Off to gun camp with the girlfriend. Two days of defensive handgun and ‘tactical rifle’ (read: AR1-15).
Its a fairly healthy haul to Billings (5-6 hours depending on conditions). I really need to come up with a standard list of items for roadtrips. Something I can throw in the back of the truck and be done with. Maybe thats what I’ll do while riding as passenger…work on lists.
Its rained for the last several days here and I cannot remember the last time that happened. (Okay, maybe I can…summer of 2000 when we had the really bad fires. Never been so glad to see rain.) Gotta pack some raingear for this trip as well as some cold gear since you just never know around here. (We did, after all, have a 4th of July snowstorm once.)
This class is giving me the opportunity to swap out some 55 gr. ammo from stores with some 62 gr. M855 steel-core green tip. (Or maybe its ss-109… I keep mixing them up. And, yes, I already have the link to the AR-15 Ammo Oracle, thanks) A little bit of extra penetration is always nice, although, really, the softpoints are probably a better choice from the terminal performance standpoint.
I wanna bring the FAL just to give it a go at this course but thats too many guns to haul around. I also wonder if they’ll let me do Glock reloads using my 33-rd mags….Im betting the answer will be ‘only if those are what youd actually carry as a spare mag’. Funny thing is, I sort of already do…I’ve three of them on my TT pack in an MP5 mag pouch.
9mm ammo is running low what with these classes. I need to pick up at least another couple cases. Same for .223. Doing good on .308 though..I bought a couple cans of the very nice Radway Green stuff a few years ago and have shot almost none of it.
I need to sit down and inventory all the ammo anyway. I know I’ve got about 12k in .22, another 1k in 12 gauge, and probably 3k in .38…. not sure what else (although I know theres a good bit…I’ve got shelves five layers high loaded with full ammo cans).
Of course, as we all know, TEOTWAWKI might not require very much ammo at all but why not play it safe, y’know?
I can buy 9mm off the shelf here for around $85/1000rds, so if you will settle for CCI Blazer in the aluminum case, and don’t mind adding shipping, I’ll hook you up.
Oh, I think I can get brass-cased stuff for about $100. Just bitching and moaning about it, is all.
Blazer isnt bad…doesnt work in all guns but my experiences have been pretty good.
TEOTWAWKI may not require a lot of ammo, but if the political climate changes enough that the Brady Bunch is popular again, ammo might be a lot more expensive and hard to get, or at the very least, difficult to get in large amounts. I think I’m stocking up more in fear of politicians than TEOTWAWKI! Have fun at gun camp. I’m insanely jealous. Our range has been closed for several weeks because of various competitions and camps (that I can’t afford), and I’m going into gunpowder withdrawal.
You don’t reload pistol ammo?
I do, but if a realod failed to feed during the class I’d be hideously embrassed so Im sticking with factory ammo for this. Were it a revolver episode, I’d go with the reloads in a heartbeat.
Part of the deal is that we stock ammo against the day we cant get any more. Whether thats because of TEOTWAWKI, Bill Clinton, or alien overlords is kinda academic.
I reload for everything we shoot and have everything to make ammo as needed. Obviously, once the primers are gone youre back to square one, but being a resourceful fellow I can scrounge primers from non-usable ammo and that sort of thing. (Although some folks say you can use strike anywhere match heads.)
No, you cant have too much ammo. You can, however, have too much ammo in one place. Eggs, basket, basket, basket.
Excellent point, that and 9mm is pretty cheap anyway. Are you going to be shooting the Glock?
We reload for most of our guns, too, and having inherited a deceased competition shooter’s/fanatical reloader’s supplies, we’re in pretty good shape in that regard. I go through a lot of .308, though, and I find it easier and cheaper to buy surplus for that.