The Wandering Minstrel

We stopped today at one of our local gun and ammunition stores hoping to find some 20 gauge slug cartridges. The man behind the counter had only two boxes of five rounds left, so I bought them. For as much as I paid for the goddamn slug rounds, I could have bought two 25-round boxes of target loads.

The reason for buying the more expensive loads is due to new rules at the range where we shoot, to wit: slugs or double ought buckshot only and limited to a specific three out of the sixteen lanes. The reason for the rule is that after extensive revamping of the range and the backdrop, small birdshot can ricochet back to the shooters. Not a good thing.

We have been members at the range for several years, and are disappointed in the performance of the current owners with respect to customer service. Customer service? Hah! Picture George Carlin doing pelvic thrusts as he comically describes “customer service.”

Our membership at this range is up in July and we have decided not to renew. The combination of lousy target hangers and pellet-reflecting backdrop gives us pause. Our planned departure from the Southern California area seals the decision.

Last time out to the range, I shot about 50 rounds of reloaded ammo that I bought from the gun shop there. The reason I say ‘about’ is that one of the rounds failed to discharge. Buying reloads seemed to be the thing to do, what with the price of ammo these days, but it comes with some drawbacks.

Photo credit - The Better Half. Clickable image.

I bought a couple of bags of .45 ACP for about $22 per bag (remember when factory ammo was that cheap?). I shot them using “Fat Man,” my Glock 30. In addition to the failed round, the ammo seemed especially ‘dirty’ to me, leaving more than the usual spent powder deposits near the muzzle.

Fat Man cleaned up OK - I use a CLP product, “Strike Hold,” which does a pretty good job of cleaning and lubrication. Everything got wiped down and a couple drops on the slide rails is all the lube that this gun seems to need.

We’ve been busy for a couple of months, so we finally got our ass in gear today. We packed up our stuff and headed to the range for some target practice. We brought our .45 caliber guns - “Fat Man,” my Glock 30 and “Miss Piggy,” the Better Half’s stainless Para Warthog. As usual, we brought our 12 and 20 gauge Remington 870 shotguns.

As we were just about ready to head into the range, the range officer told us that if we wanted to use our shotguns we could only shoot double-ought buckshot or slug rounds. He advised that smaller shot target loads had been bouncing off of the back stop toward the shooters. The range officer explained that the heavier mass rounds would stick and the lighter weight ones would bounce. Apparently, the recent ‘improvements’ to the range introduced this new phenomenon. Since we only brought target load cartridges, we had to buy some slug rounds for over a buck per cartridge. Moreover, they only had 12 gauge rounds, so the 20 gauge gun didn’t get used. I bought a couple of five round boxes.

This is the first time we’ve shot slug rounds. We put up a target and sent it down range at the seven yard mark and let “silhouette dude” have the few rounds we bought today. The video shows us shooting and the target after we finished with it. In several places, the slugs made some nice clean holes.

Assembly Bill 962, the bill to restrict ammunition sales and to require fingerprinting purchasers, was approved by Schwarzenegger after being passed by the State Legislature in 2009. Assemblyman Curt Hagman, whose response to my email I published in a comment, has introduced AB 373, which repeals AB 962.

CRPA and the NRA have set up an on-line petition that Californians can sign, in support of AB 373. As a Californian, you can also copy the text of the petition and send it to your local assembly member. We’re going to do both. You can click here and enter your zip code to find your Assembly Member’s contact information.

Anti-AB 962 image egregiously lifted from the petition website.

As a citizen of the State of California, I hereby voice my strongest opposition to the passage of Assembly Bill 962 (Deleon) [Restrictions on ammunition sales] by the California Legislature and Governor in 2009.

This action was an attack on common sense and an insult to law-abiding firearms owners throughout the State. Furthermore, AB962, taking effect on February 1, 2011, mandates individuals purchasing ammunition to be fingerprinted and registered at the time of sale and outlaws mail order ammunition purchases. AB 962 also requires dealers to maintain these records for at least five years and make them available for inspection by the California Department of Justice. As an additional burden, ammunition retailers are also required to store ammunition away from purchasers.

This scheme to register firearms owners as if they were common criminals must not be allowed to be implemented! Therefore, I respectfully urge the passage of Assembly Bill 373 (Hagman) [Repeal of AB962].

If passed, AB373 would return a level of sanity to the issue of obtaining firearms ammunition by law-abiding citizens. Since it is well-known that most criminals don’t purchase their firearms and ammunition from lawful sources, AB373 would allow our already over-burdened law enforcement agencies to focus on catching criminals instead of turning them into paper-chasing clerks attempting to implement the ill-advised scheme that is AB962.

It is for these, and many more reasons, that I must respectfully but strongly urge legislative support for Assembly Bill 373.

I posted this article on the other website, and thought that I would cross-post it here, since a commenter over there brought up an interesting point about storing ammunition.

It’s been about a year now, that ammunition has been scarce here in California, and, indeed, the entire nation. In particular, handgun calibers are not only difficult to find, but when you do find them, they’re expensive.

We have tried to stockpile enough ammo to be able to take any of our guns to the range. We’re not hoarding the ammo, but keep enough on hand that when a particular caliber is unavailable, we can still shoot some, and restock the pile when the caliber again becomes a available.

The last few months, there has been a greater availability, mostly at our shooting range, but not so much at retail outdoor and sporting stores in the area. Again, the range has some but you pay about 50% more than over a year ago.

In the image (click to enlarge), top left shelf, we have handgun calibers .45 ACP, .357 magnum, .38 special and 9mm. Below that, we store magazines and holsters. The bottom two shelves are where we keep the shotgun ammo, 12 and 20 gauge.

Commenter TheGunGeek said,

Even though I also keep ammo in mine, I wonder about what might happen in case of fire. Is the cook-off point for ammunition low enough that it would go off before the guns would have been damaged otherwise?

I’d feel pretty bad if my guns would have survived just fine if only they hadn’t been ruined by the exploding rounds.

So, I did some research and came up with this data:

In his book “Gunshot Wounds” Vincent Di Maio describes various experiments where ammunition was heated in ovens. He says that .22 long rifle cartridges detonate at an average of 275F, .38 Special at 290F and 12 gauge shotgun shells at 387F. The interesting thing about these furnace experiments was that in all instances the cartridge cases ruptured, but the primers did not detonate. In fact the primers were removed from some of the ruptured cases, reloaded into other brass and fired.

According to the Sentry Safe Model E5251-T manual, the safe can withstand temperatures of up to 1400°F. The spec was silent on the temperature gradient inside the safe, but claimed the contents would be protected while the safe is exposed to the rated temperature for 30 minutes.

I might be interested enough to look at the thermodynamics of this at another time. Meanwhile, I intuitively believe the ammo would be safe enough, even in a fire.

We’re not in California any more, Toto . . .

How much is that Glockie in the window?

Terrible wireless connection tonight. We won’t be posting anyhing else until tomorrow.

Or we’re Californicated as Sebastian puts it. Despite a flood of opposition to AB 962, the Governator just terminated us from buying ANY ammo in Kalifornistan.

Sebastian also speculated that ammo imports by private citizens just might increase from neighboring states. I have personal knowledge that the speculation shall come to pass. I understand also that Cabela’s will refuse to sell ammo to anyone in California (like law enforcement, maybe?) - other ammo vendors/manufacturers need to jump on that bandwagon.

Now, where did I put that list of ammo vendors in Arizona?

Update: A response to the Governator (something other than the tempting response of “FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE!“)