Earlier this month, Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported that the amendment to the Russian Firearms Law allowing Russian citizens to reload rifle ammunition was approved by State Duma, the lower house of Federal Assembly which is the Russian national legislature. About a week later, on July 13, the upper house, Federation Council, approved this amendment, too. And finally, on July 19, President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed that bill making this long-awaited legislative change a reality.

Before this bill was passed, Russian citizens who were eligible to own firearms could only reload shotgun ammunition. If they needed rifle cartridges, they could only purchase loaded ammunition and couldn’t even reload the spent cases. Now they can reload the cartridges for their rifles. Those Russian citizens who acquire rifled firearms first time will now have to take a class to learn the safety rules and basics of reloading.

The new law will strictly control the sales of primers and powders prohibiting sales to those who don’t own firearms. The gun stores will also be required to keep records of sales of the mentioned reloading components. The components which packages don’t contain safety information won’t be allowed to be sold.

From the standpoint of reloading equipment and components manufacturers, what happened is a large new market has just appeared. There is no doubt that there will be a huge demand for reloading presses, dies, bullet, cases and other reloading stuff. I think, if there are no legal obstacles to importing to Russia or exporting from the US of the mentioned reloading products, then this is a great opportunity for the US companies to explore this new market and expand their sales.

Editor’s Note: In case you missed it, we have an excellent beginner’s series on reloading:

• https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/05/31/beginners-guide-to-reloading-part-1/  
• https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/06/13/beginners-guide-to-reloading-part-2-inspection-cleaning-and-resizing/
• https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/06/20/part-3-reloading-repriming-expanding-and-powder/
• https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/06/27/beginners-guide-to-reloading-part-4-bullet-seating-coal-pew/
• https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/07/05/beginners-guide-to-reloading-part-5-rifle-calibers/

Sources:

“Госдума разрешила охотникам и спортсменам самим подготавливать патроны”. (2018, July 10). RIA Novosti. Retrieved from: https://ria.ru/society/20180710/1524288636.html?share-img=1521229559

“Президент подписал Федеральный закон «О внесении изменений в Федеральный закон «Об оружии»”. (2018, July 19). Kremlin.Ru. Retrieved from: http://kremlin.ru/acts/news/58057