Ammo-unts

The Other Ryan did a post about ammo ammounts at totalsurvivalist.com in which he discussed the ammounts of ammo he thought was sufficient for each gun he had. My thoughts follow for MINIMUM ammo. Of course, more is always better.

Shotguns- 100 hunting rounds and 200 trap rounds for each hunting/ general use shotgun. If it is a dedicated defense shotgun, 150 rounds mixed buck and slugs. 100 rounds always on hand for training, and 50 on hand for fighting purposes.  I firmly believe for a defensive shotgun ( for all defensive guns really) you should shoot what you carry to practice with.

Rifle- for defensive rifles, 500 rounds. 250 ball, and 250 defensive ammo. Ball for most training, but 50 rounds of the same type you will fight with, so you understand how it functions in your gun. For a hunting rifle, about 200 rounds. All of the ammo should be what you hunt with.

Pistol- 500 rounds per pistol. If it is defensive, split this like you would for a rifle. If it is for range fun, it can all be ball, except for 100 rounds of defensive ammo, in case it needs to be pressed into service as a defensive gun at some point. While i don't have a strong opinion on fighting rifle magazines, i feel that you need a MINIMUM 3 mags for a fighting pistol, but more is always better.

.22cal- for all your various 22 weapons, i like to keep 500 on hand. Truthfully, 1000 would make me happier, but i have never had more than 700 on hand, and have never noticed a lack.

These numbers are just what I'm comfortable with, and are working numbers from personal use. Right now, i am flush on my rifle ammo stores, general use shotgun stores, and .22 Cal stores. I am short a bit on defensive pistol and shotgun stores. The pistol stores are short because i shoot as much as i reload, and the defensive shotgun stores are short because i have only had defensive shotgun for about 2 months, and am slowly working on building those stores.

Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Ammo

Tula Ammo costs $215.00 for 1000 rounds of FMJ 9mm. That's 21.5 cents per round of poor quality range ammo.

Wheel weights can be had around here for 25 cents per pound (I figure about 30 cents after you have processed it). 7000 grains in a pound, so getting a 124 grain bullet from it costs about .5 cents.

Powder cost me $28.00 for HS-6. I use 6 grains, and there, again, is 7000 grains in the pound of powder on my reloading bench. That comes to approximately 2.4 cents.

Primers run about $30.00 for 1000. That's 3 cents.

That's about 5.9 cents per round for the 200 I loaded yesterday.

21.5 - 5.9 = 15.6. That's 15.6 cents saved per round. Total savings of $31.20 on those 200 rounds. I have less than 5 hours total time invested in those 200 bullets. If my time investment is worth less than the difference between my cost per round, and the cost per round of cheap range ammo, my time investment was worth about $6.24, or a dollar less than minimum wage.

Being as how if you make minimum wage, you can't take home $6.24 after taxes, and being as I work a salary job, so I can't work extra to cover my ammo costs, I think I did good.

If I wasn't reloading ammo, I would have just spent those 5 hours goofing off anyway.

Reloading is a great way to shoot a lot more, for less dollars per round.

True story

So today, on the way home from school, riding with my son in the truck, we hear one of those 'seat belts save lives' ad campaigns. Boy-o looks at me and says

" sometimes, when I'm riding with Pawpaw, we will have been driving for 10 seconds, and I will say 'Pawpaw, you should put on your seatbelt, because it can save your life'."

I asked "What does Pawpaw say to thay?"

"Pawpaw says 'Yep, slick, you're right'."

If you knew my dad, you'd realize just how funny that is, because that is EXACTLY what he would say.

Kicked over my giggle box!

Gun Pron

Posted without further comment...

Range Day

I didn't have plans today, other than lunch at my pop's (a delicious pork loin!), but my buddy called at about 9:30 this morning, and asked if I wanted to hit the range about 2pm. After lunch, I headed to his house, and we proceeded to the local range.

I put another 100 rounds through my Kahr,  without a hitch. I also shot my .357 Marlin, and verified zero. It needs to be moved up an inch, and left 1.5 inches, but maintains a 6 inch group, if I do my part. Shot the Savage .308. With the Hornady SST bullet, I was able to keep a 10 shot group in about 1.5 inches, and I just wasn't on my game. Even so, that's a good 10 shot group, and if I was doing my part, it could have been half that size.

Met a man on the pistol range, and I let him have my brass. I have over 3000 pieces of 9 mm brass at the house, so I didn't mind him having the 200 there. He was grateful, and offered to let me shoot his Highway Patrolman. It was the 4 inch model, and it's an amazing gun to shoot. The Highway Patrolman  is a dead serious weapon, and his was an excellent example. It had the original stocks and a nice finish, with a little honest holster wear near the muzzle.

Then he let me shoot his K22, another beautiful Smith. It shot like a dream, and it is amusing to shoot a gun that heavy and not feel any recoil.

Last, he let me shoot a Kel-Tec Sub 2000. Man, those things will kick over your giggle box. A 9 mm carbine is absurdly fun.

I let him shoot my .357 Marlin, in thanks for his generosity. He shot at a soda bottle on the 50 yard berm, and smiled when it flipped over on his third shot.

I took a turn at it, and hit the bottle 4 out of 5 times. 100 yards is the outer limit for that gun, but at 50, it's every bit as accurate as the shooter can be.

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Boolits

Today, I cast more 9 mm bullets. I glanced at my watch when I started, and it was 2:17 when I cast the first one. When I got tired, I looked at my watch, and it was 3:16. I figured an hour of casting was good enough for now, and I had the added bonus of being able to figure out easily what my hourly cast rate was. I put everything away, and counted the bullets. I apparently cast 352 bullets per hour.

Huh. That ain't bad for an hour's work.

Knife

This little knife from Gerber is possibly the best idea ever. It uses cheap, replaceable razor blades, is super small, and costs about 12 dollars. This is the third one I have owned in the past 10 years, and I don't even care when I lose one because they are inexpensive. The quality is what you would expect from Gerber: a good product, considering that it's mass produced for a low price point. Generally I keep one for a few years, then lose it and buy another. Now, you want to carry a good knife, too, for serious knife work, but you don't dull your good knife opening boxes or bags of charcoal or what-have-you. And when the blade gets dull on this one, you throw it away and replace it.

Great product.

Ammo count

.308- 116
9mm- 197
.38 special- 296
.357 magnum- 85
.22 long rifle- 500 (approximately)
.410 gauge- 80
20 gauge- 113
12 gauge- 12
16 gauge- 250

I plan on making more 9mm, and once I have about 500 rounds, I will start working on .38, and bring it up to about 500 rounds, too. I need to make about 100 or so more rounds of .357, and obviously need to buy a good bit of 12 gauge. I also need some steel shot for my 16 gauge for duck hunting. Otherwise, I feel reasonably well about my current ammo stores.

New Shotgun

I ended up with this Mossberg 590 recently. It has all the "evil" features associated with "tactical" weapons. Bayonet lug, extended magazine tube, barrel shroud, collapseable stock, pistol grip, light and laser...

I'm going to replace the collapseable stock and pistol grip with a standard stock, because it makes the safety on a Mossberg as useless as tits on a boar, but otherwise, I'm going to leave it alone. It's going to become my work shotgun, and will ride in my unit.

I kinda like it...

Photo-Negative

One of the many things I love about leather holsters (and leather in general, for that matter) is that with a little imagination, you can "see" the gun that has been riding in a well-worn one.

Leather is an amazing medium, and there is a reason that top-quality holsters and belts are still made from leather.