The outlandish purchase of billions of rounds of ammunition by the federal government has created a serious shortage in the United States. In response, according to a Russian website (Lenta.ru), suppliers in the United States are turning to Russia to fill the gap.
From Lenta.ru (translated by Google) on Friday:
U.S. private companies purchased from Russian producers 900 million rounds of ammunition for rifles and pistols. This is with reference to sources in the military-industrial circles reported April 26 the newspaper “Izvestia”.
The subject of the contract with the Russian factories, steel machine-gun cartridges of 7.62 x 39 millimeters and a pistol – caliber 9×19 mm. It is reported that customers were five U.S. companies, including Intrac Arms International LLC and Wolf Perfomance Ammunition.
Negotiations on the supply began in 2011 with the participation of “Rosoboronexport”. The first batch of cartridges were sent to American buyers in early 2013. Amount of the contract is not a source told the publication.
For information about the availability of the agreement “News” confirmed at the Ulyanovsk cartridge plant. Representative of the plant said that the U.S. has guaranteed the U.S. Defense Department, according to which the cartridges are intended only for private buyers, but not for the army units, or exports.
In an interview with the editor of Maxim world.guns.ru Popenker reported that demand for ammunition in the United States by a massive government contracts to the needs of the army and security forces. “Therefore, there is a shortage of cartridges that private companies-sellers compensated for by imports” – added Popenker. Ammunition, according to the expert, U.S. citizens can also buy for the future, fear of restrictions on weapons by the government.
7.62 millimeters is most prevalent with the advent of the Kalashnikov AK-47 and its variants, which are popular among the American population. The U.S. also has a large demand for self-loading carbine Simonov (SKS), which uses the same ammunition. Sales rifle as a weapon, produced more than half a century ago, in the U.S., there are restrictions on additional equipment.
Nine-millimeter cartridges (Para) for guns gained popularity in the United States in the early 1990s. Then the police and army units began to use weapons of mass production, “Smith & Wesson” and “Beretta”, which applies this caliber ammunition.