Category: Tacticool

April 14, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

April 14, 2022 /

What’s new, well nothing really. I should have plenty of stuff in this arena with trap going in full swing. But, today I am going to talk pellet rifles again today. My new spring piston rifle has in fact settled down and is shooting pretty consistently. I will show some groups below.

Shooting with a pellet rifle is a really good idea. It is a way to work away all the bad habits that develop when you only shoot high powered rifles. You can work on sight picture, trigger control (and not flinching). I noticed when I was shooting slugs at the range a couple of weeks ago that I would tense up in anticipation of the shot, which is a form of flinching.

There are numerous other reasons to shoot pellets. They can be done safely and discreetly at home as well as economical. I am seeing pellets go for $8-$14/ 250. That sure beats $34 / 50 (9mm) or $60 / 500 (22LR) or even worse $50 / 20 (30-06). Now that the business is done, we can start to have some fun and play around. I have a couple examples of the pellets that I have here.

It seems like the two on the left are the same weight, 7.6 grains. The container for the third one is not marked, so I do not know. I saw some for sale that were up to 16.2 grains and I think that those would make better varmint stopper, but then I also some that were 5.4 grains. What I am saying is that now it is time to see how different ammunition will perform.

Here I am showing my target with different groups. I generally shoot five at a time off of a rest at ten yards. Notice the bottom right target there are two distinct groups. The ones all grouped around the center of the bullseye are with the scope cover off. The group that is above to the right is with the scope cover on.

The scope cover has two clear lenses in it so you can see through it without removing the covers. Clearly, it makes a difference with the performance. It is something to note that I should remove the covers when shooting or sight it in with the covers on.

This has even got me looking into a chronograph. I have never been too concerned with how fast bullets travel as most loads have nominal or published velocities. However, I have started to become curious how consistent my handloads are or how do different weight pellets change in velocity, which I cant find published. I checked into the price and it is much more affordable than I thought it would be (at around $100) for an entry level setup. I see a chronograph coming in the future.

End Your Programming Routine: I have some new pellets coming, so I will soon be able to answer a few questions. Mostly, it is just fun. As a youth, I would spend hours shooting BB’s and I attribute that time to my marksmanship capabilities. I think as I have gotten older and mostly fired high power, I have lost some of my skills or more likely acquired bad habits. I think this is one way to help correct that.

April 7, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

April 7, 2022 /

A few years ago, I had a varmint problem. I will be vague because what I did was technically not legal. Nevertheless, a few years before that I had purchased an inexpensive Crossman bb/pellet rifle. That rifle did the job. The only complaint that I had was a followup shot took ten additional pumps to get the right pressure.

I have used that rifle for the same purpose several times since. However, I am always extremely leary of doing so because if the first shot doesn’t do the job, there is a wounded animal on the loose and I really don’t want that. I also bought some subsonic 22LR and those were very quiet. I have never used those because I haven’t had the opportunity since I purchased them

A word about urban shooting. This needs to be done with extreme caution. It is illegal to discharge an air rifle (and 22LR for that matter) in the city limits. A person needs to be extremely cautious about where that shot is going if you miss. I don’t worry much about BB’s, they can bounce off hard surfaces and tend to be very inaccurate. But, pellets can penetrate fencing, 3/4 plywood and even be fatal.

I have had my eye on a spring piston pellet gun. With one pump, there is more energy than that ten pump combo rifle. Of course it is also four times as expensive. I recently purchased a Crossman Optimus to do this job (on the left).

One thing to note is these rifles need some break in. You will see in my target the progression of the days. The center target was my first day, then I moved to upper right, lower right, upper left and then finally lower left. I only messed with the scope on the center target. Right now, I am shooting until the groups become consistent, which I think they are after 50 shots. Then I will sight the scope in.

I read that older rifles needed more in the range of hundreds to thousands of pellets to become consistent. I have also read that the break in time has gotten much shorter. I am still function firing right now. I have my pellet trap setup at 10 yards in the basement and I fire a few rounds during the day. It is a nice stress reliever.

This rifle is in 0.177” bore diameter There are 0.22” and 0.25” which are technically much better at pest removal. Remember that energy is mass * velocity * velocity. That means a bigger pellet is going to have more energy at the same velocity. The good news is that smaller pellets are easier to deliver faster. And you can see by the equation that velocity has a much bigger effect on energy than mass.

My decision to go to the 0.177 was to share pellets between the two rifles. I don’t like stocking multiple calibers if I don’t need to. The one downside to the rifle is that it is very loud when it fires. The spring mechanism is unexpectedly noisy. Since air rifles are not firearms, there are many models that have integrated suppressors, mine does not have that and the pellets are firing supersonic anyway which significantly reduces the efficacy of such a device.

End Your Programming Routine: If you read the journals of Lewis and Clark, you would know that they used a pre-charged pneumatic air rifle to kill all kinds of game including bear and elk. Those are making a comeback as well but they require a SCUBA tank to fill the reservoir. I wanted something simpler and less dependent on another input. I am rather enjoying my mid-day marksmanship sessions.

March 31, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

March 31, 2022 /

I finally finished sighting in my shotgun that I started in December. I had a free day last week and I figured with trap starting, I was going to have to postpone several more months. I thought that it was worth sharing the results today.

If you remember where things left off, I didn’t understand how to adjust this sight as a result, I shot all of my ammo and the sight stopped working. I think that I solved all of those things before I went to the range this time.

First, the battery was not dead. I didn’t change the battery because it was working when I got home. On my second shot, the sight stopped working. I tightened the cap and the sight came back on. Lesson learned that the cap has the potential to loosen due to recoil.

One thing to note is that a red dot sight is not a precision optic. The more you pay, the better it is, but this particular sight is rated at 5 Minutes of Angle (MOA). I have previously stated that the math is complicated but simplistically, 1 MOA is roughly an inch at 100 yards. In theory, the best this sight can do is a five inch group at 100 yards. That is what you call combat (or field) accuracy.

I was shooting at 50 yards, so my theoretical accuracy should be 2 1/2″ group. My last shots were in the second ring. Exclude the one bullseye, that was my second shot I think this shotgun is about as good as it is going to get.

Now, look at the two holes at the bottom of the target. I switched from the rifled barrel to the smooth barrel and was shooting rifled slugs. That is the graphic illustration of why scopes need to be sighted to the load you are going to shoot. I also tried the field barrel with some different chokes and none of those made the paper even.

I even tried a half assed buckshot patterning. The results of that were inconclusive as only a handful of pellets even hit the target (out of 10 shots). This was barrel and choke agnostic, meaning that they all did poorly. Part of my experiment design was to sight in with slugs and then validate the shot pattern after sight in. I am pretty confident about sabot slugs in the rifled barrel and rifled slugs in the 18″ barrel, but the rest of it I am not. I will have to spend some more time patterning at ranges closer to 50 yards as these tests were inconclusive. Let’s be honest, this is not the best tool for long distances, it was more of a matter of convenience that the target was setup.

End Your Programming Routine: Just like I was talking about yesterday, you can only analyze data when you change one variable at a time. Truthfully, I probably have some refining work to do but at least I feel like I am in the ballpark now. Someday, when this ammo shortage is over I will go back and spend more time to make it better.

March 24, 2022- ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

March 24, 2022 /

My gunstock came last Friday as expected. Today I will talk about my first impressions and thoughts of the Boyd’s At-One gun stock. My son will get fitted on Sunday with the first trap practice starting. Mine is made of solid walnut (which I had to pay more for) in an attempt to not have to also swap out the fore end.

First, I will talk about cost. I paid $160 for this shotgun in 1992. Before Remington went out of business, I think the 870 Express was going for $300 – $350 new. My lightly used 20 gauge I paid $200 in 2020. This stock cost $220. What I am trying to say is that this is a significant upgrade relative to the overall cost of the firearm.

I don’t know this for sure, but I suspect that all of these are the same for whatever shotguns they fit. They use an aluminum block to connect the firearm to the stock. So, the stock can fit a number of models, the aluminum block is the part that is specific to mating to a shotgun.

At first blush, the thing is ugly. It is angular and chunky. It is certainly no upgrade in the looks department. The fit an finish is OK. It is clear that this is made in a mechanized way, like CNC. The fitment of the rubber/plastic to the wood is a little sloppy particularly around the palm swell. It looks like the wood was dipped in water based polyurethane and there is some bubbles in the finish as well.

Despite reading the instructions, I didn’t know what I was doing when I was trying to mate the wood to the block. I say that because the bolt and washers fell out when I tried to put the bolt back in, I didn’t realize that the palm swell cross bolt was blocking the reinsertion. I lightly tapped on the bolt because the hole is curved, I thought it was getting hung up trying to make the angle. The tapping wedged the hex key into the wood and broke a chip out. I was trying to be gentle but I was looking at the hole for the bolt exit, not the entry when it happened.

Knowing what I know now, this would never happen again. None of that was in the manual. I think I would have shipped it without the grip swell on the stock to eliminate this potential.

End Your Programming Routine: This is an American small business. The materials appear to be quality, it is just that that the execution was poorer than I would have liked for a $200 item. The truth is, none of this really matters. What is important is how it works in fitting to the shooter. Trap guns are in general ugly I think. The high rib is meant to help with aiming and getting the target in the middle of the pattern. So, this is just another variation in the group.

March 17, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

March 17, 2022 /

Trap season is about to start, at the end of next weekend. I will have two boys in the program this year. When my oldest son started two years ago, he made the decision to buy his own shotgun. The most important aspect of shooting well is having a shotgun that fits well. Consequently, I decided to cut some length off of his shotgun to get an appropriate length of pull for a 13 year old.

Last year, I had to add that length back as he had grown significantly. Now, I have another son starting trap. He has decided that he doesn’t want to buy his own shotgun for now. Now, I am in a bit of a conundrum. I don’t really want to cut my stock stock down and deal with the back and forth of growing. I decided to solve the problem definitively. I ordered an adjustable stock.

This can get a little technical, but length of pull is the measurement from the trigger to the end of the butt stock (including the pad). A stock that is too long makes the gun difficult to mount and shoot well. A stock that is too short risks significant recoil pain. I have had weeks of bruises from shooting slugs out of a youth sized stock.

The cheek mount is critical for sight alignment. My own shooting experience tells me that most factory stocks do not get the shooter in a good position and most people would benefit from some additional rise. I shoot better with the shotgun that has an aftermarket pad applied than one that does not. Youth with smaller faces need more rise than the available thickness pads. The thickest one I have found was 1/4″.

I wanted to write about it today, but I don’t have it yet. So, that will have to wait until next week. I can show a picture of what it looks like.

It is not cheap, but it is going to be a lot easier to adjust throughout his growth than other options. I am also excited to try it myself, but once setup for him, it wouldn’t be prudent to diddle around with it. So, I will have to give up my shotgun for the season. I have others so if I want to shoot, I may end up doing it with my 20 gauge since my other 12 gauge has a red-dot sight on it. I am completely fine with that other than the ammo crunch has forced the team to standardize on 12 gauge.

My other fear is that this looks bulky and probably heavier. That is something that I will have to wait and see. Ultimately, I might want to get a second 870 that is better suited to leave setup for games rather than field work. For now, this will get the job done for this season.

End Your Programming Routine: A dedicated tool is always the most efficient way to do a job. That also comes with it’s drawbacks, like it is less useful in other situations rather than the specific job. The jury is out on where I am at this point. It would be unfair to judge until I get it, install it and get it setup for my son.

February, 10 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

February 10, 2022 /

I have been sitting on this one for a couple of weeks. There is a lot of todo in the tacticool world about gear. Mostly, it is a lot of flash and no bang if you will. People imagine that an ultra tricked our AR will annihilate any disturbance in the force – to mix metaphors. Today I wanted to talk about the practical situations and just being smart.

I start work most days a little after 5 AM. If my schedule permits it, I run up the stairs and make sure my kids are getting ready for school. Sometimes, I am in the kitchen when they leave for school. I noticed some behavior that is really the opposite of common sense.

Before I go there, early in my podcast listening career I listened to the Practical Defense Podcast by Alex Haddox. I enjoyed it while it was active because it was usually 5-15 minutes a day of mindset of safety and security. I remember a story one time where a burglar poisoned his German Shepard and then used the extension ladder left outside to access the open window on the second story. The morals of that story were 1) your defenses are probably not impenetrable 2) don’t help criminals out by leaving tools to assist in the crime.

There were so many tips that I just never gave much thought about. For instance, boxes in your recycling (or trash) are indicators of inventory to steal. Or, anytime a fight goes to the ground increases your chances of losing. First, don’t fight but if it happens, do whatever you can not to go down if you want to survive. I highly recommend it as worthwhile on many topics like digital security to staying safe at a rest stop.

So what happened? I have observed both of my kids actually unlock the door before they leave the house as a matter of habit. Conventional advice says to keep your doors locked, particularly when you are still at home. The reason being is that stuff is replaceable but you are not. I still remember in November 1997, a very nearby murder that occurred when a husband left the house at 6AM and left the door unlocked. I thought about that every day I left the house for work and everyone was still in bed, which was most days when I worked outside of the house.

I was already freaked out to live in the city, that was burned into my mind. Whether it is the recommendation to continue to carry a firearm at home or it is to lock your door when you are home, the tendency to get complacent is strong when you get comfortable.

I don’t have to do any investigation to know what is going on in my home. My town is very safe. Looking at the crime statistics, we are much lower than other college towns in this state. We are lower than towns in this region per capita. Once, in 2006, someone stole half of my birdbath from the front yard. That was before both of my kids were born. They know no fear, they have experianced no loss. And you know what? This is why we stay where we are. This is the way it should be.

Technically, I live on a state highway with no legal parking in front of my house (on a corner lot). To the east, there is an adjoining street with a church as a neighbor. It was also the first Pokemon Go gym in the town that I knew of. That means that weirdos frequently pull off of Main Street and park across the street to battle at the gym (at strange hours of the day). Just the fact that the property is not a residence invites many more people to feel comfortable to spend more time than typical doing who knows what.

People have broke down, ran out of gas or looking for lost pets among the many things I have encountered across from my house. I do feel safe, I do think most encounters are legitimate but it still doesn’t mean that I should let down my guard. My wife’s cousin was a local police officer and he kept trying to convince me that bad stuff happens. I guess that what I am saying is that it is not that evil can’t happen. It is the frequency and the per capita that is the difference.

End Your Programming Routine: Don’t get complacent. As safe as I believe that I am, I don’t believe that it is not possible. That is why you lock the door when you are in the house. My boys have been given a key, it is easier for them to leave the door unlocked than it is to have the key handy. That doesn’t mean it is safer or the right decision.

January 20, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

January 20, 2022 /

Can I be honest? I suppose that I am as much of a voyeur, or lurker or however you want to describe it as I am a doer. I have talked about my disdain of social media and my real lack of participation at most of any level. I don’t care to interact and I suppose that I don’t understand the ‘rules of participation’ because I don’t.

Where is the going? I am a sucker for looking at people’s pictures of their survival backpack contents or reloading bench setup. Some years ago, I liked to periodically check-out https://www.edcforums.com/ to see what people carried with them everyday. It was as much evaluating what I did but also some people really go artistic with these things.

Somewhere along the line, I started noticing not just people’s gear but people also did stuff. I guess that is what occasionally draws me in. I probably could find as much inspiration in Pinterest, Instagram or other platforms as a lot of the forums seem pretty dead now. I am not specifically looking for inspiration, I just like the more deterministic view that forums have and I open what interests me rather than scrolling through a bunch of things that I don’t care about.

That is what leads to today’s post. Because right now, what is on the bench is not really Tacticool related. I am rebuilding a chainsaw. I use my bench for reloading, gun cleaning, Christmas wrapping, antenna building, record player rebuilding and many other things.

I actually built the bench to do fly tying and ironically, I have never done that. Fly tying is something that I have had an interest since I was a child. I actually took a community college class when I was in high school. It is also something that I haven’t done since I was in college. I still have an interest in doing it, I should probably put that on my goals for this year.

My bench was my first real woodworking project. It’s not completely fine woodworking because I used some fasteners to attach the drawer unit. However I took raw, rough cut lumber and built the bench about seven years ago. The drawer that you see is constructed of plywood that was a drawer that I built as a router table in the late 1990s. I saved the drawer but I sold the router and burned the bench because I didn’t want to move it from South Carolina.

End Your Programming Routine: The bench is a very important part of my tools. It is a space to work and I don’t have to be fussy about spills, scrapes and dents. It is probably redundant to say that people need a space to work. It needs to be comfortable height and clean. Normally, I would have done this work in the shop, but this way I don’t have to wait for it to heat up.

January 13, 2022 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

January 13, 2022 /

The other day, I was in a local store and I saw more ammunition on the shelves than I have seen in almost two years. I won’t say that the problem is over by any means but it got me curious about some other locations and specifically components.

Last night, I had the occasion to go to the larger nearby city for some specific lightbulbs I couldn’t buy locally. I thought that I would stop in to Sportsman’s Warehouse to see if that matched my local experience. Again, they had some ammunition, pretty much what they have had recently 9mm, 40 S&W, 7.62×51, 6.5 Creedmoor and 12 gauge goose and duck loads. I did see a few boxes of 38 special, 22WMR, 44 special, 223 and 5.56 and that was new.

This post isn’t another inventory report on who has what, where. As I said in the first paragraph, I was looking for components not just ammunition. And the good news it seems like you can buy bulk (handgun) bullets but still not powder and primers. I have talked about my position before but I thought that I would hone in on my specific situation to give perspective.

Reloading became popular in the 1960’s. It was a way to get much better performance or specific results out of a firearm. So for instance, if you buy 45 Colt factory ammunition, it is loaded for maximum pressures not to exceed what could still be fired in an Colt 1873 Army revolver. The new Ruger Blackhawk can handle pressures up to the SAAMI limit (not the 45 Colt limit) which is three times that amount specified for the cartridge. Hence, you get the +P designation that you will see on a box of ammunition.

Still using that example, the 1873 originally used softer lead bullets. There is a phenomenon causes lead to foul the barrel if travelling too fast. This is why using a copper jacketed bullet is preferable if loading to higher pressures. Since the 45 Colt uses the same bullet diameter as the 454 Casull and the 460 Smith and Wesson there are a lot of selections of construction and weight to choose from (if you reload).

If you already own a 45 Colt, then you might already know all of this including loads safe to shoot in an 1873 are marked ‘Cowboy’ meaning lower velocity and soft lead bullets. Specifically, there is a specification for the pressure and construction that will prevent you from harming yourself if you are shooting something 150 years old. Confused yet?

I reload because I enjoy it. I also reload from the preparedness aspect. This time, I was unprepared in a way. From the last ammo shortage (2012-2016) I learned that primers were unavailable for years, I got those. Bullets are now somewhat available (and I have some). Powder is still scarce. So while I have a little, I don’t really have enough to load the primers I have.

The idea with reloading is that you find the right powder, primer, bullet combination that makes your firearm perform at its best. Where I am in the journey is that I have loaded some but haven’t done a whole lot of testing. Therefore, I held off on really having the stuff on hand to weather an ammunition shortage like I had planned. Now that we are here, I don’t have the options or the knowledge that I would like.

I suppose the industrious ones bought whatever they could find. I have seen a lot of trade requests for powder and primers happening over the year. In fact, a number of my bottles I haven’t yet opened because I just don’t do that much rifle shooting and I have been waiting to build up enough brass to run a batch for testing purposes. The powder on the left were what I wanted to try first.

End Your Programming Routine: So, that is my interest in components. Before all of this hit, I was building a starting point inventory and didn’t quite get there. Now all of that has been on hold for several years with no end in sight. Just because one powder can work in two cartridges doesn’t mean that it is optimal either. The only way to get there with the knowledge is to do it. With that, I hope it clears up soon.

January 6, 2022 – ‘Taticool’ Thursday

January 6, 2022 /

I got out to the range last weekend for my months delayed trip.  I was so exited to go, I muffed some items and kind of wasted the trip as well as the ammunition, which was already skinny to begin with.  Let me explain.

I talked about my red dot sight I bought over a year ago.  I wanted to sight it in with my new barrel and then compare how the sight functions with different loads and barrels.  My going in premise is that loads and barrels will make a big difference and I wanted to see when setup for hunting how that might effect would be with a shorter barrel installed.

Sabot slugs (for rifled barrels) have always been expensive.  With purchasing limits in place as well as extremely limited availability, I was able to buy some at $4/round.  Fortunately, it is still hunting season in states where shotguns are required or I probably wouldn’t be able to get any at all.  I figured (or hoped) with the sight bore sighted, that I could do the job with 15 rounds.  That turned out not to be the case in my ill-fated trip.

The first thing I did wrong was make assumptions that were not true.  A classic scope typically uses something like 1 adjustment unit on the dial makes a 1/4″ change at 100 yards.  I didn’t read the manual before leaving for the range and it turns out with this sight, 1 click was a one inch adjustment.  So, I was over adjusting four times the amount that I was supposed to each time.  Needless to say, my first shots were all over the place.  

Since I bore sighted in the basement, I was going to try and redo it at the range to try and correct my wild inaccuracies.  Of course, I left my laser at home so I ended up holding the firearm on target and looking over it at the target while I squeezed the trigger to visually see where the slug was hitting on the berm and then making a guess from there.  

I did get it on paper but then (I didn’t know) I over adjusted and was off again.  Finally, with three shots left I was going to see how they group and not do any more adjusting.  I shot two and then the sight stopped working.  My speculation was that it was too cold as it was right at freezing or the batteries were dead.

By the time we got home, the sight was working again.  It was something to with the temperature, I think but I am not 100% sure.  I read the manual and I didn’t see any operating temperature restrictions.  Even so, I wouldn’t expect 33 degrees to be under the limit.  There are definitely some lessons here.

First of all, most of the time, this shotgun is going to have the 18 1/2″ barrel on it.  If you listen to the talking heads in the industry, a defensive shotgun is recommended to have a sight that is useful in low light.  That could be a red dot or it could be a glow in the dark or big loop.  The theory being that at close range, shotgun patterns should be aimed and not pointed like in bird hunting. 

My concern is really around the operating temperature.  It is rarely consistently this cold including hunting season, however I have proved there is something going on here.  I also don’t have a dialed in sight yet, so this thing is still nearly useless.  Yeah I can use the  ‘Kentucky Windage’ by holding it where I think it should be, but even that I am not confident yet.

End Your Programming Routine:  This was a perfect, know your equipment moment.  It is where the saying “Beware the man with one gun” comes from.  The person that has one firearm uses it consistently in all situations.  Had I done this test in the summer I probably would have never seen the problem.  In fact, I prefer to use the indoor range in the winter because I can turn on the heat.  I only was at the rifle range because I postponed for three months.  

It is also quite possible that had I not been dicking around with the adjustments and guessing why I wasn’t hitting paper that I would not have seen the problem either.   So the lesson is know your equipment.  Know it when you are setting up, know its operational limits and possible faults.  My plan is to work on this test again this month.

December 16, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

December 16, 2021 /

One of the few things I don’t mind too much is Christmas shopping for the sportsman on the list. I did a lot of looking around last weekend not because I needed to but because I wanted to. I thought that I would give a summary of my observations today.  Between the run on firearms and ammunition to the supply chain issues I got a general sense of how things are fairing.

I wrote about the gun show earlier this week.  This particular one happens twice a year and happens to be my geographically closest, perennial show.  It also happens to be regarded as one of the best in the state, so I usually make a point to go even though I never buy anything.

The truth was I was looking for a few items.  I was looking for shotgun slugs for my next range trip. I am waiting for some on order but I also wanted a different style as well.  The way things are going these days between availability and quantity limits, it is very difficult to find all of what you want in one transaction.    I was also looking for reloading components, specifically powder.  

Here is what I saw

  • Firearms – Some of the same players were there.  The Old West Colt dealer was there.  He had his $3000 Peacemakers and his selection looked as healthy as ever.  The big, show dealers were absent.  Typically, these are regional dealers that take 3-6 tables and have that many new firearms.  The single table, 7-8 hunting rifles for sale seemed to also be missing.  The side racks usually hold the ‘value’ purchases.  Most of what I saw there were surplus bolt actions, the Mosin-Nagants, Mousers, 1903 Springfields and the prices weren’t bad.  Overall, I would estimate 50% less firearms than normal.
  • Ammunition- Typically there are several vendors that are selling ammunition only.  Sometimes they are reloads, sometimes they are just a selection of factory new.  There were no vendors of this description.  Ammunition in general was pretty scarce.  What was there was no deal, I would say above even market rate which is probably why it was still available.  Components faired worse.  I saw almost no powder, or bullets or primers.  I saw 1000 primers for $144.  That is 4x what I paid two years ago.
  • Knick-Knacks – I wouldn’t say that there any more dealers there than normal.  I would describe the most prevalent tables as dealers that had 5-20 firearms and 75% of the table space was other sporting goods.  I would describe it as a sort of a flea market or bizarre of related goods.  It is kind of fun to see once in a while but largely more of a time waster.  There was one dealer that had several tables of cheap knives, that was new.  There were several dealers of knives only which is unusual.

Because I failed at finding slugs at the gun show, I checked several other places.  Sportsman’s Warehouse had no slugs and no reloading components other than bullets (which selection does seem to be improving slightly). It seems like 9mm is available now, albeit the price is three times what it was and you are limited to two boxes per purchase.  As I said before, I don’t own a 9mm but it is the bellwether being probably the most common and cheapest centerfire caliber.  They even had some 22LR, the price was $50 for a 500 bulk pack which I last bought for $15 two years ago.

I next checked a regional chain called Coastal Farm and they did have slugs with a limit of two boxes.  A box is five slugs and I want five boxes (25) for my sight in test and to have a box or two in reserve.  This chain has several stores in our region so I went to another nearby town.  They also had slugs, but they restricted me to one box.  So, technically I have enough to do my test and that is it.  I suppose the good news is that I paid $8 a box which seems to be the best price I have seen.

In between the two, I went to a local pawn shop that I have had good luck.  They did have a couple boxes of slugs for $10 a box.  I wish I would have bought them based on how the rest of the day went.  They were busy with other transactions and no one was behind the gun counter, so I left. 

I will say it again, but when checking ballistics, having one lot (and brand) of ammunition is important for consistency purposes.  Now that I have surveyed the state of affairs, it will be really difficult to achieve this in this in the current times.

End Your Programming Routine: I am hearing on the national radio shows that the shortage is getting better.  The ammo/component makers are saying that they are making more than ever, yet the shelves still seem to be bare. The reason any ammunition is on the shelves, it is two – four times what it was. My analysis says that it might be infinitesimally better.   You might be able to buy something, be prepared to pay significantly more and don’t expect a lot of choice in load and bullet.

I saw slugs available in September right before hunting season but the way these things go, that will be the last time I see them on the shelves until next hunting season.  I think that we have a long way to go.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see it still a problem in 2023.