Freedom Amunition fined by FAA for Hazmat Shippment

[FL450]

I receive emails from the FAA on items of interest I have requested including violations.
Below is a charge the FAA levied against Freedom ammunition for a shipment of 1000 rounds of ammo thru Fed Ex.
Although it did not go into detail I assume either the box was improperly marked, the correct forms were not filled out or Fed Ex does not except this type of Hazmat Cargo for air shipment's. So please be careful and do due diligence when shipping Hazmat or anything you might suspect could be as many every day items we would not think fall into this category do.
Since this is an email I do not have a link but it is from the FAA. http://www.faa.gov

"$65,000 against Freedom Manufacturing LLC, of Fremont, Ohio. The FAA alleges that on April 28, 2014, Freedom Manufacturing offered to FedEx a box containing six smaller packages, each holding approximately 1,000 bullets, for shipment by air to Key West, Fla. Workers at the FedEx package sorting facility discovered the package. Bullets are explosives.

Freedom Manufacturing has requested to meet with the FAA to discuss the case."

[Cedar Park Dad]

Wait, cartridges are shipped all the time. I've never seen the infamaous hazmat charge on them. More info please.

[FL450]

Wait, cartridges are shipped all the time. I've never seen the infamaous hazmat charge on them. More info please.

This is the only information I have so I do not know if it was something as simple as improperly marked package or not declaring hazmat on the form.
In addition Fed Ex may not be approved for accepting certain kinds of hazmat for air shipments.

[Keith B]

Small arms ammo is considered a Class 1.4 explosive (or class C explosive before the UN system, and still class C explosive under OSHA). Federal regulations restrict transport of class 1.4 explosives via air cargo and certain guidelines must be met for placarding and identification.

Now, the quesiton is, did the ammo company not have the package properly listed as to the contents so that FedEx should have caught the shipment and not allowed it to be transported via air and shipped it ground?

[Cedar Park Dad]

I've dealt with them a lot. I've seen Fedex as an option but never Fedex Air.

[Keith B]

I've dealt with them a lot. I've seen Fedex as an option but never Fedex Air.

Yep, they have an Air Freight division, but many times items shipped priority overnight, next day or 2nd day will be shipped via their air cargo. Their Freight Division handles shipments that are oversized or weigh over 150 lbs. Most of the time you will never see their mode of transport as they will make the determination of the way it will be transported dependinging on the contents.

In this case, FedEx says it will ship class 1.4 explosives except fireworks via ground. I am thinking in this case the ammo company didn't properly label the package and sent it priority which didn't flag FedEx that it was transporting a class 1.4S explosive via air and when they identified the issue got the FAA engaged in the investigation.

Here is FedEx guide on shipping 1.4s hazardous material http://www.fedex.com/us/service-guide/o ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Keith B]

Here's a link to the FAA press release http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/ ... id=102_P_R" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ghostrider]

The press release says:

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$65,000 against Freedom Manufacturing LLC, of Fremont, Ohio. The FAA alleges that on April 28, 2014, Freedom Manufacturing offered to FedEx a box containing six smaller packages, each holding approximately 1,000 bullets, for shipment by air to Key West, Fla. Workers at the FedEx package sorting facility discovered the package. Bullets are explosives.

Freedom Manufacturing has requested to meet with the FAA to discuss the case.
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clearly someone is in error. bullets are inert pieces of metal, not explosives.

[FL450]

The press release says:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$65,000 against Freedom Manufacturing LLC, of Fremont, Ohio. The FAA alleges that on April 28, 2014, Freedom Manufacturing offered to FedEx a box containing six smaller packages, each holding approximately 1,000 bullets, for shipment by air to Key West, Fla. Workers at the FedEx package sorting facility discovered the package. Bullets are explosives.

Freedom Manufacturing has requested to meet with the FAA to discuss the case.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

clearly someone is in error. bullets are inert pieces of metal, not explosives.

Knowing this group I was wondering how long it would take before someone pointed this out.

[b322da]

...bullets are inert pieces of metal, not explosives.

Perhaps not always. For example, https://sites.google.com/site/britmilam ... -explosive" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Jim

[MechAg94]

I was wondering about the "bullets" wording also. With six smaller boxes of bullets, that really sounds like a shipment of bullets to a reloader, not cartridges. I could easily be wrong. I wonder if that is why the company wanted to discuss the fine with them instead of just stating they screwed up.

All ammo I have had shipped was labeled ORM-D and shipped ground.

[MechAg94]

Years ago, we had the Sheriff show up at the plant I worked at. Seems a gas sample was shipped and FedEx tried to send it by Air. This was right after some scare on an airliner somewhere involving cylinders. Thankfully, the warehouse produced their copy of the shipping ticket that was properly filled out. It was an error by FedEx. The law can get exercised about this stuff.

[Hindenburg]

I have hand written ORM-D on outer boxes when shipping ammo to myself and didn't have any problems. if MechAg94 is right about it being bullets instead of loaded ammunition I don't expect the followup to get half as much press.

[Rifleman55]

You can take ammunition on most commercial flights, most have a weight limit, and it must be declared. The last that I heard it was not Haz mat. You can order it shipped to your house, and it is not labeled with a haz mat sticker just orm-d.

[RottenApple]

You can take ammunition on most commercial flights, most have a weight limit, and it must be declared. The last that I heard it was not Haz mat. You can order it shipped to your house, and it is not labeled with a haz mat sticker just orm-d.

ORM-D is a hazmat classification.