# Homeland Security plans to buy 1 Billion bullets
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012
**Category:** Great Debates
**Created:** [September 30, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012 "2013-09-30T16:10:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/41 "2013-10-08T02:16:50Z")
> [@MikeF](#):
>
> So, that’s 1000+ rounds per year. Nothing unusual or sinister about that.
Well, no, nothing suspicious at all… _unless you’re part of the conspiracy!!111!_
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### Author:  [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/42 "2013-10-08T02:39:52Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> I’m not an expert, but as I recall ammunition made for sniping among other things is made with extra precision. Very carefully measured amounts of propellant, that sort of thing. And they sometimes use various bullets designed to not penetrate past the target; as an example I recall reading about bullets made of fused metal powder that upon impact fragments back to powder and stops inside the target (and doesn’t ricochet either if it hits a wall). You don’t want to kill the hostage along with the hostage-taker, after all.
Ehhh, sometimes specially made but it may be just that it’s just a lot that meets the velocity, accuracy, and pressure tests with a very tight dispersion. “Damn, that was pretty good, let’s make it a reference, test standard, or sniper lot”.
Most of the 7.62 mm sniper rounds have a hollow tip (not a hollow point). DODICs are A171 and AA11 off the top of my head (furlough until today and I’m on vacation anyway). The jacket is drawn over the slug from the base instead of the other way around in the ordinary 7.62 ball round. Better aerodynamics and the weight/balance is better controlled during manufacturing.
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### Author:  [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/43 "2013-10-08T04:53:36Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> Even if it is an excessive number of bullets, surely the most rational concern is that these departments are over-funded. Or, at worst, that somebody in the procurement department is taking kick backs from ammunition manufacturers.
Or we’re arming departments that have no business being armed in the first place. Such as the EPA. Seems like another layer of a police force.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/44 "2013-10-08T04:56:20Z")
> [@msmith537](#):
>
> What’s the government populated with? Space aliens? Cyborgs?.
:mad::dubious: Resistance is useless! Prepare to be enDopulated!
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### Author:  [@knel3030](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knel3030)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/45 "2013-10-08T08:45:47Z")
Follow the money.
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/46 "2013-10-08T09:13:32Z")
This is not meant for conventional warfare. In CW, small arms account for only 5% of casualties. In a civil war scenario, most casualties in the military sense will be from small arms.
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### Author:  [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/47 "2013-10-08T11:57:27Z")
The thing is, unlike milk, modern small arms ammunition doesn’t have an expiry date attached to it.
There are literally millions of rounds of serviceable (for sporting and target shooting use) ammunition still left over from World War II and Korean War era, and millions more from the Vietnam War era. Assuming the ammunition has been stored properly, you can take those rounds, load them into a gun today, fire them, and they will work.
In short, I would suggest it makes sense for government departments to buy ammunition in bulk, as the ammo won’t stop being functional any time in the next few decades (assuming it is stored properly). And as several people have pointed out, it takes a fair few rounds to train someone to shoot properly and keep their skill level up once they are at a particular proficiency level.
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### Author:  [@theR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theR)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/48 "2013-10-08T12:47:26Z")
> [@Magiver](#):
>
> Or we’re arming departments that have no business being armed in the first place. Such as the EPA. Seems like another layer of a police force.
If the EPA shouldn’t have the legal power to investigate crimes against the laws they enforce, who do you think should do it? Their criminal enforcement division are essentially a police force, but I’m not sure I see the problem with that.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [October 8, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homeland-security-plans-to-buy-1-billion-bullets/670012/49 "2013-10-08T13:16:17Z")
I haven’t seen any number associated with how many rounds the EPA is buying, but it’s a well-known fact that the staff of the Inspectors General of numerous agencies (EPA, Department of Education, HHS, Office of Personnel Management, NASA, and quite a few others) are Federal law enforcement agents with full power to make arrests, serve search warrants, cuff and stuff people who are swindling the United States Government, and carry firearms. These special agents make thousands of arrests each year.
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