Goex has been acquired

[Dobyns]

Goex will be back!

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/estes-energetics-to-extend-the-goex-black-powder-production-legacy-301470912.html?fbclid=IwAR05ClbSZgkaoUD51hZI6zDMpnwS2UOs0mu3zw3VG3yTPWSwPoXg1og3mEg

[dstock]

Good news indeed.

[Bob Roller]

Good news indeed.I do hope they can upgrade the GOEX brand to the level of Swiss..There seem to be support,reluctantly for absurd prices for a commodity that few ever even think about.One local shop sold a friend GOEX for $32 a pound.I gave him a new can out of my collection so that took a bit of the bite out of the gouge he just experienced.
Bob Roller

[Scota4570]

I wish them all the best. 

I hope they spend time time consulting with Bill Knight. 

So, that makes them the only non Hogdon propellent manufacture in the US ?

[Mad Monk]

I wish them all the best. 

I hope they spend time time consulting with Bill Knight. 

So, that makes them the only non Hogdon propellent manufacture in the US ?

They have about 60 years pressing black powder into model rocket motors.  That has its dangers but they have what I think is a spotless safety record.  I am fairly certain that also have a background in propellant compositions that are not black powder.  Back in the 1970s the model rocket crowd looked to a lot of chemical compositions to replace black powder in rocket motors.  In a remote way that is how Pyrodex came into being with the sodium benzoate as part of the composition fuel system.  Who they have operating the various pieces of machinery will make or break this operation.  It only takes one or two workers who refuse to follow ALL of the safety procedures to eventually blow the place up.  Back in the 1800s some German BP plants ran 40 to 50 years without any "incidents". 

[AZshot]

Great!  They just need to hire people from the military that were in similar roles.  Nobody off the street.

[Bill Raby]

Great!  They just need to hire people from the military that were in similar roles.  Nobody off the street.

   Don't need to be military. There are plenty of people that can do the job safely. I got one of those jobs where small mistakes will kill you in an instant. It is probably more dangerous than working in a powder factory. You just need guys that realize what they are working with and the danger involved. Probably want to avoid anyone that shows up late and with a hangover.

[Mike from OK]

I wish them all the best. 

I hope they spend time time consulting with Bill Knight. 

So, that makes them the only non Hogdon propellent manufacture in the US ?

There are 2 plants in the United States that produce gunpowder. One being the black powder operations in Minden, LA... Which hopefully resumes operations soon.

The other is the St Marks operations in Florida owned by General Dynamics. They produce smokeless powder... Their customers include Hodgdon and Alliant.

I have no knowledge of who makes the black powder substitutes like Pyrodex and 777... But Hodgdon does not produce a single kernel of smokeless powder. They buy it in bulk from various sources and rebrand/repackage all of it.

I hope the information I just presented is incorrect/out of date, because as an American, that makes my hair stand on end.

Mike

[Willbarq]

This is good news. Thanks for posting it!  Nowhere in the mainstream has this escaped. I looked at a website and it's expected by June or what not.

[RebelSon]

With everything in shirt supply this is fantastic news!!!
The thought of Goex gone from the sport was a very disheartening one. I will admit Pyrodex held some fond memories early on as I was starting out, but Goex is truly a tradition worth keeping around for the future.
                                 
                                  Best regards,
                                             James Smith

                   

[Dphariss]

Let’s hope they know the difference in the types of BP. Fuse and rocket motor grades may not be propellant grades.
The plant was apparently built by the US gov’t in 1942 as part of the large munition production facility near Minden, LA. BP is used in fuses in shells and grenades and as initiators in artillery both land and naval.
I suppose the plant might have been sold off by the US gov’t. But more likely leased I would think but dunno.
They had a “fast fire” in June last year. I guess they were carrying on the tradition of the Moosic plant. Probably why Hodgdon lost interest.
I know that at Moosic the gov’t was their prime source of income or so I was told by a reliable source. Sporting powder was a side line.

[Mike from OK]

I realize it is probably much too early to ask this. But I'll ask anyway...

Has anyone heard if Estes has plans to try and "improve" Goex to try and compete a bit better with Swiss? Or is the plan to continue on as previously?

Mike

[JBJ]

Perhaps it is just me, but I'll be thrilled if they resume making a sporting grade black powder equivalent to the previous GOEX product line!
J.B.

[rich pierce]

Perhaps it is just me, but I'll be thrilled if they resume making a sporting grade black powder equivalent to the previous GOEX product line!
J.B.

You’re not alone! It always worked for me. But, always fun to think there’s something better out there.

[Craig Wilcox]

So, I guess our BP firearms are going to go flying off like a rocket ship!

It truly IS good news that Estes bought the Goex plant.  Estes has a great, long term success rate in the field, and should produce some really good BP for us all to use.

Just remember to count backwards before firing your shot:  Five--four--three--two--one - - Fire!  And down goes the elk!

[smylee grouch]

Was the previous GOEX a sporting grade powder?

[Daryl]

Good question, SG.

[Mad Monk]

Was the previous GOEX a sporting grade powder?

The previous grade of black powder was rifle grade (burn rate, type) dating back to before 1838 when du pont trademarked the "Superfine" description of the powder.  To be a "rifle" grade powder it must show a specific burn rate range.  This rifle type powder was not as fast or as "strong" as the du Pont Sporting Powder sold as Eagle Brand.  They also made a powder that was slower than a rifle burn rate powder that was sold to the military as Musket powder.  All production of the musket burn rate powder ceased as the U.S. Civil War ended.  The sporting powder, Eagle Brand, lasted into the 1900s and ceased about the time of WW1.  All of the powder companies did roughly the same thing as far as powder types produced.  Around 1900 is when the powder companies got into the modification of the black powder formulations to produce their early lower smoke powders.  In some ways these "lesmoke" powders replaced the sporting type (grade) powders.  In these they would replace part of the normal amount of charcoal with nitrated sawdust or "wood meal".  In ballistic strength.  A rifle burn rate powder was about 10% stronger than a musket burn rate powder and a sporting powder was a minimum of 10% stronger than a rifle burn rate powder.  Some of the better brands of sporting powder were 15 to 20% stronger than a rifle burn rate powder.

Then most of the powder companies had a "house brand" shogun powder which was nothing more than what they did with lots of rifle burn rate powder that failed to pass specification testing.

[Hungry Horse]

 About the turn of the century the Giant powder works blew up and flattened the part of Berkeley California from San Pablo Ave. to the bay. They eventually moved the powder works out to Hercules and became Hercules powder. So they all blow up eventually.
 Can anybody tell me the difference between rifle powder, and 3FA blasting powder.

 Hungry Horse

[Mad Monk]

About the turn of the century the Giant powder works blew up and flattened the part of Berkeley California from San Pablo Ave. to the bay. They eventually moved the powder works out to Hercules and became Hercules powder. So they all blow up eventually.
 Can anybody tell me the difference between rifle powder, and 3FA blasting powder.

 Hungry Horse

Generally a blasting powder is slower than a rifle burn rate powder and the grain sizing system is different.  Generally blasting powders are not polished.  But Goex did sell some blasting powder as shootable in a bp gun.  When you see the A you know it is a blasting type powder.