NEWS: Serbia Ceases Arms Exports (PPU)

DiMP

DiMP

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I didn't see this article on the news subforum and don't see it here in the reloading section either. This could be of concern to shooters and reloaders as PPU is often the only maker of oddball and obsolete brass for our hobby
h ttps://www.guns.com/news/2025/06/25/prvi-partizan-zastava-problems-serbia-shuts-down-ammo-gun-exports

Following some diplomatic blowback, the Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced this week that the country was halting all arms exports.

The announcement, delivered both by Vucic in an interview and a statement from the Serbian Ministry of Defense, lays out that all exports of weapons and military equipment manufactured in Serbia are suspended. Any future exports would require, "in addition to the consent of other competent ministries and agencies, the consent of the National Security Council."

The move comes as Serbia is catching heat from longtime ally Russia over munitions from the Balkan country appearing in Ukraine, possibly via third-party sources. This is exacerbated by reports that Belgrade also sold some 42.3 million euros' worth of arms to Israel. Iran, currently involved in a high-profile war with Israel, is a key Russian ally in the Middle East.

The news could have adverse effects on a couple of well-known brands in gun stores here in the States.

Chief among Serbia's firearms manufacturers is Zastava Arms, the historic government-owned gun concern located in Kragujevac, about 90 miles from Belgrade. Long tied to importers such as Century Arms to bring their products into the U.S., Zastava formed an Illinois-based American subsidiary in 2019, expanding its footprint. Last year's firearm import figures from Serbia show a more than 13 percent bump from the 46,799 firearms brought in from the country in 2020.

Zastava specializes in PAP series Kalashnikov variants and is one of the chief makers of European-made AKs on the American market.

Meanwhile, Prvi Partizan, based in Uzice, Serbia, is a huge manufacturer of ammunition and handloading components that have long been available to American consumers. Founded in 1928, PPU currently loads more than 160 types of rifle and handgun ammunition, many in obsolete or uncommon calibers, and was listed as the third-largest foreign ammo supplier to the U.S. a few years ago.

Several in-house brands for big box sporting goods stores often repackage PPU ammo, meaning consumers who are used to brands such as Monarch may soon find empty shelf space.

To be sure, even if the metaphorical export "pipes" from Serbia shut down immediately, each company's U.S. concerns likely still have deep stocks on hand already – a side effect of recent beef-ups over updates in tariffs – as well as containers waiting to clear customs, so a shortage may not be felt for weeks. However, should the pipes remain shut, that could change.
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That will really suck if we can not get ppu brass and bullets anymore
Most of my milsurp brass is ppu brass
I don’t know who else offers the 7.5 French or 6.5 carcano?
Even a lot of the other cartridges like 8 mm Mauser, 6.5x55, 9.3x62 and 7.62x54 was real nice to have ppu brass to reload with
 
Deathrawt said:
That will really suck if we can not get ppu brass and bullets anymore
Most of my milsurp brass is ppu brass
I don’t know who else offers the 7.5 French or 6.5 carcano?
Even a lot of the other cartridges like 8 mm Mauser, 6.5x55, 9.3x62 and 7.62x54 was real nice to have ppu brass to reload with
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Have you tried getting S&B brass? They sell a ton of euro calibers. Not sure who sells it here.
 
I wonder if I should pick up some PPU projectiles for 7.62x39.. been meaning to start reloading for it and there aren't many manufacturers of them.
 
Arcosdad said:
Have you tried getting S&B brass? They sell a ton of euro calibers. Not sure who sells it here.
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I have S&B brass for 8mm Mauser, 7.62x54, m1 carbine and a couple others but never seen the French or Carcano brass from them
Not saying they don’t have it I just never seen any
 
Deathrawt said:
That will really suck if we can not get ppu brass and bullets anymore
Most of my milsurp brass is ppu brass
I don’t know who else offers the 7.5 French or 6.5 carcano?
Even a lot of the other cartridges like 8 mm Mauser, 6.5x55, 9.3x62 and 7.62x54 was real nice to have ppu brass to reload with
Click to expand...

Luckily 7.5 French is easily formed using readily available 6.5x55 brass. 6.5 Carcano not so easy. I just ordered 100 pieces of 6.5x50 Jap brass to start me off with a new-to-me rifle, but now I'm wondering if I should have ordered more? But at $70/50 I didn't want to go crazy
 
From everything I've seen coming out of this country lately, they're on the brink of Civil War. Not all that surprising that they're stopping exports of arms and ammo. The government likely thinks that they'll need them soon.
 
Considering we haven't seen Zastava bolt actions in a few years and the situation in Ukraine doesn't appear to be changing any time soon, I can't say I'm at all surprised.
 
The PPU blue Box Rifle Line ammo is inexpensive and performs great.

Looks.loke its time to hoard a couple dozen boxes.
 
Read the first 3 paragraphs in the article, it explains exactly why this is happening. It's not a shortage of product.

The article doesn't say that all shipments of arms and munitions will cease, but that these shipments will now require export permit approvals. Which is what 99% of the world does already and not an exciting development by itself.
 
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Dorian Gray said:
From everything I've seen coming out of this country lately, they're on the brink of Civil War. Not all that surprising that they're stopping exports of arms and ammo. The government likely thinks that they'll need them soon.
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they are not on the brink of civil war...... unless all your news is coming from the propaganda experts.
There is some societal unrest in Serbia there is no doubt , but again, a far cry from civil war.
We talk to our family every single day and they live on the outskirts of Belgrad. Some days it is not worth going near any of the government building as there are often protests by younger people. There are some issues over there for sure and folks here with no familiarity to that society might see it as escalating but in reality, the serbian people are a vocal bunch and have no qualms about filling the streets when the government acts in ways they might not like. Unlike the Canadian sheeple who think a truck convoy and protest with bouncy castles was too over the top and warrants draconian prison sentences for the organizers. If this happened in Serbia.... there would be 10's of thousands of good people filling the streets in protest...... but not here.
 
45ACPKING said:
they are not on the brink of civil war...... unless all your news is coming from the propaganda experts.
There is some societal unrest in Serbia there is no doubt , but again, a far cry from civil war.
We talk to our family every single day and they live on the outskirts of Belgrad. Some days it is not worth going near any of the government building as there are often protests by younger people. There are some issues over there for sure and folks here with no familiarity to that society might see it as escalating but in reality, the serbian people are a vocal bunch and have no qualms about filling the streets when the government acts in ways they might not like. Unlike the Canadian sheeple who think a truck convoy and protest with bouncy castles was too over the top and warrants draconian prison sentences for the organizers. If this happened in Serbia.... there would be 10's of thousands of good people filling the streets in protest...... but not here.
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we were watchin the protest from Pristina just to keep tabs of what was going on.

politics in that part of the world are very interesting, If I was asked for my opinion, which I will admit is very limited, I would have to say that there is a faction that is using the protest to try to sideline Vucic, in order to replace him. The protest allegedly stem from government incompetence and a collapse of a platform that caused multiple injuries and deaths? but the mainly student led protest have expanded to more of a general displeasure with the government. But a civil war is extremely unlikely, its just politics.

The Kosovo angle is another interesting issue and it seems to me that for the most par the rhetoric coming from Belgrade has certainly mellowed over the last few years, however there are some hardliners that have been trying to stir things up and the government in Pristina has been making some decisions and trying to exert more control over the Serbian dominated areas, with some mixed results. Hardliners seem to be concentrating on the Northern regions and not so much on the Eastern regions.
 
Prvi Partizan (PPU), a Serbian ammunition manufacturer, is facing export restrictions due to political and diplomatic pressures. Serbia has halted all arms exports, including those from PPU, following concerns about ammunition from Serbian factories reaching Ukraine, possibly through third-party intermediaries, and also due to exports to Israel. This decision is influenced by pressure from Russia, which accuses Serbia of indirectly supplying arms to Ukraine, and by the potential implications of Serbian arms sales to Israel, particularly given Iran's involvement in the ongoing conflict.
 
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