Hi all,
Not inteding to stoke the great primer worries but something that needs to be taken into account is that a single company (Vista Outdoor) now owns 3 of the 4 (Federal, CCI and Remington) primer manufacturing plants in the USA. Winchester (owned by Olin Corp) is the 4th.
Chart the stocks of Vista and you'll see they have done very well since Covid and Sleepy Joe happened.
They recently announced that they are donating one million rounds to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whilst a noble act on it's own, is probably engineered to get head nods from Congress.
Another interesting fact is their announcement that they are sitting on a billion dollars worth of backorder on ammunition sales...
seekingalpha.com
Look closely and you'll see 'ammo subscriptions' which are focused on a contiued shortage, which they only stand to benefit from.
UK importers and RFD's are going to be a bit of a jam if the Ukraine thing drags on and countries such as Germany start putting big orders into RUAG (who are responsible for much of the ammi components used by European manufacturers, maybe bar the Nammo Group Commercial Brands - Nammo but I suspect there is some interdependency).
So, a lack of sources from both Europe and America. The most sensible place to start sourcing from? Probably ADI of Australia.
Their company, Outback Ammo Australian Outback – Extreme Performance – Whatever the Weather , is offering ammuntion made with ADI's world famous powder (think the currently REACH-banned Varget AKA ADI 2208) and loaded with Sierra Bullets, but only in .308 and .223.
Considering the (presumably small) demand for centrefire rifle ammunition in the UK, it seems an effort to set up a small production plant like Belmont Ammuntion of NZ https://belmontammo.co.nz/ which uses imported components, would not prove profitable.
None of this is going to matter of course, if the 'lead free' (but not really, nearly all primers use lead, which gets vapourised when you fire the rifle
... shame that the only companies who make lead free primers are the aforementioned Federal and, Murom of Russia, some interesting reading here Friction Effects of Lead-Based and Lead-Free Primers in 5.56mm NATO ) ammo paranoia comes into law...
I suspect that if it does, the next step from Westminster abd Holyrood will be a reloading ban, so maybe we should stop worrying about component shortages, and use them while we still can!
Then happily pay £100+ for a box of 20 rounds, then again, money might not be worth very much anymore by then!
Not inteding to stoke the great primer worries but something that needs to be taken into account is that a single company (Vista Outdoor) now owns 3 of the 4 (Federal, CCI and Remington) primer manufacturing plants in the USA. Winchester (owned by Olin Corp) is the 4th.
Chart the stocks of Vista and you'll see they have done very well since Covid and Sleepy Joe happened.
They recently announced that they are donating one million rounds to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, whilst a noble act on it's own, is probably engineered to get head nods from Congress.
Another interesting fact is their announcement that they are sitting on a billion dollars worth of backorder on ammunition sales...
Vista Outdoor Turnaround Has Gained A Lot Of Momentum (NYSE:VSTO)
Vista Outdoor's recent operational improvements and acquisitions set the company up perfectly to capitalize on the increased demand for ammunition and outdoor recreation.
seekingalpha.com
Look closely and you'll see 'ammo subscriptions' which are focused on a contiued shortage, which they only stand to benefit from.
UK importers and RFD's are going to be a bit of a jam if the Ukraine thing drags on and countries such as Germany start putting big orders into RUAG (who are responsible for much of the ammi components used by European manufacturers, maybe bar the Nammo Group Commercial Brands - Nammo but I suspect there is some interdependency).
So, a lack of sources from both Europe and America. The most sensible place to start sourcing from? Probably ADI of Australia.
Their company, Outback Ammo Australian Outback – Extreme Performance – Whatever the Weather , is offering ammuntion made with ADI's world famous powder (think the currently REACH-banned Varget AKA ADI 2208) and loaded with Sierra Bullets, but only in .308 and .223.
Considering the (presumably small) demand for centrefire rifle ammunition in the UK, it seems an effort to set up a small production plant like Belmont Ammuntion of NZ https://belmontammo.co.nz/ which uses imported components, would not prove profitable.
None of this is going to matter of course, if the 'lead free' (but not really, nearly all primers use lead, which gets vapourised when you fire the rifle
... shame that the only companies who make lead free primers are the aforementioned Federal and, Murom of Russia, some interesting reading here Friction Effects of Lead-Based and Lead-Free Primers in 5.56mm NATO ) ammo paranoia comes into law...I suspect that if it does, the next step from Westminster abd Holyrood will be a reloading ban, so maybe we should stop worrying about component shortages, and use them while we still can!
Then happily pay £100+ for a box of 20 rounds, then again, money might not be worth very much anymore by then!
