Tag Archives: ammunition

And So It Begins – News From My Inbox

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I received this email from Midway USA today, one of the country’s largest online dealers of everything related to firearms, and of whom I am a customer:

Connecticut Public Act 13-220

Dear Lars,
On April 4, 2013, Connecticut Public Act 13-220 was signed into law by Governor Malloy. Among other things, this law implements licensing requirements for the sale of all magazines and ammunition beginning October 1, 2013. In order to be compliant with the new law on its effective date, we will be restricting the sale of all ammunition and magazines to Connecticut beginning September 17, 2013. This allows for all in transit products to arrive in Connecticut by the law’s effective date.
In order for any existing backorders to release and to continue purchasing magazines or ammunition after this date, you must be the holder of one of the following permits/certificates: CT Carry Permit, Eligibility Certificate, Long Gun Eligibility Certificate or Ammunition Certificate. Additionally, one of these must be on file with your MidwayUSA account.
The Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) is responsible for the administration of the permits and certificates listed above. Please visit the DESPP website for instructions and many of the necessary forms to apply: http://www.ct.gov/despp/cwp/view.asp?a=4213&q=494616
If you have already submitted one of these documents to MidwayUSA, no further action is necessary.
If you have not obtained one of these documents, we encourage you to do so. Once obtained, please email (customerservice@midwayusa.com) or fax (1-800-992-8312) a copy to us along with a government-issued photo ID and we will update your account to prevent any disruption in our ability to serve you.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience and sincerely appreciate your business.
Customer Service
MidwayUSA

I’m including this pop song from 1970s Scottish heart-throbs pop band Bay City Rollers as a sarcastic post script. Figure it out if you can. If not, no biggie. And yes, I’m embarrassed to admit that I have this album in original vinyl

Re.: FUCK! FUCK! FUCK FUCK!

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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

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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.

Gun Legislation Post Sandy Hook

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I just spent the last few hours composing and sending the following e-mail to all my local and federal representatives. Governor Malloy got an abridged version since he has a 2,000 character limit on his contact form(!).

Before I post my e-mail I would like to extend my deepest sympathies and condolences to those who lost loved ones on 12-14-12. I cannot even begin to imagine the pain and suffering you are experiencing.

Dear [Recipient]

I would like to share with you some of my thoughts on legislation proposed locally here in CT and on the national level.

I’m not a gun nut who is afraid of “government tyranny”; I have my feet firmly planted in reality. I’m just a regular schmoe who happens to own a few guns, enjoys shooting recreationally at a range and keeps a loaded firearm in my house for a worst case scenario. While I do have a concealed carry permit, I choose not to carry a firearm in public. In my 53 years on Earth I have never been so afraid that I thought shooting someone was the only solution, and I’m still willing to take my chances. However, I do have issues with laws that serve no purpose and do no good to solve the violence problem our country faces, and indeed may detract from real solutions.

I don’t find myself to be a strong supporter of the NRA (too many crackpots for my liking), but the disingenuous argumentation and intellectual dishonesty from elements on the anti-side have provoked me to become a member, at least for a year, as a pure gesture of protest. After I did that I donated an equal amount to the ACLU. Let me outline some of the things I would support in terms of better gun legislation, just to start off on a positive note:

  1. I would support requiring training for the purchase of any kind of firearm.
  2. I would support extended training for a concealed carry permit.
  3. I would support 100%, no exceptions, universal background checks for the sale and transfer of firearms.
  4. I would support making it easier for those with serious mental health conditions to have relevant information included in a background check.
  5. I would support stricter laws and punishments for gun-trafficking, straw man purchases and crimes where guns are used.
  6. I would support a stronger effort to enforce the laws already on the books better.
  7. I would support removing Joe Biden as the head of President Obama’s gun task force; the man is a clown and he’s hurting any effort to reach an agreement (seriously).

Here are some of the things I would strongly oppose:

  1. I oppose banning specific types of firearms/accessories/magazine caps, specifically the so-called “assault rifles” and the erroneously named “high-capacity” magazines, which are, in fact, standard capacity. FBI statistics show – and you all know this – that the previous AWB did nothing to reduce gun crime, and that, in fact, gun crime has been on a steady decline for the past several decades, despite a rise in gun-ownership.
  2. I oppose special ammunition taxes, restrictions on how much ammunition you can purchase, and outlawing Internet purchases of ammunition. The vast majority of gun owners are recreational shooters, and making it harder and/or more expensive to get ammunition would simply inconvenience law-abiding citizens and do nothing to discourage criminals.
  3. I oppose requiring gun owners to carry special liability insurance for the simple reason that it seems, to me, intuitively unreasonable to be required to carry insurance in order to exercise a constitutionally protected right.
  4. I oppose a national gun registry. While it may seem innocent and even useful on the surface, it smacks too much of letting Big Brother know what you own and where to confiscate it. Actually, I’m on the fence on this one.
  5. I oppose gun free zones. People intent on mass murder tend to choose the easiest, least protected targets. While it has become something of a cliche to say that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, it just so happens to be true when the bullets start flying. The police can’t be everywhere all the time. While we will never know the outcome of Sandy Hook Elementary had there been a competent armed person on the premises, it seems to me that we can say with some degree of certainty that the victims would have had more than the 0% chance of survival they were afforded.

Finally, I am not a single-issue voter, I consistently vote D across the board and am not threatening to change my vote depending on your actions in this matter. I do however hope you take my thoughts into consideration before you make your decision.

Regards,
Lars Dahl

Beretta PX4 Storm .40 Smith & Wesson Full Size

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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.