Firearms CHAT: [2020 - Year of the Squib]

[NT2C]

The wife and I were talking and agree that if a second round of stimulus checks happen it all goes to ammo. If the only ammo we can get then is for something we don't have then we get one.

[Langenator]

If you've got an M1 carbine, the RoK surplus cans of 1080 rounds on strippers are still going for reasonable prices.

[NT2C]

If you've got an M1 carbine, the RoK surplus cans of 1080 rounds on strippers are still going for reasonable prices.

No, I'd love to have one but when I had the cash I bought my BM59 instead. 7.62 NATO M80 is drying up though.

[woodsghost]

If you've got an M1 carbine, the RoK surplus cans of 1080 rounds on strippers are still going for reasonable prices.

No, I'd love to have one but when I had the cash I bought my BM59 instead. 7.62 NATO M80 is drying up though.

I have a source on a Universal M1 for a decently low price if you want to cover the FFL/shipping costs. PM me if you want details. Guy is saving up for a down payment on a house and is letting guns go.

[boskone]

I'm OK for most ammo, though if something happens like the oft-suggested ammo ban I might be hurting in a year or so.

Unless I get into forming my own brass, swaging my own bullets, and figure out how to manufacture powder and priming material, I suppose. :p

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I'm OK for most ammo, though if something happens like the oft-suggested ammo ban I might be hurting in a year or so.

Unless I get into forming my own brass, swaging my own bullets, and figure out how to manufacture powder and priming material, I suppose. :p

I think I'm good on FMJ rounds, but I do need to pick up some more hollowpoints and a lot more 5.56/.223, though.

Range trips are going to be on hold for the foreseeable future. If I do make any range trips, it'll likely be with my .22lr guns only.

Mostly because I can source that pretty easily nowadays. If I had a gun chambered in .350 Legend, I could get ammo all day long as well. That seems to be one round that's pretty plentiful in my AO.

[boskone]

I'm OK for most ammo, though if something happens like the oft-suggested ammo ban I might be hurting in a year or so.

Unless I get into forming my own brass, swaging my own bullets, and figure out how to manufacture powder and priming material, I suppose. :p

I think I'm good on FMJ rounds, but I do need to pick up some more hollowpoints and a lot more 5.56/.223, though.

Range trips are going to be on hold for the foreseeable future. If I do make any range trips, it'll likely be with my .22lr guns only.

Mostly because I can source that pretty easily nowadays. If I had a gun chambered in .350 Legend, I could get ammo all day long as well. That seems to be one round that's pretty plentiful in my AO.

Ditto. I have a decent stash of hunting ammo for my hunting guns, though nothing for my Garand (which isn't really one of my picks for hunting anyway). But other than a range trip to play with my Henry and Wrangler, I don't foresee a lot of shooting in the near future. Maybe a few round to check zero before deer season.

I really need to double-check my inventory, though. :\ Just to make sure I know what I have.

[RickOShea]

Glad I stocked-up between the panics.

[NT2C]

I have a decent stock but I'm a believer in Clint Smith's way of looking at things. "No one ever complained about having too much ammo in a gunfight."

[woodsghost]

Unless I get into forming my own brass, swaging my own bullets, and figure out how to manufacture powder and priming material, I suppose. :p

Yeah, everybody needs a hobby....

.... maybe they will start selling supplies at Hobby Lobby?

[Zed Hunter]

I'm up on swaging some bullets, forming a few calibers brass out of other calibers, and mixing primer filler and reloading primers, but not manufacturing propellant. Yes I like learning new skills for "just in case".

[boskone]

So two vaguely amusing ammo anecdotes from yesterday:

I decided to do a quick audit of my ammo. So I went out, eyeballed what I have, couldn't find a single shot-shell. OK, Academy's stocked, so I ran over and grabbed a case each of 12 and 20ga. Swung by Chicken Express for dinner, got home, went to put the shot shells in the logical place...which was occupied by cases of each I'd somehow completely missed. Guess I have 3 cases instead of 1. Plus, I think I have most of 1 case of each back at my parents' place.

Side note about Academy: They were out of 6.5 Grendel, but had a couple or three boxes of 6.5 PPC. They had a few boxes here and there, actually, though the only normal calibers I saw were .308, 6.5 Creedmoor, and...one of the AK rounds, I can't remember if 5.45 or 7.62.

I went to check sgammo.com before my audit and shotshell adventure, and they were pretty well stocked. Determined during the audit I could use a few .45 JHP or SP. Went back to sgammo.com, they were pretty well cleared out.

Also, I dug up a few more boxes of Grendel I'd forgotten about. If the zpoc happens tomorrow, looks like I'm rockin' the Grendel; I think it's my most copious ammo right now, other than .22lr.

[Langenator]

One thing I noticed yesterday, looking at Ammoseek, at least for 9mm, is that you have to get down the list a bit to find the combination of a seller that I've heard of selling a brand that I've heard of. In this case, it's BulkMunitions, selling PMC 124gr FMJ at $0.659 per round if you buy a case.

Which, if memory serves, was about the price for cheap .308 147gr FMJ before all this started.

[PistolPete]

I have a decent stock but I'm a believer in Clint Smith's way of looking at things. "No one ever complained about having too much ammo in a gunfight."

That may be, but I definitely had too much ammo when it was time to move. See also bullets. That stuff weighs a ton.

[NT2C]

I have a decent stock but I'm a believer in Clint Smith's way of looking at things. "No one ever complained about having too much ammo in a gunfight."

That may be, but I definitely had too much ammo when it was time to move. See also bullets. That stuff weighs a ton.

When my wife and I bought this house a dozen years ago there were two metal cabinets in the garage. One was empty, the other was about half-filled with boxes of bullets. Not being a reloader I used some for a little weight in Halloween decorations and things like that but the vast majority were given to a friend of mine in Florida. The only question was shipping them there as the total weight was... considerable. I ended up shipping them in two USPS Priority Mail flat rate (if it fits - it ships) boxes that weighed ~55 lbs. each (75 lb. limit back then). Taking them to the post office was fun. I had a helluva time getting the clerk and the postmistress to understand the difference between a bullet (ok to mail) and a cartridge (not okay to mail) as neither of them had any firearms experience. To this day I think that clerk is really surprised the boxes didn't blow up in her face. Total shipping cost was under $40 as I recall.

[Langenator]

I have a decent stock but I'm a believer in Clint Smith's way of looking at things. "No one ever complained about having too much ammo in a gunfight."

That may be, but I definitely had too much ammo when it was time to move. See also bullets. That stuff weighs a ton.

This was my problem. I was in the Army and moved every 2-3 years, so carting a stockpile around wasn't really an option. Now, maybe I should have stored up more since I retired...

[boskone]

I think I'm going to convert my gun safe to at least a dual-action electrical/mechanical combo lock.

The safe itself is fine, and the lock's OK...when it's got a working 9v battery. However, it's the only thing I have which requires one of those, and the spare battery (in the fridge) is also dead. It also doesn't have a backup power port (which would be handy, especially these days; throw a USB pack on it or something).

Now it's not a huge issue since one reason I was opening it was to put a rifle away, so by happenstance I have a rifle and pistol, and even my old shotgun (though disassembled) out at the moment. And if it were more important I could run up to the 24hr gas station and get a pack. But it is rather damned annoying, and if it were some kind of general emergency I'd be pretty well SOL.

[NT2C]

I think I'm going to convert my gun safe to at least a dual-action electrical/mechanical combo lock.

The safe itself is fine, and the lock's OK...when it's got a working 9v battery. However, it's the only thing I have which requires one of those, and the spare battery (in the fridge) is also dead. It also doesn't have a backup power port (which would be handy, especially these days; throw a USB pack on it or something).

Now it's not a huge issue since one reason I was opening it was to put a rifle away, so by happenstance I have a rifle and pistol, and even my old shotgun (though disassembled) out at the moment. And if it were more important I could run up to the 24hr gas station and get a pack. But it is rather damned annoying, and if it were some kind of general emergency I'd be pretty well SOL.

Odd that there's no key backup. Then again, such locks are more deterrent than actual security.

[boskone]

I think I'm going to convert my gun safe to at least a dual-action electrical/mechanical combo lock.

The safe itself is fine, and the lock's OK...when it's got a working 9v battery. However, it's the only thing I have which requires one of those, and the spare battery (in the fridge) is also dead. It also doesn't have a backup power port (which would be handy, especially these days; throw a USB pack on it or something).

Now it's not a huge issue since one reason I was opening it was to put a rifle away, so by happenstance I have a rifle and pistol, and even my old shotgun (though disassembled) out at the moment. And if it were more important I could run up to the 24hr gas station and get a pack. But it is rather damned annoying, and if it were some kind of general emergency I'd be pretty well SOL.

Odd that there's no key backup. Then again, such locks are more deterrent than actual security.

I think the key backups are usually for locks without externally-accessible batteries. I can get to the compartment, just don't have another battery.

As for security, for every electronic lock with a weakness, there's a mechanical one with a weakness. (And then there's Master Lock/SentrySafe, which almost seem to be designed to fail.)

[MacWa77ace]

I think I'm going to convert my gun safe to at least a dual-action electrical/mechanical combo lock.

The safe itself is fine, and the lock's OK...when it's got a working 9v battery. However, it's the only thing I have which requires one of those, and the spare battery (in the fridge) is also dead. It also doesn't have a backup power port (which would be handy, especially these days; throw a USB pack on it or something).

Now it's not a huge issue since one reason I was opening it was to put a rifle away, so by happenstance I have a rifle and pistol, and even my old shotgun (though disassembled) out at the moment. And if it were more important I could run up to the 24hr gas station and get a pack. But it is rather damned annoying, and if it were some kind of general emergency I'd be pretty well SOL.

Lucky, all my smoke detectors use 9v x3. Ceiling fan remotes use 9v x4. 2 of my VOM meters use the 9v. 2 garage door openers. I need 11. damn.

You guys ever watch the lock picking lawyer on YTube? He goes thru gun safes and gun locks like they weren't even there.

[NT2C]

You guys ever watch the lock picking lawyer on YTube? He goes thru gun safes and gun locks like they weren't even there.

So does a circular saw with a metal cutting blade.

[MacWa77ace]

You guys ever watch the lock picking lawyer on YTube? He goes thru gun safes and gun locks like they weren't even there.

So does a circular saw with a metal cutting blade.

He uses phase shifting IIRC.

[yossarian]

So this is what $40 worth of ammo looks like in 2020?
https://www.centerfiresystems.com/produ ... uct_detail


I'm gonna have to turn out some coat pockets and root through the truck.

[RickOShea]

Dime bags?