Lately, shopping for .22 Long Rifle cartridges has made me a little nostalgic for the days of yesteryear, when .22 was much cheaper than .40 S&W. The price of a fastfood meal would buy 500 rounds of .22 Long Rifle ammunition, or as we used to call it, a few hours of shooting.
Things have changed! Bricks of .22 LR were going for $80 to $100 each at our last gun show, when you could find them. I thought it was outrageously expensive, until I found it online for $189.99.
If I had only known in the late 1990s how much the under-appreciated .22 LR would be worth today, I’d be rich. Obscenely rich!
Yes, $9.89 was a high retail price for 500 rounds of .22 LR, but the sale prices were good.
UMC .22LR Bicks were $6.99 in the 90s (about 1998)
I wonder if my bank knows how much ammo is stored in their safe deposit boxes now?
Jacqueline and I volunteered to promote 2nd Amendment rights at a gun show this weekend. The show is fairly small for the Phoenix metro area and it tends to have older guns and an older clientele. A family of ‘gun show tourists’ (non-gun owners) stopped at the table to talk to us, because we “looked normal” (our wookie suits had just been picked up from the cleaners). I looked around and saw nothing that looked abnormal, then I noticed the vendor across the aisle with a President Obama dressed as Hitler T-shirt. Ughh!
The sightseeing wife asked a ton of questions about guns, where to shoot, and how to pick out a gun. It was also clear that she was interested in protecting her family, and target shooting, and learning what-in-the-hell this gun culture thing is all about.
After talking to her about guns for at least five minutes, the woman finally noticed that we were both open carrying. I don’t know how anybody could miss the purple Elsie-nine on Jacqueline’s hip. As we talked about buying a gun, the conversation took a strange turn:
Woman: Do you actually own another gun?
Me: Yes, of course.
Jacqueline: We have a gun for each purpose.
Me: Different guns for different purposes.
Woman: Purposes? <BLINK!>
Me: Yes, it depends on what you want to do with a gun.
Woman: ????????????? <ZOT!!!>
Me: What do you want to do with a gun?
Woman: <Bug-eyed vapors! Bzzzt! ZOT!!!>
Me: Do you want a gun for target shooting? Hunting? Plinking soda cans in the desert? Long range rifle competition? A compact self-defense gun for concealed carry? Or a home defense gun?
Woman: (looking perplexed) I don’t know.
Me: That’s okay, figuring out what you want to do with a gun will help greatly in choosing the right gun. Give it some thought before you go shopping.
Jacqueline: While you’re here at the fun show, ask if you can pick up guns that you might be interested in buying. See how they fit in your hand and make sure you can reach the controls (slide release, magazine release, and trigger).
This back-and-forth went on for quite some time. We recommended she take her family to the Arizona Game & Fish Department Outdoor Expo to try different types of recreational shooting and guns, then take a NRA First Steps class, then go to a local indoor range on ladies night and try a variety of handguns until she found one she liked and worked well for her hand size, while fitting her intended use. Of course, she needs to practice with the gun to develop and maintain her skills.
Many people have been conditioned by years of dishonest anti-gun propaganda, yet they are interested in learning reality (and unlearning the propaganda). When I asked the woman what she wanted to do with a gun, it must’ve come across as, “who are you going to kill?” She was baffled and apprehensive about the question, but relaxed quite a bit when I mentioned four possible recreational uses. I think it was at that point she realized much of what she knew, just wasn’t true. You could almost hear the ‘pop’ of her paradigm shifting without a clutch.
My experience with this inquisitive woman was an important reminder that we can all be good ambassadors for gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment. We can’t write off the people who’ve been lied to by politicians and newscasters over the years. If you see lost and scared gun show tourists, stop and give them some help. They’re easy to spot, because they don’t look like normal fun show attendees.
You may be familiar with the idiom, Fast, Good, or Cheap, pick any two. In the current firearms and accessories market, you may not get any of those choices.
While much of the U.S. has been experiencing a gun, magazine, ammo, and reloading component shortage, there’s been a secret among shooters at Arizona ranges. Quietly whispered among shooters, “Psst, you can still get all the gun powder, primers, and bullets you need at normal prices from Bruno Shooters Supply in Phoenix.” Pretty soon, the secret was out and Bruno was slammed with orders, just like every other company in the firearms industry. On an Arizona shooting forum, Amy Bruno explained why prices are skyrocketing, phone calls go unanswered, and orders are taking much longer to ship:
Hello All,
I do need to clear the air. The reason that our prices keep going up is because the manufacturers are rarely shipping anyone product. We need to buy it from whomever has it in stock. Because of this, we have to pay shipping charges and Haz-mat fee just like you. This is what is raising the prices. It has nothing to do with manufacturers’ price increases. It has to do with the increase in our true COST. We try to at least have stock for you to buy.
In regards to Jason (my brother), he is there. He took time for a honeymoon, but he is still there. In regards to heating and cooling, we do not own the building. We rent. We have only the swamp coolers that they provide. These do not work in the summer. In the winter, we have one little heater. I am sorry that the climate is unbearable. It is for us too. Also, we never accept your payment without giving you a total first.
In regards to our hours, we are open from 8am-5pm Monday thru Friday. Sometimes we leave 5 minutes early. Sometimes we stay 4 hours late. We do not have the staff to be open all day every day.
Now onto the phone situation. As many of you know there are only 4 of us there. We have chosen to leave the door open to walk in customers and not accept calls.
As of today, we have over 2000 orders (we now measure in reams of paper). We are at least 2 weeks behind in even looking at your order. Once we get to it, if we are out of something, we will call or I will email you. Assuming most of you are local, this will not apply to you but I will say it anyway. Orders for non HAZ-MAT (powder and/or primers) orders will ship in about a week as long as everything is in stock. Orders for primers and anything else BESIDES powder will ship in about 3 weeks. Orders with Powder and any other item will ship in about 6 weeks. The reason for this is because no vehicle can have more than 100 pounds of smokeless powder on it. This means UPS. We have already 2 trucks coming daily. This means we can ship 200 pounds of powder a day. Considering the circumstances, this is a drop in the bucket.
We are not accepting calls because we cannot get to our orders if we do. We would be unable to wait on customers if we do. Next to go is the website and as a last resort, we will lock the door to walk-in customers until we can get caught up. We are trying to avoid both of these situations and are doing the very best that we can. We ask that you do not call or come in or email to check order status until at least 3 weeks have passed. We will contact you, we promise. We also have chosen not to ration or hit you with limits like the other stores. We may not be well-lit, or temperature controlled. We may not have a public restroom or lots of parking. But at least we have things that you need (most of the time) in stock so you can shoot.
I think Ms. Bruno’s honest explanation applies to the current industry-wide shortages of firearms and components. Major national dealers have also struggled with providing accurate inventory availability online, responding to customer inquiries, backorders, and prompt shipping. The order systems are under a severe stress test and seemingly minor system limitations are showing up as major weaknesses. The demand for these goods is unprecedented and overwhelming! Even industry heavyweight Brownells has had to revise their order tracking system in attempt to keep up with the avalanche of orders.
Hopefully, manufacturers are not running their production lines beyond their capabilities too.
Local gun stores here, even large dealers, are placing ads essentially begging to buy guns from the general public. Dealers are trying to stock their shelves for customers, but when those dealers have to buy at inflated street prices, then add their margin, the retail prices have to go up and the cycle repeats. Eventually, supplies will return to normal, prices will come back down, and the industry will make their customer service / ordering systems more robust to handle surges in demand.
It’s been a few weeks since we returned from the 7th Annual Gun Blogger Rendezvous, and I think I have finally recovered from the non-stop, awesome shooty goodness that took place over the three days that we attended. It was well worth the time and expense to fly out to Reno, Nevada, and we’ve already decided that this will be a must-attend event for us next year.
Our host, Mr. Completely, did an outstanding job of putting Gun Blogger Rendezvous together, and I’d like to thank him profusely for his efforts. All of the activities went off without a hitch (and there were a ton of them), and there seemed to be just enough time to get a bit of rest in between the many scheduled events and festivities.
The best part about Gun Blogger Rendezvous was not only having a great time with other bloggers/shooting enthusiasts, but also supporting a very worthy cause: Project Valour-IT. Mr. Completely, once again, did an incredible job of putting together a fund raiser raffle with a prize table that rivaled many larger events I’ve been to. We all dug deep in our pockets to give as much as we could – the ice bucket overflowed with medium to large bills, which brought a tear to my eye and made me feel very proud to know that we built that!
So, thanks again to Mr. Completely, the sponsors and all the attendees (and Robert) for putting up with me at the 2012 Gun Blogger Rendezvous, I enjoyed every minute of my time meeting, talking and shooting with everyone and I’ll be posting more about my favorite moments of GBR throughout the month.
A newly minted gunblogger claims to see chauvinistic and hostile behavior towards women everywhere in the shooting community. It would be terrible if the stories of sexism were true, rather than the rare exception, but the blogger stands by the claims.
I was baffled about these stories of sexism and chauvinism, but then I remembered this Dilbert cartoon by Scott Adams I’ve had tacked up on the refrigerator for the last 16 years.
It’s time for the annual Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association (ASRPA) dinner on Saturday June 2, 2012. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, you have until early Wednesday afternoon on May 30th to get your tickets to this very special Arizona Centennial dinner.
You can purchase dinner tickets online at www.ASRPA.com.
Dinner, raffles, speakers, and festivities will be at:
5:00pm Social hour
6:00pm Opening Prayer, Pledge, and Introductions
6:10pm Dinner
6:30pm Special Arizona Speakers Jack Harper, Matt Salmon, Sylvia Allen, Col. (ret) Costa Tzavaras
7:15pm High Achievement Awards for ASRPA Junior Shooters.
7:30pm Special Guest Speaker Nick Adams
8:00pm Raffle Ticket Winners
8:15pm Alison’s 27th Annual Auction
9:00pm’ish Adjournment
ASRPA has a great list of speakers lined up, including former Congressional Representative Matt Salmon, Arizona State Senator Sylvia Allen, Arizona Representative Jack Harper, and Col. Costa Tzavaras and a special guest speaker from Sydney, Australia, Nick Adams. The evening’s theme is American Excellence and a celebration of our 100th year of Statehood.
There are also some great raffles where you can win:
The Arizona Rangers Firearms set. An authentic Charcoal Blue and Case colored .45 Colt Peacemaker (Cimarron/Uberti) with 4 3/4″ barrel and holster PLUS the “Gun that Won the West”, the 1873 .45 Colt lever action rifle with 24″ barrel, Charcoal blue and case colored.
The “Tip Top Mine Armored Coach Package. A 12 guage 3inch double trigger, exposed Rabbit Ear Hammers, 20” barrels, canvas sling with shell loops, and canvas duster case.
A special Nick Adams Downunder edition of a Sharps Long Range Rifle.
My Hi-Point 995 9mm carbine torture test is complete. I didn’t set out to conduct a torture test of the Hi-Point carbine, it just happened. I wanted a cheap, pistol-caliber carbine for shooting a tactical carbine/shotgun match at Phoenix Rod & Gun Club, to see if this was a discipline I would want to spend my time and money on. The rifle retails for only around $250 or less, making it much cheaper than a 9mm AR platform rifle for “testing the water”.
Danno, over at SandCastle Scrolls, appeared at the range on the day I was sighting in my new carbine. I couldn’t stop giggling as I created a jagged hole in the upper A-zone on a USPSA target. This proved to be way too much for Danno, as he explained in his Very Short Play in Three Scenes.
I had more than 15 rounds stuffed into the ProMag magazine. The mag hit the ground when I racked the slide. I shot the same match the following week, loading the aftermarket mags with only 14 rounds, and didn’t have any malfunctions.
I’ve shot all but one of the monthly matches in the last year, but I haven’t bothered to upgrade to a different carbine. I haven’t even taken the time to clean the one that I have. Over a year, and more than 1,000 rounds later, I’ve finally started to have a small problem with my American made rifle. At last night’s match, the bolt needed a slight tap to get the gun to go into battery for the first round on each stage. Despite the extra required nudge during loading, the rifle shot flawlessly and has never had a malfunction that wasn’t traceable to aftermarket magazines.
The little burp going into battery meant the rifle was telling me something. It was ready for a cleaning and maybe some oil. Once stripped, I was surprised that there wasn’t a pile of broken parts inside, but it was filthy.
More than a year of shooting without maintenance and it’s still cruising.
It took almost two hours to get all of the gunk out. The gunk included some of the receiver paint that had peeled off and blended into the burnt powder gunk.
It turns out that over 1,000 rounds of the cheapest, nastiest ammo I could use, fired during scorching hot duststorms and freezing rainstorms, had made the rifle dirty (shocking isn’t it). That little carbine still ran and fired every time the trigger was squeezed.
I don’t think I could ask for much more from any rifle. In fact, at every carbine match in the last year, I’ve watched rifles with much better pedigrees and significantly higher price tags malfunction on every stage. This brings me to the most important reason for cleaning the little rifle that could. True Blue Sam is hosting a Hi-Point e-postal match for November. If you have a Hi-Point carbine, join in and see how your shooting skills compare to others.
I am impressed with this inexpensive American-made rifle. It works reliably every time. If you want a fun little carbine that will shoot 9mm hollow points and is compact enough for home defense, or need something for tactical pistol-caliber competition, the Hi-Point 995 is a great choice. It is a fun little rifle to shoot for grins and giggles, that also could be considered as an affordable home defense option.
