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JustMatt
20 April 2009, 19:37
Let me preface this by saying that if the Admins think this should be moved than please move to the appropriate forum. I thought it most relevant to this forum.
Subject: Our Government at work



Georgia Arms is the 5th largest retailer of .223 Ammo in America. They sell 9mm, .45, .223 ammunition. They normally buy spent brass from the US Department of Defense. Spent brass is "one time used" shell cases used by our Military for training purposes.



They buy the brass, recondition it, and then reload the brass for resale to Law Enforcement, Gun Clubs, Gun Shops, and stores like Wal-Mart. They normally buy 30,000 lbs of spent brass at a time.



This week the DoD wrote a letter to the owner of Georgia Arms and informed him that from now on the DoD will be destroying the spent brass, shredding it. It will no longer be available to the ammo makers, unless they buy it in a scrap shredded condition (which they have no use for). The shredded brass is now going to be sold by the DoD to China as scrap metal, after the DoD pays for it to be shredded. The DoD is selling the brass to China for less money than the ammo makers have been paying, plus the DoD has to pay to have the brass shredded and do the accounting paperwork.



This sure helps the economy now doesn't it? Sell cheaper to China, and do not sell at all to a proven US business. Any hidden agenda working here? Obama going after the Firearms Industry and our ammunition!!



The Georgia Arms owner even related a story that one of his competitors had already purchased a load of brass last week. The DoD contacted him this week and said they were sending someone over to make sure it was destroyed. Shell cases he had already bought!


The brass has no value to the ammo maker if it is destroyed/shredded/melted. The ammo manufacturer only uses the empty brass cases to reload different calibers, mainly .223 bullets.


The owner of Georgia Arms says that he will have to lay off at least half of his 60 workers, within 2-3 months if the DoD will no longer sell spent brass cases to the industry. Georgia Arms has 2-3 months of inventory to use, by summer they're out.


If the Reloading Industry has to purchase new manufacture brass cases, then the cost of ammunition will double or even triple, plus Obama want to add a 500% tax on each shell.


; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto">You can read the information and see the DoD letter to Georgia Arms here:


The Shootist Site


http://www.theshootist.net/2009/03/dod-ends-sale-of-expended-military.html

Dutch
20 April 2009, 20:13
JustMatt,

I appreciate your posting this notice, though the directive has been reversed. The DoD reversed it within a week of posting it.

Dutch

JustMatt
20 April 2009, 20:20
I just got done reading the reversal. I guess better late then never? Oh well. At least it is a small piece of good news.

federalist22
21 April 2009, 01:59
It still doesn't make things any better--Georgia Arms is skipping several appearances at upcoming gun shows (not all, but some), including the Nations Gun Show this weekend in Chantilly, VA. Scroll to the bottom of this schedule and see it blanked after 25-26 APR 2009 - http://georgia-arms.com/gunshowschedule.aspx. The justification: Ammunition Shortage.....

rob_s
21 April 2009, 02:41
What's irksome about all this is that it's being driven by people that largely don't even shoot. I have guys at work that haven't fired a shot in years, or who shoot at most 500 rounds a year, that are sitting on thousands of rounds.

It's my own fault for not seeing the writing on the wall, but I just paid $350/k for 9mm because I have a class next month and need ammo for it.

Knowing that it's my own fault for not stocking up doesn't take the sting out of also knowing that all that ammo is rotting in someone's closet.

caporider
21 April 2009, 08:56
Here's the note from the owner on the Wisconsin Cartridge Corp. web site. Irony at its best:

"ATTENTION

Due to the increased demand for ammunition and components, we are currently several months behind on all handgun ammunition. You are welcome to place an order for as many rounds as you like, but orders of 250 rounds or less get filled first. All orders over 250 rounds will be shipped when we get caught up. 223 ammunition is only a couple weeks backordered. 308 ammunition is likely 6-12 months. Any order over 100 rounds for 308 ammunition will likely never be filled. The same goes for 22-250 Rem.

We are doing this to insure that our regular customers have ammunition and new customers also have a chance to get some.

Due to hoarding of ammunition, you consumers have managed to raise the prices of ammunition and components 50 to 500 percent. You didn't even need the Government to impose any taxes or bans. You did it all yourself.

Please do not believe the rumors about bans or increased taxes on ammunition and firearms. President elect Obama has enough on his plate dealing with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the world economy, he doesn't have time to think about bans or taxes on ammunition and firearms. If you remember the primer scare of 1996 and the mandatory serialization of bullets shortly thereafter, both were found to be impossible to enforce.

The staff at Wisconsin Cartridge will do everything possible to ship your order in a timely fashion and keep prices reasonable.

Thank you for visiting our website.

Scott A. Young Pres.
Wisconsin Cartridge Corp."

federalist22
21 April 2009, 15:58
Awesome..............so for those of us who would like to shoot about 200 prairie dogs in May it will be very difficult/expensive to do so because people are hoarding ammo like doomsday is coming. Of course they are.

louie
21 April 2009, 16:08
Here's the note from the owner on the Wisconsin Cartridge Corp. web site. Irony at its best:

...

Due to hoarding of ammunition, you consumers have managed to raise the prices of ammunition and components 50 to 500 percent. You didn't even need the Government to impose any taxes or bans. You did it all yourself.

...

Scott A. Young Pres.
Wisconsin Cartridge Corp."


Idiot.

Dutch
21 April 2009, 18:48
louie,

If the opinion is one you don't care for just let it go.

Dutch

Warpcoil
23 April 2009, 06:33
Perhaps we will see a significant increase of Federal ammo with ATK's $481 million Army contract that will be used to upgrade the Lake City plant with new equipment.
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=4039086&c=AIR&s=TOP

Creeky73
23 April 2009, 12:36
Hell, I WANTED to be one of the guys stockpiling ammo and can't, because of availability. Funny how I picked guns based on rounds that I figured would be so common that ammo would always be available, but that seems to be one of the very factors working against me. :(

federalist22
23 April 2009, 13:40
Hell, I WANTED to be one of the guys stockpiling ammo and can't, because of availability. Funny how I picked guns based on rounds that I figured would be so common that ammo would always be available, but that seems to be one of the very factors working against me. :(
Yeah, you know how many oddball Weatherby rounds are rotting on the shelves at some of the big stores (Bass Pro, Sportsman's Warehouse, etc.)? Crazy.