Adam Palmer of Siloam Springs and his partners recently started manufacturing and selling ammunition to the public.
Palmer and the partners at Founding Fathers Ammunition have been researching making ammo for the past two years. The company started selling ammo about five months ago.
Pricing:
• 1,000 .223 bullets, $320
• 1,000 9mm bullets, $250
• 50 .380 bullets, $16
• 100 9mm hollow point, $38
The top reason that they started the company was because of an ammunition shortage. Palmer explained that at an area police department, a police officer couldn't get enough ammo to qualify in training. An Oklahoma police department has to wait nine months before getting ammo.
They hope to help local law enforcement get what they need.
"We've been through all the licensing," Palmer said. They have been working to move the company from the county to a shop on U.S. Highway 412, near the sale barn. The hope is to open there on Independence Day.
They decided on the name Founding Fathers Ammunition because "we wanted something that sounded patriotic," Palmer said.
The ammo that they make and sell is "all small-arms ammo," Palmer said. Rounds manufactured and sold include 9mm, .223, .380 and .40 caliber. The best selling one is the .223. The velocity of these bullets is 3,000 feet per second, he said. They have a five-mile range.
"We will have .45 and .308," Palmer said. "We're focusing mainly on self-defense and target rounds."
The company recently turned down a government contract for the military. The company didn't want to make ammo for the military "because everybody else is," he said.
The company invested about $200,000 in machinery to make ammunition.
The military sends spent shell casings to the company, and it has equipment to reshape the casings, install a primer, load them with powder and place the bullet onto the shell. The company purchases once-fired brass from military ranges. Soon, the company plans to purchase new brass from an Arkansas company.
"We use military-grade brass," Palmer said. "It's thicker" than what's available at area retail stores.
"Customers can give us the brass back, and we can reload it again," Palmer said.
After the company receives the shell casings from the military, they are cleaned, re-sized, shined with a polishing medium, loaded, given a final polish and packaged. The bullets that are placed into the shells come from Alabama and Idaho.
"We're 100 percent U.S. made," Palmer said.
An automated loading machine is used to fill large orders. It can make 3,600 bullets per hour and can measure powder to one-fifth of a grain. It takes 437.5 grains to equal 1 ounce. The company receives its powder from Kansas and Montana.
"Consistency, that's the key," Palmer said. It's so one can set up a gun and fire the bullet into the same hole every time.
Smaller orders can be filled with manual loading machines. The plan is to modify the manual machines into automated machines.
The company has ordered a machine that will reshape spent shell casings. It can process 3,000 shell casings an hour.
So far, the focus has been on selling at gun shows. "We've been pretty much selling out," Palmer said. There is a lot of repeat business.
The plan is to double production in about a month. About 80,000 rounds per week are made currently.
"My main job is heating and air," Palmer said. "I got into this because I had a passion for it."
He explained he's a big advocate for rights and freedoms. He felt that those are being taken away.
Palmer said he wanted to be a part of the fight for Second Amendment rights.
He said the recent shootings are sad, but he doesn't think that taking guns away is the answer to the problem.
"The only people that would have the guns would be the criminals," Palmer said. "Then nobody could defend themselves."
The business has six employees. They are Palmer, his partners and their wives. As the business grows, it might hire several more employees in the coming months.
Palmer has lived in Siloam Springs for about 10 years.
General News on 06/25/2014