Fed law enforcement has apparently trained with hollow point for a long time.
Don’t have the source handy but apparently once the purchases are in large enough quantities the price differential for hollow points gets a lot smaller.
One of the things contributing to the falsehoods and myths surrounding government ammo purchases is that for any conceivable Google search, the first several hundred results are now repeats of all the idiotic panic articles from the blogosphere instead of actual truthful information.
“Don’t have the source handy but apparently once the purchases are in large enough quantities the price differential for hollow points gets a lot smaller.”
Why would the price differential change? If bulk buying gets a reduced rate for hollow point, wouldn’t bulk buying get a reduced rate for all ammuntion?
And even if the differential is less, when we are talking millions of rounds, isn’t paying any differential irresponsible?
I know the argument - train with what you use. But that’s not always reasonable. I was in the Army, and we always trained with ‘ball’ ammunition, instead of armor piercing. Even our tank rounds for training were not the same used in battle.
So why does this government agency differ...and get everything it wants?
This is one big circle.
The Feds made big purchase of ammo to save money.
Oh, is that why I can't buy any ammo at the store?
No, we didn't actually buy the ammo.
Then why did they give you a discount?
Because we made such a huge order.
It’s called “step ladder pricing”. On IDIQ contracts everytime you actually make a procurement, the actual quantity procured determines the price per unit. If you buy 1-100 each costs X, if you buy 101-1000 each costs Y, if you buy 1001 to 10000 each costs Z and so on. Sometimes it is more cost effective to procure a bit more than you need because it can actually cost less overall than the total amount for a lower quantity order.
The hidden cost is that for storage. I believe DHS, like the military uses DLA for asset storage (except for three or four smaller depots that FEMA uses for big equipment and emergency housing). DLA charges its clients money to store assets. That is a life cycle cost that needs to be figured in also.
It’s a tad more complex than just the price advantage of large purchases. There’s been a technological change in bullet construction in recent times. Instead of forming the bullet jacket from the nose then inserting the lead core from the rear and adding a gas check as a third step it has, in recent times, gotten more practical and cheaper to form the jacket from the rear, insert the core from the front, then close the nose partially. The partial closing leaves a small pocket that looks like a hollow point but is not really designed for expansion on impact. While they are not true hollow points they look like them so they are allowed only for target/training. Our military buys them for training and each box is marked to keep them completely out of combat zones. The serious target shooters find that the gap-nose performs just as good as the solid nose spitzer in long range shooting so they are widely used now. But they are not sold as hollow ponts even tho they look like them.
Please keep this blurb on file so I don’t have to write it again. I’ve noted the question has come up a lot lately but everyone relax——no one is getting a steal deal on actual expandable hollow points.