WHY, is there no Primer manufacture in South Africa ?

[NoStepOnSnek88]

Greetings 

I saw @Ds J's thread regarding " what are primers made of?"

Call this a "spin-off" thread 

So why hasn't anyone/company in South Africa started a Primer manufacturing business?

Is anyone privy to some inside information or insight regarding the main factors as to WHY none has started this venture in South Africa?

What is stopping them, what are the specific roadblocks ahead, and what did they uncover when they were doing their research and found that it couldn't be viable, etc? These are just assumptions, as there isn't a manufacturer currently.

I'm sure many of us, have wondered over this question a lot of times.



PS: So I'm sort of posting on behalf of someone, who is struggling to get registered at the moment, he will be joining the Forum in the near future and share his thoughts etc.

[Ds J]

Two major reasons I read somewhere along the way:

- producing or obtaining explosives

- financial viability - apparently one has to sell a very large amount to make money.

[oafpatroll]

PMP make tons of primers. Why there isn't competition is likely to be a combination of factors not least of which is the regulatory hurdles one would have to jump to get legally sorted to manufacture 'ammunition' (i.e. what the FCA says a primer is) using explosive compounds. I can only guess that on it's own would be like getting a banking license.

On the financial side, I'm pretty sure that CSI ESG muppetry would make raising the funding from banks for a startup would be more difficult or at least more expensive as arms and ammo manufacturing scores badly for CSI ESG.

I don't think that making primers is a technically difficult thing but it does carry some significant risk and as such insurance is probably a factor.

Lastly, setting up manufacturing in SA at the moment isn't a particularly popular investment activity as our little toilet is quite far along it's flush cycle.   

[NoStepOnSnek88]

@oafpatroll, apologies I should have clarified, of course there is PMP, but we don't see SPP or SRP from PMP at the gun shops, there are cheaper primers MUROM, GINEX, Fiocchi, GECO etc that are available.

So one of the gigantic hurdles is the "explosives" aspect around it, obtaining a license etc. Would be interesting to know if some private company has attempted it in recent times, and what was the conclusion.


@Ds J , just spitballing here, surely if you could penetrate the US market, then it would make financial sense in volume and your SA market would then always have availability, as there wouldn't be any competition really.

[rj4]

PMP make tons of primers. Why there isn't competition is likely to be a combination of factors not least of which is the regulatory hurdles one would have to jump to get legally sorted to manufacture 'ammunition' (i.e. what the FCA says a primer is) using explosive compounds. I can only guess that on it's own would be like getting a banking license.

On the financial side, I'm pretty sure that CSI muppetry would make raising the funding from banks for a startup would be more difficult or at least more expensive as arms and ammo manufacturing scores badly for CSI.

I don't think that making primers is a technically difficult thing but it does carry some significant risk and as such insurance is probably a factor.

Lastly, setting up manufacturing in SA at the moment isn't a particularly popular investment activity as our little toilet is quite far along it's flush cycle.   

Has PMP restored their production? I haven't seen any of their primers at dealers.

Isn't CSI spending/scores separate/over and above from normal business?

[oafpatroll]

Has PMP restored their production? I haven't seen any of their primers at dealers.

Isn't CSI spending/scores separate/over and above from normal business?

I'm not sure about their current production status so might be wrong on whether they are currently up and running. They still list the full range of primers on their site and I have come across reports of their stuff being available elsewhere in the world. My expectation is that they sell whatever they can in hard currency land and we get get the left overs.   

I brainfarted on the CSI, I meant ESG. Most of the banks and other providers of capital are being steered away from the arms trade in general because of the 'ethical' impact on their scores.   

[Treeman]

Not quite primers, but GS Customs pretty much died because the banks would not fianance him to maintain replace or better his production to stay with times.
He needed 4 - 5 machines to expand and the banks stonewalled him due to it being firearm based.