Straight Case

Bullets are back!

Just went through the 9mm reloading bullet pages at Midway USA, my favorite place for such. Three months ago, there were 30 selections out of stock for every one available. Now more than half of the selections are available, and if you don't see your favorite bullet, there will be some alternatives offered. Prices seem to be about what they were, pre-Obama Gun Rush 2. As a bennie, some of the pure copper bullets are showing up, in case you live in a cursed place that mandates such. I see no reason to change from lead-core otherwise.

Powder is slowly coming back, as are primers. Most stores will sell you at least 100 primers per visit, some up to 300. Visit often. At my local reloading places, powder seems to have the slowest recovery.

Prediction: Obama Executive Order ammo ban coming

The "AK-47" question in the dee-bate the other night was a peek into Obama's mind. It was obviously a planted question, and Obama gave a canned answer to wake up his anti-gun base. Since the same answer would have mande the Blue Dog Democrats unhappy, he was taking a chance, and I'd guess that for Obama to take a chance, there's got to be big money at stake, so I'd hazard a guess that Soros or his designate is laundering a big contribution to slip to the Won, and gun control was his condition of the donation.

How will the gun control work?

As I've said before, with a hostile House (and maybe Senate, there are some Blue Dogs over there), the Won can't run any gun-control law through Congress. Using the FBATFE to insert some new anti-gun regulations might work, but that outfit pretty much trashed itself out of credibility with Gunwalker.

That leaves only Executive Orders as the method left to impose gun control. As they've been arguing in Baltimore for months, ammo control is the key to gun control, and Obama can impose at least partial ammo control on AK-47, SKS, RPK and AKM owners with a stroke of the pen by banning importation of offshore ammo in those calibers (7.62X39, 5.45X39, 7.62X54R).

This blog predicts he will do that, and what's more, he will do that whether he wins or loses the election.

You know what to do. If you have less than several battle-days' worth* of ammo for your Commie rifles, get an order in NOW. When it comes, that EO will probably freeze shipment of ordered ammo in the comm-bloc calibers, so you need to get the ammo into your possession before November 7th.

You've been warned.

Considering the dollars in shooting

Yes, we have to consider the cost factor.

Let's pose a fairly common problem: Take a citizen who is newly-aware of their rights and responsibilities of self-defense under the 2A. They want to learn to shoot, and if they're smart, they also consider the cost of their defensive array of armaments. They've asked Yours Truly to advise them and conduct their training, and I've agreed to.

Since they are considering cost, I advise them to layer on their 2A defensive arsenal, starting with a concealable defense handgun, then a shotgun, then a rifle. As you can see, what my advice entails is the citizen being able to defend their close-in spaces (with the handgun), then somewhat farther out (with the shotgun), then as far out as they want (with the rifle).

I have a NEW recommendation for the close-in spaces. It involves this weapon:

That's the new Charter Arms Pitbull, a 5-shot snubbie chambered in .40 S&W, a modern, rimless, high-pressure, straight-case pistol round. Most .40 S&W defense loads out of a short barrel are going to be in the 370-400 #/ft energy area, running from 850-1000 fps. That's better than 100 #/ft more than .38 Special, a low-pressure round. It's close to the energy of the Bulldog model in .44 Special, but there is a vast improvement in the cost to shoot it.

.44 Special ammo averages $35/box at retail, so, $700/1000 (1,000 rds being the minimum needed for advancement from new shooter to competent self-defense gunner). In the case of the .40 S&W Pitbull, you could get a case of this ammo for $275, a saving of $425 in the first thousand rounds of ammo alone. That is about the cost of the gun at "street-price", so by going to Forty instead of Forty-Four, you get a free gun!

This is a very technically-advanced revolver, a brand-new design. The advantage of the new design is the extractor system which makes it un-necessary to use "moon-clip" ammo retainers such as found in the S&W or Taurus Forty Caliber snubbies. BTW, there will be Laser Grips available for this revolver, too!

Yes, we DO, in fact, count our pennies here at Straight-Case.

H/T to Uncle for highlighting the Pitbull in his Gun Porn section.

Ammo deals

I haven't talked much about factory ammo deals over here, at first because IMHO, due to ObamaScare, all the manufacturers raised their prices as gun owners raised their personal inventories. Something about supply and demand, I guess, except that there was probably a bit of price-gouging in there as well. I don't buy the "metal prices went sky-high" arguments for the ObamaScare price increases, because any ammo company with the smarts to survive would have had long-term contracts, and also because those high metal prices are STILL with us, and yet prices are falling dramatically now.

So, with prices falling, I think it's appropriate to resume my former service of giving out "Ammo Alerts".

Here's one:

Nore that AIM Surplus is a decent outfit. I have bought ammo and milsurp rifle parts from them several times. $142.50 for 250 rounds of 12-ga 00 Buckshot is a good deal, especially during hunting season. I suspect that this is a military-contract over-run, and if so, it won't last long. The normal price for that ammo is $1.00/round, so you are getting it better than 40% off. Note also that with 12 pellets, these are not going to be gentle rounds. Moving that much mass down your barrel is going to hurt a bit according to Newton's Second Law. If you want gentle, try Aguila's mini-shells. Be prepared to pay over twice as much, though. Gentle is not cheap. Also note that most repeating shotguns will not properly cycle mini-shells without modifications, usually a different shell elevator. They are great in a Lupara, though.