Archive for the 'Ammunition' Category

Outdoor Life.

Federal’s Hammer Down line is targeted directly to lever-gun hunters. Federal worked directly with Henry Repeating Arms on this project to solve common loading, feeding, and cycling issues with standard ammunition by deburring and adding slight chambering (sic) at key spots on the cases. They also added a higher quality bullet, a controlled-expansion bonded bullet that will perform better than typical lever-gun offerings. You’ll get reliable cycling, as well as expansion without sacrificing penetration. If you’re a lever-gun hunter, especially in straight-wall states, you’ll want to check this out. It’s going to be hitting the shelves in standard lever-gun cartridges from .327 Federal magnum up to .45-70..

The author at Outdoor Life didn’t mean “chambering.”  He meant chamfering.

From Guns.com.

“We needed to develop a complete line of optimized ammunition for use in lever-action rifles while still functioning in handguns. During development, we looked most specifically at terminal performance across all cartridges when shot in a lever-action firearm,” Federal Ammunition Centerfire Rifle Product Line Manager Eric Miller said in a statement. “With HammerDown, we believe we have accomplished that goal.”

It’s fairly pricey.

• .357 Magnum 170-grain, $19.99
• .327 Federal 127-grain — $19.99
• .44 Rem Mag 270-grain — $19.99
• .45 Colt 250-grain — $19.99
• .30-30 Win 150-grain — $19.99
• .45-70 Govt 300-grain — $38.99

Here is a video from SHOT Show.

News from Virginia.

AmmunitionToGo.com, an online ammunition retailer based in Houston, Texas, recently recorded a massive upsurge in their web traffic and sales in the state of Virginia. The company reports the number of Virginians accessing their website in 2020 has increased by 137 percent as compared to the same time period in the previous year. Their revenue from sales to Virginia accordingly increased by 174 percent. Virginia, once one of AmmunitionToGo.com’s top 20 markets, has skyrocketed to the top five among far more populous states including California and Texas. “I doubt that any other businesses are affected as much by politics as firearm and ammunition manufacturers and retailers,” said Brandon Black of AmmunitionToGo.com. “We’re now seeing a massive number of Virginia shooters stocking up on ammunition in anticipation of new laws that they believe will make it harder to purchase rounds legally.”

Americans are no strangers to stocking up on goods that will soon become prohibited. On January 16th, 1920, liquor store shelves were stripped dry before prohibition took effect the following day. Countless smokers filled their humidors with Cuban cigars in the days leading up to the 1962 trade embargo. John F. Kennedy himself bought 1,200. Bump stock manufacturers’ websites frequently crashed during the weeks preceding the 2019 ban — even

though the rifle accessories would not be grandfathered in legally. It would seem nothing quite drives up sales more than impending scarcity.

AmmoToGo.com’s current records, if accurate, tell a story of Virginians who are fervently stockpiling ammunition. The retailer’s sales have increased across the state. Below, you’ll see an assortment of Virginia cities and their increase in sales from 2019 to 2020 for January 1st through January 20th:

– Arlington – 339%

– Ashburn – Up 42%

– Charlottesville – 278%

– Fredericksburg – 161%

– Newport News – 102%

– Norfolk – 113%

– Richmond – 80%

– Roanoke – 155%

– Suffolk 76%

– Virginia Beach – 207%

You  mean to tell me that ammo sales in Arlington (around the beltway) and Ashburn (home of the CIA cloud) are up that much?

And Charlottesville, and Roanoke, where the last I heard was that they rejected 2A resolutions, has ammo sales up that much?

Say, you don’t suppose that these good men from those locations need to get involved locally and ensure that their Sheriffs and Deputies and County Commissioners and County attorneys are on board, do you?

Shooting Illustrated.

On average, with the shorter barrel there was a 12-percent reduction in velocity (100 fps). The smallest difference—26 fps—was recorded with the Buffalo Bore 110-grain Barnes TAC-XP load. The most-extreme variation—200 fps—was recorded with another Buffalo Bore load, the +P Outdoors-man, which utilizes a 158-grain, hard-cast, Keith-style bullet. More important than the velocity loss was how the slower velocities affected terminal performance. This is because when it comes to stopping bad guys, penetration and expansion are what matter.

The average penetration depth for the nine loads fired from both barrel lengths was 14.28 inches. The average penetration variation between barrel lengths was only 0.80 inch. For all practical purposes, that’s irrelevant; individual loads can vary more than that from shot to shot. However, comprising that average were a few extremes worth mentioning.

The 140-grain Hornady XTP load penetrated 2.25 inches deeper from the longer barrel simply because of its 99-fps faster impact velocity. With the 110-grain Hornady Critical Defense load, an 85 fps decrease in velocity caused the bullet to penetrate 1.75 inches less. However, with the 125-grain Golden Saber +P load, the longer barrel delivered 3 inches less penetration because the bullet deformed with a larger frontal diameter at the only slightly higher (57 fps) impact velocity. It should be noted that the hard-cast Outdoorsman load passed through all 28 inches of gelatin, regardless whether it was fired from the 1.9- or 4-inch barrel.

With regard to expansion, there was minimal difference. The average variation in expansion between rounds fired from a 1.9- and a 4-inch barrel was a mere .04 inch. The lone exception was the Winchester Silvertip bullet. Out of the 1.9-inch barrel, it expanded with a frontal diameter of .66 inch, but out of the 4-inch barrel it had a recovered frontal diameter of only .4 inch. The higher impact velocity (132 fps) overly stressed this bullet and caused it to shed 46 percent of its original weight. Out of the shorter barrel, the bullet retained 99 percent of its weight.

There was one load that stood head and shoulders above all others. The Speer 135-grain Gold Dot Short Barrel load only varied .5 inch in penetration depth and .03 inch in expansion, even though there was an 83-fps difference in impact velocity. Obviously, this load is aptly named; Speer purposely engineered it to deliver optimum performance from short barrels. Not only did it perform near identically from both barrel lengths, it delivered what many consider optimum terminal performance from a defensive handgun. Any load that will penetrate in excess of 12 inches and expand to 1.5 or more times its original diameter is noteworthy.

First of all, I think this is good news for ankle-carry small frame and short-barrel revolvers.  There just isn’t much of a loss in performance.

Second, it looks like Speer has done a very good job with .38 Spl. ammunition, calling it the “Short Barrel Load.”

Shooting Illustrated recommends at least this.

A micrometer-adjustable seater, a freefloating/self-centering bullet-seating system and a bullet-retaining system … the RCBS MatchMaster Full Length Bushing Set .223 Rem.  MSRP: $169.95; rcbs.com …

Hornady .223 Rem. Brass … MSRP: $32.41 (per 50); hornady.com …

Powered by two AAA batteries, measuring 2¼x4¼x¾ inches and weighing a mere 2.47 ounces, the Lyman Pocket Touch 1500 Digital Scale offers immense performance … MSRP: $30.95 lymanproducts.com …

The Frankford Arsenal M-Press Coaxial Reloading Press … MSRP: $262.99; frankfordarsenal.com

A replacement for the company’s popular Rapid Lube 5000, spraying a thin layer of Dillon Precision’s DCL Case Lubricant on brass prior to running it through your press’ sizing die … MSRP: $11.95; dillonprecision.com …

Does anybody who reloads for 5.56/.223 have any subtractions or additions to this list?  Any experienced reloaders care to weigh in?

Reader and commenter Sanders said this.

I picked up some 145 gr. Winchester White Box at Cabela’s the other day for $10/20. There have been some tests posted online of different loadings. One that was pretty impressive was a test in water jugs using 148 gr. Hornady XTP .357 bullets. It pretty much just exploded in the water jugs due to the higher velocity.

The other tricky thing about this round is the bullet sizes. SAAMI says it should be .355 to .357. Pulled factory ammo is all listed as .357, but actual measurements are showing they are using .355, or 9mm. The best options for hunting bullets are in the .358 range, but I guess those have to be resized down to .357 or they won’t chamber. Also, using Winchester brass, if you use a .357, you won’t be able to chamber the round. But, Starline brass is thinner and works with .357.

Many folks have gone ahead and just re-barreled to .358 so they could use the greater range of available bullets in that size.

So, you see there are still a lot of bugs for reloaders to work out on this round. It will be fun to see what folks come up with.

Funny how this dovetails together with what I found out.  I have been looking into purchasing a 350 Legend upper, and one manufacturer told me this.

Accuracy is, at this time, very ammunition dependent.  While the ammo is supposed to be .357 diameter. The ammo makers are using pretty much everything that they can fit in the case….for instance, one manufacturer says that while .357 is the call out, they are allowing a -.003 tolerance.  This seems to be so they can load cheaper and more prolific .355 bullets.  But that doesn’t necessarily work the best with the spec bore diameter.

We’re getting our best groups with handloads.  With factory ammo, at this time, we’re in the same 1.5-2MOA range as an average.

Eventually the ammo makers will sort it out and get their loads to match the round’s potential, but until that happens, I think that is as good as it’s going to be with production ammo.

That’s good enough at 0 – 150 yards for hog hunting.  But I expect that as time goes by, the ammunition quality issue will sort itself out.

Sigh …

It’s not MOUNT, it’s MOUT (Military Operations in Urban Terrain).

Each and every soldier ISN’T taught to conduct room clearing operations as he said they were.

And remember the words “minimal training.”  And remember that’s what this ammunition change is trying to ameliorate.  They don’t want to change the training to teach shooting.  They want a magic bullet (pun intended).

We Are The Mighty.

Ultimately, the decision to shift from 7.62x51mm ammunition to 5.56x45mm came down to simple arithmetic. The smaller rounds weighed less, allowing troops to carry more ammunition into the fight. They also created less recoil, making it easier to level the weapon back onto the target between rounds and making automatic fire easier to manage. Tests showed that troops equipped with smaller 5.56mm rounds could engage targets more efficiently and effectively than those firing larger, heavier bullets.

As they say in Marine Corps rifle teams, the goal is to locate, close with, and destroy the enemy — and the 5.56mm NATO round made troops better at doing precisely that.

I include this not to start another caliber war, but to link up the PDF document, “Rifle Squad Armed With Armed With A Light Weight High Velocity Rifle.”

I had never seen that before and thought readers might find it interesting.

I guess I’ve never understood the love for 300 Blackout or why people think it’s a better option than virtually anything else, especially at long range, but to each his own.  I know this round has its believers.

I recently said something about the benefit of a MSR that can double as a hunting firearm and a self defense gun in the bush, i.e., 0 – 150 yards.  While multipurpose tools can suffer from not doing anything well, a legitimate multipurpose tool that can do more than one thing well is a good thing.

Hunters are buying straight-wall guns 50:1 over slug guns for deer.  Here’s a quick rundown of the recoil energy associated with these new cartridges.

Designed and developed by Winchester, the 350 Legend is the first new introduction to the market aimed specifically at straight-walled hunting regulations. The company unveiled the new round at the 2019 SHOT show and currently offers it in Deer Season XP, Power Max Bonded, and many others. Winchester has also chambered their XPR line of bolt-action rifles for the cartridge, and other major gun manufacturers are producing rifles for it as well.

The plus side of this cartridge is that recoil is pretty mild, so it’s a good choice for shooters who need to take recoil into consideration. The Winchester 150-grain Deer Season XP generates 8.52 foot-pounds of recoil in a 7-pound rifle. By comparison, a 250-grain .450 Bushmaster factory load generates 22.99 foot-pounds of recoil, and a full-power 12-gauge slug generates 45 foot-pounds.

By contrast, the .223 generates around 5-6, and the 30-30 (which I recall as mild enough to enjoy shooting a lot thus lending to good practice and accuracy) is 8-10.  So the 350 Legend is around the same as the 30-30, not much more than the .223, less than half of the .450 Bushmaster, and 19% of a 12 gauge.

Any of these choices would be fine within 150 – (maybe) 200 yards for either hunting or self defense.  The 12 gauge would be less accurate than any of them.

This might be good perspective for your next selection(s).  I wouldn’t call myself “recoil sensitive,” having shot a lot of different rounds, but I like reduced recoil to ensure a pleasurable experience.  If that happens, I’ll shoot more and be better at it.