I came across something odd this week and I'm wondering if anyone has an explanation:

I order the following from Ballistic Products:
Fiocchi 12ga 2-3/4" new/primed hulls (200 hulls)

There was no hazmat fee. Only $11.50 shipping - I also ordered a bunch of wads so that shipping charge isn't bad at all.

I went to order some 209 primers from them today, and regardless of the amount of primers, there is a $27.50 hazmat fee. With the hazmat fee and the normal shipping charge, it's cheaper for me to purchase new, already primed hulls.

That makes no sense to me. Primers are primers. There's just as much risk to them "firing" in the hulls as there are in the package. Did I stumble onto a loop-hole in the hazmat fees?

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Semper Fi

Sure seems odd to me, too, but there's no hazmat fee on loaded ammo, either.

Good point - that's even more "dangerous" or "hazmatty" - primer, lead, powder. I guess they have issue with raw materials rather than completed products.

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Semper Fi

The wisdom (if you can call it that) on the application of HazMat fees is bulk primers are tiny impact ignition explosives packed densely into a small area. A hard, direct impact could theoretically cause a mass detonation.

Smokeless powder gets the HazMat because it is extremely flammable. Black Power gets it because it is a low-explosive.

Ammo and primed hulls and brass are not particularly impact sensitive as packaged, are much harder to ignite en mass by fire and therefore avoid the HazMat fee

$27.50? Wow! No wonder I don't order them.

Best reasoning I've seen so far.

Thanks!

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Semper Fi

Went from 20 to 27............. bummer.

Sign of the times.

so now you have to order a whole bunch to dillute the hazmat fee

i never order less then 5000, and i did that today only to leave some for others

I've been able to purchase a 1000 here and there locally from different shops. NONE of them will sell more than 1000 to you. They are rationing them out. So whenever I go into town, I stop and get what I can.

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Semper Fi

If I have to mail order powder or primers I use Grafts. They have to charge the Hazmat, but there's no shipping, just a low 'insurance' charge.

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Pete.

Grafs is a good company, but I am not overly happy at the moment about their shipping delays. Starting to get the impression I wasn't meant to have a Case Activated Linkage kit for my RCBS Uniflow. Originally ordered from Optics Planet in the middle of October, it said 1-2 week backorder which changed to 4 weeks, and at 4 weeks it changed to 2 months--needless to say I cancelled the order. Placed an order with Grafs on January 14, and now it might not ship until the end of February.

One retailers policy that really makes me angry is Cabelas. If you order primers or powder and have it delivered to your local store, they will still charge you the HazMat fee. I guess that doesn't matter now since if you search primers on their site it only brings up shotgun, muzzleloader and 50BMG. **I Stand Corrected** Cabelas no longer allows you to choose Site-to-Store for primers or powders. Probably some sales genius figured out no-one would ship Hazmat items to the store if they had to pay the same price as shipping to their home.

Novalty, did you have a hard time reading my post? You quoted my post and then said Grafts charges the Hazmat fee. Read it again. I said they charge the Hazmat, just not the shipping.

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Pete.

Apparently I did, I pulled my foot from my mouth by removing that from my post. Sorry for the mistake.

I also took the "t" out of Grafs.

First time I paid HazMat fees they were $3.00.

I've ordered primed brass several times,(Not because I like it, but because it was priced to sell) from companies like Silver State, Wideners, and Midway without hazmat fees.

It makes no sense to me either. My last order from Wideners was 1K primed Lake City 7.62 Nato brass. How it's $27.50 safer than 1K larger rifle primers, I don't know?

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

There may not be an additional fee for ammo, but it is marked ORM-D for shipping purposes. That is Other Regulated Material-Domestic. Its like a low level haz-mat. These designations are determined by the govt., not the shipper, and is proabably the first clue why they dont always make sense. BTW, not just guessing at this, I was a UPS supervisor for 15 years.

Please refer to post #4 of this thread for the reason...

The hazmat fee is a simply another way charge more for nothing. I simply look at it as "don't look a gift horse" in these times.

I wouldn't pay the hazmat for something that I don't care for to start with. I'm not comfortable loading brass that I haven't sized.

Primed brass just ain't worth any extra to me. I'm going to remove my decapping pin and size it before loading anyway.

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

Haz mat fee = Extra profit for shipping company. There ain't no hazard, just more profit!!

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S&WHF 366