04-28-2023, 01:24 AM
That plant blew up in June 2021 and was the only domestic producer. Different compounds are used in normal rifle primers, but all sorts of stuff gets used in specialty cartridges. The owner is Estes, the model rocket company. At the moment, companies are using imported stuff.
The "sole source" problem is real. When the big company I once worked for decided to shut down a manufacturing plant that wasn't profitable, the upper management had no idea that this facility was the sole source for certain pneumatic valves used by the US military. Every plane, humvee and truck. A couple of weeks after they announced the shutdown they were in a panic to find some other company to make those valves.
The "sole source" problem is real. When the big company I once worked for decided to shut down a manufacturing plant that wasn't profitable, the upper management had no idea that this facility was the sole source for certain pneumatic valves used by the US military. Every plane, humvee and truck. A couple of weeks after they announced the shutdown they were in a panic to find some other company to make those valves.