Why do I have to apply pay hazmat charges to ship powder and primers, but not ammo?

I know it is the law, but it doesn�t quiet make sense. Can someone explain it to me?

Second thought, Why can a kid go buy powder, primers, bullets, and all the other loading supplies, but can�t buy ammo??

I am old and it is Monday, but this just doesn�t seam logical.

I'm getting old also and if memory serves Hazmet charges would also apply to loaded ammo.

Hazmat charges do not apply to loaded ammo. Recently I ordered 10 boxes (200 rds) of Sellier and Bellot 5.6x50R ammo from J&G Sales. All I wanted was the brass for my 6x50R Bellm and 6.5x50R Bellm. No Hazmat charges.

Outback

There is no HazMat charge on ammo.

You have to realize that the HazMat fee is something that UPS dreamed-up. It is not a law, it is just a way they make more profit for doing the same amount of work. ("work"...ha!)

If I had to deal with OSHA/DoT/Etc and all their mind-boggling regulations and literally thousand-page instructions I would consider a HAZMAT fee as well. Even in the military we are up to our eyeballs in OSHA & HAZMAT - I have to take a three day course with a college-level exam at the end, and I am not even involved in the day to day exposure to the "baddies." Freight companies who deliver such items are ruled and regulated to the point of having to stop handling it or charge a fee for all the hassle. Don't get me wrong - I am not saying that $17 or $20 or whatever it is now is appropriate, and I dang sure gripe about it, as it keeps me from ordering powder that I would ordinarily. But I can certainly understand the motivator. I do wonder why you can get one case of powder (4-8lb jugs/12-1lbs etc) with no HAZMAT fee. The dealers say they pay the fee, but I will always wonder.
Meine zwei pfennigs ...
Maj Dad

The reason you have to pay hazmat is that no one besides UPS will ship individual shipments of powder. Without competition from the post office or Fedex or anyone else, UPS charges what the market will bear.

It is, of course, non-sensical that powder, which is not pressure- or percussion-sensitive, requires a hazmat charge, while that same powder, when coupled with a percussion-sensitive primer in pre-loaded ammunition, does not.

The answer, of course, is that UPS gets a lot of commercial traffic from wholesaler-to-retailer of commercial ammunition, so there would be great resistance to placing the hazmat on loaded ammunition. UPS can justify this "exemption" by the rationale that a single cartridge, if ignited, is unlikely to present any fire hazard, or to ignite any other cartridges; on the other hand, their rationale is that bulk powder can present a fire hazard if ignited. We all know that neither happens spontaneously, but the hazmat fee provides a "profit center" for the shipper.