GOEX bought by Estes Rocketry Rumor

[Shanghai Jack]

Maybe a good sign.

[Ithaca Gunner]

If so, very well indeed!

[megasupermagnum]

Where did you see this? It's not on Hodgdon or Goex website, and I find zero results on Google.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Maybe a good sign.

Could be that Goex supplied Estes with the raw material for their motors and now they will supply it themselves?

[farmbif]

I had no idea Estes was even still in business. I built a bunch of those rockets when I was in middle school. I guess there must be big money in model rocket engines, I saw online a two pack of the big ones used in the Saturn v are $30 for 2 rocket engines. that could really eat up some paper route money pretty quick

[Beagle333]

i do hope somebody bought it, rather that it just being discontinued.

[marlin39a]

Maybe a good sign.

Do you have a link to that story? I can’t find anything on it.

[hoodat]

My rockets were Century brand, I recall. I guess I didn't know that the engines were made with black powder. Mine were small, around the size of a AA battery. Even with that the rockets went like 1200 feet. What fun!!

[GregLaROCHE]

That’s interesting. It makes sense. I hope they are planning to sell BP to the public. Otherwise, that’s going to be a lot of rocket engines. I guess the fireworks industry would be a big market.

[megasupermagnum]

Maybe a good sign.

So this is how rumors start? Some guy on the internet posts some made up stuff that sounds half true? Why? Now there's discussion about this on a few different forums, all of them lead right back to Shanghai Jack. Dozens of people have scoured for a shred of proof. There's not a shred of evidence that this is true. Estes Rocketry themselves say they know nothing about this.

[Fastleo]

So this is how rumors start? Some guy on the internet posts some made up stuff that sounds half true? Why? Now there's discussion about this on a few different forums, all of them lead right back to Shanghai Jack. Dozens of people have scoured for a shred of proof. There's not a shred of evidence that this is true. Estes Rocketry themselves say they know nothing about this.


I read it on the internet so it has to be true!!

[Bent Ramrod]

I posted it on the ASSRA Site a couple weeks ago. A rocket scientist friend (still working) said one of his co-workers was quitting; he had been hired by Estes. Said they were looking for knowledgeable employees because they’d just bought GOEX from Hodgdon. Apparently, Estes was a major customer of GOEX black powder.

Kind of surprised me. I recall that the filler in the Estes motors was this reddish-brown composite with glints of aluminum powder in it, like a real tactical solid rocket motor. Thought black powder was for skyrockets and other fireworks. But I never really analyzed the stuff, so what do I know?

One or another of us kids would get an Estes kit for Christmas or a birthday, and there would be a temporary flurry of rocketry activity. Next to the display at the Hobby Shop was posted the “Rocketeer’s Pledge” that Estes had printed. You swore by the ghosts of Oberth, Goddard and Congreve that you wouldn’t do anything crazy with their rockets, like adding extra motors for power, altitude and range, arming the nose cones with explosives or incendiaries or any fun stuff like that.

The interest didn’t hold up back then. I guess we just got tired of having to ask the neighbors if we could climb on their roofs or trees to retrieve the spent rockets for another flight. Again.

Apparently, the rumor was real enough for someone to change employers for, anyway. I hope (if the rumor is true) that they keep the employees who know how to make Olde Eynsford on the payroll, and continue with the sporting powders. Just when I’d figured out a good paper-patch load for my .44-77 with the stuff, they go out of business. Oy vey!

[country gent]

I used the estes rocket motors in model rockets They also had some cars that used them. The rocket motors had a code on them that was the size A B C D, delay in secs. Then there was a expulsion charge and puff of whit smoke that popped the nose cone and parachute or streamer. This expulsion charge may have been black powder.

I also used Estes fuel tabs in several model steam engines. I believe they also made a sterno type fuel for hot plates and steam tables.

I had heard the closing was to modernize the factory, improve and increase production. The plant was old and in need of work.

[GregLaROCHE]

I was really into Estes rocketry as a kid. The simple rocket motors were single stage with an explosive charge at the end to pop off the nose cone. Multi stage booster rocket engines would shoot flames from the top to ignite the bottom of the next stage. I started with their kits and then moved to my own designs. Worst part was when the parachute would get caught around electrical wires. It would be fun to try some out again one day

[megasupermagnum]

WE HAVE PROOF!!!

I'm not sure why it was so hard to find, or why the people that started these threads never come back, but someone found honest to goodness proof. Someone on the muzzleloading forum, Ray-Vigo, did some sleuthing in the Louisiana buisness filing website. I'll copy his post below.

"I went to the Louisiana Secretary of the State website, which is an online archive of business filings. EOS Energetics of Penrose, CO is designated officer of "GOEX Industries LLC". The LLC entity went active in late December, 2021. GOEX Industries LLC principal place of business in LA is in Minden, LA.

This is not to say what will or will not be manufactured in Minden, but it is to say EOS Energetics has taken a controlling stake of an LLC associated with teh GOEX name, which is based in Minden, LA. It appears to me there is movement in the ownership of the GOEX name, but beyond that, I have no idea what the manufacturing plan is."

I checked for myself, and sure enough, there it is. I'll link below, but the website may not allow you to view it. "Goex Industries LLC." registered 12/29/2021, address 808 guam, Minden, LA 71055. AKA, the Goex powder plant. Currently owned by EOS Energetics Inc. in Penrose, CO.

There's no way to know what the future of Goex is until an announcement is made, but we can say with certainty that Goex is now owned by Estes Rocketry.

https://coraweb.sos.la.gov/commercialsearch/CommercialSearchDetails.aspx?CharterID=1629928_DCD 599B892

[maillemaker]

Thanks for the investigative work!

Steve

[Bent Ramrod]

My first Internet rumor.

And it was true! BWAH HaHaHaHaHaHahhhh!

So now, I'm an "Influencer." Like Oprah.

Just remember: That impulse you have to get up from the computer and get a snack; to check your Instagram page to see if anything is new, to turn the TV channel to something else (or not); to purchase Schlitz beer instead of Blatz beer at the store (or vice versa), to load with 2400 instead of 4227---that's me!

Influencing! [smilie=w:

Awaiting the calls from People Magazine and the E! channel. How did it start? Well, I knew I was destined for greatness at age three when...:mrgreen:

My personal hero, Jeanne Dixon, ran a minor-league astrology column in a handful of small birdcage-liner newspapers, getting a solid 99.9% of her predictions wrong, as could be expected. Then, one fateful day early in 1963, she reached deep into her nether end and pulled out "The President will be assassinated this year." After November of that same year, she was syndicated in every major newspaper in the country, and maintained her 99.9% wrong record throughout the rest of her career. But it only took that one right one...
:kidding:

But I do hope that the Estes people reinstitute Olde Eynsford. Just to keep the competitive pressure on Swiss, if for no other reason. Although it was very good stuff in its own right, too.

[Martin Luber]

I always thought the motors simply burned through the top releasing the chamber pressure to blow the chute...

[centershot]

I always thought the motors simply burned through the top releasing the chamber pressure to blow the chute...

Yes, that was my understanding also. I was told by the neighborhood "rocketry experts" (in 7th grade) that if you replaced the 'chute with a charge of 3 or 4F it made a rather spectacular "BOOM"!

[Tar Heel]

Here is the announcement. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?438042-Estes-Energetics-to-Extend-the-GOEX-Black-Powder-Production-Legacy&p=5346856&viewfull=1#post5346856