Recently in Ammo Category

'Greener' Duck Hunting Ammo: Depleted Uranium

More environmentally friendly than lead. Maybe.

This letter to the editor about California bill 2062 appeared recently in the Eureka Times-Standard:

The California Assembly voted to restrict lawful commerce in the state by outlawing the Internet sales of handgun ammunition (not excluding .22-caliber rimfire ammo). Assembly Bill 2062 states that transactions of more than 50 rounds a month will require a permit, which may be granted by the Department of Justice after a $35 application fee and background check, and up to a 30-day wait.

Vendors also face complicated permitting and extensive background checks on their employees. Left with huge exposure to liability, many stores will not sell ammunition. Handgun ammunition sales will require registration within a central database crosschecked with the firearms you own, and data will be included in your driver's license magnetic strip.

This complicated and draconian legislation contains over 6,000 words and sounds like something Mr. Hitler would have dreamed of before sending many of his constituents off to concentration camps.

It will do nothing to prevent crime, and only eliminates access to target practice and organized pistol and .22 rifle competition. Government and police, of course are exempt, further driving a wedge between the common citizen and our protectors.

Please read AB 2062 and contact State Senator Patricia Wiggins urging a no vote on this erosion of commerce and freedom.

Yes, the letter suffers for a Hitler comparison, but otherwise is solid. California AB 2062, noted recently here, is just one of many ammunition restriction efforts underway across the nation.

Phoenix, Arizona:

A homeowner shot and killed a suspect who was allegedly trying to break into his West Valley home early Thursday morning.

It happened at about 1:30 a.m., in the area of 59h Avenue and McDowell Road.

Police said the family of four was asleep at the time.

The homeowner reportedly woke up when he heard somebody kicking in the door. That man grabbed his shotgun and waited near his bedroom door.

When the bedroom door swung open, the man said he saw a man with a gun. That's when he opened fire.

That suspect died on the scene.

When you're talking home defense, I sure don't think anything beats a shotgun. Just racking a 12 gauge is sure to give a lot of invaders a moment of pause, and very few are going to stand in the line of fire even against birdshot.

Shotgun shell image from IHEA.

For the purposes of discussion, I've adopted a stance of "Yes, our troops should switch to hollow point expanding ammunition and I don't care if the enemy does the same."

Go weigh in over at MO.

I'm not sure who he is or if he's going to be a regular contributer, but Accurate Slug Shooting Made Easy by Michigan Slugger over at The Firearm Blog is a great first post.

Go check it out.

Has anyone tried this stuff out?

The experts at Winchester have combined top ballistic technology and performance with realistic training to give you the SXZ Personal Protection and Training System. This handgun ammo system combines high-performance hollow point personal protection rounds designed for maximum stopping power with specially matched training rounds engineered to match the ballistic performance, feel, and function for ultra effective and realistic practice and training. Both the training and personal protection tactical rounds feature Winchester's Lubalox® black oxide bullet coating to protect your gun's barrel from fouling and reduce the number of needed cleanings and keep the bullet's jacket like new. The specially designed SXZ training rounds feature a special truncated cone design that provides the same feeding, feel, accuracy, and recoil of the SXZ personal protection rounds.

Features:

• SXZ tactical ammo system - top ballistic technology and performance
• System combines powerful Personal Protection rounds with specially designed training rounds
• Training rounds match feeding, ballistic performance, accuracy, and recoil of the personal protection rounds
• System allows for more effective and realistic training
• Both rounds feature Winchester's Lubalox bullet coating
• Lubalox protects bullet and protects gun barrel shot after shot from fouling - fewer cleanings
• Personal Protection rounds feature hollow point design for maximum stopping power

California Assembly to Consider Severe Restrictions on Ammunition Sales

NRA-ILA:

On Tuesday, April 8, the Assembly Public Safety Committee will consider legislation that would require gun owners to obtain a "permit-to-purchase" before buying handgun ammunition.

Introduced by State Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-45), Assembly Bill 2062 puts ammunition sales in the crosshairs. AB2062 would require that law-abiding gun owners obtain a permit to buy handgun ammunition and would impose severe restrictions on the private transfers of handgun ammunition. Applicants for a "permit-to-purchase" would be required to submit to a background check, pay a $35 fee, and wait as long as 30 days to receive the permit.

Under AB2062, it would be unlawful to privately transfer more than 50 rounds of ammunition per month, even between family and friends, unless you are registered as a "handgun ammunition vendor" in the Department of Justice’s database.

If you wanted to sell your brother-in-law a hundred rounds of ammunition, you'd need to get his right thumbprint on the paperwork and pay the state a $3 tax.

Related:

• 'Please turn in all non-compliant ammo'
• Get the Ammo
• Strong Opposition to Hawaii HB 2999
• Scary Ammunition
• No license required to buy bullets?
• More on Arizona Senate Bill 1214

Via Sebastian.

Yeah. Right.

Something I didn't follow up on enough at the SHOT Show is Hornady's new 6.5mm Creedmoor:

From Hornady:

The 6.5 Creedmoor was designed to allow any shooter to compete at the highest level with factory-loaded ammunition. Built for match rifles, including the Tubb 2000 and DPMS LR Series, its case is slightly shorter than the 260 Remington, eliminating any “Cartridge Overall Length” issues when using 308 Winchester length magazines.

It's going to run about $1.60 per round. Here are the numbers:

Steve Johnson points out a bunch of new Hornady stuff, and you can check out a video (including a section on the 6.5 Creedmoor) here.

7.62x39mm Russian
Wolf FMJ

While wandering around I came across this article by Jeff Riley on the Buckeye Firearms Association page: Brady Center calls for ban on popular hunting ammo

It was written in December in response to a Brady Bunch statement after the shootings in Omaha, Denver, and Colorado Springs, which included this bit:

Perhaps even more shocking, the type of bullet many assault weapons fire (7.62mm full metal jacket) can penetrate four categories of police body armor. There is no legitimate reason the public should have this kind of access to military-style assault weapons.

Riley replied to this "shocking" statement with

Not content to go after assault weapons, now they are going after any bullet that can penetrate body armor.

And as usual, they're trying to sway public opinion with inaccurate, misleading, and provably false information.

In his blog, Brady bunch leader Paul Helmke references a National Institute of Justice report on soft body armor protection, but incorrectly identifies the type of bullet used in the shooting. The report references the 7.62 NATO round (.308 Win) in the testing, but the round used in the Omaha shooting was a 7.62x39 Russian. He also neglected to inform his readers that the test he refers to is for soft body armor, which is designed to stop handgun rounds only. It was never intended to stop rifle rounds. This is a telling mistake, as the Brady Center doesn't care about providing accurate information - only hysterical information.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Now that they've failed miserably to get everyone's guns, they're going to be shifting their sights to the ammunition. They'll lie about the ammunition used in crimes when they can to make it look a lot scarier than it really is, then they'll try to convince the public that no one needs that scary ammo. If they can't ban it, they'll restrict it in some way, maybe by requiring special permits to buy it or by limiting the amount that one individual can purchase.

If they manage to get their scary ammo (and I don't think they will), they will suddenly notice, for the first time ever, that hunting ammunition is far more powerful than the "high powered assault weapon" ammo they've just successfully restricted.

Riley writes

What you call a 'deer rifle,' they refer to as an 'intermediate sniper rifle,' which they define as "any rifle with an optical sight making it capable of shooting at distances of 100 meters or greater". For those who thought anti-gunners were only after "assault rifles" now they want to ban your granddad's deer gun.

Via Alphecca: Mark Plischke, Legislative Co-Chair for the Hawaii Rifle Association, publishes some clear criticism of some omnibus gun control legislation being considered in the Aloha State. In particular, I noticed this:

2) The requirement that a purchaser of ammunition provide proof of ownership of a firearm for the ammo being purchased arose 2 sessions ago. There was “room filling and overwhelming” opposition to this issue, and the citizens of Hawaii have already made their opposition to this idea well known.

This is utterly ridiculous. As I've said before, gun control advocates are waking up to the fact that they've lost most of the battles to take the guns, so now they're targeting the ammunition. I expect this campaign will be waged on many fronts simultaneously, with some going after "assault weapon"-type ammo on the grounds that "no one needs military ammunition," some will go after the basic right to buy ammo (as seen here in Hawaii HB 2999), some will go the "serialize the bullets" route as seen in the just-derailed Hawaii SB 2020, and finally others trying to limit the amount of ammunition any one individual can buy.

On Monday, Dr. Maxwell Cooper, another Legislative Co-Chair for the Hawaii Rifle Association also published opposition to HB 2999, in particular arguing against limits on .50 BMG rifles.

Cryptic Subterranean writes about the coming push for a Sniper Rifle Ban:

...this would include pretty much all optics and bolt action rifles, as one of their tactics is to re-classify rifle ammunition as armour piercing if it defeats body armour, even if that body armour is only designed to protect against handgun ammo only.

I commented

I suspect that the antis are ramping up for an anti-ammo campaign, to begin with regulation and then banning of 'assault weapon'-class ammo. Once this is accomplished, they will suddenly notice, for the first time ever, that hunting rifles are far more powerful than 'assault weapons.'

"If the 5.56 was so dangerous it needed to be banned, surely the .308 and .30-06 should be, as well..."

After all, who need s "sniper rifle" or "armor piercing ammunition" for self defense? (Never mind that those the 2nd Amendment was written to protect against were agents of legal authority.)

The antis have failed miserably stopping concealed carry. They've failed miserably with the Assault Weapon Ban. They've failed miserably every time they've tried to take the guns.

So they'll try to take the ammo instead.