All Things Guns & Ammo

[Shyster]

Industry news:

SHOT Show 2021 has been canceled. A lot of smaller companies do a lot of business at SHOT, so that's a big hit. I assume all of the new product reveals will be online, although I don't expect gun companies to be introducing many new products at a time where they can't keep up with demand for what they already offer.

Kimber is moving its headquarters from Yonkers, New York to Troy, Alabama. About time. Now I'd like to see S&W move out of Massachusetts to a pro-gun state.

https://www.al.com/business/2020/10/kim ... -jobs.html

[mac5155]

7mm Rem Mag at 10 meters will absolutely obliterate a medium size pumpkin. Vaporizes the bulk of it and throws the remaining bits into a sphere with a radius of about 15 feet.

That was cool.

That reminds me, I have about 7 rotting pumpkins out front. Thanks for the tip!

[Shyster]

Reports are filtering out that the current heads of the ATF had a "transition" call with reps for the incoming Biden Administration. The ATF right now is headed by acting directors who come from the career-bureaucrat ranks and are personally hostile to gun ownership; they view the mission of the ATF as preventing gun ownership. Reports are that the ATF heads have recommended that the department reverse its past positions on pistol arm braces and 80% lowers. So we should probably expect notices declaring both of those items illegal once Biden is sworn in in January.

The mass effort to **** over gun owners is already underway.

ATF Brass Recommended Targeting Braces, 80% Lowers Under a Biden Administration
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/confi ... istration/

[mac5155]

Can one recommend any suggestions to purchase of tbose items?

[Shyster]

I tried to buy a SB Tactical TF1913 brace from Brownells for my Ruger PC Charger, but for some reason the brace was shipped via boat, and the boat sank, so the brace was lost in a tragic boating accident. So sad. I certainly don't own one now.

I've looked at 80% pistols in the past, but they don't interest me all that much. The vast majority of them are to build Glock-style guns, but I've never been a Glock fan, and once you buy the slide, barrel, and other parts to finish up the build, you end up paying more money than just buying a new Glock off the shelf. Plus, the demand on those is though the roof just as much as anything else. If I were to buy one, I like the looks of the GST-9 kits sold by 80 Percent Arms (https://www.80percentarms.com/) better than the kits sold by Polymer 80, but they've got so many orders that they're just now in November shipping orders that were placed in January.

[dodint]

I got it in my head that I want a Colt AR15A4. Only one I can find is $2,700.

[tifosi77]

I tried to buy a SB Tactical TF1913 brace from Brownells for my Ruger PC Charger, but for some reason the brace was shipped via boat, and the boat sank, so the brace was lost in a tragic boating accident. So sad. I certainly don't own one now.

I know a lot of people here in CA who own ARs with unmodified takedown pins that allow for reloads and 'features' on the weapon that have had that happen to them, too. That's so weird.

[Shyster]

Boats are tricky and dangerous. It's just so easy for tragic accidents to occur. So sad, so sad.

[Shyster]

The NSSF (the firearm industry trade organization) has just released its Firearm Production Report for 2020, which includes manufacturing data from 2018 and 2019. Here are the highlights:

In 2018, 11.4 million total firearms were produced or imported in the United States (less exported firearms).

Approximately one-half (48%) of all rifles produced and imported (less exports) in 2018 were Modern Sporting Rifles.

Since 1990, there are an estimated 19.8 million Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) in circulation today.

An interim 2019 estimate showed a total of 6 million total firearms were produced in the United States. Of those, 3.6 million were pistols and revolvers, 2 million were rifles and 480,000 were shotguns. Those are interim figures that will be updated when complete reports become available from the ATF.

In 2019, there were approximately 3.3 million firearms imported into the United States which included 2.3 million pistols and revolvers, 301,000 rifles and 678,000 shotguns.

From 1991 to 2019, nearly 214 million firearms have been made available to the U.S. market.

According to reports such as: ATF Firearms Commerce in the United States, ATF AFMER and Congressional Research Service data, there are an estimated 434 million firearms in civilian possession in the United States.

There are approximately 71.2 million pistol magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds, and 79.2 million rifle magazines capable of holding 30 or more rounds in circulation.

Firearm and ammunition manufacturing accounted for nearly 12,000 employees producing over $3.9 billion in goods shipped in 2018. An estimated 8.7 billion rounds of all calibers and gauges were produced in 2018 for the U.S. market.

These numbers don't include anything from 2020, which has smashed all prior records for firearm sales.

Vista Outdoor, which owns the Federal, CCI, and Speer ammunition brands, also recently announced that its order backlog is now up to more than a year's worth of production, with a value of more than $1 billion. I can't imagine that situation is unique to Vista. Unfortunately, that means that ammo prices and availability aren't going to get better anytime soon.

[mac5155]

Those are rookie numbers. We need to pump those numbers up.

[Jim]

I broke down and bought a .410 Judge. It was a bit of a Jim Rutherford move as they had no ammo for it... but I got the revolver anyway.

[Shyster]

Ha. Except for guns chambered in the more obscure cartridges, I think the "no ammo for it" status would apply to pretty much any gun these days.

[dodint]

My local gun shop is pretty cool. He keeps at least one box of every gun he has just to be sure the buyer ofnthe firearm leaves with something.

I have some 45LC in my stash but I think I am out of .410.

[Jim]

I know ammo is in short supply... but anyone have favorite websites for ammo?

[Morkle]

Gunbot/ ammoseek / /r/gundeals sometimes

[dodint]

Bud's is my go to, but they're big and subject to shortages.

[mac5155]

Ha. Except for guns chambered in the more obscure cartridges, I think the "no ammo for it" status would apply to pretty much any gun these days.

I enjoy learning about new calibers which my local gun shops have dusty boxes of ammo.

Today I learned about a 350 legend Winchester!

[Shyster]

That one's new. IIRC, it just came out this year. It's aimed at the handful of mid-west states that limit rifle hunting to "straight walled" cartridges. I don't see it being very popular here in PA where we have no such restrictions.

I also think Winchester screwed it up. It's basically a blown-straight .223 case using .35 caliber handgun bullets. When I first heard about it, I thought it would be super cheap and easy to handload and would make for a great mid-power plinking cartridge. There are plenty of .357 bullets on the market designed for heavy .357 Magnum and .357 Maximum hunting loads that would work perfectly. But instead of basically using .357 revolver bullets, Winchester made the bullets for the Legend .355 in diameter, which is the same as the 9mm Luger. I've heard Winchester did so because it was cheaper for them to make the new bullets in their existing 9mm equipment. But there aren't cheap/suitable 9mm bullets already on the market, so they made it much more expensive and inconvenient to handload. Bullet companies are going to have to make new, specific bullets for the .350 Legend. That's totally stupid, IMO, when they could have just used the fricking revolver bullets already out there.

[Shyster]

SAF and FPC have been recently been filing a flurry of lawsuits challenging anti-gun laws, including laws here in PA. The plan is to tee up new cases for the Supreme Court. I've already donated to both organizations this year. IMO, either one would be a much better destination for donor dollars that the NRA, which isn't going to see any more of my money until Wayne LaPierre is gone.

[Shyster]

NSSF: November 2020 Gun Sales Jump 45.2 Percent, Almost 2 Million More Firearms Sold
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/nssf- ... arms-sold/

The NSSF is estimating that nearly 2 million firearms were sold in November, with 541,000 of those sales in the five-day period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. 2020 continues to smash records for gun sales.

[Freddy Rumsen]

[Shyster]

According to the NSSF, there are approximately 19.8 million MSRs in circulation. There are an estimated 71.2 million pistol magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds in circulation, as well as 79.2 million rifle magazines capable of holding 30 or more rounds. Put a $200 tax on each, and that's a total price tag of $34.04 billion for US gun owners to be able to keep items they already own. And that's not counting rifle magazines between 10 and 30 rounds.

I'd also like to know how Biden thinks that the ATF would have the ability to put no less than 170 million guns and magazines on the NFA list when the ATF currently has a backlog that can last up to a year or more in an era when when the annual number of new items NFA is somewhere around 300,000. At that rate, it would take the ATF more than 500 years to work through the backlog. By then we'd probably be arguing about registering laser guns or photon torpedoes.

[dodint]

Why would anyone need a photon torpedo for personal use. Pffft.

[Shyster]

Reports are coming out that the ATF conducted a raid/search on Polymer80, which is probably the leading maker of 80% handgun receivers. It sounds like the ATF has decided to reverse itself once again and assert that 80% lowers are firearms, or at least assert that the kits being sold by Polymer80 are firearms.

https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/202 ... host-guns/

This is not a surprise. The incoming Biden administration has signaled that it wants to attack on “ghost guns” as part of its new policy changes, and the ATF right now is headed by acting career officials that are obviously eager to get that policy change under way before Biden is even inaugurated. Those on the pro-gun side have known for decades that most ATF career officials view their mission as hindering and discouraging firearm ownership, not merely regulating firearms.

[DigitalGypsy66]