The Wandering Minstrel

I can’t believe that it has been almost a year since I acquired my “Carolyn Clip” high-capacity 9mm magazine. I plan to take “Little Boy” to the range on Friday and empty thirty-three rounds using this magazine.

I bought the magazine last January after Rep. Carolyn McCarthy introduced H.R. 308, the “Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act.” McCarthy, (D-NY), introduced this idiotic knee-jerk legislation after the tragic Tucson shooting where a mentally-ill individual used one of these to kill several people and seriously wound Rep. Gabby Giffords.

At the time, I said I didn’t need one of these until that bitch told me I couldn’t have one. I’ll post a range report on Friday.

From the American Rifleman:

In 1976, Col. Jeff Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute, which became Gunsite. Here, Cooper preached the Modern Technique of the Pistol and purveyed what might be considered his personal motto: D.V.C. D.V.C. is an acronym for three Latin words; Diligentia (accuracy), Vis (force) and Celeritas (speed). Cooper believed that a balance of speed, power and accuracy defined the Modern Technique of the Pistol, and that the .45 Auto cartridge was the best fit in this formula.

Ammo image from Oleg Volk. Poster by The Wandering Minstrel.

The Better Half and I stopped at the local gun shop to pick up some .38 special +P JHP. This is the ammo she keeps in “Rosie,” her CCW revolver. She wanted to fire off the old rounds that have been in the cylinder for a long while. We didn’t have any on hand, so we stopped.

This box of Remington .38 Special (+P) was the last one on the shelf priced at $23 for 25 rounds. After tax, that comes out to a little over a buck per round. There were other boxes of identical ammo that were marked at $31 per box. The proprietor explained that I had the privilege of getting the last box at the “old” price. At the new price, I figure they will cost over $1.35 per round.

It has been several months since The Better Half and I brought our cache of ammunition from California. It has been ‘temporarily’ stored in her closet since then. So, this afternoon I transferred the ammunition from the large box to the recently-emptied shelves in the safe. The open shelf space became available after I installed the gun rack on the safe door and loaded it with guns and holsters.

Clickable image - Ammunition stored in the safe at long last

Shelves from top to bottom:

• Important papers & documents
• Handgun ammo
• Shotgun shells
• Magazines, loaders & loose ammo
• Miscellaneous gun stuff

Now that I see how much ammo we have in stock, I guess we will have to head over to the range and start reducing our inventory. The summer heat is starting to diminish and we should be able to resume regular practice sessions.

The Better Half and I are planning to head off to the range this week and shoot off a few rounds with our carry guns and their backups. I pulled the magazine out of my Glock 30 (Fat Man) and put it next to my backup mag - the former loaded with Hornady 230 gr. JHP loads and the latter with Winchester 230 gr. JHP. The Better Half took this (clickable) image showing both loads. Hornady on the left.

Last October, I posted about the Town and Country magazine loads for my 9mm Glock 26, “Little Boy.” Since then I have a different formula for the carry gun depending on whether we are in Wickenburg or down in the valley.

Clickable image: Fat Man and Little Boy in their Don Hume IWB holsters.

After rethinking the potential for personal crimes in both areas, I now prefer to carry “Fat Man,” my Glock 30 with .45 caliber JHP rounds when we’re in the Phoenix Metro area and when in our small town, to carry Little Boy with one round of shot and the other ten rounds to be 9mm +P hollow points. A quick look at the data on personal crimes in Maricopa County will reveal my reasons for wanting the .45 stopping power.

The first 9mm shot shell round is for rattlesnakes or whatever dangerous critters we encounter in town and the rest of the rounds (if the first shot does not discourage an attack) are reserved for two-legged varmints.

We loaded the trailer in California, as previously mentioned, with an assortment of essential items and optional ’stuff.’ One of the essential items was our stockpile of ammunition, so we loaded it into the trailer.

Pictured is an assortment of shotgun shells plus .38, .357, 9mm and .45 pistol rounds. I didn’t count how many individual boxes of ammo are in the plastic storage tub, but I DO know it was heavier than hell. We used a collapsible dolly to get it to the trailer but it took both The Better Half and I to get it inside.

We have yet to acquire a suitable ammo box for storage, so the tub has to be it for now. Clickable image.

I have no practical use for one of the 33 round magazines that Glock offers for the 9mm pistols, but I thought I would add one to my collection of stuff I don’t need for posterity. I logged on to my Cheaper Than Dirt account and shopped for one of the hi-cap mags. When I found it in the on-line catalog they promptly notified me that they were backordered. I logged in to Midway USA, went through the same drill and found that they were also out of stock.

So I assume that when it came to light that the deranged motherf**ker in Tuscon was using one of these, the anti-gunners started calling for bans on hi-cap mags. Just like the rush on ammo after the Obamination was elected, that the market demand for them went asymptotically skyward.

I ordered one anyway - if and when they are in stock the item will ship.