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Posted: 9/20/2014 8:22:22 PM EDT
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I read in one retailers ad that API and APIT bullets are no longer manufactured for public usage since 1989 (?)
So all such bullets are from pre 89 stock either pulled or old stock. Any truth ? |
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AFIK, those bullets were never manufactured for public use... All such bullets come from surplus sources. What it all comes down to is how/where those bullets enter the "surplus market". I think that there are rules that require that kind of ammo to be de-milled (pulled apart) before the individual components can be sold.
Retailer's ad sounds like it was written to make it sound like they are a "last chance" place to obtain these bullets in an effort to urge people to make "panic buys" to avoid losing out on getting some (when no such shortage exists). Typical retailer nonsense that usually just makes me put my wallet back on my pocket (due to feeling like someone's trying to "play me"). |
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My source is 50bmgsupply.com, and they have plentiful quantities of surplus pulled API, and APIT.
What has become scarce, is, AP, and incendiary (blue tip). As their recent price increases show. They have less than 5,000 blue tip projectiles, remaining, and their suppliers are all out. When they are gone, that's it. AP? I just don't know. And, no, this isn't to "play" anyone. Just a report on one manufacturer's stock levels. |
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Blue tips were phased out for the API that we see today, AP hasn't been produced in the U.S. since WWII.
As for the other stuff, yes it gets demilled and then sold off to companies that want to buy them to sell the components or remanufacture them into loaded ammo. So once blue tips and AP are gone, they're gone for good. The up side is that they made millions of these and they show up all the time on the market, not so much for BT's. What would be great would be a company that would produce ball bullets out of solid brass on a CNC screw machine for less then a dollar, say .60-.75 cents each. That way we could have a better then stock bullets that doesn't hurt your wallet. If it was a group buy and for shits and giggles, let's say the order was 50 thousand projos or more... Maybe the price could get that low or lower, metals prices is also another driving factor. If we had a member that's a machinist, has the equipmentand could tell us if possible, maybe take on the project... |
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Someday they will get scarce-could be this year,or 20 years down the road.
You never know politically what could happen either. IMO,it never hurts to have plenty in stock,just don't go nuts buying super expensive ones. Fill up some ammo cans and put them away for a rainy day. |
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Quoted:
I read in one retailers ad that API and APIT bullets are no longer manufactured for public usage since 1989 (?) So all such bullets are from pre 89 stock either pulled or old stock. Any truth ? It has been banned from import since 1989. And now selling the porjectiles from demiled ammo is banned. I'm not sure of the date it started, I think it was in the early 2000s no more AP, API, or APIT can be pulled down and the projectiles sold. All new demil contracts by the army require the projectiles to be destroyed, or loaded for export sales only. It has been added as a rider to the defense budget every year. At some point the API and APIT inventories will dry up and be gone forever, but it is not going to be for several more years or possibly decades. Defense Budget See section 8062 page 84. |
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