After the last .22 "shortage", I did just that and after the prices dropped I would buy one brick every few months. We used to shoot a lot, but not so much now, and found that I will likely never have to buy .22 shells again in my lifetime. I would like to shoot my .223/5.56 more, but will have to hold off until I can replace them.
It's all FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). It's the same as toilet paper selling out at the start of the pandemic, and many stores still having 1-per-customer limits. There's no rational reason people need to buy that much ammo or toilet paper. It just makes them feel better - like they're doing something.
Hunting alone is a $12B industry. You cannot convince me "the libs are coming" to take that away, and "open your eyes" statements don't carry any weight with me. My eyes are wide open. If you look at who's behind those statements, they ALL make money off the firearms industry one way or another. There's a reason what little ammo you can get is $3/round, but it's not "thuh libs" that did it.
I'll wait this one out. I stocked up when ammo was cheap, because it was cheap. I'll wait for it to be again.
I saw a video showing all the excess lumber, that this country supposedly doesn't have, stockpiled next to rail yards. Is our excess ammo and supplies being stockpiled somewhere?
Part of the problem is the lack of truck drivers. It doesn't mater how much you produce if you cannot get your product to the store shelves. There has been a growing shortage of truck drivers for over 5 years, Covid made a big problem a huge problem. Every month it is getting harder and harder to have our products delivered to our customers.
A friend of mine drove for Walmart and he then retired.
6 months later they called him and asked him to come back. With what he is making a year and if he works 5 more years he will have one real nice nest egg to actually retire on. People can say what they want about Walmart but listening to him they treat their drivers pretty good.
My son owns his own trucking business(he owns his tractor and contracts to a freight hauler). He is really busy and does real well financially. He told me that the new computerized log books and drug testing has really depleted the driver pool. There is a shortage of drivers for sure.
I gas up at a lot of truck stops while traveling, and even knowing that the truck drivers have to pass a "health test", I would guess than many of them are in the high risk category. I know that I couldn't spend the time that they do every working day of their lives without ending up weighing 300 lbs. Saying that though, I respect those guys and gals as a solid necessary core of this country, and we couldn't survive without them.
Back when I had a class C license I found that the DOT annual physical was not that hard to pass. They checked my eyesight, and heart, then then stood a short distance away and whispered a few words and asked me to repeat them. In all it took around 5-10 minutes to complete.
It was just another hoop that we had to jump through to obtain that license but there was nothing very strenuous about it.
That's the truth, back when I was playing sports we had a doctor that would do a 5 minute exam and charge us a buck. I think that he had us jump and down for 30 seconds or a minute. He passed everyone.
That's the truth, back when I was playing sports we had a doctor that would do a 5 minute exam and charge us a buck. I think that he had us jump and down for 30 seconds or a minute. He passed everyone.
That was true in High School. When I was playing college football, team doctor looked you over pretty good when you had an injury. If it was serious, he was the boss. Minor stuff, the coach told him what to do. I am sure things have changed a lot since I played in 1959 to 1963.
I am headed to Denver on Thursday and plan on hitting a few stores both large and small and take a look at what they have. According to their web sites they don't have anything that I need but I'll look anyway.
I took stock of my reloading bullets and have enough to get me through next year and my African trip, that is as long as I don't go too crazy this coming summer with target shooting with my .340 but I do have around 60 rounds of it that I can use for practice. But I'll be shooting my smaller bores for a lot of that practice since I have plenty of those rounds and bullets to put new ones together.
I am going to work up a new load for my .300 Wby using a 150 gr bullet. I have plenty of bullets and primers, but might be a bit short on RL22 which is the powder I want to use.
I usually load 3 rounds of each load and see how it groups. Anyone use 2 round groups? That could stretch my powder a little.
I usually use 3 round groups when working up a load.
You could probably use 2 and then repeat the ones that look really good ... might not save much powder though.
I use 5 round to check the groups, I will also check the speed with a chronograph for my records.
I lucky in that I picked up 5 lbs of RL 22 a few years ago and still have quite a bit left. It is interesting in that the newest Barnes manual doesn't even list it for my .340 Weatherby loads. But my rifle likes it so it will be hard to switch if I need to
I have been using 3 shot groups for quite awhile. My .300 like RE 25 with 180 Nosler Partition. I am working up some 150's for deer. I also chronograph everything when I am working on a new load.
Since we are on the topic of reloading, I will admit that I'm no reloading expert but I shoot groups of 3 for testing and I am OCD to check to make sure that those three shells are as close to being the same as possible. COAL, SEAT, CHARGE, PP CLEANED, FLASH HOLE reamed and beveled to the exact same chamfer, ect ect
Excuse my ignorance of the correct terms above. lol
I really take time to make sure that my test rounds are 100% perfect so I can accurately gauge things.
I will also say that I notice that there is a bur on the inside of the case on the flash hole on a lot of brass....and I make sure to remove that bur so I get consistent fire going into the body of the case...
Also, one thing that I like about my 300 WSM Browning A-BOLT is that I can get a load that shoots consistently at max velocity, then I screw in and screw out the BOSS tuner and can DRAMATICALLY change the grouping size. This is a double edged sword for obvious reasons.
Sometimes I think about selling it and getting a fixed brake like the new BOSS HAWG thats on the new hells canyon long range but I just like that Silver gun and associated furniture too much.
