A Billion Bullets -- Where the US Buys Them From

[esq_stu]

Why are we buying so much ammo from overseas? Slave labor.

I thought the Israeli slaves were freed by Moses after they built the pyramids.

Israel's taxes are really high and labor is not cheap - certainly not slavery.

I've read IMI ammo is used in the U.S. for training but not in the Middle East. Heaven forbid that an Iraqi insurgent should be killed by Jewish ammo.

 

[Archer1945]

I think the last WWB 45acp I bought said "made in Croatia" on the side of it. Btw, I bought that at the Olin Range in East Alton, IL, just about a month ago.

 

[fletcher]

Would you really want our soldiers using bullets from china? They could put them in their mouths and get lead poisoning!

Perhaps they should load up with Aqua-Dots?

Seriously though, I do not see a problem with obtaining ammunition from overseas sources *if* there is a substantial domestic reserve to back it up. If it's an issue, I figure that the more we buy from them, the less they may have later.

 

[mainmech48]

308win is right. I'd go so far as to say that exporting what amounts to the bulk of our former domestic manufacturing capabilities, no matter the 'what' or 'where', is the single greatest example of short-sighted greed and stupidity in the long and sorry history of same.

To Liko81 I'd respond that the Red Dragon is patient, and means to have Taiwan back and become the dominant player in weltpolitick before the end of this century. You might want to consider just how many of our former military resources, and not only those once based in the Pacific, have been 'mothballed' or eliminated entirely and how much of what's left is already commited elsewhere (plus what exactly it'd take to move them) before you start calculating odds. Subic and most of our other P.I. assets are gone. Japan hasn't but a small fraction of what was there as recently as 15 years ago still in-country, and I very seriously doubt that we even still have "a half dozen" carrier groups that're currently both at fully operational strength and tasked within a 5-day response time of Taiwan.

To TheFly I'd say: "As far as we know" and add "yet". See above and extrapolate. Arrange to tie-up just a bit more of what logistical resources we have left elsewhere (and don't think that they aren't working on it on several levels) and even what they now have 'showing' effectively becomes enough to pull it off, given the 'right' timing. If you can't refuel those planes so they can make it there and back, they might as well not exist. And I'll bet long odds that they have 'hole cards' we haven't a clue about as yet.

China learned a lot about our particular vulnerabilities and how to exploit them from Korea and Vietnam. Apparently, we didnt. They've been working systematically and incrementally over the past 50 years toward their ultimate goal, patiently doing whatever they deemed necessary to eliminate their weaknesses and undermine our strengths.

The most insane part of the whole debacle is that we in the West seem to be falling all over ourselves to not only give them the means to make the rope that they intend to hang us with, but show them how to tie better knots, too.

 

[Jim Watson]

Not to mention the will to fight.
I suspect Communist China is getting the idea that we might not go to war to keep them from reclaiming the "rogue province" of Taiwan. And I suspect they are right. And why should we? What has Taiwan ever done for us?

"We are friends of liberty everywhere but guardians only of our OWN liberty."

John Quincy Adams
Sixth President of the USA

 

[boredelmo]

Obviously the US is dependent of cheap Chinese labor, but if the conflict between Taiwan and China continues, we're supposed to take Taiwan's side for democracy.

 

[Geronimo45]

Ammo prices are more than just the cost of labor. Tariffs on foreign products can artificially raise your prices considerable, which is why most soft drinks stateside have HFCS instead of sugar. Our sugar folk said they couldn't compete, we must raise the tariffs to make foreign prices match ours. Our sugar price is thus notably higher than that of other folks. We have tariffs for the sake of various other raw materials as well - steel for example. The cost of manufacturing a CZ-75 here would likely be much higher than the present cost - even with shipping the things from Eastern Europe. Springfield Armory apparently finds it cheaper to have their 1911 frames built by Imbel, then shipped here - instead of building them here.

 

[MD_Willington]

last I hear wally worlds white box was made by S&B...

I just picked up 500 rounds of 9x19 S&B along with some 62 gr Barnaul...

Luckily, my firearms get along with Russian ammo...

 

[Cold_B]

I'm blind.

Might I suggest you get into something besides guns then?

 

[Ready2Defend]

The China-Tawian issue is as much if not more a threat to the common US resident that terrorism. In talking to some chinese college students the attitude that Tawain belongs to China comes through quite strongly. Second is the pride issue - losing face - If China has said it wants Tawain and then can't get it they would just as well die than suffer that embarresment. Third: Current sea power is as much (or more) about guided missle cruisers than carrier groups. China has been buying Russian guided missle cruisers that likely match our Ticondorosa class cruisers. China may or may not be able to win against US involvement but if they thought they could win then the likelyhood of them starting something goes way up.

Right now my money is on the chinese poisoning their own people with lead paint and Aqua-Dots. But if that don't work we might have to start manufacturing cheep plastic things with US labor. (after ww3:banghead