No, The ATF Is Not Going All "Snidely Whiplash" On The Ammunition Industry

By Bob Owens | 8:17 AM | September 01, 2016

There were some panicked posts earlier this week in some other firearms-focused sites which claimed the ATF had redefined wetted nitrocellulose as a high explosive, and that this redefinition would dramatically affect the availability and cost of ammunition.

ATF-Exploding-Ammunition-Requirements

Wetting nitrocellulose is (apparently, I don’t claim to be an expert here) the primary means of rendering this material non-explosive for shipping and storing nitrocellulose. When nitrocellulose is then needed for the manufacture of firearms propellant, it is then dewetted (dried out) in the requisite amounts for making batches of propellant.

Someone had a question about wetted nitrocellulose, the ATF tried to answer that question in their newsletter, and did so in a manner that drew an unintended and unexpected “the sky is falling!” response.

They’ve now issued an addendum to their newsletter which amounts to, “Dudes, chill.”

ATF

There is no threat to the ammunition industry.

Breath.

Bob Owens is the Editor of BearingArms.com. Bob is a graduate of roughly 400 hours of professional firearms training classes, including square range and force-on force work with handguns and carbines. He is a past volunteer instructor with Project Appleseed. He most recently received his Vehicle Close Quarters Combat Instructor certification from Centrifuge Training, and is the author of the short e-book, So You Want to Own a Gun. He can be found on Twitter at bob_owens.