The cheapest way to get it appears to be find a corrupt cop and buy it nalyevo.
Arts and Crafts
Ikea Ammo
Since we are getting tied into all of the holy grails of Internet gun arguments this month, I thought to myself, “Why not complete the circle and get people riled up about another one?”
Yep, reloading. I periodically hear from people who proclaim that reloading is the answer to whatever ammo discussion we are having, and I have even thought about doing it myself, but I just don’t see a reason to do it. I have blogged about reloading at least 4 or 5 times, but it’s been awhile, so let’s rehash it
There are a number of reasons given for getting into reloading ammo.
Cost Savings
I examined that back in 2020. To begin reloading, I would need to get the equipment, so right there you are looking at $400 for a progressive press set, and another $300 or so for tools and accoutrements. Then there is the ongoing cost of supplies:
| Item | Average Cost, $ |
| Small Primers | 70/1000 |
| Large Primers | 140/1000 |
| Gunpowder | 50/lb |
| Brass | 60/1000 |
| 9mm Bullets | 200/1000 |
| .45 Bullets | 400/1000 |
- all supplies sourced from Midway Shooters’ Supply
- Brass sourced from US reloading supply
- Also note that 10mm & 308 brass are out of stock
9mm were the cheapest bullets I looked at, .45 were the most expensive (even more than rifle), so I used those two calibers to give us a good range of costs. So even assuming that we can get the supplies, it costs an average of $620 for 1000 rounds of ammo to be reloaded, plus the cost of the press and equipment, which would be amortized across the ammo you reload with it. It also takes about 2 hours to load 1000 rounds of pistol ammo. More for rifle.
Buying quality stuff, I can buy ammo right now for:
| Caliber | cost $/1000 rounds |
| 62gr, .223 Green Tip | 570 |
| 150gr, .308 | 880 |
| 9mm FMJ | 200 |
| 9mm JHP | 330 |
| .45ACP | 320 |
| 10mm | 1250 |
Except for 10mm and .308, it costs more to reload the calibers I have than it does to simply buy it, and that doesn’t even include what my time is worth.
Shortages of Supplies
Yeah, I get that you can load ammo when it is unavailable commercially, but it’s also true that there can be shortages of primers, bullets, and other reloading supplies. I think this is a wash.
Risk
Reloading carries a risk. A person loading in their garage is more likely to make an error than commercial reloading. While it is a small risk, it can’t be ignored. If you are running a 4 Sigma reloading operation, then there is a .006% chance that a round will be improperly loaded. That seems pretty good until you realize that one round in every 17,000 will cause a problem. This doesn’t happen in commercially loaded ammunition because they use lasers and precision scales to make sure that defects are rejected before they are sent out.
Conclusion
That leads us to the end. The first thing we see from this post is that there are not many things that we haven’t already looked at in the nearly 7,000 posts and 18 years that this blog has been around.
With that being said, reloading remains a poor choice, at least for me. You may feel differently with regards to your own situation. If you like to sit at the reloading bench, then this may be a good way to spend a Saturday. Some people like to tie flies, some like to load ammo. To each their own.
Tranny Insanity
Gaslighting
A Congressional hearing was derailed when the Democrats refused to participate in the hearing because the Chairman ‘misgendered’ male Representative Tim McBride by referring to him as Mr. McBride.
Look, I don’t care if you identify yourself as a dog and insist on being called Snuffles, you cannot force me to participate in your delusions. Every time you get in a discussion with a tranny, they always try to gaslight you by claiming that gender and sex aren’t the same thing. That is complete and total horseshit. Gender has been the linguistic representation of sex since, well, forever. From the 1898 version of Webster’s dictionary:
GEN’DER, noun [Latin genus, from geno, gigno; Gr.to beget, or to be born; Eng. kind. Gr. a woman, a wife; Sans. gena, a wife, and genaga, a father. We have begin from the same root. See Begin and Can.]
1. Properly, kind; sort.
2. A sex, male or female. Hence,
3. In grammar, a difference in words to express distinction of sex; usually a difference of termination in nouns, adjectives and participles, to express the distinction of male and female. But although this was the original design of different terminations, yet in the progress of language, other words having no relation to one sex or the other, came to have genders assigned them by custom. Words expressing males are said to be of the masculine gender; those expressing females, of the feminine gender; and in some languages, words expressing things having no sex, are of the neuter or neither gender
Gender is from the word “engender,” a word which literally describes how something was created, caused, or born. If you have a Y chromosome, you were born with a penis, you are a man. There are only four lights.
Crime
Good Guys with Guns
A study of records shows that CCW holders stopped 180 of 515 active shootings in the decade that ended in 2023. When the study excluded gunfree zones, it turns out that there were 350 active shooters, and private citizens stopped more than half of all active shootings, did so with fewer lost lives, and fewer bystanders hit.
In fact, in those 180 shootings, only one innocent was hit by the CCW holder, only two of the CCW holders was killed, and none of them were of any hinderance to law enforcement. In 44 of those shootings, the CCW holder was injured.
Compare that to the police. In the 156 active shooters stopped by law enforcement, police accidentally shot the wrong person 4 times, killing fellow officers twice and private citizens twice. That’s more than double the rate of private citizens accidentally shooting a bystander.
During the events, 27 police were shot and killed while trying to stop an active shooter, a 7.7 percent rate, which is nearly six times higher than the rate for private CCW holders.
Guns
That was Fast
I efiled my Form 4 to get a new suppressor on Monday, March 10 at 1:00 pm. It was approved at 6:45 pm the next day, a turnaround of 29 hours.
Firearms
Brand Wars
When it comes to the gun world, there are few things that cause disagreements more often than brand wars. I have said before, and I continue to say that there is no such thing as a brand that is perfect for everyone. There are, in my opinion, models or even brands that are too unreliable to be good for anyone.
Grip angle
The angle of a handgun’s grip to the plane of the barrel can vary from the 55 degrees of the Luger P08, to the 18 degrees of the 1911 and Smith and Wesson’s M&P autoloaders, or even 17 degrees of the old Ruger P95. Glocks have a grip angle of 22.5 degrees. Each person will have an opinion as to which one fits their and and shooting style.
Whichever grip angle is right for you will see the pistol pointing at the target without any conscious effort on your part. Here is how to check yours:
- Set up a target in a safe area (even if you shot it, the bullets wouldn’t go through and hit someone or something important).
- Unload your pistol.
- Present your gun at the target as though you were going to shoot it. Get a good sight picture.
- Lower the gun (or holster it, if you have one).
- Close your eyes. Present the gun again at your target.
- Open your eyes. Are your sights on target?
If they’re too high, the grip angle may be too steep.
If they’re too low, the grip angle may be too shallow. - Repeat this at least 5 times to be sure you get consistent results.
If all your pistols have about the same grip angle, you won’t have to adjust your aim when switching pistols. That is why all of my carry handguns are of the M&P line. You will get the same results if all of your carry pistols are Glocks, or Springfield, etc. As log as your grip angle is consistent, you can change handguns without a problem. If you change to a new grip angle, you can figure about 1,000 rounds to adjust to the new one. Pick a grip angle you are OK with and stick with it.
Bore Axis
Another thing that matters is bore axis. The bore axis is the distance between the top of the shooter’s gripping hand and the center of the barrel. In a pistol with a hammer, this distance can be quite large.
Note that the line of where the gripping hand is is located quite a bit below the center of the barrel. This forms a lever, with the fulcrum being where the web of the thumb grips the backstrap of the pistol, and the force being applied down the center of the barrel. This force causes two types of recoil- backwards through the barrel, and a bit of muzzle flip. The larger the bore axis, the more pronounced the muzzle flip. The greater the muzzle flip, the more time it takes to get your sights back on the target for a follow up shot. For most people, this won’t really be noticeable beyond a perceived increase in recoil.
The bore axis for the following handguns is:
- The 1911 has a bore axis of 1.75
- Glock 17 Gen 4 is 1.26 inches.
- Smith and Wesson M&P 2.0 is 1.41 inches
- Sig 320 is 1.78″
- Sig P226 is 1.80
As a general rule, striker fired pistols will have a lower bore axis than do pistols with a hammer, because the fire control group of a striker fired pistol takes up less room.
Grip Size
I have large hands and a pretty good grip strength. That means I can handle full powered handguns and double stack magazines. Not everyone funds this comfortable. Make sure that the grip of the firearm fits your hand. and easy way to do that is see if you can push in the magazine release with your gripping hand’s thumb without shifting your grip. If you can’t, that particular handgun may be to fat for your hand.
Another consideration is grip length. If you are gripping the handgun and your pinky finger is hanging in the breeze, maybe your hand is too large for that pistol. One solution is an extended magazine with a boot on it, like the ones they have on the Taurus Millenium.
Conclusion
There is a lot that goes into handgun design- the grip angle, the bore axis, the size and power of the cartridge, the weight of the handgun, and many other factors go into the perceived recoil, accuracy, and the speed of follow up shots. Combine that with the ergonomics, style, and skill of each shooter, and the interplay makes a virtual unlimited number of possible combinations, making a determination of the “best” pistol impossible.
If you don’t yet have a handgun, find a gun range that rents firearms. See if a gun owning friend will take you to the range and let you shoot a few of his guns. In short, don’t let someone else tell you what gun you should buy. The only things that should matter are:
- Is it reliable enough to go bang every time you squeeze the trigger?
- Can you reliably get multiple hits with it?
- Does it fire a cartridge that passes the FBI test of 12-18 inches of gel penetration? (This generally means 300 or more foot pounds of energy)
- Is it small enough to do what you want to do with it? (Carry, home defense, etc.)
- Pick a gun maker that offers a lifetime warranty. The pistols that they sell are generally pretty reliable.
- If you are a more experienced shooter, make sure that you can pass the 5 test with it- Draw and get 5 hits in a 5 inch circle at 5 yards in less than 5 seconds.
I have seen far too many gun store employees try to sell people guns that are obviously not right for them. For example, selling a small woman a tiny pink colored .357 magnum. Don’t let someone else tell you what you like and what you need. You are the only one who can determine that. Others can only guide you there, but at the end of the day, it is your decision to make.
Criminals
AOC Corruption
At this point, I am convinced that every elected official in both parties is corrupt.
- AOC had a Colombian ILLEGAL for a campaign aide.
- She used the power of her office to help him get a social security number.
- She gave him a job at $80,000/year.
- Then the ILLEGAL helped AOC get a $2.1 billion fund that gave $15,000 relief checks to ILLEGALS
- Can somebody PLEASE explain to me why she isn’t being investigated and arrested?
- What happened to all that “nobody is above the law” bullshit?
Criminals
Graft and Corruption
Trump talked about the graft and corruption that has been the modus operandi of our government when he mentioned that Stacey Abrams was one of the leaders of a coalition of NGOs that got $2 billion to reduce carbon emissions. The left immediately circled the wagons to say that Trump had been “debunked.”
“Stacey Abrams has not received a penny of this EPA grant,”
Of course there isn’t going to be a check that reads “kickbacks” or “corruption” in the memo line, but let’s look at what she herself had to say:
In 2023 and 2024, I led a program called Vitalizing De Soto. We worked in a tiny town in south Georgia to demonstrate that by replacing energy-inefficient appliances with efficient appliances, you can lower your cost. And in fact, we accomplished that for 75% of the community. They got appliances that are lowering their bills,
Look at the facts:
There are 400 people in Desoto, Georgia living in 125 households. If she bought new appliances for 75% of them, that makes new appliances for 94 households. She claims that each household got 6 appliances. At $2,000 per appliance, the entire project should cost no more than two and a quarter million. Setting aside the fact that this project to reduce electric bills through buying new appliances is an incredibly inefficient way to do it, one has to wonder how many people skimmed off the top, received kickbacks, and were paid inflated salaries.
If the goal is to get people to purchase new, energy saving appliances, all the government had to do was give a tax rebate for people who buy new appliances. Instead, this was obviously a Democratic strategy that used taxpayer funds to hand out freebies in the contested state of Georgia in the run up to the 2024 election. That funds were skimmed off the top and pain to corrupt politicians was also part of the plan. That’s how so many in Congress get rich.
Guns
Function Report
I took the M&P10 to the range today and put 210 rounds through it: 50 rounds of 180 grain FMJ, and 160 rounds of full power Underwood 180 grain XTP.
The Holosun worked great- it took 5 rounds to get it zeroed. After that, it held that zero with no issues. Recoil was snappy, but manageable, even with the full power loads. To me, it felt like firing my M&P45 with +P loads. I will admit that the checkering was chafing my shooting hand a bit by the end of the session. Still, I am able to put a 15 round magazine into the 10 ring (OK, I admit there were a pair of 9 flyers low in the 9 ring, indicating that I was anticipating recoil a bit) at ten yards in ten seconds.
The only issue that keeps me from calling it a defense gun is towards the end of the session, I had two failures to go completely into battery and two soft primer strikes. Examining the primer of the rounds showed that the primers had shallow dents. I put them back into the magazine and both fired. Maybe it is dirty burning ammo, maybe the weapon needs a good cleaning and lubrication, I don’t know. I just know that 4 failures to go bang in 210 rounds is not acceptable in a self defense pistol.
I spoke with my neighbor and we are going to go to a local outdoor range with a chrono and some gelatin blocks to see how well this ammo passes the FBI test. That probably won’t be for a month or two though. When we do that, I will run a couple hundred more rounds through it and see how it does.
For the last part of this post, I have to admit that I may have a problem. While I was leaving the range, I was looking at the suppressors. I cannot confirm or deny that a Dead Air Nomad may or may not have accidentally been added to my shopping cart. We will see how long an eForm 4 takes nowadays.
Uncategorized
That’s Odd
Twitter appears to be down this morning. It isn’t just me. Downdetector reports that it is not responding.