Army buys $590,000 of useless bullets

The New Zealand Defence Force bought $590,000 worth of bullets, despite the manufacturer warning they were useless in the army's Steyr rifles.

The stock of 5.56mm ball ammunition had worked well in the past, but when manufacturer FN Herstal changed the alloy content they could no longer be fired accurately because the bullets disintegrated as they came out of the barrel, an army spokesman told The Dominion Post.

Major Kristian Dunne said the ammunition was bought for use on the Ardmore range, south of Auckland and their reduced range overcame the danger that a ricochet would fall outside the safety zone.

The army sold the 1,284,220 rounds of ammunition to Gun City in Christchurch for between $300,000 and $350,000, meaning a loss of around $240,000.

Defence Minister Wayne Mapp said the army's decision to sell the ammunition was appropriate and the best way to minimise the cost to the taxpayer.

However, it was not a good situation and he had instructed the Defence Force to improve its contracting systems, he said.

- NZPA