Can anyone explain the rules. I'd like to go to Montana and buy some military surplus ammo and bring it back to Alberta. It's way,way cheaper in the states than here. I have a relative there who could pick it up for me.

thanks

The chef

As I understand it, it's illegal.

I if heard of guys that bring ammo in no problem
but other guy's are stopped on the U.S.side and had everything firearms related seized. they set up a checkstop just before the canadian customs its not there all the time so its kind of a crapshoot

It is legal to bring it into canada as long as it is under a certain limit.

Im not sure about leaving the US with it though.

We have brought black powder and ammunition back across the border lots of times without incident. But We've never been stopped on the US side yet.

Brett

Ypu can bring up to 5,00 rounds with you and are not allowed any hollow point handgun ammo. The last one can be worked around if you have the box labled "for rifle use" or"for rifles only" or something of that matter. There are certain limits on specialty military ammo like incinerary and maybe tracer rounds (not sure) but most of the restricted stuff is stuff you'd never bother with anyway.

Stop at the Canadian customs next time, they have little pamplets with this info in it. Keep one of these with you when you bring ammo back because sometimes you'll get an officer who doesn't know crap and will try to tell you what's what. It feels good to open up the book and proove him wrong with his own information.

There were changes made with the advent of the Homeland Security agency and several existing laws that had not previously been enforced were dusted off and are now in full effect.

Basically a Foreign National cannot have in posession ammunition in the US, unless one has a valid hunting license or is down for a certified shoot, then he has declared guns and ammunition with the ATF and Customs, prior to entry and can legally posess said ammunition.

Canada Customs allows you to import 5000 rounds of ammunition, 5000 primers and up to 8 KG of powder if I recall correctly, amounts in excess of the aforementioned require permits and licensing.

So, if you have a relative, who is a US Citizen, then you/he can buy the ammunition and with him in the vehicle, enter Canada, declare it, pay any duty/fees and it is legal, since if you get stopped south of the line by US authorities, the ammunition etc belong to your relative.

The ITAR regulations are also being enforced, to a tighter degree than before...

Basically.. Any item device component in whole or in part that has a possible military application can be required to have a export permit etc etc.

This is where some people are running afoul of the law, most mail order places that deal in gun parts, will tell you that as long as the cost of the item is under 100 US dollars, and isn't a scope or mounts/flash hider (IIRC) they/you don't need to apply for the export permit.

It all comes down to tighter security in the US and most likely certain loud mouth politicians in Canada, mucking up the works.

Nother note:

It is now legal to bring in Handgun Hollow point ammunition as it is no longer prohibited for import, they changed this a year or two ago.

There is restrictions on the importation of certain exotic ammo types, Tracer, Incendiary, explosive rounds and I think 7.62 Nato AP rounds.

I would recommend that you send letters to the appropriate Canadian government/agencies departments and get thier position in writing and carry those letters with you when traveling to the US, with the intent of importing ammunition etc back into Canada, may save you alot of hassle, when you encounter a Canadian Customs agent who knows enough of the regulations to get them totally wrong and seize an otherwise legal product.