US Ammo Export Moratorium? Starting Jan 1, 2013?

[fullmentaljacket]

Any of you folks aware of a coming total US ammunition export ban?
My local "armorer" has suggested there's a total US ammo export ban coming into effect January 1, 2013, possibly as a result of a covert (or overt?) Executive Order.

Needless to say, I'm interested in whether any of you "insiders" might be able to shed some light on this potentially serious problem for those of us who have come to rely on your stuff being readily available to us poor under armed souls north of the 49th parallel.

If stocking up is in order, the earlier I get started, the better, but I have my suspicions about the source's motivation for spreading this info. Many of his other regular customers have decimated several cases of product, due to fear of a potential supply problem with better quality US made ammo.

Thanks gents for any insights, even if it's just more hearsay or speculation.
fmj.

p.s. I'm starting to import my own ammo, relying less on local retailers anyway, but it would be nice to know one way or the other.

[jack404]

i've heard the same but seen nothing in writing but with the US government thats no surprise

transparent means cant find out in new speak in DC apparently

[fullmentaljacket]

Hmmmm, disturbing.
I also recall he said something about he either heard or read somewhere that the US DHS had started buying up some Nato caliber ammo in very, very, large quantities to get it out of the hands of US citizens as well. Said they couldn't possibly use that much, so the only other reason they would do that was to keep it from being distributed to the general public. Millions of rounds.
Cheers, Jack.

[jack404]

i do know they had to transfer 3 shipments of .40 S&W from europe somewhere to bolster supplies for DHS the IRS , and FEMA 120 million rounds in total

dunno about other calibers

i've gone to .40 myself

easy shopping when trouble starts

[fullmentaljacket]

Maybe that was what he had heard. I thought he said 7.62x51, but I may have been still in shock over the previous info, and the quantity he mentioned.
I probably got that part wrong.
I asked the gun department guys at the Gander Mtn nearest to me, and neither of them had heard anything about it either.
I'm beginning to think my armorer was trying to drum up business by starting a little panic buying amongst us.
Don't know him all that well, but he seems like a straight shooter. I bought a CSA vz58 Sporter for varmints about a month ago, at what I thought was a decent price, best one I could find in Canada. His ammo prices are competitive for up here. Still, he's in biz to sell stuff, so who knows?
I'm trying to cover some of the more common calibers, 12ga, .308W, .223R, and .22lr to start. All for semi-auto non-restricted (Canada) long guns.

[jack404]

argy stuff is ok

cheap too reloads ok too

[fullmentaljacket]

as long as it goes bang every time i pull the trigger, it's fine.

[WHSmithIV]

haven't heard about it yet but I suggest that to be on the safe side you buy all you can NOW - just in case.

[Zhurh]

We live on the Yukon, 4 miles from border, have a bunch of up river friends that travel by boat or drive. Never had any problems getting ammo across the border. Most my Canadian friends buy everything they can in USA, just cheaper; but who knows price advantage might reverse.

[Buckshot]

Over the past year there have been news stories about DHS and other fed agencies - some a little out of the ordinary - placing open-ended contracts not for millions, but BILLIONS of rounds of .40 S&W. They've gotten so much adverse publicity that much of the info is now being redacted on the paperwork.

My concern for some time has been the consolidation of ammunition manufacturing. Look up the ATK Corp. They are an incredibly successful monster of a company. They are the largest ammo manufacturer in the world. They now have not only a a large number of your favorite brands under their umbrella, but they are big, BIG government suppliers.

What happens when Uncle Sam calls the CEO and the board and says, we want you to start drastically ramping down the amount of ammo you make available for sale to distributors that supply the public, or your gozillion dollar government contract will be...re-considered.

What then? Think they'll tell Uncle Sam it's about "freedom" and they can take their gozillion dollars and shove it? Not very damned likely.

[jack404]

i can output 1000 rounds a day at a stretch ( long bloody day) with my lee

we did a test one day and we knocked out 5000 round between 7 folks in one day with 4 loaders working

a lot of Aussies have looked at this scenario hard a few times

[fullmentaljacket]

In answer to you all, yes, I'm slowly stocking up. I can bring back 2000 rds. per trip, according to the CBSA folks, so that's not too bad. More than enough for my needs under normal circumstances. As far as price, it's iffy, sometimes better by 15-20% sometimes about the same. I have no idea why, but that's how it seems. It's like shopping for anything, you have to know your prices, or you'll pay too much and not realize it. Our sales tax is higher at 13% so that helps, as MI's is 6% I believe. I can usually just declare the ammo at the border, and if the $$ amount is around 100 or less, I'll get waved through. Buckshot, what you say, is what I fear. That BHO part deux will seriously ramp up the effort to diminish (or even rescind?) your 2A through whatever means are at his disposal, and that's not going to be good for anyone, not just yourselves. I honestly can't see it happening, there are too many Americans that would push back hard, and fight it to the death, but the reference in your signature to the majority of voters, and what they did to your country a few days ago is alarming, to say the least.

[soundguy]

what gets me is why dhs needs 'howmany?' million rounds of ammo???

[Zhurh]

Price disparity has to do with taxes & increased costs due to those taxes; but wages are way higher in Canada also, at least in Western Canada. My one buddy bought a nice diavari scope for $2400 in Whitehorse. I checked at my local gun shop here in Alaska and I could have bought same scope for $1500, no joke. Prices are higher but people seem satisfied enough with the status quo in Canada, at least my friends say that as they buy all their beer & alcohol & smokes & ammo & food & paper products & mostly everything they need and can get in Alaska. Ex. Case of beer in Ak is $19, same beer in Canada is $40. When my Canadian friends stay over, they spend the evening looking through all my mail order catalogs and Alaskan stores that send me catalogs. Then they get me to order everything and have it shipped to my place in Ak, give me cash to put in my account. Nx trip down, they take supplies they mailed here back to Canada. My Canadian friends are mostly Indians, good bunch that are inter-related (1st cousins) with the Indians here in our village. We even have Canadian upriver neighbors, live 10 miles across border that keep a post office box in our Ak community, so they can ship food/supplies in as they are closer to our community than the nearest Canadian community; travel by long 24 foot freighter canoe with motor. You would think that they would eventually open the border even more, but then how could they control the $$$$?

[fullmentaljacket]

soundguy: exactly why my local armorer started the "chicken little" routine up here. he's convinced the border will be closed to ammo exports and he also assumed there are only 2 reasons they would buy that much ammo. 1) because they can, and 2) to keep it away from the public.

Zhurh: in times of belt tightening (almost my entire life, and i'm sure the same for many on here) people adapt to the circumstances and take advantage of any edge, no matter how small, to try to save a buck or two. if you've always been comfortable, but never well off, you tend to be more aware of what you buy and what you're paying for it. human nature. i applaud your Canuck friends' resourcefulness in using your address, and all the other little "edges" you mentioned. you do what you gotta do. all within legal bounds, of course. i've only recently moved to a Canadian border town, and am slowly learning the ropes of cross border shopping when you actually live on the border. in 3 months of back and forth, we've only been pulled aside once for a "random" search on our return to Canada. coincidentally, it was my first trip across and back after i made a long trip the week before to Buffalo to pick up some ordinance. all legal like, and saved about $1000 by shopping American on some nice stuff. so, go figure, on my next trip, i'd be singled out, because i'm sure my name now has a red check mark that says "firearms owner/importer". they found nothing, because i'm also a firm believer in honesty is the best and only policy when crossing the border. this afternoon, i brought back another small load of .223R and some 12ga slugs to top up the armory. they didn't even ask to see receipts.