Want To Become A Local Ammo Dealer

S

sgt.rock

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Yellowknife, N.W.T.
Hi, I live in a remote city in the North called Yellowknife. Its 1500km north of edmonton and the ammo selection is downright CRAPPY here. There are 3 places to buy ammo. 1) Walmart.... only winchester ammo, poor selection, limited calibers (only THE most popular) fair prices.
2) Canadian Tire..... Remington (expensive) Federal (expensive) Winchester (fair price) Average selection , often semibare cabinet, poor re-supply times, poor service at both , often 20 minute wait times to find someone with "a key to the cabinet"
3) local gun store/fishing store......Excellent selection, good service, SUPER EXPENSIVE , often DOUBLE THE PRICE OF THE FIRST TWO.
I want to become an ammo dealer who only charges what it costs to buy the ammo and ship it north. ZERO MARKUP, more a public service, as it would then cost me very little to get my own ammo, my shipping would be split with the other ammo buyers.
WHAT are the requirements for start up?
Does anyone have a pseudo list of things I need to do in order to become an ammo dealer?
Insurance requirements? Tax collection Requirements? Storage Requirements?
And how does one go about contacting dealers for wholesale pricing on large quantities of ammo? Is there a list available to the public, or is this some industry secret that you must be "in the club" before you can access this list?
I am just super frustrated at the whole ammo scene here in the north, there are hundreds of hunters/range shooters who would appreciate "at cost" factory ammo, and even reloading components. ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED
:confused:
 
What about contacting Wolfbullets.com and or canadianbdx.com and asking them if you can get a deal on a large order? I'm not sure, but would you be allowed to get together with several guys and make a large order and have it shipped to you?
 
SGT,
You got an extra 25 to 30 grand laying around for this adventure of yours?
You start trucking ammo from where ever to Yellowknife and you'll see why stuff is expensive at your local shop. Not to mention all the other associated costs of running a business even if your only product is ammo. FS
 
Fassteel said:
SGT,
You got an extra 25 to 30 grand laying around for this adventure of yours?
You start trucking ammo from where ever to Yellowknife and you'll see why stuff is expensive at your local shop. Not to mention all the other associated costs of running a business even if your only product is ammo. FS
Click to expand...

Actually, I do have an extra 25 grand laying around. And I can get another 40 or so tomorrow if I needed it. I would definately drive down to pick up the ammo myself to save on the costs of Courier Dangerous Goods etc. I was thinking that this business could definately be run out of my home, and advertising in every local paper, TV cable rollover, flyers etc would be a good way to start. I just want to make the prices in yellowknife a little closer to the prices that everyone pays in the south. I mean I dont think I will be taking a big bite out of the local sporting goods store here anyhow, as How much actual ammo could they be selling when its marked up over double the price of any other store including down south. I think they make the sales from sending ammo to outfitters up further north , by air. Those guys dont care what it costs, when an American is paying for it.
I always thought it was better to make 1.50 off twenty boxes of ammo, than 20 bucks off one.
Volume sales are where its at in my humble opinion.
 
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I don't see why anyone would crap on his idea.
He is thinking of starting a new business to fill a need in his area.
The last thing he needs is someone defending the current high costs he and others have to pay.

If you want to slag him, don't post.


anyway..... I know there are laws regards the quantity of explosives, you might (most likely) will have to build a magazine and get various explosive licenses.
A place to start...
http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/mms/explosif/over/over_e.htm
 
Good luck on your venture. I do know the woes of persons living in Yellowknife and surrounding area. I used to be one of the truckdrivers that brought fuel up your way for the powerplant. I usually brought all sorts of stuff for friends up there (car parts, food, VHS/DVD movies to name but a few). They ordered it (prepaid ) in Edmonton and I would pick it up and bring it in the cab of my truck. They got free freight and lower living costs and I got a nice home cooked dinner and a bag lunch to drive back with. A win win agreement. If "large volume" ammo doesn't pan out you may find a driver that will help you out.
 
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If your planning to do the driving yourself, check around to see where you can pick up your Dangerous Goods Driver qualifications. If your picking up a load of ammo, you might have room left over to pick up other compatable dangerous goods.
 
Good on you for trying to not make it a rich mans sport only. As for the local sporting goods store, maybe it will force them to have competitive pricing. We need more thinkers like yourself, guys here in Victoria have been "talking" about the same thing but it sounds like you will actually do something about it.
 
As a HazMat responder I can tell you that you don't need to pay dangerous goods surplus if the total amount of explosives on the truck is less than 500 kilos...

While bigger companies (ups, canada post, purolator, dhl, whatever) will likely STILL charge you the dangerous goods surplus, you might be able to get it on a truck that has some room, and who won't charge you the dangerous goods part. Or at least they shouldn't, since their drivers don't need any special certification for <500kilos.

Something to think about.

------------------

Disregard... I just remembered that ammunition is exempt from this, except for primers, cartridges with primers but no powder, cartridges with a primer and bullet, but no powder, etc... so not complete ammo.

My mistake.
 
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Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I really think that this could work, as I will be coming at it from a "non-profit" angle. I have a great job and dont need the money , so I would rather build a healthy and cheap shooting environment. Not everyone has high paying jobs, and with the cost of living here, shooting and target shooting has become quite cost prohibitive.
Lots of guys I know, only shoot a box or less of their hunting ammo a year, as the bills rack up quite quickly. As an example of a typical winter bill scenario here, My electricity bill each month over the winter was 480 - 550. My Oil was 600 a month. Water 90, phone 200, and much more. (obviously high fuel costs for vehicles/skidoos) and food is rather high. And I dont know of many other places in Canada where a trailer/mobile home with a 40'x100' plot of rocky unlandscaped property would run you 315,000. Mortgage payments and taxes are unreal here. Most bungalows are in the neighborhood of 450K or more.
This town has lived with an attitude of "Its the north - things are supposed to be expensive" for so long , no one seems to care anymore. The collusion that occurs in this town to keep the price of things high is unreal. And it suffers from a severe lack of everyday competition to keep prices at an even keel. There seems to be one of everything more or less, so who's keeping the prices in check if no is around the charge lower prices?
I have a question regarding storage, as the local sporting goods store, keeps a fairly large quantity of ammo and powder/primers and they certainly dont have a magazine built. Would a "home store" that was certainly secured be sufficient? I would definately for starters only stock factory ammo and my stock would be less than 500 kilos.
 
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have you looked into costs on ammo? often the price a shop buys ammo for isnt a whole lot less than what SIR/Cabelas/WSS/Russells retails the stuff for, and that is if they qualify for a discount on the supplier's regular cost. Add shipping costs and reorders (how often do you want to drive from Edmonton/Vancouver/Winnipeg, etc to Yellowknife?) and your cheap ammo might end up costing almost what the local shop retails it for. :) good luck on your quest
 
Ge to the ERD NRCAN website and also DoJ for storage and legalities. Also will have to register as a small buisness with the area Reg. of Joint Stocks. Good record keeping is essential to foat this and keep it going.

Look at it as a business, not a hobby and you'll be succesful.

Good luck,

Peter
 
Small Arms cartridges are NOT Dangerous Goods.

They are
Sporting Ammunition Explosive Class1.4s, UN 1002, "consumer commodity exempt" for shipping.
John
 
Ammo(UN0012 - 1.4S) are dangerous goods according to ERD NRCAN, but can be shipped as consumer goods under DoT, but is dependent upon courier policy.

DoJ requires licence and Registation at Joint Stocks as prerequisite.

Regards,

Peter
 
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