{"id":2428,"date":"2015-07-24T07:10:15","date_gmt":"2015-07-24T11:10:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ttgnet.com\/journal\/?p=2428"},"modified":"2015-07-24T11:28:31","modified_gmt":"2015-07-24T15:28:31","slug":"friday-24-july-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ttgnet.com\/journal\/2015\/07\/24\/friday-24-july-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday, 24 July 2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

07:10 –<\/span> The great ammunition shortage seems to be ending, other than .22 rimfire, which is still hard to find and extremely expensive. Bricks of 500 selling for $50! Ten cents a round is outrageous, but the problem is that ammunition makers aren’t willing to build expensive new plants to address what they consider a temporary shortage. They’re working around the clock on existing production lines, but they’re not going to build any new ones.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, most common rifle and pistol calibers are readily available at high but not outrageous prices. I just saw one site, for example, that was selling Russian steel-case .223\/5.56 in bulk at 22 cents a round, and even name-brand US-made brass-case .223\/5.56 was available for not much more than 30 cents a round in bulk. I also found .40S&W cheap stuff for about 23 cents a round, which was cheaper even than .38 Special. At some point, if we start shooting a lot of pistol at the range, I may get us each a .40S&W just to be able to use the cheaper ammunition. I suppose it makes sense that .40S&W is cheap, given that the federal government buys the stuff literally by the ton. I’d guess that ammo makers probably have production lines devoted exclusively to that caliber, so it makes sense that they’d have a lot of overruns to get rid of, keeping prices down. Barbara and I both like to shoot, and we’ll probably be doing a lot more of that once we get relocated.<\/p>\n

The latest thing in shooting ranges seems to be “guntry clubs<\/a>“, which apparently appeal particularly to young people and women and even liberals. Fine. I’m in favor of anything that encourages people to take up shooting as a hobby, even those ridiculous pink pistols. But I’d really rather shoot at a range that’s intended for Good Old Boys who drink plain old coffee and would be flummoxed by Starbuck’s offerings. One of the gun stores in Jefferson that we drove past is also an old-fashioned diner, which is more my speed.<\/p>\n

My time this week was occupied almost exclusively on science kits, but I did spend some time in the evenings doing prepping research.<\/p>\n