50 BMG Dummies
 

I really like .50 BMG, but I don't see getting a rifle in that calibre in my near future, so...
With all the people that sell dummies, you wouldn't think I'd have such trouble getting my hands on them. I've tried J & A Discount Military Surplus and American Specialty Ammo. Both accepted my order, only to call me up and say 'sorry, not to Canada.' I tried to order from River Valley Ordnance, but they may or may not still be in business (my email bounced back, forum noise says they're OOB). Too bad, since their listed prices are awesome (25$ for a 2' linked belt).
After a little more poking around, it seems the US State Department has banned exportation of anything 50 BMG. Including dummies? I can't tell for sure.
Do any of you know;
Is it actually illegal to export dummies and;
If not, who will ship me some that don't have holes in them?
If so, would it be illegal for me to buy them in the US and bring them back? (I'll be in Washington next month and I could order them from Cabela's for in store pick up). Even typing that it sounds like a stupid question, but I've heard of stupider loopholes. I'd only have to deal with the Canadian border guards coming back, and as far as they're concerned .50 BMG is perfectly legal.

Failing those options, I guess I'll have to find somebody here who reloads that calibre (not easy!) and ask if they'll make me some.
Lot of effort for a paperweight.

Is there anything stopping you from hopping over and picking one up as a souvenir?

Probably not? If I picked them up at Cabela's, I would have already paid for them over the internet, so I wouldn't even have to declare them at the border. Probably.
Firearms-related legal infractions are serious stuff, so I want to ask around a little first.

Oh, and they're 10$ a piece at Cabela's, if anyone knows somewhere else I could get them it would probably be a lot cheaper.

I'm not going to encourage you to break the law, but...if there is a law against owning .50 BMG dummy rounds in Canada, it sounds pretty difficult to enforce. :D But there is obviously a huge difference between the U.S. having a law against export of these rounds (which affects only U.S. citizens) vs. Canada having a law against possession. If the former is the only thing stopping you, then I don't think it would be illegal for you to find a gun show across the border and pick some up.

Totally unrelated, but I own two dummy .50 rounds. Got 'em for $1 at a gun show about 10 years ago. They were a neat little souvenir, but if there are legal issues to consider in Canada, I can tell you that they're nothing too special. Mine mostly just sit in a locked box with my pistol ammo and I don't take them out much.

Why in the HELL would anyone ban dummy rounds? Even the People's Republik of Kalifornia doesn't do that. :confused:

I suppose in theory you could refill the round with powder and replace the primer. But then again, if you can get powder and primers, you can probably get real ammo anyway.

I try to avoid buying dummy rounds, if I want duds I just deactive the rounds myself. Pull the heads, fire the primer off in a gun, then press the head back in with a vice with some super glue around the rim.

You can't Re-activate dummy .50 caliber rounds as they have no primer hole and they have three about a quarter inch holes drilled in the cartrige case.

They probably fall under some Scary Gun Law. I mean, since everyone knows that the .50 BMG round posesses powers completely at odds with all known principles of ballistics and Newtonian physics and can flip over train carriages and obliterate game animals, even a deactivated one is probably capable of killing millions of people in the hands of some n'er-do-well.

Yeah, but .50 BMG is way too expensive for that. I did a quick Google search and found one retailer selling 100 rounds for $300 (though I can't claim to know any better deals, since I don't shoot .50-cal and have never tried to buy that ammo). If you don't own or shoot a .50 BMG rifle, it makes a lot more sense to just buy dummies that someone else has made from expended brass. The two dummy .50 rounds I own cost me a dollar - it was a two-for-one deal, which is common at gun shows.

I don't think mine do. I'm not at my place right now, but when I get home, I'll take them out and check to see if they have those holes. Do you mean in the side of the case?

Well, they are prettly long. Maybe they are afraid that you will stab someone with one.

David.

That's what I said I have two US Millitary issue .50 BMG training dummy rounds.

Not sure if mine are military issue, but I'm looking at 'em now, and mine don't have holes anywhere.

1) Nobody's banned dummy rounds specifically. It's illegal for Americans to export .50 BMG, and two different companies have refused to ship to Canada. I'm just assuming that's why, it might be coincidence. They might just be acting overcautiously.

2) I've looked at a lot of different dummies over the past month, some of them have holes in the side, some don't. Some have fired primers, some have no primers (I think one had fake unfired primers). Some you can get in a linked belt, most are singles. One has 'Barnes' engraved on the side.

3) I've decided not to get the ones from Cabela's. The store is a lot further out of my way then I thought it was, and they're stupid expensive anyway. They're not something I desperately need, it'd just be cool. Two companies saying 'you no can haz' only made me want them more, so I thought I'd see if anybody here knows.