Archive for the 'Ammunition' Category

OL.

For years now we’ve heard from rifle and ammo manufacturers that the 6.5 Creedmoor is their most popular cartridge. It’s an excellent round for open country, and it’s found its way into plenty of Midwestern and Eastern deer camps, too. But there’s one consideration that’s become a head scratcher. A whole bunch of deer hunters are reporting sub-par blood trails from deer—even well-hit deer—shot with their 6.5 Creeds.

Just ask full-time Wisconsin blood-tracker Dean Muthig, who has put his Bavarian mountain scent hounds on 230 deer tracks so far this season. Many of his calls over the years have been from parents who need help recovering deer during the youth rifle season. Not because their kids are making poor shots—Muthig says younger hunters seem to shoot just as accurately as adults. Instead, it’s because they tend to use smaller calibers like a .243—and the 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s not that these kids aren’t killing deer. They just can’t find them.

Consider the 9-year-old boy who shot a nice buck on a Wisconsin food plot this fall. The 8-pointer fled into a stand of pines, which his family searched without finding a speck of blood. When Muthig arrived, his hound lead him directly to the buck. It had run 175 yards before piling up from the double-lung shot. The bullet had not exited, and there was no visible blood on the entire track.

“The kid made a great shot, but it’s just one of those things where the deer didn’t bleed at all,” says Muthig, who’s been tracking for 17 years. “The 6.5 Creedmoor is like a .243 where—they kill deer, don’t get me wrong. There are a lot of people who kill deer with them. But they just don’t leave a blood trail, hardly ever. And it’s just because it’s such a small entry hole … It’s the size of a pencil, and a lot of times the bullets go in and expand and there’s no exit, and nowhere for the blood to go. … Or if it does exit, there’s not a lot of room for blood to get out. Running deer cover a lot of ground fast, so you can end up with really minimal blood in the course of a few hundred yards.”

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But even if you have a higher sectional density with the 6.5 Creedmoor, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get a heavy blood trail on a pass through. So what does this mean for hunters who don’t want to wade into ballistics, and just want to recover their deer? It means they need to choose the right bullet for their desired outcome.

“If you like two leaky holes, and there’s a lot to be said for that, you’re going to want to shoot something like a Nosler AccuBond, a Barnes Monolithic, or a Hornaday GMX,” Snow says. “If you want lots of internal damage but not necessarily a pass-through, look at the Hornaday ELD-X or a Nosler Ballistic Tip—any of those lighter, polymer-tip bullets should fit the bill. Just know that there’s still a chance that it’ll blow through the deer.”

I guess that’s one knock against the bullet.  But it seems to me that you want both – expansion and damage + pass-through.  Of course, I spoke to one old hunter one time who told me “I shoot the 300 Win Mag and I don’t have to chase a blood trail.”

Video courtesy of reader Ned.

Interesting experience he has with Louisiana floods and what it does to guns and ammo.

Tim from MAC.

If velocity and muzzle energy are what you want, Underwood is hot ammo.

Well isn’t this special.  So after mandating that his employees take the shot, and then denying it in writing later when the gun community panned his decision, apparently now they’re on a tear to find the one who leaked the memo to the gun community.

The CFO is at the tip of the spear on the hunt.  He’s angry.  Furthermore, those who do not take the shot will have no access to their sick time.  This is punishment for not taking the shot.

So this has almost become unrecoverable for Steve Hornady.  It may be able to be salvaged.  Let’s assume for a moment that Steve isn’t the one doing this, that he is being led by his CFO and/or his HR department.

The immediate solution is to make an example of his CFO and HR department by firing them in front of the employees.  Forthwith unemployed, no returns, no questions asked, no discussion necessary.  Do it.  Fire them all.

Then write a letter to the gun community and beg for forgiveness and explain that you’re not just concerned about money, that you’re committed to liberty and that this message falls right in line with your production of ammunition for lovers of liberty.  Then get in front of your employees and beg for their forgiveness.  Explain that you surrounded yourself with awful people, and that mistake won’t happen again – ever.

Now let’s assume that this is all coming from Steve.  In that case, there is no recovery.  It’s a fait accompli.

So, they did, but not without some weasel words to be able to deny they ever made the mandate in the first place.  This isn’t a very good look for Hornady, but at least they backed down.

For what it’s worth, as of this writing, I still haven’t gotten a response to my note to Steve Hornady.

The post title is correct.  That’s good shooting by both of them.

Of course, she’s shooting a very nice 223 rifle (SAKO) with a very long barrel (24″) along with a heavy bullet (80.5 grain Berger).  But still, that’s good shooting and a great job of taking the 223 out that far.

Reader Ned sends this our way.

I’ve sent a note out to Steve Hornady and so far there has been no response to my questions.  I’ll post a new article if I get a response.

The American Prospect.

At a glance, Americans appear to have a variety of ammunition companies to choose from: Remington, Winchester, Speer, CCI (Cascade Cartridge, Inc.), Federal Premium. Winchester bills itself as “The American Legend” and has been in business for over 150 years, while Remington has been making guns and ammo for over 200 years and states that their company is as “boundless as the American spirit.” These companies associate their brands with freedom, independence, and toughness. What most customers do not know, however, is that they are all owned by the same two entities: Olin Corporation and Vista Outdoor.

This consolidation in the small arms ammunition market by corporations and private equity firms is hurting businesses, consumers, and workers. And it’s producing a massive shortage, just as demand for ammunition picks up. It looks like the problem could get worse, not only in the commercial shooting market, but where it really matters: for our national security.

He goes on to talk about the ability of the FBI, DHS and others to get ammunition, something I don’t care one whit about.  I’d prefer they have none.

But due to consolidation within the industry, only a couple of incumbent companies have that ability to make it through low-demand periods. When demand surges, they are no longer forced to produce, but can focus instead on “efficiencies.” They can raise prices and generate shortages, knowing that no one else exists to meet the demand that they cannot or will not fill.

Such refusals to invest in increased capacity can clearly be seen as Vista’s plan over the last few years. According to their annual reports, Vista is focused on “long-term shareholder value,” and when they have influxes of cash, they acquire more companies that “deliver top-line growth … within one year of purchase.” They do not build more plants, even though they project more long-term increased demand; building a plant to increase capacity is a long-term project, one that does not return a profit in a year, much less a quarter.

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Remington’s story involves some twists and turns and financial engineering. In 2007, private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management bought the then-thriving Remington, using it as a piggy bank. To execute the buyout, Remington borrowed hundreds of millions of dollars it immediately handed over to Cerberus, which meant that Cerberus would make money on the deal no matter whether Remington succeeded.

Initially, Cerberus made “hundreds of millions of dollars” from Remington, due to high gun sales during the Obama years. But when demand decreased after Donald Trump’s election, Remington was forced to file for bankruptcy in 2018. The firm restructured its debt and continued operating under new creditors, but due to continued mismanagement and lawsuits, Remington filed for bankruptcy again in 2020. Vista Outdoors bought Remington’s ammunition brand later that year.

Winchester’s story is more straightforward. Chemical producer Olin Corporation bought Winchester in 1931 and is now “a leading U.S. manufacturer of ammunition.” Olin’s most recent annual report revealed that Winchester sales increased from $665.5 million in 2019 to $927.6 million in 2020. This increase is reportedly due to “higher commercial and military sales, which included ammunition produced at Lake City, and higher commercial ammunition pricing.” Olin won a $28.3 million, ten-year contract to operate the Department of Defense’s Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in September of 2019. It also won contracts with the Secret Service, Customs and Border Protection, and the FBI.

It’s certainly the case that the proliferation of law enforcement entities in America is one of the causes of ammunition prices.

On the whole, I think consolidation is a very bad thing.  I did when Cerberus bought Remington (they set their sights on others as well), and I do now.  I think it’s better to have many medium size and small companies.

This ensures competition and innovation, despite the fact that a large corporation can bring financial resources to bear on R&R.  Corporations rarely focus on their employees, R&D or building.  Rather, they focus on stock prices, dividends and returns.