Hodgdon's powders...

so why should they compete with one of their 'dealers'....

makes pretty good sense from a business perspective....

One of the reasons for the IMR Enduron powders (and yes, Hodgdon does own the IMR brand) is they're all allowable under REACH regulations, since they don't contain any chemicals not allowed by REACH. Which is also another major reason (aside from the California condor areas) so many American companies are making "non-toxic" bullets.

Whether American shooters like it or not, Europe's environmental regulations are a major factor in component manufacturing, since most major American companies sell a lot of powder and bullets in Europe.

John, I would agree except that under imr it lists all the old powders like 3031, 4064, 4831 and 4895 plus all of the new enduron powders. Alliant still has RL 7, 10X, 15, 19 and 22.
H powders banned 322, 335, 380, 414, 4198,4350, 4831 & SC, 4895, BLc2, US 869, Benchmark, 1000 & Retumbo so its basically a flat ban on all H rifle powders.

Obviously some powders (both older and newer) contain chemicals unacceptable under REACH constraints, and some don't.

That's one of the major reasons Hodgdon introduced the IMR Endurons. They provided basically the same performance as most H-brand rifle powders, without the world-wide regulatory problems. In fact, when I tested IMR4166 for the Hodgdon Annual Manual when the Endurons were introduced, the folks at Hodgdon emphasized their European-acceptable chemical make-up.

I might add that there are two possibilities here:

1) Hodgdon was completely unaware of the impending ban, and got caught totally unaware.\

2) They knew there was some sort of deadline, and didn't care very much.

My knowledge of Hodgdon would put my money on the second. One guess is they don't sell vast amounts of "322, 335, 380, 414, 4198,4350, 4831 & SC, 4895, BLc2, US 869, Benchmark, 1000 & Retumbo" in Europe. Unlike Americans (especially some older shooters) European handloaders don't revere many older American powders all that much, especially powders like BL-C(2),and IMR4350, partly because European powder companies offer an excellent array. This may seem odd to many Americans, but smokeless powder was mostly developed in Europe, and while some American companies did some great work (especially between the two World Wars) we're not the sole source of rifle powder in the world. Far from it, in fact.

Agree on #2 John. As I stated to him was that I thought Hodgdons just didn't care. Nice way of saying pack sand.
I really do believe that there was a big money pay out demanded by the EU/U.K. That they just weren't willing to pay.
Good thing about this is got me to looking around the U.K. Powder sites and I feel lucky £90 for 2.2 lbs of Viht 133= 60 bucks per. But what really got me was Seafire's favorite BlueDot £ 45.50 = 56 bucks and change per pound.
Also think that since Hodgdons doesn't do NATO contracts where Alliant might, and IMR definitely does was also a consideration.

Thanks for these thread. Very interesting and informative. More H414 for me it sounds like!!!

Oh No !! WW 760 is much better.




Seriously, I say THNX for this thread too.

Jerry

W760 for me too.

I much prefer Accurate 2700.

I've never had good luck with 760, 414, or 2700....

Pork is also banned under the EU REACH regulations.

I bet MD is right. I suspect Hodgy's European market for handloading powders is very small compared to their American market for same. Thales and General Dynamics manufacture all the smokeless rifle powders Hodgy sells over here (maybe they buy a couple Eurenco or Explosia products for Europe?), and while clearly those manufacturers must have REACH-compliant powders for military work, Hodgy almost certainly just didn't feel like bothering with a switchover of non-compliant powders for a small market.

Plus, this would give them the marketing opportunity to introduce a complete line of 'all-new' powders over there.

Wow, this has me a little nervous as to what it means for the supply / price of ADI powders down here in Aus...

It's already fifty five bucks per 500 grams... and we make the stuff here!

Be not a feared. The only thing that can happen is it goes up in price. If there is a large enough market, they will sell it to you.

In Canada, we make many IMR & Hodgdon powders, just over the border in Quebec. It's put into train cars and sent into the US, packaged, and sold up here for more than what it's sold for in the US. Ain't commerce wunnerful?

Makes sense for the EU/UK - unbridled immigration, sharia law, no go zones but a ban on certain gun powder.

Yeah it's dumb. Why can't I just drive down to Mulwala with a chaff bag and a fifty dollar note and bring home all the powder I need?!

I don't know. The government gets involved and 9 times out of 10, messes things up. Just remember, the government is saving us from ourselves.