ATF to reclassify / ban M855 ammo next month?

[PhilaBOR]

Everyone reading/participating in this thread has signed the online white house petition and written their representatives + the ATF, right? Get on it boys and girls.

Which sites are worth signing?

In my opinion, the petition is useless and doesn't accomplish anything. If the signature threshold is met, the Administration issues a response on the topic. What exactly does that get us? However, if you want to sign it, it's here:
https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petiti ... n/XrvVh1cj

The 2 avenues that I feel are worthwhile are:

Contact the BATFE: While there is nothing that says the agency needs to listen, hopefully the sheer volume of correspondence will make them realize they are going to create more problems for their agency.

email at APAComments@atf.gov
GOCRA has a pre-written e-mail ready to go. Check your e-mail or signup for updates from them. I would post a link but it contains all info specific to me.
Firearms Policy Coalition says they'll deliver your letter to the ATF : https://www.firearmspolicy.org/act/fede ... -ammo-ban/

Contact your Representatives:

NSSF has what I feel is the best letter: https://www.nssf.org/GovRel/takeAction. ... rtID=80492 , once you populate the info it sends it to your Senators and House Reps as well as Denise Brown(office of regulatory affairs) directly
NRA is working to draft a letter from the House which I feel is probably the best course of action, send your support here: https://www.nraila.org/take-action/writ ... the-batfe/

I used the NSSF site to send emails to senators and representative. I got emails back from Klobuchar and Franken saying they would immediately protest to the president.
JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

[PhilaBOR]

I did send the emails, kidding about the response.

[LarryFlew]

Not sure which Obama thing people are getting frantic about it but liking it here. I typically sell 1500 stripper clips a month. This month was 8000 and last month was 4000. Now loading spoons are jumping up in price by 50% and getting hard to come by so I'll have to settle back down after bumping my prices a bit.

One of my suppliers also sells 5.56 military brass and says there is another executive order to stop selling the spent brass by the military.

[MaryB]

I can't find anything on stopping sales of surplus brass to reloaders. Obama tried it once before and got tromped and had it reversed.

[MXGreg]

The military is going to their new M855A1 round. If the military is no longer using the M855 round, would the ammo companies still produce this round for civilians? If not, the M855 would soon disappear. So that means the government is going to ban ammo that's no longer going to be available anyways.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/article ... cartridge/

Or am I totally wrong here?

[Bearcatrp]

Good point. Wonder if they will sell the new round on the commercial market since they did the green tip.

[MXGreg]

Good point. Wonder if they will sell the new round on the commercial market since they did the green tip.

Since the new bullet is copper and hardened steel (no lead) I wouldn't think so.

[LarryFlew]

I can't find anything on stopping sales of surplus brass to reloaders. Obama tried it once before and got tromped and had it reversed.

I couldn't either but loving the sales.

[2in2out]

The military is going to their new M855A1 round. If the military is no longer using the M855 round, would the ammo companies still produce this round for civilians? If not, the M855 would soon disappear. So that means the government is going to ban ammo that's no longer going to be available anyways.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/article ... cartridge/

Or am I totally wrong here?

Ammunition manufacturers and suppliers have a lot of this stuff, don't they? That means they want to get rid of it. They might not be too interested in keeping that production line going if their largest customer won't be buying it anymore. But, they still have to sell what they have.

I don't use M855, but this issue affects me directly in 2 ways:
1 - The price of my ammunition will go up if the total supply available goes down
2 - This is a direct attack on ammunition that has nothing to do with crime or posing a danger to the good guys. This is a step toward the BATFE banning whatever they want whenever they want.

This action by the BATFE needs to be stopped in its tracks and shoved back in their faces.

[MXGreg]

Ammunition manufacturers and suppliers have a lot of this stuff, don't they? That means they want to get rid of it. They might not be too interested in keeping that production line going if their largest customer won't be buying it anymore. But, they still have to sell what they have.

I don't use M855, but this issue affects me directly in 2 ways:
1 - The price of my ammunition will go up if the total supply available goes down
2 - This is a direct attack on ammunition that has nothing to do with crime or posing a danger to the good guys. This is a step toward the BATFE banking whatever they want whenever they want.

This action by the BATFE needs to be stopped in its tracks and shoved back in their faces.

From the articles I've read the US Army replaced the M855 round in June 2010. So after almost five years, with high AR15 and ammo sales, how much surplus M855 is left? I don't know.

I don't shoot the M855 stuff either, but I have noticed even the 55gr bullets for reloading are starting to creep up in price.

[igofast]

The military is going to their new M855A1 round. If the military is no longer using the M855 round, would the ammo companies still produce this round for civilians? If not, the M855 would soon disappear. So that means the government is going to ban ammo that's no longer going to be available anyways.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/article ... cartridge/

Or am I totally wrong here?

In my opinion, this is the reason why BATFE is acting now. Soon the military will be clearing their warehouses of 855 to replace it with A1. The administration does not want that cheap ammo getting out the general populace. It doesn't have anything to do about 'officer safety', sporting exemptions, or whatever. They're just trying to stop the proliferation of ammo.

As to if ammo companies will still produce the ammo - I suppose it depends on whether it's more expensive or not to produce the A1 bullet. They are still producing M193, which is cheaper than M855.

[yuppiejr]

.. M193 spec ammo is still being produced even though it was phased out of US military use with NATO standardization on the "more humane" SS109/M855 in the early 80's. Presumably the M855 would continue production to fill out existing contracts until the A1 is fully adopted as well as continue to supply non US military/NATO contracts and, of course, the civilian market demand.

The issue here isn't if the M855 is great/sucky or what the US military is moving to next... The issue is the purposeful choice by the ATF to enforce a ban on ammo which clearly does NOT fit the definition outlined in the law nor within the context of the spirit in which it was authored and passed originally. As much as I like "sport deal hunting," if the only reaction people have to this is to track down and hoard M855, you're doing it wrong.

While I'm a bit pessimistic about the whole thing I am hopeful that it will get some momentum built up around examining not just the ATF's actions in this case, but whether specific provisions within the NFA (if not the whole chunk of trash) is even constitutional at the Supreme Court level.

[photogpat]

.. M193 spec ammo is still being produced even though it was phased out of US military use with NATO standardization on the "more humane" SS109/M855 in the early 80's. Presumably the M855 would continue production to fill out existing contracts until the A1 is fully adopted as well as continue to supply non US military/NATO contracts and, of course, the civilian market demand.

The issue here isn't if the M855 is great/sucky or what the US military is moving to next... The issue is the purposeful choice by the ATF to enforce a ban on ammo which clearly does NOT fit the definition outlined in the law nor within the context of the spirit in which it was authored and passed originally. As much as I like "sport deal hunting," if the only reaction people have to this is to track down and hoard M855, you're doing it wrong.

While I'm a bit pessimistic about the whole thing I am hopeful that it will get some momentum built up around examining not just the ATF's actions in this case, but whether specific provisions within the NFA (if not the whole chunk of trash) is even constitutional at the Supreme Court level.

...and the fact that the M855A1 round will NOT be available to consumers.

[yuppiejr]

Why wouldn't the M855A1 be available to consumers? Contract demand aside and assuming "creative interpretation" by the ATF is off the table for a moment (I know, in the land of unicorns and flying ponies) the bullet is made of a copper/tin alloy with the steel tip, it does not include the copper/beryllium alloy explicitly identified in the regulation.

http://www.atf.gov/sites/default/files/ ... rposes.pdf

[Magnum]

I was listening to Armed American Radio (Sundays 7-10 pm on 1280 the patriot) last night and they interviewed US Congressman Doug Collins R-GA of the House Judiciary Committee. Congressman Collins sounded optimistic that congress through pressure can get the ATP to drop this senseless ban.

I know time is a premium for us all but below is a link to the show if you care to listen.

http://armedamericanradio.org/show-archives