Winchester Lands $50 Million Ammunition Contract With DHS
BY Herschel Smith
10 years, 2 months ago
Winchester Ammunition, which has manufacturing facilities in Oxford, has won a five-year contract to produce ammunition for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Olin Corp. and its Winchester division have been awarded a contract worth up to $50 million to produce ammunition at its Winchester Centerfire Operations in Oxford for two DHS agencies.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s wide-ranging border security and law enforcement missions require a significant amount of firepower, particularly for training. I’m pleased that Mississippi will be able to fill that need,” said Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who serves on the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Homeland Security Department.
The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract calls for the procurement of 40 caliber Smith & Wesson training ammunition, with a maximum dollar value of $50 million. The ammunition is intended for use by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) for field-level training.
Most of the DHS uses .40 ammunition right now. At $50 million and around 50 cents per round (that’s high priced and I can find it for less), that’s at least a total of 100 million rounds for range days. With 20,000 field agents in Border Patrol, this amounts to 5000 rounds per agent. They don’t need that many rounds to stay qualified with their firearm.
I wouldn’t begrudge the expenditure except that the Border Patrol doesn’t usually discharge their weapons (Brian Terry fired bean bags), and the Border Patrol has been turned into a giant nanny for aiding and assisting illegal immigration.
And the more Winchester makes for the federal government, the more that drives prices up for me and busies Winchester employees working for the government.
On October 1, 2014 at 7:00 am, Sam Helm said:
You do realize that 5,000 rounds over five years is less than 100 rounds per month? That is not enough to stay proficient, although it may be enough to qualify.
On October 3, 2014 at 12:48 pm, Veritas said:
Faulty assumptions lead to erroneous conclusions. How many employees are firing 100 rounds a month? Do you assume this is the sole Homeland Security ammo contract out there?
On October 3, 2014 at 9:32 pm, Sam Helm said:
I was using the numbers provided by Herschel Smith in the story above, over the length of contract in the press release cited. If you have other numbers to be used, please feel free to show them.
On October 1, 2014 at 9:01 am, Paul b said:
The DHS is the point agency in the subjection of the US population. They were ginned up so fast there are few if any controls on them going rouge.
We should not arm federal agents. Period. Full Stop. The fed coordinates security provided by the states.
There could be a funding issue here for border states but that could be addressed by a federal levy for the combined security of the several states.
On October 1, 2014 at 11:43 pm, Mark Dietzler said:
The US Coast Guard falls under DHS. They get their ammo from DoD though, I think. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does also, IIRC. So, it’s not just Border Patrol that will be using this ammo.
On October 3, 2014 at 12:50 pm, Veritas said:
How many Immigration officers are armed? How often do they fire? In short this is pure fluff. We need more fluffers!
On October 2, 2014 at 12:45 am, Anonymous said:
Does anyone know whether this contract is for training ammo (FMJ), duty ammo (top-shelf hollowpoints of some kind), or both?
On October 2, 2014 at 7:31 am, Cracker122049 said:
And the blind sheep bleat loudly as they are lead to the chutte for processing into product or simply fertilizer bleating ,this can’t happen here!
On October 3, 2014 at 12:46 pm, Veritas said:
Bet these are hollow points or hydro shock. But why does homeland security need 100 million rounds?
On March 10, 2015 at 10:11 am, EddieJ said:
Is this why their XP3 ammo for 300 Win Mag and 270 hasn’t been available for about a year?