courtesy aplaceforpeace.wordpress.com

A few days ago, President Barack Obama issued an executive order allowing him to use the United States government agencies to restrict certain Russian assets in the US in retaliation for the annexation of Crimea. It was speculated by some gun publications that this executive order would only cover individual Russians and their companies, and leave the majority of Russia’s arms industry to operate as usual. In a speech today, Obama confirmed our interpretation that the executive order allows him broader powers . . .

As whitehouse.gov details, this includes, “named officials of the Russian government, any individual or entity that operates in the Russian arms industry, and any designated individual or entity that acts on behalf of, or that provides material or other support to, any senior Russian government official.” The order does not dictate any immediate actions, but we’re hearing reports from attendees at the Lone Wolf sponsored event that took place recently that ammunition shipments are already being cancelled. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

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154 COMMENTS

    • If I were a Russian arms/ammo manufacturer, I would not want to put X thousands or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars of inventory on a boat to the U.S. only to have the shipment seized or delayed for months or years in a port somewhere. If it’s true that orders are being cancelled, it’s because the situation is fluid and unknown and they don’t want to risk a massive loss. In the event that some of these orders are actually pre-paid by an importer based in the U.S., that importer may cancel their order for the exact same reasons.

      And while I’m posting here, might as well add a link to a WT article http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/20/obama-sets-new-sanctions-against-russia-crimea-tak/

  5. “The order does not dictate any immediate actions, but reports are coming in that ammunitikn [sic] shipments are already being cancelled.” — from the article above.

    Citations please!

    • LOL, I live near the Cheaper Than Dirt location in Fort Worth. Or the Outdoor adventures version of CTD, supposedly a different company, but they share the same catalog, and so on, its confusing. Anyway, I have a picture on my phone of a huge stack of 50 round boxes of 9mm steel case Tula ammo sitting there on the shelf for $39.95 each during the most recent ammo shortage. Shameful…

  7. Good thing I stuck with the AR platform.
    None the less, so Obama is putting sanctions on a country after his ineptitude at foreign policy caused this in the first place? That sounds like a small kid throwing a fit then getting their bigger brother to beat up the other kid because the little punk didn’t get his way.

    • How ironic:

      ‘And In Other Headline News; “Today Pres. Obama moves to support the American Arms Industry by prohibiting arms and munitions imports from Russia”‘.

    • Good think I stocked up on 7.62×39 and 5.45×39. I had a feeling something like this was coming. I didn’t think it was going to be a response to a situation like Ukraine. I thought it was going to be a presidential decree related to gun control. But I had a nagging feeling that the huge supply of cheap Russian ammo would eventually run dry, so I hoarded a bunch over the last few months.

    • How exactly did Obama cause this?

      Bush Caused this, Russia Invaded our ally Georgia under W’s watch, and he did NOTHING. Not a damn thing, he “looked into putins soul and saw a friend.”

      So Putin is acting like nothing is going to stop him. Way to drop the ball one the one thing I thought I could trust you on W. I invaded a county because you Lied to me. I didn’t leave the Republican party, it left me.

      • Revisionism at its finest. Keep blaming Bush. He may not have done a lot…but Georgia was not annexed in whole or part.I guess he did enough. Crimea…not so much, but not Bush’s problem over a full Obama term later.
        You also ignore past and recent Russo-Georgian history and the politics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The timing of the actual hostilities says more of Putin’s gamesmanship politically than anything else.

  12. They are just going off the pulse of the populace. When the admin saw gun people flinch from the first sanction, they knew they had found a hot spot to exploit.

  13. Two days ago my LGS told me that the distributor for Tulammo advised him to buy as much as possible because this would be the last shipment until further notice.

  14. I don’t run Russian ammo through any of my firearms – however, this could affect people like me, because now people who normally run Russian ammo through their firearms, may get desperate and start buying up US/European ammo.

    Though if these sanctions really pinch, it would be a good time for cheap ammo manufacturers like CBC/Magtech, PPU, S&B, and so on to step up production. They could replace the hole that the lack of Russian ammo created.

    Not to disparage Magtech, in a pinch it’s fine. Just gotta be vigilant on the cleaning.

  16. In other news, sales of Russian firearms and munitions to Middle East, African and South American buyers are on the rise.

    This administration is so flacid; and everything the POTUS does is so SOL.

    Instead of being ‘leader of the free world’, he’s the ‘leader of the weak world’.

  17. Obama is the freaking AR15 salemans of the century…

    He must own stock in AR15 companies and he is probably laughing all the way to the bank.

    • Yup.

      Here’s the one undeniable truth: Americans want to own guns. Americans buy lots of guns.

      Dry up the cheap imported stuff and guess what?

      Americans will make their own guns (again).

      We in the “gun industry” should thank President Obama for this action. Send him little thank-you notes and such.

      • @DG,

        He may be the AR salesman of the year (I know a guy who looks a whole lot me who has 6), but I’m a long ways from thanking him. See: Obamacare, Benghazi, IRS scandals, NSA scandals, domestic drone surveillance, failure to balance the budget x6, entitlement spending, support of gun control, apology tours, etc.

        And now if you excuse me I’m going to order some ammo off of the “anonymous” internet that Al Gore created.

  18. Yup, that will teach those damn Russians!

    Obama should just take his purse and hit Putin with it. It’ll have about as much of an effect on reigning in Russia as his sanctions.

    WWIII here we come!

  20. Oh my. That is a surprise. I couldn’t have imagined that. Totally out of left field with that one. No way we could have known this was coming. Nope.

  21. This may put a damper on supplies for now, but (like I’ve said before) where there is a demand, there will be a supply (I hope 🙁 )

  22. All this should affect is Tula and Wolf. Bear and Red Army Standard should now get ahead in Ammo Shipments.

    • IIRC, Wolf has contracts with factories in several countries so while it will slow down, it won’t stop. Tula is done for. Bear is made by Barnaul in Russia so we probably won’t be seeing that either. Uly and Golden tiger are also both Russian.

    • the search for some ammo and the price jacking is about to make me say .177 air rifle over all.

  25. this administration is so crooked they have a massive foreign policy blunder then use it as an excuse for more gun control

      • Don’t quite get that one. I was refering to how Canadian gun owners would mock you by bragging about how they can buy cheap commie ammo.

        • They already mock Americans about how they’re able to buy cheap Chinese guns. M14S for $450!

    • LOL good thing anything resembling an AK is illegal in Canadia, Mosins foreva!

      EDIT: is an sks also illegal?

      • SKS’ are very legal (Chinese, Russian, Yugos, Romanian) and plentiful. We have an AK variant that is essentially the same as the AK47, and ARs as well.

        The catch? Our government limits all center-fire rifles (regardless of caliber) to 5 rounds. Any imported magazines are pinned to 5 rounds before they can be brought into the country.

        No limits on .22 capacity, though.

        • The “AK thing” you’re referring to is probably Vz 58. It is not an AK, and not related to it in any way – the only thing in common between the two is the caliber.

          As far as mag limits, the funny part about Canadian law is that it limits magazines, not guns. So if the magazine is a “centerfire rifle magazine”, then it has limited to 5 rounds. But if it’s a “pistol magazine”, then it’s only limited to 10 rounds. In cases where the same magazine can be used either in a rifle or in a pistol (like e.g. when you get AR pistols, or 9mm carbines), the important part is what it is “originally designed for”. And it doesn’t matter at all what gun you put it in – a “pistol magazine” is perfectly legal in a rifle. Hence why there is a company selling 10-round AR “pistol magazines” for their AR “pistol”, which people then buy and use in actual ARs, Tavors etc.

  28. Everybody calm down and don’t buy all the ammo.
    Tons of it comes from Bulgaria, Ukraine, Czech Repub., all over the place.
    Just calm down, please.

    • C’mon, man. A basic understanding of supply and demand should lead you to the conclusion that when supply goes down, prices go up even if we “calm down.”

      Wake up.

      • The problem is that many retailers won’t raise prices because they want to maintain good customer relations. This just sets up an arbitrage situation where people can go buy Russian calibers at normal prices and then resell it at market clearing prices. If the retail stores would just raise their prices to a market clearly level then you won’t see a lot panic buying. Instead they will let the rent seekers buy up all the ammo and then sell for a large profit to ammo hungry gun owners.

        • Yep. It seems like some people would prefer their local gun store to have empty shelves rather than to charge what the market will bear.

          I don’t like the high gasoline prices, but I prefer high prices to empty stations or rationing.

        • There are a lot more people who claim to believe in free markets then are willing to accept the result. That’s one of the many reasons I generally put the faux in front this generation of Libertarians.

  29. Too bad we already covered how the ammo will STILL get here…
    Ah but who am I kidding, people will still panic buy for no reason..

  31. Not trying to insight panic buying, but selwayarmory.com has an insane price on Wolf 7.62×39 right now. $120 for 1K plus shipping. If you want a case that is hard to beat.

    • Dude that had to be a typo on their site. $0.12 per round for 7.62×39 hasn’t been seen for over a decade and back in 2001 when you could get it for that it was milsurp. No freaking way on earth is somebody selling current production, non-corrosive 7.62×39 for 12 cents a round right now. Not a damn chance.

      • that’s what I was thinking – someone typo’ed the price for 500 rounds rather than 1000. I wonder if they had it in stock, would they honor that price? I know I’ll be checking back.

        FWIW some places were selling the “old stock” Wolf on large discounts, but that is the stuff that some suppliers backroomed in 2009-ish after lots of problems cropped up with popped primers, so beware. I had a popped Wolf primer destroy an SKS firing pin around that time frame.

        • Agreed. Don’t buy the old stock stuff. There’s a reason most retailers are stating “Wolf will not honor their performance guarantee with this ammo.” It’s not just some contract issue or whatever nonsense the retailers claim – it’s a suspect “shoot at your own risk” production lot. Not worth it.

    • I tried to order some myself. Put 2 in my cart successfully, by the time I filled out my personal information and clicked “buy,” it said my cart was empty. They removed the error and jacked up the price. Maybe if I was quicker… oh well.

      • Precisely why I have accounts at Midway, Brownells, Sinclair, J&G. No need to fill out the personal stuff, it’s auto filled.

        • FWIW, Selway does accounts also so you can login and your previous info is saved if you so choose.

          BTW regarding the comments above, I have no clue exactly what they’re selling but it does say “new stock” and it has no such warning about Wolf not guaranteeing it, etc. Hopefully if it were from that problem batch they would say so or not sell it…

  32. Kent:So, professor: would you say it’s time for everyone to panic?
    Professor: Yes I would,

  34. This can’t be! Obama isn’t coming for our guns and he’s not coming for our ammunition either. Our dear leader would never do such a thing.

    Three years, people. Three more years and our long national nightmare will be over. Until then, keep fighting and throw the bastards out.

    • ammo import sanctions have never been reversed.

      tried to buy any Chinese ammo lately? not since Clinton’s EO banned it.

    • Perhaps I’m a pessimist, but I fear that our nation will be dumb enough to elect Hillary. After all, Obama got elected twice. Hillary may well get all the Dems, and would pull women by a large margin just like Obama got well over 90% of the black vote.

      I’m currently debating between Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, or Richard Grise.

      • It all depends on who will be the Republican challenger.

        If it’s Ted Cruz running against Hillary, then I can guarantee you that Hillary will win in a landslide. I’ll even bet my can of 7.62×39 on it.

  35. Perfect opportunity for the administration to screw gun orders under the guise of screwing Putin.

    • Woah, woah, hold on there, don’t use reason on this matter, what we need now is another panic.

      • I think gloomhound was being sarcastic, not serious. Of course Obama is coming for our guns. Have you forgotten already?

  37. I wonder if this means I will be able to pick up a used AK for cheap? No cheap ammo means there could be a lot of people selling to buy something they can shoot.

  38. I’m surprised Mothers against illegal mayors isn’t touting this on their FB as a win.

  39. More distressing than the chatterings of the Capuchin monkey is the fact that so many fall in line with them. A law broadly ignored is not enforceable…..

  43. BTW, this has NOTHING to do with Russia, the Ukraine or Crimea…Obama stated publicly over a yr ago he was going to do something like this…now he has an excuse, and the rest of the world can’t see this for what it really is, another excuse to abuse the power of the office of the POTUS…

    Obama, not that you ever were, but you’re even less significant now that previously thought…

  46. * Cost will go up as supply goes down, but there will still be supply, as many other countries produce x39.

    * Even if it doubles in price, it will still only cost about as much as 5.56 does now (roughly 25c/round to roughly 50c/round). All of the ‘that’s why I went AR’ people aren’t seeming to mention that. (I have both, btw)

    * You should have bought your AK a while back when O-loser was threatening to ban imports and have UN come try to take our guns.

    * PANIC! Ahhhhhh! (ooops sorry, couldn’t resist)

    But the big question is…

    WILL THIS INCREASE POPULARITY OF 300 BLK, therefore increasing supply and driving down the cost??? (someone please give me some good news!)

    • exactly. im not TERRIBLY worried about it, but i am gonna have to buy a mosin for my lady REAL QUICK before they disappear…somewhat lol.

      sadly, i have yet to shoot 300blk. i must remedy this.

    • Cost will go up as supply goes down, but there will still be supply, as many other countries produce x39.

      You’re assuming that demand will not increase as a result of contraction of supply. It certainly will. As supply constricts, it causes demand to increase, sometimes to the point where the supply becomes functionally unavailable.

      If you don’t believe me, try buying .22LR and let me know how it works out for you.

      • Oh Ralphie… There you go with your glass is half empty stuff again 😉 Let’s hope things stay chill for a while and/or the market finds it’s way to ‘meet demand’ (as it usually does) – either by, or through, other exporters. Things have a way of working out sometimes. Heck, I just got some 5.56 for a pre-panic price and I wondered if I’d ever see that again just a year or so ago. And I have a flash hider, a thingie that goes up and a bayonette lug on my ‘EBR’, and wasn’t sure I’d have one of those in the late 90’s, early 00’s. Man, we need to get you a puppy or something.

  47. You lose, ObeyMe! Check and Mate. You’ve traded your “legacy”, such as it is, for a mess of pottage. All in service to your masters, the international banksters, who want World War Three with Russia.

    • he’s all but secured a republican president next election. all he needs to do now is put a bow on the oval seat.
      i can just hear the dems crying over it already. LOL

  48. Oh joy….Everything I shoot is Russian. So much for shooting cheap Russian ammo out of my cheap Russian guns…. T_T

  50. Question: How will this affect price and availability of 5.45 rifles and ammo? I can see why 7.62 might not be affected nearly as much, but I was under the impression that nearly all AK 74 parts and kits (and all the surplus ammo) came from Russia?

    • The 7N6 we get is from the Ukraine and Bulgaria. So, not a lot of impact there. It’ll put a bit of a crimp on commercial 5.45×39, but there’s still a fair few sources of that.

      The Romanians have started pumping out cheap 7.62×39, so I’m really not too worried about that, either.

  51. You’re still misreading this. This authorizes the SecState to sanction anyone in the Russian arms industry. It does not automagically cover the entire Russian arms industry in sanctions. They need to be levied on specific individuals and companies.

    As for “reports from an event”, that’s hardly confirmation, especially given how many blogs (like TTAG) have jumped the gun.

    • I’m convinced TTAG is making money off the panic.

      There’s absolutely NOTHING stating that Obama is blocking ammo imports specifically.

      Strike Two, Mr. Farago.

      • Take a look at what Obama has already banned via executive order. He doesn’t want “military grade” guns back in civilian hands – like the ones S. Korea would gladly return to us. Obama supports gun control at every turn. It’s pretty reasonable that Obama would use this situation to further his gun control agenda in a similar manner that he used Sandy Hook. Do you think Kerry signed the Un Arms Trade Treaty against Obama’s will? The Democratic party is not a friend to firearms, and this administration is worse than most.

        • That may be true; my point is, he hasn’t done it with this EO yet, because Tula, Barnaul, Izhmash, MOLOT, etc. were not named.

    • It says “…or entity that operates in the Russian arms industry”.

      “Entity” does not limit sanctions to individuals.

      • You’re missing the point. Yes, companies in the arms industry CAN be sanctioned. But they are not automatically sanctioned; they either need to be owned > 50% by one of the people on the list, or specifically named (like Rosiya Bank was) by the SecState. Tula, Barnaul, etc. were never named. Neither was Izhmash or MOLOT, for that matter. There is no reason whatsoever to think there has been an import ban for Russian ammo and sporting arms.

  53. Someone tell me overeducated economist is right. He is making good points. Are we artificially causing a spike?

    Oh and God bless the Romanians (and all others who continue to produce and export cheap 7.62×39)

    • When people act like robots, that’s “artificial.” Just like people buy up all the bread and milk in the stores when they know a bad storm is approaching, people will buy up all the Russian ammo they can with this political storm approaching.

      That’s not “artificial.” That’s the way business works. It’s not “panic buying,” it’s smart.

    • Yeah, and that’s with my recent ‘smart’ buy too. Starting to think it probably shouldn’t really be too bad anyway, as the reality is… AK is not like AR in the US.

      (…amongst other mitigating factors such as mentioned above)

  55. Oh, and Obama’s silly ‘sanctions’ are a joke and only make him (and US) look feckless. The fact that he doesn’t get that is even worse.

  56. I’m also afraid Hillary will get in. If Republitards run a RINO again we’re doomed. Good luck you AK guys. It doesn’t affect me personally but we’re all in this together.

  59. I still don’t own anything that shoots 39 or 54R.
    I will remedy that. I just didn’t want paper attached to it.
    Think I’ll go buy a few cases of 54R for my future Mosin.

  61. Isn’t it ironic (and pathetic) that the only people Obama succeeds at bullying and screwing over are his own?

      • Yes. Obama’s from Chicago and well learned in bullying the “common folk” while pretending “it’s for their best interests”.

        The U.S. and European Powers placed embargoes for iron and oil against Japan, which hurt more than “sanctions”Obama is placing against the Ruskies, but, then, Japan was looking for an excuse to kick the U.S.out of the Philippines so as to establish their Asian “Co-prosperity Sphere” and complete their conquest of China. Neutralizing the U.S. Fleet in Hawaii (had they actually done so) would have given them more time to achieve those goals and solidify their position. However, they had no long term chance of defeating the U.S. in the Asian Pacific War, but their arrogance fooled them into believing they could.

        Great links to some interesting reads. Thanks! Particularly the article about triggering WWIII, The U.S., with its Obama weakened economy, is in no position to be screwing with financial “tools”, but, if you believe D’souza’s hypothesis (Film:OBAMA 2016) that Obama WANTS to reduce the U.S. to a Second or Third World power in homage to his absentee Father, then you know what’s happening. The longer Obama is in Office, the more I am thinking D’souza was on the right track.

        If you can’t afford both Viagra and ammo today, wait until the Democrats finally crash the U.S. Economy for playing stupid games with Finances. You won’t have the energy to worry about those things when you cannot afford enough food and your Dog starts looking “mighty tasty”. Seriously, we are in deep trouble…deep, deep trouble.

        • I agree! Putin has us on the defensive thanks to Liberal philosophy. Clinton was overseas proclaiming the US as the true danger to the world because of being the lone superpower.

          Putin took over the Crimea and that was a simple stroke to prove to the world that the US is no longer a super power.

          All the sanctions will do is hurt the Russian people. The elite in Russia will still live a lavish lifestyle and want for nothing. Unlike Obama, Putin KNOWS that the sanctions will only motivate public support and make his next move even easier than this one.

          I hate to say it but Putin is twice the man Obama ever hoped to be!

  62. So, isn’t this sound familiar… The Nazi’s did something like this to the Jewish… He will use executive order to increase rules and laws without congress… I’m not sure that it will be Obama who finishes us and makes this a police state. But if anyone has noticed the Dem’s have been slowly taking away our rights to protect us from our self’s over the last 15 yrs or so… I don’t think the Rep’s will do us any better… All I know is this umbrella government will make life’s unlivable maybe not for us but at the least for our children… We the people need to do something about this sooner rather then later…

  65. Well at least he is doing something, better then what ol’W did when the russians invaided a US “Ally”

    Nothing.

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