Re.: FUCK! FUCK! FUCK FUCK!

A while a go I made a long post that I accidentally deleted prior to publishing. I’m not gonna try to repeat it word by word (to much work and besides, my memory is starting to go). Basically it was just an update on ammo availability locally and on the Internet and some chosen comments in that regard.

Self-defense ammo seems to be in plentiful supply, but who can afford to practice with ammo well over a dollar pr/bang for any length of time? Plinking ammo still suffers from the shortage, although things are getting better.

Local independent gun shops are starting to get some stuff in here in the north-east. I shoot .380 ACP, 9mm, 38. Special, .357 Magnum and .22 LR with 9mm eating up most of my ammo budget. Of these calibers the only one I absolutely haven’t been able to find is .22 LR which sucks, because it was pennies/shot. The local shops around my neck of the woods will mostly (but not all) take advantage of the shortage and fuck the customer. When (if?) the situation returns to normal I will return the favor by taking my business elsewhere. I will gladly drive 50 miles to do business with a nice guy than with the dickhead down the road,

You can pretty much get anything you want on the Internet now (unless you live in NYC, Chicago and parts of  Massachusetts and California if I’m not mistaken). The AR/AK crowd doesn’t seem to have anything to worry about at the moment besides Dianne Feinstein and possibly price. I don’t have a long gun so I’m not paying attention, but I see ads everywhere. Is $400 + shipping for 1,000 rounds of TulAmmo steel cased .223 reasonable? Online I’ve had good experience with Lucky Gunner. The best price for factory new 9mm ammo I’ve been able to find as of writing this post is Blazer Brass at $360/1,000 rounds (plus a somewhat hefty shipping fee) which is considerably down from the peak, but still about $160 more than pre 12-14-12. They also sell factory reloads at a slightly lower price.

9mm blazer brass

I’ve also shopped a lot at Natchez Shooters Supplies and have received very good service, prices and shipping considering the panic.

The cheapest way to get ammo is still at Wal-Mart (biggest retailer of ammo in America which really irks the fucking shit out of me because I think Wal-Mart and other mega chains built around the same business model are ruining the fabric of America). It’s the luck of the draw if they have anything on their shelves, however, but their prices are the same as they were before before Sandy Hook. Oh yeah, and they’ll only sell you three boxes per day. But that’s fair enough I guess, giving everybody a chance to get some. There are 5 WMs within reasonable driving distance from where I live, so if I hit the jackpot I can I can get 15 boxes (don’t matter if it’s 25 or 100 rounds/box; they count boxes, not rounds) on a road-trip, 30 if I bring along the wife. On the other hand I could also end up empty-handed. Such is life.

The moral of the story is if you’re out shopping anyway, whether it is at Wal-Mart or some other place that doesn’t steal the shirt off your back, buy a few boxes, even if you don’t need any at the moment,  that way you will always have a small stash for the next time the shit hits the fan. And it will

Also, support your local gun shop (if he isn’t a price gouging asshole). Drop by, have a chat, buy something even if you don’t need it, like some cleaning supplies or whatnot. It’s getting harder by the day for these guys to stay in business and we need them.

Ammo Availabe Again And Prices Coming Down

But don’t get too excited. Two months ago I couldn’t find 9mm Luger anywhere, no matter how much I was willing to pay. I’ve seen a few places recently that sold  PMC Bronze for about $60/box of 50. Later I was able to procure three boxes of 9mm NATO from my local gun shop at almost $30/box, and he made me feel like he was doing me a favor (and maybe he was).

I just found 1,000 rounds of factory reloads for $665 at AmmoForSale.com. That’s still almost three times what I would expect to pay pre 12-14-12, and it will be a cold day in hell before I pay as much for 1,000 rounds of practice ammunition as a brand new Glock would set me back.

I don’t know if the inflated prices reflect a genuine price increase that retailers  pass on to the customer, or if they’re just fleecing gun owners desperate to pursue their passion. Either way, I have time to wait. When this crisis is over (if ever), I will make a point of having an ample supply on hand at all times (you know, for when Obama’s jackbooted thugs show up at my house to take away my freedoms).

If you know of a decent source please leave a comment or use the contact form. I’m looking for 9mm and .22 LR. In return I will let you have my firstborn daughter.

I’ve been saving brass for over a year with the intention to get into reloading, but as I understand components are as hard to find as the finished product. I’ve been researching the subject for a long time, but the more you read, the more confused you get. So for now I’ll just continue to collect my brass just in case.

OGNDY Top Search Terms For September

Here are the top ten terms that people searched for and consequently led them to OGNDY in September:

  1. glock 9mm
  2. livia soprano
  3. moobs
  4. 9mm
  5. mutilated cunts
  6. dead santa
  7. ugly bitch
  8. over the knee spanking
  9. child s penis
  10. amish in america

Thanks for the traffic and come again soon!

Beretta PX4 Storm .40 Smith & Wesson Full Size

Just got back from the range where  I shot my Glock 19 and compared the factory barrel to the Storm Lake match grade barrel I had purchased. Why did I buy an aftermarket barrel for my pistol? I can’t give you a rational answer. It was shiny (stainless), supposed to be more accurate and I had $150 I didn’t know what to do with.

The Storm Lake barrel is a noticeably tighter fit in the slide, but looking at the targets I shot, I can’t really tell much of a difference. Maybe the Storm Lake groupings were a little tighter, maybe it was just coincidence. If you like to shoot but are on a tight budget, spend your money on ammo. Not a bad word about Storm Lake, but for the average weekend warrior it’s not gonna kill zombies any deader.

beretta-px4-storm-full-size

After I had used all my ammo I returned to the front counter for a look at the rentals, and spotted a Beretta PX4 Storm full size in .40 S&W. I had previously owned a PX4 compact in 9mm that I got rid of due to idiocy (mine) and bad advice (others), so I was curious to try it out now that I have a bit more mileage as a shooter. I bought a box of Federal American Eagle .40 S&W and returned to my lane gun in hand.

It’s a pretty big piece of hardware, but not excessively heavy; I would guess about 30 oz. I had never shot .40 before and was prepared for some snappiness, but it wasn’t bad at all. The gun was a dream to shoot, in my hands much more accurate than the Glock 19 or my Springfield Armory XDM 3.8 Compact 9mm. I mean seriously. I made ragged holes in the center of the target just like I see YouTube professionals do. The only thing I didn’t like was the safety/decocker tabs (amidextrous) that made racking the slide a bit awkward. It also adds some considerable width to the slide, but this gun wasn’t designed for concealed carry anyway. The trigger was OK, but not super tight and crisp like the custom PRP trigger for my XDM, but adequate enough not to need any kind of tinkering (why don’t all guns have really nice triggers out of the box?). We’ll see what Santa brings me this year. Anyway, it’s on my list of must-have guns.

Dude, I got a Glock!

I mentioned in this post some time back that I might consider getting a Glock. Well, I did. I am no the (proud?) owned of an ever so slightly used gen. 3 Glock 19. I traded in the Ruger LC9 for the Glock that was so sparingly used/well taken care of that the gun shop (Shooters in New Milford, CT) could have told me it was new and I would have believed them.

After having put a few hundred rounds through it my impression so far is (and I’m comparing it to my Springfield XDM Compact 9mm) that it is a crudely made gun (and I say that in the best possible meaning). The XDM feels like a much more finely engineered and tuned pistol. While you’re holding it in your hand and just checking it out. But from the very first shot I fired with it, I was much more accurate than with the XDM. For all its “crudeness” – the Glock trigger has a “rough” feel to it, but it also breaks cleaner and more predictable than the XDM – I am just better able to place the shots where I’m aiming than with the XDM.

I think the main problem with the XDM is the trigger. While it is very smooth, it also has very long pre-travel, an unpredictable break, and a fairly long reset. I ordered and installed (I’m a gunsmith now!) a trigger kit from Powder River Precision in Oregon that greatly improved the feel of the trigger, and also, my groupings at the range, but still not as good as the Glock.

So at this point my heart is with the XDM – I really like the feel of the gun – but my head is with the Glock; I simply shoot it better. I still have some ideas on how I might improve the XDM, though, and haven’t given up all hope. I’ll keep y’all informed.

A Day At The Range

With the Superbowl (sorry about that Patriots, didn’t mean to rub it in) and all today, the wife and I figured it would be a quiet day at the range. Well, it wasn’t as quiet as I expected, but we didn’t have to wait more than a couple of minutes before we got a lane.

We had packed the Smith & Wesson model 66-1 .357 Magnum, the wife’s Bersa Thunder 9mm, and my new toy (yeah, I know they’re firearms and I’m not supposed to call them toys), a Ruger LC9.

We started off with the S&W, shooting a box of .38 Sp. just to warm up before going bang with .357s. I’m amazed at how easy that gun is to shoot. Hardly any recoil worth mentioning, no doubt due to the gun’s considerable heft and the new Hogue rubber grips I had installed to replace the original wooden stocks that look good, but make the grip very thick and a bit hard to handle. Both wifey and I did well, placing our shots in the general vicinity of where we aimed. We also ran into Frank Pinto, a retired cop and shooting instructor we had taken some lessons from, and he offered us a clip of +P .38s to try out, and they went “BOOM” almost louder than the .357s with little felt recoil. No doubt too expensive to shoot for target practice.

Next we pulled out the Bersa Thunder 9mm. Wifey loves this gun, but her “groupings”,  if I can even call them that, were a bit all over the place. I shot fairly well with it for the first time ever, and even managed to get some decent groupings (for my skill level) at 15′, semi-rapid fire.

The Ruger LC9

The Ruger LC9

Last, and least, was the Ruger LC9 (Light Compact 9mm), which I had only put about 50 rounds through on Tuesday when I got it. It’s “only” a 9mm (try taking a hit from it and see how “only” it feels), but is very snappy due to it’s light weight (about 17 ounces). It’s also double-action only, with a fairly heavy trigger pull, so both wifey and I were all over the place, lucky to even hit the paper. At the end of 150 rounds my hits very getting closer to where I aimed, though. I guess it’s one of those things you just have to get used to through practice in order to gain proficiency. Right now I gotta say I don’t care for the gun at all. It’s sleek and cool and excellent for concealed carry and all that, but right now there’s no love. I’ll just have to give it some more time, since wifey has put her foot down and no trade-ins or new guns until my birthday. Damn woman.

Did I offer my condolences to the Patriots? I think I did. Whatever.