Are we being fooled by our dealers?

[Devrishi]

Hello,

I have a quota of 25 [10+10+5] bullets on my licence. I purchase .32 S&B LRN only - that my dealer gives me @ Rs.140/- a pop and that, after issuing to me, endorses the same on my licence.

Now, one day a local raid of authorities was conducted and all the foreign made ammo simply vanished from the gun dealer market. I asked my dealer about it - he told me that .32 ammo is manufactured in India by IOF hence foreign stuff cannot be imported legally. Whatever is available is actually gray market.

Fine. Now, it means, that ammo that he had issued on my licence was actually .32 KF - that he had kept with himself and instead gave me .32 S&B LRN @ Rs.140/- a pop that i had demanded. My licence says "supplied on _[date]_ X_ Pcs cartridge _[.32] _bore: name of dealer". That is, it does not say .32 Bore S&B or S&W or KF.

How can u issue gray market stuff in books??? Something is definitely wrong here.

I want to know, when you purchase .32 any foreign make ammo - is it on licence or Rs.140/- a pop is without endorsing on licence...

or are we being fooled by dealers???

Best regards

DevRishi

[nagarifle]

your dealer is laying out of his teeth. foreign make ammo is not illegal, dealers are allowed to get import up to 5% of total ammo sold.

the dealer is dodgy by a mile. he might have got the foreign ammo illegal and sold it on to you. if a raid is done he would not be able to account for the foreign ammo.

on the licence it is not required to state the brand of ammo only the cal. and the amount.

all ammo purchased from dealers should be endorsed on the licence.(brand does not matter, local or otherwise)

[The Doc]

Are we being fooled by our dealers?

Yes , almost all the time in every which way !

Rp.

[winnie_the_pooh]

Devrishi,

Dealers are allowed to import ammunition.However the calibre of the ammunition that they are allowed to import is clearly mentioned. Neither .32 ACP nor .32 S&W Long finds mention in this list.

[The Doc]

Dealers are allowed to import ammunition.However the calibre of the ammunition that they are allowed to import is clearly mentioned. Neither .32 ACP nor .32 S&W Long finds mention in this list.

Does that mean that all the imported .32 ACP & .32 S&W Long ammo available in the market is illegal ?

[Devrishi]

your dealer is laying out of his teeth. foreign make ammo is not illegal, dealers are allowed to get import up to 5% of total ammo sold.

the dealer is dodgy by a mile. he might have got the foreign ammo illegal and sold it on to you. if a raid is done he would not be able to account for the foreign ammo.

on the licence it is not required to state the brand of ammo only the cal. and the amount.

all ammo purchased from dealers should be endorsed on the licence.(brand does not matter, local or otherwise)

Hello Nagarifle,
The ammo has vanished from the entire market - not just my dealer.

Moreover, every dealer sells foreign make ammo however every dealer is not an importer.

Best regards
DevRishi

[Amit357]

Hi Doc,.32 S & W,ACP,.22 LR,12 Bore, can be imported into India for personal use,not for business,the only ammo,dealers can import are in the calibers not manufactured in India,Will try and post a photo of a box of CCI Stingers which bear the sticker 22 Savage,that being the desi name for 22 High Power.Kompacs and RC4s have sticker bearing 20 G,thus loosely translated as 20 Gauge
Dev R,Dealers club together to increase their quotas of 5 % of thier turnover.The reason that most of the imported ammo available in India is S & B is that it is the cheapest ammo available in the world and S & B service orders for anything from US $ 5000 up.Big ammo manufactures dont even look at orders from Indian A & A Dealer.
With S & B they get quantity,though i dont crib about S & Bs quality.Guess beggars cant be chosers

[goodboy_mentor]

Hi Doc,.32 S & W,ACP,.22 LR,12 Bore, can be imported into India for personal use,not for business

Does this mean individual license holders can import ammunition for the firearm held under their license? If yes then what is the procedure?

[Vineet]

A gun dealer who has import license for ammo, once told me that they are not allowed to import .32 S&W and .32 ACP. These ammunition are somehow illegally imported in India.This is the also reason for their high price.
I don't think we are being fooled by our dealers because to buy or not to buy them is our choice.
Infact we should be thankful to them because they are providing us with some good quality ammo.

[prashantsingh]

Basic Economics.
"Demand and Supply"
Where the demand is more and the supply less.
The dealers obviously make a decent profit.

[The Doc]

Infact we should be thankful to them because they are providing us with some good quality ammo.

They charge an arm and a leg for the comparatively inferior quality foreign ammo ( according to the Western standards) so why should one be thankful ? This is no social service on the part of the dealers my friend !

best,

Rp.

[nagarifle]

buying stolen/ illegal items is a criminal offence.

[Nitro Express]

Next time when buying imported ammo, ask the dealer if he will show you the packing slip which has the date of manufacturer.Watch the fun then.

Majority of the S&B ammo are new old stock,atleast in this part of the country.Many a times I have come across the dealers shop assistant applying cleaning solvent on the cartridges to make it shine.Once I came across a box of 30 06 ammo whose cases had thinned out due to excessive cleaning (rubbing) with Brasso.

Nitro Express

[Vineet]

Infact we should be thankful to them because they are providing us with some good quality ammo.

They charge an arm and a leg for the comparatively inferior quality foreign ammo ( according to the Western standards) so why should one be thankful ? This is no social service on the part of the dealers my friend !

best,

Rp.

If the dealers are not providing us ammo according to the Western standards then it is not their fault, it's the fault of our law. The quality of S&B ammo is much better than KF. Be thankful to them because they are providing us with some good quality ammo that our govt. has denied us. Govt. of India has banned import of .32 S&W and .32 ACP ammo and that is why their prices are high.It is our law that is to be blamed and not the dealers.All shopkeepers tries to make as much as profit they can so why to blame gun dealers alone.

[mundaire]

.22 LR, .32 ACP, .32 S&W Long, 12 gauge ammo can be imported by individual license holders when returning from overseas. There is however a limit of 50 rounds OR the maximum allowed for purchase at any one time (whichever is lower).

These calibres can also be imported (against a duly issued import license) by those who have achieved renowned shot status.

As mentioned above, commercial import of ammo in these calibres (by dealers) is not permitted.