Brass shell casings and the US DoD

[Flintenweib]

In my email box this morning:

"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 wants to add a 500% tax on each shell.

You can read the information and see the DoD letter to Georgia Arms here:

The Shootist Site http://www.theshootist.net/2009/03/dod-end...d-military.html

If you're not outraged at what this administration is doing you

should be! Be Afraid! Be Very Very Afraid! Get involved! It's Your Freedom and Our Country They're Stealing! If You Fail to Act Now,

there may not be a Free United States tomorrow!

I implore you to get involved and forward this to as many people as you can. Contact your legislators and put them on notice, We're fed up with what's going on in the name of stimulating our economy!"

I'm just wondering if this is gonna happen to Germany as well. They might not take your guns but put taxes on the ammo or restrict the amount of ammo available???

[Boule]

Your email is OLD!

This is something that happened about a year ago and was a "misinterpretation" of a DoD guideline. They were supposed to demil equipment but started applying that to brass. It took about 1 1/2 month to get the situation cleared up and the LC stamped brass is still available.

[Flintenweib]

Oops.....

I probably shouldn't post things too early in the morning !! Sorry about that.

[Panzermann403]

The really scary thing about this story is the fact that the idea of this being a deliberate act by the current administration, is entirely believable... :|

[JuergenG]

There was another (very plausible) take on the situation:

ATK Industries, the biggest manufacturer of ammunition and components in the U.S.; also running the Lake City munitions

plant, seem to have played a role.

http://www.ammoland.com/2010/03/24/militar...uction-round-2/

[Gast]

There was another (very plausible) take on the situation:

ATK Industries, the biggest manufacturer of ammunition and components in the U.S.; also running the Lake City munitions

plant, seem to have played a role.

http://www.ammoland.com/2010/03/24/militar...uction-round-2/

So, it's the same old thing, making money twice, thinning out the market. Army can go to hell, private users can go to hell as long as ATK makes more money than Bill Gates... besides, Army can't be sure to get first quality, if the same company sells the new and reloaded ammo...but maybe I haven't got a clue and all is wrong.