Still find .22mags and .22lr in limited amounts and have not seen the CCI Mini Mags I like so much in a very long time. Was in RK yesterday loading up on dog food before the panic buying starts again with the lock downs here getting underway again. Stopped by the gun barn and chatted for a bit. They had 3 boxes of .357mag 1 box of .357auto a couple of boxes of PMC .223 and a decent stack of 5 bargain buckets remington .22lrs and couple of pallets of bird shot and a couple of cases of small game field loads. in 20 and 12 gauge. A lot of AR platform chambered for .22LR Not a respectable shotgun on the wall and a fairly good selection of sidearms....... no ammo for them though LOL. LIke everything else prepping wise the best time to get it was when you didn't need it. I have a real bad feeling of impending doom coming down the tracks and everything in 2020 up to this point has been screaming Git Yer Sh!T Squared away SOON or yer not going to. I was in pretty good shape before Virus Mania and took the lessons of last spring to shore up the areas I was a bit weak in like ammo........ A blind man could have seen the run on guns and ammo coming..... more so after the civil unrest, riots, looting and burning started. If you don't already have yer weapons and ammo in order, my suggestion is get what you can that has ammo available. A 20 gauge with #7 or #8 is better than a rock or stick A .22LR 8 shot revolver is better than a hammer which is exactly what heavy hitters are with no ammo. A bad guy does not know yer loaded with bird shot and not slugs or buck and I can tell you from personal experience getting peppered across the shoulder with bird shot HURTS and it makes a lot of blood and the worst part is getting every pellet removed with tweezers. Might not be deadly but it sure ain't pleasant and leaves lots of cool little scars all over yer back.
Mysterymet. If you get a Henry, check the half cock (If it has one), I had a Henry .22 lever drop the hammer from half cock. The company said the carbine was working as designed.. The single shot break open is also having trouble with unintended discharges. All the adverts they run this should not be a difficult problem to solve.
I prolly haven't bought very much ammo the last 4 years. Not since fear of Killary winning made me get my shit together. I then inventoried everything I had, figured out what levels I wanted to be at, made a shopping list & filled it. Anything I could get past those levels, is what I practice with. An I only shoot what I call "Common Calibers". Granted with panic buying those tend to go first, but I don't need to pay inflated prices as I have plenty. In about 4 different locations.
If you can go to a scrap yard they will have a bin with plumbing and roofing lead. It's very soft but it will kill. Can be alloyed with actual tin (the element Sn) to make it harder.
An industry in sider told me recently that Remington, CCI, Winchester, and Federal are currently close to 2 Billion primers on backorder. This is just to fill orders for factory ammunition.
Been getting ammo when I can get it. Got 2 boxes of 357 mag 158gr for $30.00 a box. Not highway robbery but not cheap either. Academy has shotgun shells but it's birdshot. Lots of stuff drying up as of late. Post election is going to be very interesting.
Right now I'm loading mostly .45-70 with some heavy cast bullets, .45 acp, .38 super, .357 mag, a nd .38 S&W. I might do a few boxes of .45lc, if I can find more brass. I have plenty of 7.62 x51, a bunch of .30-06, and around 220 lbs of .22 LR. I have enough 12 ga. to shoot doves with buckshot or slugs for several seasons and enough birdshot to let hold off an army of attacking mice. When I die, I hope someone that enjoys shooting finds their way into my reloading shed.
Plus, MOST folks have never been shot at and in the early stages of any troubles a whiff of birdshot or a few rounds of .22 LR will send them packing. Just be sure to have something more substantial on hand in case they don't take to hint!
MM, the Henry is a fine rifle. You will pay for them NIB, but if you look there are deals to be had. I've never been a big fan of the .44mag. 90% of the time I shoot .44 special out of my wheel guns. My favorite Henry is the .41 mag, but I've always favored that calibre over .44mag. You might give their .357 lever gun a look too.
Momentary thread drift...this just brought back memory of the first round passing by - without making impact. Nothing quite prepares you for that unmistakeable "whizzzz" of a near miss.
You boys and girls in the coastal states might wanna look for old sail boats that are never going to float again! I scored three of them for the price of( they paid me $100 per boat) cutting them up and hauling off the scraps! Ended up with 2400 pounds of pure lead from the keels! A forth boat was loaded up with Iron shot cast in resin, I went ahead and did that one as well, I can melt down iron and re cast it into a more usable grape shot for the 4 bore and canon! Had to stock up on old beer and soda cans for shot cups, but man, that canon can throw about a 3 pound load almost a mile with 3 1/2 pounds of powder! Good thing I know how to make and corn my own Black, sure will save my ass when you can't find smokeless anywhere any longer!
I had an old bullet caster friend tell me he had some lead that was too hard for his bullets. He said he'd left a box on my porch. 90 pounds of Lyman ingots. Hard as woodpecker lips. I suspect it's Linotype, but have never tested it with a hardness tester. If I had to choose an "easiest" caliber to reload it'd be .30-30 Winchester for rifle and .45 ACP for pistol. I can load anything from greased buckshot to 220gr cast lead in the lever gun and it'll cycle. No exotic powder needed. Any powder that's on the loading chart, and some that aren't work just fine. There isn't a critter that walks around here that I can't put down with a 170gr lead round nose. Light loads with greased 00 buck is quiet and effective on small game. Just tap them into the unsized case. Enough rifling engagement for accuracy and grease ahead of the bullet keeps leading away. .45 ACP is a no brainer for me. Big cast bullets that work in revolvers and 1911's. Economical on powder, not so much on lead. I'm very familiar with the ballistics and know what they'll skip off and what they'll penetrate if shooting around corners or under things comes in handy. Both rounds give me very long case life, don't require a great deal of prep time and can be reloaded efficiently with a Lee Classic Loader if necessary.
Had no near misses directly, but that richochet going "phew, phew, phew" when it went spinning past sent me back to the pickup and outa there.
I wont even talk about Ordnance flying past me, lets just say, it's always scary no matter what it is!
