Old bullets mean business for old guns in Agra
Vishal Sharma
New Delhi/ Agra. Agra boasts of one of the largest markets of arms and ammunition in Uttar Pradesh, with a number of arms dealers in the town dating back to the WW II era. Some of them possess “antique” fire-arms that have failed to find any buyers due to the unavailability of ammunition for them.
But Harish Khandelwal, the owner of Hindustan Gun House in Agra, has chosen to exploit this problem with an absolutely different approach by collecting antiquated bullets and selling it to arms collectors who are in a continuous need for more ammunition to keep their outdated weapons in a working order.
Sourcing his stock of antique ammunition from various ammunition auctions that are held from time to time all around the country, Khandelwal has in his possession the largest collection of pre WW-II ammunition in the country with bullets of almost all long-discontinued calibers that could possibly have been in prevalence during that era, ranging from 7 mm pin-fire “rarities” to .600 calibre rim-fire bullets for elephant rifles.
Khandelwal, who started off as a simple arms dealer in the town about sixty years back, got the idea of making money from his stock of old ammunition when he was first contacted by a London-based antique arms dealer, Con Jay Arms Co. Ltd, seeking to buy some old ammunition for its clients and the profits obtained from the first consignment were enough to dissuade Khandelwal from the dwindling business of selling guns, to only selling their bullets.
According to Khandelwal, a number of arms dealers from both England and Australia are in touch with him for more ammunition and are willing to pay the prices that he asks — which goes up to Rs 2000 for a single bullet of .600 calibre. Still, he said, the bullets were much sought after by gun collectors but even when gun-dealers all over the country were aware of his reputation of being the biggest dealer of antique ammunition and were continually referring new clients to him, it was not always easy to sell these bullets as the ammunition he sold had no guarantee for being fire-worthy, having been stored for much longer periods than their normal life-span.
He said to continuously replenish his stock of ammunition, he remained in constant touch with reputed gun dealers all over the country, who informed him of any auction of old ammo that was taking place in their city and he immediately rushed to the spot to see if he could find some more bullets to augment his collection.
Khandelwal is unhappy with the policy of the Uttar Pradesh government, which has directed him through a legislation to reduce his stock of ammunition to a mere 2,000 rounds of ammunition from almost 20 thousand rounds that he possessed at one time. Khandelwal has moved court to protect his business though while awaiting relief from the court, he had trim his ammunition collection to just about 2,500 bullets.
Khandelwal is hopeful that the UP High Court would grant him some respite from this restraint. He has pointed out that arms dealers in Rajasthan do not have any restrictions over the stock of ammunition they possess.
But Harish Khandelwal, the owner of Hindustan Gun House in Agra, has chosen to exploit this problem with an absolutely different approach by collecting antiquated bullets and selling it to arms collectors who are in a continuous need for more ammunition to keep their outdated weapons in a working order.
Sourcing his stock of antique ammunition from various ammunition auctions that are held from time to time all around the country, Khandelwal has in his possession the largest collection of pre WW-II ammunition in the country with bullets of almost all long-discontinued calibers that could possibly have been in prevalence during that era, ranging from 7 mm pin-fire “rarities” to .600 calibre rim-fire bullets for elephant rifles.
Khandelwal, who started off as a simple arms dealer in the town about sixty years back, got the idea of making money from his stock of old ammunition when he was first contacted by a London-based antique arms dealer, Con Jay Arms Co. Ltd, seeking to buy some old ammunition for its clients and the profits obtained from the first consignment were enough to dissuade Khandelwal from the dwindling business of selling guns, to only selling their bullets.
According to Khandelwal, a number of arms dealers from both England and Australia are in touch with him for more ammunition and are willing to pay the prices that he asks — which goes up to Rs 2000 for a single bullet of .600 calibre. Still, he said, the bullets were much sought after by gun collectors but even when gun-dealers all over the country were aware of his reputation of being the biggest dealer of antique ammunition and were continually referring new clients to him, it was not always easy to sell these bullets as the ammunition he sold had no guarantee for being fire-worthy, having been stored for much longer periods than their normal life-span.
He said to continuously replenish his stock of ammunition, he remained in constant touch with reputed gun dealers all over the country, who informed him of any auction of old ammo that was taking place in their city and he immediately rushed to the spot to see if he could find some more bullets to augment his collection.
Khandelwal is unhappy with the policy of the Uttar Pradesh government, which has directed him through a legislation to reduce his stock of ammunition to a mere 2,000 rounds of ammunition from almost 20 thousand rounds that he possessed at one time. Khandelwal has moved court to protect his business though while awaiting relief from the court, he had trim his ammunition collection to just about 2,500 bullets.
Khandelwal is hopeful that the UP High Court would grant him some respite from this restraint. He has pointed out that arms dealers in Rajasthan do not have any restrictions over the stock of ammunition they possess.
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