1947
Shawnee, Kansas
- Bruce drafted into service during World War II
– Navy aerial gunnery instructor
– used skeet to teach his students about the lead required to hit targets
– loaded shotshells each night so he could teach class the next day - 1947 started by Bruce and Amy Hodgdon
- first surplus powder offering after World War II
– government sold him surplus 4895 gunpowder - Nov 1947 first ad selling surplus powder in American Rifleman magazine
- 1947 – brought surplus powder to market
– as Hodgdon H4895 - acquired the IMR®
- acquired Goex®
- licenses the Winchester® Smokeless
- supplier of gunpowder and blackpowder
– handloading and muzzleloading enthusiasts
6430 Vista Drive
Shawnee, KS 66218
(913) 362-9455
Hodgdon.com
About Hodgdon
Hodgdon Powder Company is a family-founded supplier of smokeless and black powder substitute propellants headquartered in Shawnee, Kansas, and it is one of the most important names in American handloading. The business began in 1947, when Bruce Hodgdon bid 4 cents a pound for 50,000 pounds of government surplus 4895 powder and took possession that November. His family repackaged the powder at home, and in January 1948 he placed his first ad for military surplus powder in The American Rifleman, giving reloaders an affordable source of propellant in the years after World War II. The family business was formally established as B.E. Hodgdon Inc. in 1953.
Over the decades Hodgdon moved from surplus lots to newly manufactured powders and became a consolidator of propellant brands. It introduced the Pyrodex black powder substitute in the mid-1970s, later added shooter favorites such as Varget and the Extreme line in 1995, acquired IMR in 2003, began marketing Winchester powders under license in 2005 and acquired GOEX black powder in 2009. In 2020 it added the Accurate, Ramshot and Blackhorn 209 brands, and in May 2024 it bought RCBS reloading equipment from Revelyst, extending its reach from the powder canister to the reloading press. Hodgdon celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022.
Key Facts
- November 1947: Bruce Hodgdon takes possession of 50,000 pounds of surplus 4895 powder.
- January 1948: Places his first surplus powder ad in The American Rifleman.
- 2003: Acquires IMR Powder Company.
- 2005: Licenses and begins marketing Winchester powders.
- 2020: Acquires the Accurate, Ramshot and Blackhorn 209 powder brands.
- May 2024: Acquires RCBS reloading equipment from Revelyst.
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Sources
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