St. Marks Powder is a subsidiary of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Un ...

Ordnance and Tactical Systems manufacturing

ball propellant Ball propellant (trademarked as Ball Powder by Olin Corporation and marketed as spherical powder by Hodgdon Powder CompanyWootters, John ''Propellant Profiles'' (1982) Wolfe Publishing Company pp.95,101,136-138,141,149&155 ) is a form of nitrocell ...

Crawfordville, Florida Crawfordville is an unincorporated community and county seat of Wakulla County, Florida, United States. Demographics 2020 census As of the 2020 United States census, there were 4,853 people, 1,729 households, and 1,046 families residing in ...

. The company is a member of the

Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI, pronounced "Sammy") is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several Ame ...

(SAAMI).

History

Large-scale ball propellant manufacture began during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

at the

Olin Corporation Olin Corporation is an American manufacturer of ammunition, chlorine, and sodium hydroxide. The company traces its roots to two companies, both founded in 1892: Franklin W. Olin's Equitable Powder Company and the Mathieson Alkali Works. Olin ch ...

plant in

East Alton, Illinois East Alton is a village in Madison County, Illinois, United States. The population was 6,301 at the 2010 census. History East Alton was incorporated as a village in 1893 (some say 1894). William Cobb, namesake of Cobb Street, was one of the fir ...

. Population growth of the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

, metropolitan area encouraged finding a more remote location for a modern production plant. The St. Marks manufacturing facility was built in 1969 on a large plot of undeveloped swampland south of

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the populatio ...

, at near sea-level elevation between the

St. Marks River The St. Marks River is a river in the Big Bend region of Florida. It has been classified by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as an Outstanding Florida Water, and is the easternmost river within the Northwest Florida Water Man ...

and the

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Missis ...

. Plant operation was transferred to St. Marks Powder in 1998.

Products

The facility manufactures over 95 percent of propellants used in United States military small arms ammunition. Similar propellants are sold to commercial manufacturers of rimfire and

centerfire ammunition Two rounds of .357 Magnum, a centerfire cartridge; notice the circular primer in the center A centerfire cartridge is a firearm metallic cartridge whose primer is located at the center of the base of its casing (i.e. "case head"). Unlike ri ...

or marketed by Winchester and

Hodgdon Powder Company The Hodgdon Powder Company began in 1952 as B.E. Hodgdon, Inc., and has become a major distributor of smokeless powder for the ammunition industry, as well as for individuals who load their own ammunition by hand. The company's corporate office ...

for civilian

handloading Handloading, or reloading, is the practice of making firearm cartridges by assembling the individual components (case, primer, propellant, and projectile), rather than purchasing mass-assembled, factory-loaded ammunition. The term ''handloa ...

. Other propellants are used for military mortar rounds,

rocket-assisted projectile A rocket-assisted projectile (RAP) is a cannon, howitzer, mortar, or recoilless rifle round incorporating a rocket motor for independent propulsion. This gives the projectile greater speed and range than a non-assisted ballistic shell, which is p ...

s, or dispersing non-lethal agents used for

crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hun ...

, marking, or

area denial An area denial weapon is a defensive device used to prevent an adversary from occupying or traversing an area of land, sea or air. The specific method used does not have to be totally effective in preventing passage (and sometimes is not) as lon ...

Sources

{{reflist Ammunition manufacturers Companies established in 1998 General Dynamics Wakulla County, Florida Companies based in Florida