Opinion: Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
MISSOULA, Mont. – In 2015, the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) proposed and the Montana Legislature passed the Ammunition Availability Act (AAA).
The purpose of the AAA was to encourage the manufacture of smokeless propellant, small arms primers, and cartridge cases in Montana. The AAA offered three benefits to any entities taking advantage of the Act:
- 1) liability protection,
- 2) access to all existing economic development programs, and
- 3) significant tax breaks.
Because of contention in the Senate over special tax reductions versus general tax reductions, many of the tax benefits were amended out of the bill. Plus, a ten-year sunset was added for the tax breaks remaining in the bill. That sunset became effective on December 31, 2024, whereupon the AAA tax breaks expired.
In the 2025 legislative session, HB 329 was introduced by Rep. Ed Byrne, to restore all original tax breaks to the AAA from the introduced version of 2015, and to make the AAA permanent. HB 329 was successful in retaining the significant tax breaks from the first version in 2015, but was amended to assign a new ten-year sunset for those tax breaks.
In net result, the manufacturer liability protection for any component manufacturer remains, access to all Montana economic development programs remains, and new and significant tax breaks are available for ten years, unless the Legislature should extend those further in 2035.
HB 329 passed House and Senate and was signed by Governor Gianforte on May 13, 2025.
Live Inventory Price Checker
|
Small Rifle Primers - #6-1/2 Small Rifle Primers 1,000/Box | Brownells.com | $ 59.99 |
|
|
|
CCI Small Rifle Primer for 400 Small Rifle - 0013 | Palmetto State Armory | $ 113.99 $ 96.99 |
|
|
Unis Ginex Small Rifle Primer | Midsouth Shooters Supply | $ 299.99 |
|
|
Starline .308 Match Small Rifle Primer Brass Cases | Creedmoor Sports | $ 69.95 |
|
Just what tax breaks are available for an entity that would start manufacturing ammo components in Montana? Montana has no sales tax, so that is immediately off the table compared to most other states.
For full information, see the final version of HB 329 here.
Most of the tax breaks are summarized in Section 1 of HB 329, but those include exemption from property taxes levied for state educational purposes, business equipment tax, individual income taxes, corporate income or alternative corporate income taxes, and any other tax on business activity levied by the state. Excluded from the tax exemptions are the local portion of property tax not exempt and an employer’s share of employee payroll taxes that are used to finance state-mandated programs, including unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. Also, a lender or investor lending for qualified projects is exempt from income tax for amounts loaned in arms-length transactions.
All in all, this is a pretty sweet deal for any entity setting up in Montana to manufacture powder, primers, or brass.
There are some siderails on the AAA intended to make any ammo components made in Montana under this plan available to commercial and individual Montana consumers. The underlying motive is to make Montana self sufficient for these ammo components. To assure this, qualifying entities would need to make their products available to Montana consumers at a price no greater than sales to out-of-state customers.
To prevent abuse, the qualifying footprint of an AAA-eligible facility could be no greater than 500 yards beyond structures used for manufacture and storage of manufactured ammo components.
In crafting this idea for the Montana Legislature, MSSA looked at the small countries in the World that make their own ammo components. Because of scale issues associated with such manufacturing, these countries usually create and operate such manufacturing with considerable state subsidies, as a matter of state security. Montana Shooting Sports Association attempted to mimic such subsidies with the benefits in the AAA.
Any person or entity wishing to explore opportunities offered by the AAA in Montana could contact MSSA, the Montana Department of Commerce, or the Governor’s Office.
Gary Marbut, President
Montana Shooting Sports Association
www.mtssa.org
Author, Gun Laws of Montana
www.mtpublish.com
About Gary Marbut
Longtime Montana political observer and participant Gary Marbut is president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, the primary political advocate for Montana gun owners.
That’s great news but why not projectiles?
S&W and Henry should have moved to either Montana or Wyoming.