Good Monday Afternoon/Evening!
As per the usual my week has been busy. However I did sneak out a write up yesterday. This one is one that I have been meaning to do for awhile. I like odd ball cartridges, and a pistol cartridge designed to function in a semi auto with a service pressure of 50,000psi, is kind of an odd ball cartridge. Even better when there are two competing cartridges both designed for the same purpose, and both are in service today. Read my take on it below.
PDW Round Comparison 5.7x28mm vs 4.6x30mm
To those of you who subscribed you might have gotten the above write up in your inbox a day early. I apologize. One email per week, letting you know about website updates and perhaps a bit of commentary, is all I wish to send to people. I, like most of you, hate spam. I made a mistake when I was publishing the piece which emails it to subscribers rather then just posting it to the site. I’ve left it up for a day, until I was able to send out this update, but will be moving the link so it is properly cataloged on the page. The above link is properly cataloged and should be active as long as the site is live.
How is everyone’s ammo stockpile? Store shelves are looking kind of slim right now. As I am sure you are all well aware, the shortages are not limited to just loaded ammunition. They extend out to reloading components. I remember the last time this happened, it became the golden age of trying new powders. My usual IMR 4895 was completely out of stock. However the stores would sometimes get in a powder that I hadn’t tried before, and I would whip out my burn rate chart, look up loads on Hodgdon and see if I could make use of it.
Occasionally the store wouldn’t have cell phone service, so when in doubt I bought the powder, and if I found I couldn’t use it, I did a bit of horse trading for something I could use. That was back in the day I only loaded for a couple different cartridges. Now I think I have a cartridge for every powder. Sure, I might sacrifice a few feet per second, and maybe it won’t get me the tightest groups, but I have found the most important thing is to have something. Hard to practice without ammunition, and in times like these, you can’t always be picky, and hey, you might find a new load you really like!
What many people don’t realize is how localized these shortages are. If you cross the boarder into Canada, the shelves are more or less stocked and people have access to all the ammunition they care to have. Just don’t try and cross the boarder with it.
Another thing the average consumer doesn’t realize, the shear number of rounds produced in a single day. Remington, for example, produces 22LR, at a rate of roughly 7 Million rounds a day. When I toured their facility the four or five machines producing it, moved at a blinding pace. Remington churns out 9x19mm ammunition at rates exceeding 120 parts per minute. Of course they supply ammunition not just for the United States but also oversea’s. That is just Remington, imagine what the combined output of ammunition is for Federal, Winchester, Remington, Lake City, Barnes, HSL, Sig and dozens of other smaller companies out there.
That doesn’t take into account the hundred’s of thousands of us hand loaders and re loaders cranking out rounds by hand on our Dillion 550, or our Lee Classic Presses. Yet, we still cannot produce enough ammo to keep everyone happy. If we knew the actual numbers I am sure we’d find it nothing short of remarkable.
Rest assured firearm’s companies see the demand, and take measures to respond in kind. However they are cautious about over responding. This was a lesson learned during the Obama Administration. The firearms industry had record sales for eight years, with many new companies springing up to match the demand. It seemed that everyone with a spare CNC Mill or Lathe was turning out AR-15 parts, and everything that ammunition producers were making was selling. (Except for 357 Sig, and 45 GAP…. 🙂 ) In 2016 when a Hillary Clinton victory seemed inevitable, wholesalers, and manufacturers bet big, placing large orders expecting a rush on ammunition and firearms in the days after the election.
When Trump won, the industry coined a new term “The Trump Slump”. Many small mom and pop type shops that had been riding the wave of the past 8 years suddenly went under. Even larger companies such as Remington found themselves over extended, driving them into bankruptcy. (Remington had other issues, but this was a major nail in the coffin). Wholesalers were suddenly trapped with large inventories of ammunition that was not selling. While we, in the firearms community, breathed a huge sigh of relief it created a great deal of trouble for the purveyors of arms and ammunition.
Due to the lessons learned four years ago, the industry is not eager to repeat the same mistakes. It is hard to know if these record sales will lead to future growth of the industry; it does seem as the virus, the riots, and the election is driving first time purchase of firearms and ammunition, the consequences of which will unfold with time.
I didn’t intend this to be a long update, but I guess that’s how it turned out. Thanks for subscribing. We are working on some exciting stuff we’ll be churning out over the next few months so stay tuned. In the meantime feel free to check us out on Facebook, or over at Instagram. As always, if you have questions or comments, please shoot me an email at Jayandrew338@gmail.com.
Had some folks from Zimbabwe email me this past week asking some questions, I really enjoyed working a bit with them. Thanks for the opportunity!
Have fun, and Stay Safe Out There!
The Ballistic Assistant