Since I own a .40 Caliber handgun, I found this little nugget somewhat fascinating. Okay, it would be fascinating regardless; I just wanted you to know I have a .40 Caliber handgun. The Department of Homeland Security has awarded Winchester Ammunition a contract to deliver 200 million .40 Caliber rounds over the next five years to their ICE division.
In case you were illiterate on the subject, ICE stands for Immigration, Customs and Enforcement. Makes you kind of wonder if Homeland Security knows something we don’t know about the border situation. 200 million rounds of ammunition is more than you would need for, I don’t know, the last stand at the Alamo. Here’s the complete report from Gun Reports:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Winchester Ammunition was recently awarded a contract by the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security to supply a maximum of 200 million, 40 cal. rounds over the next five years.
The load selected for this contract is a 135-grain, hollow point designed for the office of Field Operations of Customs and Border Protection. It will fall under the Winchester Ranger line.
Maybe big sister Janet Napolitano plans on enforcing some sort of border law or something? Nah, what am I thinking, the system in place should work just fine, don’t you suppose?
H/T Wizbang
December 30th, 2009 at 7:40 am
There is a bit more too the story then you provide in your one paragraph excerpt, read the announcement from winchester here:http://www.ammoland.com/2009/08/21/winchester-awarded-department-of-homeland-security-ammunition-contract/ .
This is a normal volume buy for a government agency. I know I feel safer
Duncan
December 30th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Thanks Duncan for the link, but it doesn’t really have much more info than I provided. I just thought it was an interesting story.
http://www.ammoland.com/2009/08/21/winchester-awarded-department-of-homeland-security-ammunition-contract/
January 1st, 2010 at 3:21 am
Well, it’s 200 million over the next five years. That’s 40 million a year.
Figure they shoot (for training and qualification) two to four times a year, and use it in sub-guns and pistols, you come up with about 3000- 4000 rounds for each agent (I think there are about 18,000 employees or so in currently so maybe 10000- 12000 of them may be shooters ??? ). I also assume they have their own version of some kind of SWAT/Rapid Response teams and those guys shoot a LOT of ammo during training.
They also have about 450 offices at which they may stockpile a small amount of ammo. Put a few thousand rounds at even 250 of those locations and you use up a half of million.
It’s not that much when it’s broken down. It’d be interesting to know how often they shoot (for training) each year, and what amount of ammo they expend when doing it.