Russia Halts Ammo Shipments To US, Financial Watchdog Website Claims
Russian ammo will no longer be shipped to the United States, if a report issued by Silver Doctors is accurate. The website is an economic watchdog focusing on fluctuations in the precious metals markets. American ammunition manufacturers have been working around the clock seven days a week to handle the demand created after the Sandy Hook tragedy. Concerns about both increases in ammunition prices and availability began occurring after federal and state gun control regulations were proposed.
Ammo shortages for some popular calibers were reportedly alleviated slightly due to Russian imports. The 7.62 ammo is used in the AK-47 semi-automatic weapon. Either real or perceived shortages of Russian ammo are now causing bullets made in the Vladimir Putin’s country to vanish off store shelves.
An excerpt from the Silver Doctors report reads:
“The largest wholesale gun & ammo distributors in the US have informed us in private conversation today that a massive scramble is on for all 7.62 as Russia has reportedly halted all exports to the US of Russian made ammunition. Our distributor source informed us that yesterday they had several hundred thousand rounds of Russian made 7.62 TulAmmo, and after receiving word early today on the halt of Russian exports to the US, they have been completely wiped out of every last round in the past 10 hours.”
Russian ammo is expected to be as hard to find as 22L ammo has been during the past 12 months in the coming days. Prices of ammunition made in Russia are expected to soar and purchase limits put in place at some retailers, just as happened during the great ammo shortage of 2013. Regular American citizens are not the only gun owners who commonly use Russian ammunition. Last summer a solicitation on the Federal Business Opportunities website (a government run website) sought vendors who could provide 2,550,000 rounds of 7.62x39mm ball ammo, 575,000 blank round of the same ammo, and 425,000 rounds of 9x18mm Makarov ball ammo – all Russian made bullet calibers.
According to the advertisement on the government website, the Army intended to store the Russian ammo round at the Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky and at Camp Stanley in Texas. The solicitation also noted that the calibers were not standard issue to either the United States military or NATO forces.
The near viral circulation of the alleged Russian ammo halt began just a day after President Barack Obama proposed economic sanctions against the Cold War foe over the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine.
[Image Via: The Firearm’s Blog]
