State of Boss 2025

As Boss enters our 8th year in business I surprised myself because I had, in my mind, thought we were entering our 6th year in business. As surprised as I was to realize I had lost 2 years of time I quickly rationalized the numerous reasons why time seemingly slipped away from me. When I first got Boss going, my kids were younger than most child laborers working in third world nations sewing t-shirts. Now both of them are well into their teens, one with a driver’s license and the other not far behind going damn near as fast on hot-rodded Japanese mopeds.  I think of the first paychecks they earned helping pour shot pellets. My daughter with sweat across her forehead and my son elbows deep in graphite from polishing. Of the many things I’ve screwed up while being a dad, one thing I know I did right was show them what it takes to chase a dream and turn it into a reality. Unfortunately, sometimes dreams can turn into nightmares and I’ve lived through one that damn near put me in an early grave. No good deed goes unpunished and while our company has faced some serious challenges over the past 2 years my dedication to the Boss loyalists, the love I have for my team and my faith in God (thank you Calvin Wheat a.k.a Preacher Man from Storehouse Church in Franklinton, LA) have made the toughest days a bit easier. Not to get all preachy here but Job was tested for nearly 3-1/2 years where he lost everything that ever meant anything to him and it all came back two-fold.  I think 2025 may very well be the best year yet for Boss. 

In 2024, we introduced two new product lines to expand our offerings—a big step forward for us. Between 2018 and 2022, we focused solely on our original Boss Shell and Boss Tom products, building a foundation we could be proud of. In 2023, we launched Warchief, a shell purpose-built to push bismuth to its limit. The rollout of Steel Reserve and Wolfram this year were designed to cater to hunters on each end of the performance-driven spectrum. Steel Reserve for the budget-minded or “in the blocks” type hunter and Wolfram for the guy who spends 100 dollar bills like I do quarters and takes shots 2-3X beyond the distance past the last decoy in the spread. It’s been humbling to see both product lines resonate with so many waterfowl hunters across the country. Watching our small, growing brand find its place in new parts of the existing market has been a truly rewarding experience for my team and myself.

2024 gave us the chance to have a little fun with our customers by hosting our first gun giveaway. I’d been wanting to “give back” to my community in a meaningful and exciting way for a while and this felt like the perfect opportunity. Some of you might know about the incident that spurred me into action. After a local ring of Methican Americans stole over $100,000 worth of copper wire and transformers from the future home of Boss Shotshell Mfg. Co., I subscribe to the philosophy of “When life gives you limes, make margaritas” and this experience inspired me to join my county’s Sheriff’s Office as a Reserve Deputy. A few months after the break-in I caught one of the shitheads stealing more copper. I’ll spare the details but I am proud to report that he was returned to jail relatively unharmed and now resides in prison where he belongs. Anyways, back on track…While tuning up my duty rifle, I came across a product called Duracoat and loved it so much that I thought, “Why not give some of our Benellis the same treatment?” We ended up customizing a handful and selecting nine lucky winners out of 22,000 entries. The feedback has been incredible and we’re already looking forward to doing it again. We have taken many calls and emails from you guys about having this work done to your guns and we will be offering this service starting in February. We can add more color options besides my favorite color FDE upon request. Give us a call if you have any questions. We can work with any brand of shotgun and wood furniture is not a problem.

Meg has been hard at work over the past year or so working on a redesign of our website in addition to welcoming her second child, Charlotte, or Charlie for short. Look for the new site to roll out in the spring. We hope to add more interactive features and resources to it and also give links and information for our growing list of Boss Outfitters that have done a terrific job at helping spread the word about our company.

In my many frequent chats with my good buddy Jeff Stanfield from Knox City Texas, dad to the World Famous Andy Shaver, he told me that 15,000,000 doves are harvested each year in Texas alone with 5 times that many shotshells fired each year. Dirk has been in talks with various conservation groups in Texas, one of which is Texas Parks and Wildlife and there are serious talks about Texas wanting to go lead free. We will be rolling out a non-toxic Dove load designed for 35-40 yard lethality using the Warchief/Steel Reserve wad and USA made steel shot later this year. Jeff will be in charge of spreading this yet-to-be-named shell across the lodges in the great state of Texas. We will start small and see what happens with this one but I have reservations about developing a new product when we still can’t get what we need. Powder…

The last 2 years have been tough when it comes to powder supply and any stockpiles I built up in the post-covid letdown until the war in Ukraine clacked off are all but gone. If memory serves me, we only received 3 out of 12 loads we had on order in 2023 and maybe 1 more than that in 2024. 2025 is not forecast to be much better. For reasons unknown, the big boys have gotten everything they need but we can’t get what we need. That said, the hungry dog hunts well and I won’t trade the problems I have with the unknown ones of the next guy so we will keep working with what we have. 2025 powder pricing is due any day and I know it will increase but not enough to justify moving prices based upon powder pricing alone.  While I don’t think ammo supply will be covid like here at Boss, if we can’t get the powders we need, we will not be able to produce every one of our SKU’s.

What is more troublesome when it comes to pricing are skyrocketing metal prices for bismuth. Approx 90% of the world’s bismuth supply is mined from China and there is little doubt in my mind that the Chinese are getting ready for a trade war with the incoming Trump administration and his promises of 25% tariffs. TSS shot is 100% produced overseas as it is nearly impossible to economically produce domestically. It is worth noting that Trump tariffed Tungsten and Bismuth at 20% back in 2020 which still exists today.  The balance of non-Chinese bismuth comes mainly from Korea and as soon as prices for Chinese bismuth rose due to the 2020 tariffs, Korea raised their prices as well.  Last week we received word that after our current supply contract runs out in April, our next deliveries will be 40% more expensive. If China and the US cannot reach a trade deal in short order and these tariffs hit, I feel the 2nd and 3rd order effects of such a move will be painful and long-lived.  Something needs to be done with the US/China “issues” but I personally do not believe tariffs in practice will work. The only thing they may do is leverage a long overdue conversation about fair trade. 

In the interim, there are solutions to deal with these rising metal prices.

1. Shoot smaller payloads. 7/8 oz is really all one needs to routinely kill ducks and geese out to 45 yards. 1-1/4oz in 12ga has been the only payload for me since hunting late season honkers in 2019.  In fact, the only time I shot 3” 12 ga shells were for that 2 week season. I have said that 3” 12 ga shells are not needed since the day I started Boss. Approx 70% of my 12ga shooters still don’t trust me enough to give it a try. Perhaps 2025 will be that year. 
2. Consider keeping shots closer and switch to Steel Reserve. While steel is a distant second to bismuth, Steel Reserve has been delivering clean and consistent kills for the past year. I attribute it to the modified Warchief wad, pattern practice and constant conversations about ethical killing ranges. 
3. Stock up now. While I do not like to force people to separate themselves from their money, price-sensitive consumers may want to stock up for the season before these price increases hit us. 

As I wind things down here, I’d be remiss if I did not give my deepest thanks and gratitude to each and every person who supports our company and mission.  There is no amount of forecasting, planning, or marketing meetings that could have ever predicted what Boss would become. From our humble and underfunded beginnings in 2018 to the Covid Shortages in ‘20 and ‘21 and through the internally tumultuous stretch of ‘22, ’23 and ‘24 you guys have been with us and, for that, I am eternally grateful for your support and loyalty.  We are as locked in and squared away as ever and ready to get to work for you guys. Happy 2025. 

Time to make shit happen. 

Brandon