barnes bullets. Anyone else seen this.

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Lloyd Smale

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im not a fan of them so its no big deal but its just another way the antis are trying to take bullets away from us.



January 23, 2012
Dear Customer:
There has been speculation regarding certain component and ammunition products within the
shooting community. The purpose of this letter is to inform our valued customers of the status of
Barnes Banded Solids’ availability as components, and in Barnes VOR-TX Safari ammunition.
In October 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”) classified
twelve individual Barnes Banded Solid projectiles as armor piercing ammunition. Following
these classifications, Barnes submitted individual “exemption request” petitions to ATF. If the
petitions are approved, the projectiles will be removed from the statutory definition of armor
piercing ammunition, and therefore Barnes will have clearance to continue manufacturing and
selling these projectiles.
As of today’s date, ATF has not ruled on any of the petitions requesting the removal of the
Banded Solid projectiles from the statutory definition of armor piercing ammunition.
Accordingly, the following eleven Banded Solid projectiles (currently listed in the 2012 Barnes
Catalog) are subject to exemption requests that are pending with ATF. Please note that Barnes is
not pursuing an exemption for the .223 caliber Banded Solid projectile at this time. The .223
caliber Banded Solids are not listed in the 2012 Barnes catalog or on the Barnes website:
25 Cal 243 Cal 264 Cal 270 Cal
284 Cal 308 Cal 338 Cal 375 Cal
410 Cal 458 Cal (45-70) 458 SOCOM
While we await determination from ATF on these calibers, and in compliance with the original
classification by ATF, the projectiles listed above will not be available for purchase from Barnes.
However, if and when the exemption requests are approved, the projectiles at issue will become
available for purchase at that time.
We are confident that most, if not all, of our removal requests with ATF will be successful, and
that we will soon be able to provide these calibers to our hunting and sport-shooting customers
around the world. In the meantime, we will be happy to answer questions regarding these
projectiles and/or the VOR-TX Safari ammunition loaded with these projectiles. Please note the
Banded Solids components and VOR-TX Safari ammunition products loaded with Banded
Solids not included in the aforementioned calibers (e.g. 416, 470 and 500) and TSX bullets are
not subject to the current armor piercing classification and continue to be available for purchase.
We at Barnes recognize the inconvenience caused by lack of access to the appropriate products
for individual sporting or hunting purposes. We will continue to aggressively seek immediate
resolution to this issue, and inform our customers as further information is provided by ATF.
Please refer to www.barnesbullets.com/products/rifle/banded-solids/ for future updates.
We look forward to your continued business and wish you the best in the New Year.
 
I thought I'd seen AP rounds for sale at other outlets on the 'net, are they in fact regulated? I wasn't aware.
 
Generally Armor Piercing as far as the ATF is concerned is determined by materials used in construction, rather than performance on armor.
 
It's pretty much exclusively determined by bullet composition. Like most gun laws it isn't coming from an educated point of view. That said, last I checked, even so-called "armor piercing" ammo is only regulated for handguns.
 
Yes, this is posted on the Barnes web site. The ATF is running amuck IIRC - still. Guess they do have folks not involved in running guns into Mexico?
 
I think the ATF should be shut down completly, they are getting really dumb, feels like the early 90s all over again. I'll vote for Ron Paul, he will probably cut them in his trillion doller crackdown :)
 
It would appear ATF is confusing rifle weight projectiles with handgun weight projectiles.

it would be pretty tough to fire those bullets in any thing but a custom handgun barrel.
 
The state south of me has already banned any bullets containing lead within the California Condor range. They've expanded the condor range to areas where they were never seen in the past, which means hunters down there have to use bullets that don't contain lead to hunt everything from ground squirrels to deer. Now the ATF has classified the bullets most used in those areas as "armor piercing", and not available in Calif., since civilians are prohibited from purchasing AP bullets there.

Talk about a catch 22.............

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I too, thought and believed the AP restriction only applied to handgun ammo ?

You can buy steel-core penetrators all day long....by the definition they give for AP, those are IT !

Ahh, our confusing laws........
 
Wow, that doesn't make any sense at all. Rifle rounds will pierce through a lot of things just from their sheer speed, even if it's just a copper jacketed lead bullet.
 
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