Last week, I received an e-mail asking my opinion about an e-mail sending out the following information: “The Department of Defense to stop all military surplus once-fired brass sales to the public.”

The largest buyers of this used brass are those companies that reload the once-fired cases into new ones. It stands to reason that these are the same ones that would be hurt the most if such an event took place by the DOD. I think that this could have a crippling affect on these companies. I finished the e-mail and saw that Georgia Arms was listed. I wondered, just what was Georgia Arms’ part in this report? I found Georgia Arms on the Internet and saw a contact number listed along with other information. As I pondered over what I could find out about this story, I convinced myself to simply pick up the phone and make a call directly to Georgia Arms and see if they would give me any information that may clear up this issue.

I called Georgia Arms and told the lady that answered who I was and a little of the story that had come from the Internet. She immediately said she knew what I was talking about, and she would let me talk to someone about this story. Curtis Shipley, co-owner of the company, greeted me on the phone. I explained what the e-mail contained and that his company name was mentioned in the e-mail, and asked if he had any information on the topic.

Mr. Shipley explained that this event did come up about three years ago, but that it had been resolved, and the DOD had dropped the idea. The story was that the DOD was to shred the brass into pieces and sell the brass to China. This would have greatly affected the reloading industry. The price that the buying public would have to pay if this took place would have been greatly increased.

While Mr. Shipley and I talked, I asked him his opinion on the ammunition manufacturers possibly holding back supplies, so as to let the cost of the stock on hand to rise with the cost of the fuel. Curtis explained that the ammunition industry was a unique industry in that the manufacturing of the ammo was done on expensive, specialized machinery, used only in the manufacturing of bullets. This includes the bullet, powder, primer and the brass cases.

Mr. Shipley further explained increases in demand of their specialized product during specific times puts a strain on the companies that manufacture ammunition products to the point of causing shortages on retail shelves. Curtis also said that right now there were many new people buying firearms, thus putting more strain on companies trying to keep up with demand. He also said that business at Georgia Arms was doing well, and that the companies that he dealt with were a dependable group of people, and that the ammo and gun industry as a whole were doing well. Curtis also said that he had very few bad checks come through his company from the customers that purchased his products. I believe this in itself attests to the type of people who make these purchases.

I would like to thank Mr. Shipley for the time he took with me discussing the issues that affect the shooting public as a whole. You can go to their website, georgia-arms.com, or call 770-459-5177 for more information.

Mr. Shipley reminded me to tell all of those that enjoy the shooting sport not to leave their empty hulls on the ground after they shoot. He encourages everyone to take the shells back to any reloading dealer for possible credit.

Just a parting thought: There is a surplus powder that is available to buyers which comes from pulled bullets from the military. I was told it was for loading .223, 3.08 and 50 BMG ammo. It is considerably cheaper than powder new in the can. If you are interested in saving money on this surplus powder, contact a reloading supplier for possible prices and availability. I know many will not use surplus powder in their reloaded ammo; either way, this gives you another option.

Roger Sherrill lives in Ringgold. He can be reached at tandemjumper@catt.com.