Maine Powder House Announces Temporary Winter Closure, Update on Powder Distribution

Earlier this month the Maine Powder House sent out an update about upcoming changes to their business for the winter season, including a change in hours, and the possibility of business closure in 2025. Read the full update below;

Good afternoon.

After much thought, I’ve made the challenging decision to announce that I will be temporarily closing for the winter. I will continue to process orders with available product through November. I will also continue to answer the phone, respond to emails and texts, and keep the website active for future updates on the business. I’m not closing for good, just taking the winter off to see what happens with the future of the black powder market supply.

Black Powder Supply Update

By far the most frequent question I’ve been asked the last couple of years is when is GOEX going to be available.

As everyone knows, it has been a very long couple of years waiting on the re-entry of GOEX sporting powder into the market, after the closing and sale back in 2021/2022. GOEX has had some success in getting sporting powder product into customers and dealers hands this past year, however these production runs were small leaving their inventory stock supplies empty while demand for the product remains strong.

Having spoken with GOEX about their production schedule for the coming months, bottom line, in my opinion, it will be highly unlikely we see GOEX sporting black powder in production and being shipped until early next spring/summer of  2025.

A lot of people have been patiently waiting for GOEX, and with the upcoming 250 year anniversaries of reenactment celebrations and battles happening in New England next year, this is going to put people in a bind who are waiting on GOEX availability. I would HIGHLY suggest to anyone dependent on obtaining black powder before spring and into early summer to get your powder now.

Check out my website to see what I have left, check out my competitors, but do yourself a favor and DO NOT WAIT until February or March to get powder. You may find it difficult and options limited if you wait. 

Schuetzen and Swiss are available to get, you just need to find a dealer who is stocking up on those products. Schuetzen would be a very comparable product to the GOEX brand. For those who like GOEX Olde Enysforde, Swiss would be a comparable product. 

I can still help the larger groups between now and November obtain black powder for their needs – for those groups please contact me as soon as possible to discuss your supply needs so I can give you some options. Unfortunately, I will not be able to help out those looking for small quantities or mixed cases of 5, 10 or 25 lbs orders. I will only be able to accommodate full 25 lbs cases.

In the meantime, I still have in stock GOEX 2F and Swiss 4f & Null B in limited supplies.

In addition, I also have the following products that are PICK UP ONLY (they are also listed online):

     Swiss 1.5 (in bulk)

     GOEX 2FA (grain size is 4.76-1.68, similar to Cannon grade)

     Schuetzen 2f (1kg bottles)

     WANO 7FA (grain size .42-.149, similar to 4FG grade)

Visit www.mainepowderhouse.com to see available inventory including product that is available for pick only.

I want to express my appreciation to everyone for your support of me and this business. This has been a very difficult decision to make, one that I have been contemplating every day for over a year. I will re-evaluate the future of The Maine Powder House in the spring of 2025. Thank you again and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. I will keep the News Updates link on my website up to do with future decisions about the Maine Powder House.

Pauline

The Maine Powder House

207-415-2026

I’m happy to hear Pauline is taking a well-deserved break. Enjoy your time off Pauline! You’ve earned it.

Blackpowder Distribution Update

The Maine Powder House has been very public about its inventory of black powder since the shortages of 2020, sometimes they are the only voice publicizing what powder is coming and when.

Pauline’s update on GOEX echoes what I’ve been hearing from others around the country. Despite updates earlier in 2024 and late 2023, many are still asking “Where’s GOEX?”. We expected to see GOEX Old Eynsford premium black powder in Q1 2024 but as of yet, I’ve not seen or heard of any new production OE coming out of the Camp Minden facility. I had hoped “regular” new production GOEX would be widely available by now, but according to Pauline’s update that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’m reaching out to other distributors and retailers as well as GOEX to see what others have to say, so I can share a larger picture. This isn’t to say that the American Made Powder is not available, I think many of us were hoping for wider availability. A shipment of GOEX was delivered to the NMLRA National Championship in September 2024.

Swiss and Schuetzen Powder is still available and priced reasonably at retailers and distributors across the country. As Pauline notes, many shooters have begun to stock up on Schuetzen as an alternative to GOEX. I’ve used all three powders and enjoy using them all. Don’t let your muzzleloaders sit folks!

Industry Rumors

It’s important for muzzleloading enthusiasts to remember that muzzleloading is a relatively small industry, the buying power isn’t there to support the supply chain that it used to, companies have changed, suppliers have changed, and business culture has changed a lot in the last 20 years. Some periods that feel like a shortage that are simply a lull in production and distribution schedules. We saw shortages in 2020-2022, but for the most part, production across muzzleloading has returned to a stable schedule. We might not all like the frequency of the schedule, but the last 3 years have followed an identical distribution schedule.

Schuetzen Blackpowder shared an update earlier this month, addressing rumors of them shutting down. Schuetzen stated in short, “The rumors are false, Schuetzen is not shutting down.”

Schuetzen and Swiss powder are imported powders, in my conversation with Schuetzen Energetics, the importer of Schuetzen and Swiss powder, we got some great insight on how production and distribution works. Much like imported muzzleloading kits, this powder comes in large shipments that are distributed across the country. This process takes time, patience is key.

Along with Schuetzen’s rumor squashing, we saw new rumors pop up about GOEX being “one step above dead”. Soon after, Pauline’s announcement, I received a flood of emails about GOEX shutting down again. I wanted to take a moment to say that this looks like more rumors and misunderstanding through a big game of “telephone”. We’ve reported on powder production for several years now, if a major shutdown is coming, we will hear from reliable sources.

Perpetuating rumors does nothing but drive panic and push people away from the sport. Would I like to see more powder available? Absolutely. Could GOEX have some better PR about updates and timeline changes? Absolutely. I want to see the sport and all the companies that support it thrive.

I’ll keep you posted as I hear back from companies, I encourage you to ask around as well, be active, share your love of muzzleloading and we’ll make sure this sticks around for future generations.