523 replies to this topic

[McCroskey]

Please read the top post, specifically the list of sellers (and list of "lost causes") before commenting. This will help avoid rehashing previous discussions. Please also note that this relates to the CITY of Chicago ONLY. The suburbs and greater Cook County are not Chicago.
 
 
As we know, the previous ban on "transfer" of ammunition within the City of Chicago was struck out with the passage of Chicago's gun store ordinance in June 2014. This will be a running list of online retailers who will ship ammunition to residents living in the City of Chicago. We're hoping to grow this list over time. (Note: this is NOT the thread for complaining about particular retailer's prices. This is intended as a resource for consumers to research and select the online vendor of their choice).
 
The retailers below are confirmed or have been reported to me as willing to ship ammunition to Chicago. If you encounter problems with any, please bring to my attention. If you know of any additional vendors who have shipped ammo to Chicago or have indicated their willingness to do so, feel free to post them here and I'll update the list.
 
Ammo retailers who will ship (in alphabetical order)
AmmoMart
Ammo Supply Warehouse
AmmunitionStore
Anacortes Gun Shop

AngelFire Ammo
Blue Ridge Firearms
Bone Frog Gun Club

Brownell's (some people now report successfully ordering ammo, Brownell's have been flaky about this in the past)

Bud's Gun Shop
Buffalo Arms
Buffalo Bore
Cajunammo
ExoticAmmo (a good source for unusual ammo, like less-then-lethal shotgun rounds, net rounds, tracers, etc.)

Gad Custom Cartridges (good source for obsolete calibers)
Great Lakes Ammunition
Lanbo's Armory
Mass Ammo

Mid America Munitions

Midway (some people report successfully ordering shot shells. Other ammo is iffy/unlikely)
Military Shooters
Old Western Scrounger
Red River Reloading
Selway Armory
SWFA Outdoors
Tactical Defense Solutions
TargetSportsUSA
Top Gun Supply
Underwood Ammo (also their Facebook page for sales/deals)
 
 
Lost causes
The following online sellers should be considered "lost causes", either due to their ongoing refusal to ship to Chicago, or their inconsistency in shipping to Chicago for some people versus refusing to do so for others. Please note that the below vendors have been contacted multiple times already and doing so again is unlikely to achieve anything positive.
 
AIM Surplus
Bulkammo
Graf & Sons
J&G Sales
Lucky Gunner

Palmetto State Armory
SGAmmo
Sportsman's Guide

Sportsman's Warehouse

Edited by McCroskey, 09 February 2019 - 02:12 PM.

[ChicagoRonin70]

Add Underwood Ammo to the list. Not only are they located in Illinois (Sparta), so they are home state manufacturers, they gladly ship to Chicago with proof of a FOID. I have bought several thousand rounds of ammunition from them since August, and I live on the North Side. I get my shipments within a day or two max. Also, they regularly have discount codes on the Underwood Ammo Facebook page, usually for free shipping. Not to mention, their customer service is fantastic; I have called them to inquire about out-of-stock ammo and they took my contact information and let me know when they manufactured more the same day it became available.

 

Not to mention, their loadings are amazing, withing SAAMI spec but the hottest and most accurate, flattest shooting ammunition of comparable calibers.

[McCroskey]

Done!

[ChicagoRonin70]

Done!

 

I would add their Facebook page as a link next to the website link, with a note to check there first for discounts and notices about what ammo is just back in stock, too. Same thing with any of the other sites, if they have a social media page, or somewhere they have public outreach, so people can "like" and support them for doing the correct and intelligent thing.

[Draal]

Thanks Ronin, I totally forgot about Underwood.  Bookmarked!

[McCroskey]

Added a few sellers. The list is growing!

[357]

Add Buffalo bore buffalobore.com Btw I spoke to the owner of Ventura munitions after the concealed carry law passed when I got an email that they couldn't ship my order to Chicago. I told him about the law and changed his mind and they shipped my order and continue to ship.

[McCroskey]

Add Buffalo bore buffalobore.com Btw I spoke to the owner of Ventura munitions after the concealed carry law passed when I got an email that they couldn't ship my order to Chicago. I told him about the law and changed his mind and they shipped my order and continue to ship.

 

Done!

[McCroskey]

Added Ammo Supply Warehouse

[chicago555]

testing out mid-south shooters will report back

[McCroskey]

testing out mid-south shooters will report back

 

Thanks! Based on what I saw you should be GTG, but if there's a problem let me know and I'll pull them from the list.

[yyyz]

Question...

 

I sure that I missed it, but what part of the IL CCL law allows ammo shipments to Chicago.

 

I'm down in SC and with proper documentation, I will go talk to Precision One... they have some decent prices on bulk and HP/XTP ammo. While their XTP rounds are about $28, there are 50 rounds in a  box instead of 20 or 25.   Besides, I met the people at Precision One and they seem like good people. 

[Glock23]

Question...
 
I sure that I missed it, but what part of the IL CCL law allows ammo shipments to Chicago.

Preemption.

[McCroskey]

It's not just preemption.

 

The actual city ordinance that previously banned "transfer" of ammunition within city limits was rewritten entirely last June when Rahm came out with the new city gun shop/shooting range ordinance (which was forced on him a little over a year ago). This ordinance is what most sellers referred to when they said they couldn't ship ammo here (even though I contend to this day it was a misinterpretation).

 

Here's a draft that shows what was deleted and what replaced it. Check out page number 22 (actually page 24 of the pdf). The ordinance is 8-20-100. The language was rewritten banning transfers/sales of firearms at gun shows. The prior language banning transfer of ammo was totally struck.

http://blogs.chicago...p-ordinance.pdf

Edited by officedrone, 09 February 2015 - 09:53 PM.

[yyyz]

Thanks for posting the explanation and the link. Given a little time, I may make a trip back to Precision One. 

[Glock23]

It's not just preemption.
 
The actual city ordinance that previously banned "transfer" of ammunition within city limits was rewritten entirely last June when Rahm came out with the new city gun shop/shooting range ordinance (which was forced on him a little over a year ago).

It's nice of him to have changed their ordinance last June, but any ordinance driven ammo restrictions went away with the preemption section of the FCCA, which went into effect in July 2013.

[McCroskey]

 

It's not just preemption.
 
The actual city ordinance that previously banned "transfer" of ammunition within city limits was rewritten entirely last June when Rahm came out with the new city gun shop/shooting range ordinance (which was forced on him a little over a year ago).

It's nice of him to have changed their ordinance last June, but any ordinance driven ammo restrictions went away with the preemption section of the FCCA, which went into effect in July 2013.

 

 

Only for handgun ammo and only for permit holders. And most online sellers thought it was too vague. One of them asked me "what constitutes handgun ammo?" You can shoot 22LR from a handgun or a rifle. The deletion of the transfer ban from the ordinance is what has changed most of their minds and also why they feel they can now ship rifle ammo.

[borgranta]

preemption covers the 50 BMG since a handgun that fires it exists. The same goes for any rifle caliber that is available in a handgun.

[McCroskey]

preemption covers the 50 BMG since a handgun that fires it exists. The same goes for any rifle caliber that is available in a handgun.

 

I agree with you 100%. I'm just playing devil's advocate for what many of the sellers have told me in the recent and not so recent past. Right or wrong, most of them follow the most conservative reading of the laws. I've been working on this quietly for going on two years, this recent change in the ordinance was definitely the tipping point for most of them.

 

My own reading of the original ordinance was that it applied to person-to-person sales and transfers within the city only, and that mail-ordered ammo shouldn't apply, since the legal transfer took place at the time and point of sale (when and where the seller received your payment), and the shipper was just a courier. But nobody else I spoke to felt that way and I'm not a lawyer.

 

Anyway, the point is that with both state preemption and the original ordinance language itself being deleted and replaced with totally unrelated language, sellers really don't have an excuse to keep denying sales to Chicago. In a short time I've gotten a feel for which sellers care enough to at least look at it and which ones simply want me to go away.

[chicago555]

I got a refusal from one of my gun club members from Midway. But on the other hand Mid-south and ammo supply warehouse are one point

[McCroskey]

I got a refusal from one of my gun club members from Midway. But on the other hand Mid-south and ammo supply warehouse are one point

 

I will get in touch with Midway. I've bought from them twice in 2014 with no problems.

 

I've removed them for the time being until I get confirmation from them yea or nay.

Edited by officedrone, 11 February 2015 - 11:28 AM.

[McCroskey]

OK, so I sent my usual e-mail to Midway along with the ordinance. Their response was, basically "Thank you for sending us this, our system is always updated with the latest laws".

 

So... I'm not really sure what that means. Anyway, I guess Midway is a "maybe", depending on who you get.

[Googe1227]

Midway wants you to go away officedrone.

[ChicagoRonin70]

OK, so I sent my usual e-mail to Midway along with the ordinance. Their response was, basically "Thank you for sending us this, our system is always updated with the latest laws".

 

So... I'm not really sure what that means. Anyway, I guess Midway is a "maybe", depending on who you get.

 

You should reply, "Excellent, then since I live in Chicago, you will be able to fill my order for x, y, and z ammunition! Great!"

[McCroskey]

Midway wants you to go away officedrone.

 

Then they should say "No, we're not shipping ammo there. Go away." I'd be happy to, since plenty of other businesses are all too happy to sell to us.

Edited by officedrone, 13 February 2015 - 09:04 PM.

[jagt48]

Midway wants you to go away officedrone.

 
Then they should say "No, we're not shipping ammo there. Go away." I'd be happy to, since plenty of other businesses are all too happy to sell to us.

I've posted this in the past, but it's been a while. I contacted Midway right after HB 183 was passed and they said that they follow the laws as they are posted on the ATF's website. I checked the ATF's website again tonight and couldn't find anything more recent than 2010 for Illinois, meaning Midway is following the laws as they were up to 2010. If you can somehow get the ATF to update their website then you can get Midway to ship to you.

As it stands now they will ship just about everything except .357 Mag, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, .22 LR, and some others. I have experience getting 12 gauge buckshot from them a few times recently, the most recent being a case last week. I've also gotten magazines from them, but they are limited to the capacity that was in place in 2010, which is 12 (I think; my various mags that they shipped are all 10-rounders and all went through without a hitch).

[Googe1227]

Midway wants you to go away officedrone.

 
Then they should say "No, we're not shipping ammo there. Go away." I'd be happy to, since plenty of other businesses are all too happy to sell to us.

Agreed. It would be much easier for all of us if they would just give a straight forward, honest, no BS answer instead of the typical drivel that customer service spews.

[chicago555]

So can i buy rifle ammo?

[McCroskey]

So can i buy rifle ammo?

 

Yes. The ban on transfer of ammunition in the city was deleted and rewritten. Any of the listed sellers should be good to go.

[mikeyk101]

Hello, this is my very first post after registering. I have been following the forum as a guest for quite some time though. I was able to convince another seller to ship to Chicago and wanted to share. So you can add another to the list. http://www.kygunco.com Kentucky Gun Company. I ordered some ammo from them about a week ago. It had to come from their warehouse. Yesterday I got an email from Amanda who requested a copy of my FOID. I immediately copied it as an attachment and sent it. Next I got another email that mentions that because I live in Chicago, they were not going to be able to ship it to my address. I politely responded by sending a series of emails. First had the link and wording to FOID Act 430 ILCS 65/3 (b-5) about purchasing and having ammo shipped from out of state. I also included part of the Chicago Municipal Code. In a another email, after I had found this thread, I included a link to it so they could see all the other dealers that were willing to ship to Chicago and also pointed out post #14 by officedrone which had a link to show the current Municipal Code wording along with what was removed. Well it worked. I never got an email back but this morning I got a confirmation email that my order had shipped. I am guessing that they were at least willing to spend some time investigating and found out that it is ok. Just wanted to share.