Posted on 05/07/2009 3:44:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
"Panic buying" has gun shop owners reporting a run on ammunition.
"A year ago it was very simple. One phone call to various distributors and they would send me the ammo I needed. Today, there isn't anything available. Handgun ammo, .22 rounds, there's very little," said Brian Stedman of S & S Taxidermy in Springville.
Gun enthusiasts attribute the ammunition shortage to a fear the Obama administration is going to pass stricter gun laws or impose taxes on weapons and ammo.
"They're hoarding it. If I had 100 cases of ammunition right now, I probably wouldn't have it for much more than a week, if that," said Dennis Deasy of the Niagara Gun Range in North Tonawanda.
Ammunition is selling out almost as fast as shops can get shipments, if they can at all.
(Excerpt) Read more at wgrz.com ...
I would add...Cheaper Than Dirt
You must be one of the guys around my area who are buying the $9/box of Blazer Brass at Walmart, then selling it in the classifieds for $15. That’s the reason I only have 100 rounds of 9mm to shoot on Monday.
I was going to but they are no longer cheap on anything. Check their prices against the others.
LLS
You are most welcome. Those are just a few... there are many more out there.
LLS
A case where the early bird gets the worm..I am set.
" 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.
"When cartridges are placed in a fire he confirms that the most dangerous component of a cartridge is the brass, or fragments thereof that may cause eye injury or penetrate skin, but certainly there is no evidence that a cartridge that is not in a firearm can cause a mortal wound, either by action of the bullet or the brass/primer fragments. It is important to remember however that a chambered cartridge that detonates in a fire is just as dangerous as a cartridge that is fired under normal circumstances in a firearm.
"To get a better understanding of the behaviour of free-standing ammunition in a fire, he conducted experiments with a propane torch. A total of 202 cartridges (handgun, centerfire rifle and shotgun cartridges) were used. If the heat was applied directly to the base of a shotgun shell the primer would detonate, the powder would ignite and the shell would rupture. Any pellets that emerged were traveling too slowly to be recorded on a chronograph.
"In rifle and handgun cartridges where the flame was applied to the base of the cartridge the primers always detonated but the powder only ignited in half the cases and in those instances the cases did not rupture but the gas was instead vented through the primer hole.
"When he heated these same handgun and rifle cartridges at the front, the powder would burn and the cases would usually rupture but with few exceptions the primers did not detonate. The velocity of expelled projectiles ranged from 58 ft/s to 123 ft/s. The only exception was the .270 cartridge where the bullet velocity was 230 ft/s. Primer velocities ranged from 180 ft/s to 830 ft/s.
"As a side note he says that a revolver in a fire is especially dangerous because all the cartridges can cook off and be discharged such that there is a danger from projectiles. Only the bullet that came out of the barrel will have rifling marks and the ones that came from non-aligned chambers will have shear marks on them. Obviously if there is a question about the firing of a weapon and whether it was cooked off or fired intentionally they will look for a firing-pin impression on the primer of the suspect cartridge case.
"References:
Sciuchetti G.D. Ammunition and fire. American Rifleman 144(3): 36-38, 59-60, March 1996.
Cooking-Off Cartridges. NRA Illustrated Reloading Handbook. Washington, D.C.: The National Rifle Association of America.
And of course Vincent Di Maio's excellent book "Gunshot Wounds - practical aspects of firearms, ballistics and forensic technics". My copy is the second edition, published by CRC Press, ISBN 0-8493-8163-0 This information can be found on pages 268-270."
Forgot -— google ammunition + fire
Agreed...they really should change their name. But that seems to be the case with all ammo suppliers. I bought about $1,000 worth of various calibers at two gun shows last month...long lines...but they had ammo and no one was asking prices. It was, “do you have”.
I believe it was Winchester, no classifieds, no mark-up.
How ‘bout 440 rounds sealed in a metal spam can?
(interesting info. thanks)
LLS
I also shoot a lot...attended an advanced combat handguns class a couple of weeks ago and shot about 400-rounds of .40S&W in one day! Excellent class.
Expect the spam can would rupture from expanding gases inside, but bullets should not leave the case with much velocity.
Read in a several-years-old reloading manual that there is no recorded case of a fireman being injured from ammunition in a fire.
Hey I had to laugh when I saw Jim’s post “NSS”.
I believe it stands for the classic No Sh*t Sherlock.
LOL, an oldie but a goodie.
Good I won’t worry about that then. My neighbors with the obama stickers are another thing!
Yes, Myth busters have some very interesting programs.
This is making alot of us very crazy at this point.
I have yet to see anyone reporting on this phenomenon report the accurate reason for buying up all the ammo.
The closest they ever get is “fear of civil unrest”.
No, the non-statists are just “shtfull” of the left and their manipulation of the system to enslave us, and some states have set in motion the inevitable “divorce” that must occur in order for freedom to survive in this world.
I happened to catch an episode of Myth Busters and they were trying to prove/disprove the myth that some guy shot himself by inserting a .22lr round by placing it in an automobile fuse holder. Pretty funny and if I recall they actually got the round to detonate, but as you posted, the casing flew off but the slug fell to the floor.
I seem to recall reading of folks who'd pop off .22 cartridges across the terminals of a 9V radio battery.
They'd pop open, harmlessly, as you might expect.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.