ProArms News & Views

While at a recent dealer purchasing show I had the opportunity to talk with some representatives from various ammunition manufactures.

What I discovered was enlightening. The current ammo shortage did not start in October 2008, that is just when it it finally hit the consumer in a hard way. The shortage had started over 18 months before that.

What I learned was that with the on going war in the middle east our country’s military ammo stock pile around the world had been depleted.

Since the government does not produce any ammo any longer, that production has been taken over by the private sector. The military demands created a heavy burden on production by itself. Along with our military demand one of the major ammo manufactures landed a very large foreign contract. This kind of contract could not be filled piecemeal  but had had to be shipped whole. I could not find out the amount of ammo in the contract only that it was a VERY large order.

With the strains already placed on the ammo manufactures for military production, civilian inventories were already very low. Now one of the major ammunition suppliers has to divert most of it’s production to fill a large contract. At a time when production is running at almost full capacity and 30 to 40 percent of the ammunition is diverted to someplace else, the rest of the manufactures can not compensate for the domestic loss of product.

The industry line is that we are producing ammo as fast as we can. This I believe is true, but there are some factors that are out of the ammo companies control.

Being in the outdoor power equipment industry for 27 years I have been able to visit a number of the factories that produce mowers, trimmers, chainsaws, ect. The ability to produce whole goods or loaded ammo relies on the raw goods suppliers as well.

When Winchester or ATK (Federal, CCI, Speer and Blazer) decide to ramp up production they can probably go at it for a little while with existing inventory of raw materials. When these raw materials are depleted they have to wait for more. In today’s world manufacturing inventory is managed in an on time delivery schedule, meaning that we do not stock pile product that is not sold anymore. This does not only apply to completed goods but raw material all the way back to the supplier of raw goods.

When an ammo company wants to increase production they have to rely on their suppliers to provide them the raw materials for that production. Folks this is not something that can happen in a week or even a month it takes time.

Now with such a hole sucked in the supply it is still going to take awhile to refill the pipe line. The best estimates I heard for the supply of ammo to return to normal levels was 12 to 18 months. Now with Winchester supplying up to 200 million rounds to the Department of Homeland Security, the civilian and domestic law enforcement market is taking another hit in ammo supplies.

Another factor is the media, seems like it was back in September somebody notified MSNBC that there was an ammo shortage in the commercial market. This happened at a time when we as a retailer were starting to see a little better supply of ammo. MSNBC was only about eleven months late in report. The report started another feeding frenzy by people not aware yet of the ammo shortage and depleted any product that was starting to build in inventory.

Tie a knot in your rope and hang on, hopefully we will be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel in the coming months. When the firearms started filling the pipeline it filled up fast. For those of us that shoot a lot, lets hope the same happens for ammunition.

I have been doing some thinking of late, given the new “craze” for small carry guns.  One can readily see the public wants something deeply concealable, which weighs a scant few ounces, and is of a reasonable self-defense caliber.

In the February 2010 edition of the American Rifleman, an article lists nine .380ACP (9-mm Short, 9-mm Kurz) offerings from several manufacturers.

I was always skeptical of the little 380.  Back in my days on-the-job, the 9-millimeter wasn’t doing all that well, absolutely more the fault of the FMJ ammo available at the time than the cartridge itself.   So how, I pondered, would the lesser powered 380 be?

I once bought a Mauser HsC from a retiring officer.  It looked so cool, made in Germany!  I took it to my dad’s home to try it out, he then lived in rural Staten Island.  I can’t remember which ammo I bought, but it was of FMJ design, 90-something grain bullet.  I tried it out on an old junker Ford Falcon which we had in the yard.  I was sadly dismayed at the total lack of penetration on the car door, or ability to puncture the old bias-ply tires the Falcon had.  My “lowly” service revolver in 38-Special did better.

Later, I bought a Manhurin 380, a French copy of the Walther PP.  Had more-or-less the same lackluster results from it.  Eventually both these steel-frame semi-auto were traded for something else.

Now, I’d owned a couple really small “hide-out” guns along the way.  I had a beautiful Baby Browning, a Colt, and an LWS Seacamp in 25 ACP. Thought I was going around armed I did!  Heck, most cops I’d worked with, myself included, carried a snub-nose 38 “off-duty”, and that was IT!  No speed-strips or loose ammo for a reload.  Thank goodness for the new training and awareness courses that show the need for these.

It was an odd belief, truly a conundrum.  Most all uniformed cops bemoaned the lack of stopping power and capacity of our 38 Spl. revolvers even with our twelve to eighteen available rounds to reload, yet were completely at ease with a 2-inch snubby.  Go figure.

I began in this fashion in retropect of what I used to carry versus what I now carry.

Now, I have several handguns which can firmly be said to be in the “major” caliber corner.  I’ve competed with and carried the big bores;  the 45’s, 10-mm’s & 40 S&W’s, 44-specials, and the 41-Magnum.  Certainly in regard to brute power I’d give the nod to the 10-mm.  But, in the case of the Glock models 20 and 21, they are large pistols.

But, it seems to me, even with all the available calibers and handgun sizes and configurations available today, (indeed there is something for everyone), my default or “go-to” combination is a Glock model 19, backed-up with an S&W model 442 in 38Spl.

I rely very much on Dr. James Williams’ excellent study, “Tactical Anatomy“, which clearly demonstrates the wound channels of the “major” players in self-defense handguns.  While I can see there is some small differences in the 9-millimeter projectiles (the 38-Spl/357-Mag/357-SIG, 9-mm Luger) to the 10-millimeter ones (the 40 S&W and 10-mm) to the 11-millimeter (well actually 11.45mm, the venerable 45-ACP and the newer 45-GAP), and there just isn’t that much to speak of.  The key of course, and it is no secret, is proper placement.  And, it’s just that friggin’ simple.

So, to me, and understand this has been a long and well travelled road for me, I’ve come to a point in my life where I feel comfortable and confident carrying the “nine” (thanks to the  ammunition available today, specifically the Winchester Ranger 127-grain +P+ load or similar) and my ol’ reliable, trusty 38 (loaded with the tried-n-true 158-grain lead, semi-wadcutter, +P hollowpoints.)

These two handguns are light enough to carry comfortably 12 to 14 hours a day if need be.  I prefer an IWB for the Glock (a Ted Blocker LFI-rig) and one of the pocket-holsters for the 442.

Are there better choices? more powerful choices?  Sure, and they’re fine-n-dandy.  But, consider carrying a big Glock model 20 or a Colt Government model – concealed.   Can it be done?  Yes, I’ve done it.  Was it as comfortable?  I’d have to answer no, not really.  Go further and consider recoil management.  Even loaded with the +P ammo, the nine is very gentle in the recoil department.  Actually, I feel more of a recoil impulse with the Airweight Smith.  The 10-mm and the 45’s recoil more.  The 40 S&W in a Glock model 27 has noticible recoil to me.

I like to practice.  I enjoy it.  I’m fortunate to be able to shoot locally; paper targets, steel plates and Pepper-poppers.  I reload most all of my target and practice ammo.  Store-bought ammo is expensive and self-defense ammo is becoming exhorbitant.  Nine mil and 38 special are less expensive to purchase and an absolute bargain if you handload.

In a very real sense, coming up on 38-years of “packin’ iron”,  I’m putting my trust in my choices for concealled carry options.  With my combination I feel I’ve done my homework, (I’ve used and carried many others), and looked at some good information and believe these will do-to-ride-the-river-with.  But, that being said, I will not use anything less than a true 9-mm Luger or 38-Special.

I know this is my own subjective opinion, but I cringe at much of the stuff being touted in the self-defense media.  Three-eighty’s and thiry-two’s are pretty lacking.  And, I can’t quite swallow how a load of 410 bird or buck shot, fired out of a very brief  pistol barrel, is somehow superior to a decent 38?

Human beings are tough and very resiliant.  In the worst case scenario, please give yourself a fighting chance of survival.  To paraphrase a popular commercial, “What’s in your holster?”

Thanks for the oportunity to offer my experiences and opinions.

Stay safe, & let’s look out for each other,

Mike

Tomorrow is the 7th annual National Ammo Day. The goal is for everyone to buy at least 100 rounds. Now some of you might say hasn’t that been going on all year? Hasn’t everyone already bought all the ammo they could get their hands on? Well yes, maybe.

Most calibers are still hard to find most places around the country including right here at ProArms. We do have ammo in all of the popular calibers except maybe .380. You may not find as wide a selection as in the past but this week is the time to buy at least 100 rounds and buy it preferably from your local stores, not the big boxes. If you can’t find that favorite 9mm or .45 load, get some shotgun shells, get anything you can use.

Christmas buying season is coming upon us. Kill two birds with one stone by purchasing ammo as “small gift” items for friends who own guns. It’s always appreciated, and those small, rectangular boxes are easy to wrap!
We keep hearing that ammo is becoming more available, but I have not really seen it while traveling around the country, and I visit gun shops everywhere I go. The ones that seem to have a good supply of ammo either stockpiled it early, like my friends at Maxon Range in DesPlaines, IL and mete it out in reasonable amounts so no one hoarder can buy it all up. Then there are some other places (who shall remain nameless) that have plenty of ammo but sell it at gouging prices. I hope everyone remembers who they are when this ammo crisis is over.

National Ammo Day is also a good time to let your representatives know what you are doing and why, and let them know how you support the Second Amendment and hope they will, too. There is a link on the National Ammo Day Website for contacting your representatives.

Pro Arms has a pretty good selection of ammo this week. Stop by the store and see what we have that you might be able to use!

A small sampling of  what is available at Pro Arms right now.