Bullet shortage tales spur police to load up

[LiberalFighter]

Source: Ft Wayne Journal Gazette

Some area law enforcement agencies have stocked up on ammunition in recent months after rumors of shortages and backorders caused by increased usage by military and law enforcement in the ongoing war on terror.

Though Jeffersonville-based Kiesler Police Supply and Ammunition Co. sent a letter in February to law enforcement agencies in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, alerting them to a continued ammunition shortage, many local agencies are not worried about running out of bullets.

“We wish to advise every police and sheriff department or agency in our territory (whether or not you are a customer of Kiesler’s) that deliveries of duty and practice ammunition are horribly backordered,” the letter read.

Read more: www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/17014131.htm

[Squatch]

1. The military uses FMJ ammo, exclusively

whereas PDs are free to choose other, more effective, anti-personnel ammunition (like JHPs...Speer Gold Dot, etc). So, their reaction, on the surface, just seems dumb.

[leftofthedial]

2. cops? dumb?

nah.

[krispos42]

5. Yeah, it seems silly to me as well

While it is true that making FMJ rounds takes away from production of the self-defense hollowpoints, I doubt ALL the manufacturing companies have military contracts!

Who makes ammo for the military, anyway? There's the government Lake City Army Ammunition plant in Missouri, and I have to assume that Federal (as part of defense contracter ATK) does as well.

[Squatch]

7. From military.com

"Last summer the Defense Department turned to ammunition-makers in South Korea, Canada and Israel to supplement the weapons stocks"

Link

[krispos42]

18. Oh, hell, like we don't make enough ammo here?

Damn, outsourcing galore!

What does it say about how seriously we take our defense when, after over 5 years of conflict, we can't (or rather, won't) make our own ammo for our own wars?

[NickB79]

10. Many commercial makers are cutting other ammo lines for military orders

Black Hills Ammunition, for example, is backordered for months and BH ammo has disappeared at gun stores around here. They used to load a wide range of hollowpoint, softpoint, and FMJ loads for the 5.56mm cartridge and sell to police and civilians at very reasonable prices. Now, they load very few hollowpoints and softpoints, as they are devoting production to military orders. Lake City and the Federal ATK plant in Minnesota are running at full capacity, yet still can't meet demand. Winchester was awarded a military contract: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3197/is_5_49/ai_n6054254. Then there's this from the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A4044-2004Jul21?language=printer

Ammo manufacturing in this country is limited, as it takes many years to build new ammo factories. So, they switch lines devoted to civilian ammo production over to military ammo production.

[Thothmes]

17. Ammo

In hand gun calibers should only effect availability of 9mm ammo. Ammunition in .357, .38, 10mm, .40 S&W or .45 ACP are not military calibers and should not be to getting in supply.

[DCKit]

3. If it's due to a lead shortage.....

There's gonna be a lot of busy liposuction clinics very, very soon.

[Megahurtz]

4. Oh Just Great.

MORE Paranoid Thugs with extra ammo.:scared:

[Canuckistanian]

6. Law enforcement officers are using up bullets for the GWOT?

Who are they shooting at?

[Kingshakabobo]

9. It's classified. Never you mind. n/t

[MGD]

16. Paperian terrorists undoubtedly

maybe even the vicious Plywoodian terrorists that are infamous for terrorizing shooting ranges.

[RamboLiberal]

8. I don't know about a shortage but prices are going through

the roof. Last year I could buy 250 rounds 9mm UMC for about $33-34 a box. Yesterday same box was near $48. I've seen complaints on the gun forums about skyrocketing costs. One factor is copper prices are going up, up, up due to need in China. I also suspect that the gobbling up of components used in ammo due to the war is causing the price hikes and possible shortages.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

11. "...the ongoing war on terror?"

Where?

:shrug:

[hogwyld]

12. Couple that with the survivalists

Stocking up for Peak Oil and Global warming.

[NickB79]

13. I'm not stocking up

I've just found that 1000-rd cases of ammo make lovely end tables, that's all :evilgrin:

[slackmaster]

15. I stocked up on ammunition years ago

Haven't bought any in a loooong time, and what I have is mostly surplus in calibers not in use by any current military organization.

ETA the Civilian Marksmanship Program has plenty of good military .30-'06.

http://www.odcmp.com/ammo.htm

[happyslug]

14. I can think of three factors causing this problem

First, based on a ruling form the 1980s "Terrorists" are NOT subject to the Geneva Convention, which means the Military can use non-FMJ (i.e. Hollow-points and Soft-points) against "Terrorists". Given that Bush has declared those forces fighting the US in Afghanistan and Iraq "Unlawful Combatants" the US military can use such non-FMJ bullets on such forces (I believe this occurs more in Afghanistan than Iraq).

Second, during the 1990s Congress closed down several US Government owned plants (For example the Homestead Shell plant in the Pittsburgh Suburb of Homestead PA. that was kept in readiness from WWII till the mid-1990s, and then was sold off). Other plants were NOT kept up for the GOP congress of the 1990s preferred to keep paying for things being lobbied for by the Military Industrial Complex, while real needs were ignored (i.e. the growing possibility that the next war the US was going to be in would be Vietnam and now Iraq, but that requires increase spending on TROOPS instead of high tech planes, ships and Tanks). Thus things like supply of ammunition were neglected in favor of producing a new generation of Self-propelled Artillery to fight off the hordes of Russian tanks invading West Germany from East Germany (Even as The Soviet Union collapsed and West Germany took over East Germany).

A third factor is HOW much more ammunition we are using today. After the Civil War it was calculated it took 999 shots to kill one man, during WWI this rouse to 17,000 rounds per kill, during Vietnam the number was 55,000. Given the increase size of our vehicles which can haul more ammunition than earlier years I would NOT be surprise the numberer is over 100,000 per kill in this war.

Between these three factors and the increase use of Ammunition as our troops find themselves more and more in a quagmire, you were bound to hit a shortage sooner or later (In fact I remember during Desert Storm that do to what was happening in the Middle East at the at time some people in the US military wanted to re-open the Homestead shell plant do to a shortage of Shells). Throw in the Israeli use when they took on Hezbollah last year, it may take years to catch up on ammunition needed.