Archive for the 'Ammunition' Category

Ammoland.

• Brownells
• PSA
• Sportsman’s Guide
• Natchez Shooters Supplies
• Gorilla Ammunition
• Rainier Arms
• Primary Arms
• Sportsman’s Warehouse
• Botach
• Optics Planet

Surprised they didn’t mention Lucky Gunner.

Shooting Illustrated.

The new Hornady 4DOF ballistics calculator is so precise because it combines what Hornady calls the Four Degrees of Freedom. In other words, it takes into account windage, elevation, range and angle of attack to generate a drag coefficient.

Typically, my ammo column focuses on the technical aspects of ammunition; it’s not a place to tell stories. For this installment, I’m going depart from that because about the only thing better than a good story is a sloppy wet kiss from your spouse or a winning lottery ticket. (Both of which are beyond my ability to deliver.)

Recently, a few magazine editors visited for a week. Egos were on display and opinions were as thick as brass on the range at Gunsite Academy. The purpose of this soiree was to test about two dozen rifles, some purpose-built for connecting at extended distances. I have access to a 1,700-yard range and we spent the day there. My 17-year-old son, Bat, served as the official range rat.

After our 500-yard testing was complete, I told my associates I needed to get the DOPE (data of previous engagement) on my son’s African rifle. This would save a trip back to the range and give him some time behind the gun as payment for the support role he’d been filling. On the outside everyone happily assented, on the inside I’m sure they were thinking it was time to get out of the rain.

The previous evening we’d chronographed the Hornady Precision Hunter ELD-X load for the 6.5 Creedmoor he’d be using. That velocity, along with the bullet and related specifics were entered into Hornady’s 4DOF ballistic calculator, which is available online. I’d printed the results and our goal was to confirm elevation come-ups out to 500 yards. Amazingly, this was done with five shots; my son connected center target at 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 yards. The data generated by the Hornady 4DOF calculator was spot-on.

This article appeared in 2017, but I’ve never seen their calculator.  I see that its results can be sent to spreadsheet.  This is nice.  I’d rather have the full calculations including math models.

American Hunter.

1. It’s certainly not the only target cartridge in existence.

2. It’s not old enough to be your grandfather’s cartridge.

3. It’s trendy, and trendy sucks.

4. It’s going to take over the hunting industry.

5. It works.

Amusing, as intended.  As for effectiveness, you might want to check out this piece entitled 6.5 Creedmoor Proven: How Does It Actually Perform On Big Game?

Prior: 6.5 Creedmoor Ammo Prices

Hunter’s Corner:

James is also an avid reloader. We had a good chuckle over the latest wonder rifle cartridge, the 6.5 Creedmoor. In 1896 the 6.5 x 55 Swedish Mauser was introduced to the shooting public. It was a smokeless powder cartridge. It became the most popular moose rife in Sweden and probably still is. When the .270 Winchester was introduced to the shooting public the date on the .270 was very close to the 6.5 x 55. In my teen years I wanted to get one but all that was available was war surplus.

Now comes the 6.5 Creedmoor which if you look closely at the 6.5 stats it is very close to the .270. I don’t remember the .270 ever being suggested as a 1,000-yard rifle. Don’t get me wrong, the 6.5 Creedmoor is a welcomed addition to the shooting community, but is the cost of the ammunition worth it? Next time you are at a retailer, check out the price of .270 ammunition compared to 6.5 Creedmoor ammo.

By the way, a friend of mine hunts with a 6.5, loves it, and has taken a monster Maine buck with it. As for me, when I am hunting in a rifle-authorized area, I will continue to use my .270.

There’s nothing wrong with either one, but remember, the 6.5 Creedmoor is a short action cartridge (based on the .308 case) while the .270 is a long action cartridge (based on the .30-06 case).  That means the 6.5 Creedmoor is easier to deal with in semi-auto.

At any rate, I think he’s exaggerating the price of the 6.5 Creedmoor.  There is a wider variability in prices for the 6.5, so for a 20-round box you can spend less than a dollar a round, but as much as $2 per round.  On the other hand, pretty much all of the 6.5 is available for less than $1 per round if you buy in bulk through someone like Lucky Gunner.

While I said that I carried 450 SMC (and a slightly modified 1911 with a stiffer recoil spring) into the bush, I had never shot it.

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to take a very special little boy out to a field and teach him to shoot a .22LR Cricket.  I was a great time, and he exhibited the patience to do it right.  I was very proud of him.

But I used the chance to shoot a couple of rounds of 450 SMC through that 1911 to see how it performed.  While it has been said that the 450 SMC causes 78% more recoil than 45 ACP, I cannot bear that out from my experience.

Maybe it did, but I don’t find the recoil from the 45 ACP to be that stiff anyway.  I managed to shoot two shots of 450 SMC rapid fire and put them within a 3-4 inch two-shot group at 20 yards, first time, no practice shots.

I didn’t find the recoil to be problematic at all.  I would liken it to a combination of the push you get from the 45 ACP with the snappy muzzle flip of the 9mm.

Hopefully, much more to come on the 450 SMC.  I like it.

Shooting Illustrated.

In the late 1980s, gunwriter Dean Grennell took .451 Detonics Mag. brass and trimmed it to the same overall length as the .45 ACP cartridge case, thus creating the .45 Super. Grennell wrote an article for the February 1988 issue of Gun World Magazine, discussing his new version of the .45 ACP, which was capable of pushing a 185-grain bullet to 1,300 fps. In the August 1988 issue of Gun World Magazine, a second article about the .45 Super—written by Tom Ferguson—appeared. Ferguson was interested in Grennell’s concept cartridge, but he wanted to take things a step further. He took a handful of .451 Detonics Mag. brass and a 1911 pistol to Ace Hindman of Ace Custom 45s. Hindman came up with the idea of heavier springs in the 1911 to make it more suited to the higher-pressure cartridge.

In 1994, Fernando Coelho—owner of Triton Cartridge—reached out to Garey Hindman, Ace’s son, who was still converting 1911s and even some Smith & Wesson Model 4506 pistols to accommodate the.45 Super. The problem with the cartridge was a lack of suitable brass. Coelho had recently started Triton Cartridge and felt that with his background in load development, coupled with actual in-house pressure testing, he would be able to come up with reliable, factory-loaded, .45 Super ammunition. A deal was struck and Coelho reached out to Starline Brass to get the ball rolling. The folks at Starline worked with Coelho to establish correct internal case-wall dimensions, web-area thickness and overall hardness of the cartridge case.

But, just like the .300 BLK found fame because of its name, the.45 Super—as a commercial cartridge—was doomed because of what it was called. You see, when Ace Hindman passed away, his son trademarked “.45 Super.” When Triton made factory-loaded .45 Super ammo, Garey Hindman would get a royalty, which was something a bit unusual in the ammunition business. Because of this, no major firearm or ammunition manufacturer would offer .45 Super guns or ammunition. There was also the concern that a shooter might load and fire .45 Super ammo in a vintage .45 ACP revolver or an old 1911 and get an unpleasant surprise.

All this led to the birth of the .450 SMC. Coelho was fed up with the inherent issues of the .45 ACP/.45 Super cartridge case and the damage being done to the potential growth of the .45 Super. One of the case problems was primer flow; you could experiment with different brands of primers and powder, but most of the time primers would flow back around the tip of the firing pin. The solution: switch to a small-primer pocket and utilize a small-rifle primer. Coelho reached out to Starline again, asking the company to make .45 Super brass with a small-primer pocket. That solved the primer-flow problem and Triton Cartridge soon began offering factory-loaded .450 SMC ammunition. It was loaded to a maximum average pressure (MAP) of 32,000 psi, which is slightly higher than .45 Super pressures, but still less than the 37,500 psi pressure of the 10 mm. The new name—.450 SMC—solved the trade-mark problem, and Triton had two loads: a 165-grain bullet at 1,450 fps and a 230-grain bullet at 1,150 fps.

When Triton went out of business in 2003, it looked like the .450 SMC was doomed. But, another new ammunition company stepped up to offer one of the most potent and practical magnum-category, .45-caliber, defensive-handgun cartridges ever created. Mike McNett of DoubleTap Ammunition recognized the usefulness of the .450 SMC and his Cedar City, UT-based company now offers six .450 SMC loads.

Comparatively speaking, the hottest factory 185-grain .45 ACP load you can buy will generate only about 1,140 fps, and the fastest 230-grain offering only about 1,000 fps. Essentially, what you get with the .450 SMC are 10 mm velocities with a .45-caliber instead of a .40-caliber bullet.

Of course, since no one is manufacturing .450 SMC handguns, what you’re probably wondering is what you have to do to shoot .450 SMC in your .45 ACP. Well, a .450 SMC cartridge can be fired in any .45 ACP handgun. However—and this is a big however—it should only be fired in full-size .45 ACP handguns that have a +P rating. (A 20- to 22-pound recoil spring in your favorite 5-inch 1911, or a 21- to 23-pound spring in a Glock.)

This is a great article.  I was unaware of all of that history, and as I said, I have 450 SMC and carried it recently.

I’m not really sympathetic to getting “nasty surprises” because the burden to do what’s smart should rest squarely on the shoulders of the user.  In other words, don’t be an idiot.  However, I do understand issues of legal liability.  They haven’t completely gone away with the 450 SMC design.

Then there is this: “A 230-grain load fired from the .450 SMC cartridge out of a 5-inch 1911 will generate about 78 percent more recoil than a 230-grain load fired from a .45 ACP.”

With the .450 SMC (Short Magnum Cartridge) you get > 10mm velocity with a heavier bullet.  What you have to accept is the heavier recoil.

Messages from the viper pit.

The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives continues its push to pass their entire legislative agenda ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

It’s fair to say that Democrats are trying to pass as much legislation they know congressional Republicans will vote against, and President Trump won’t sign.

The political play is a safe bet considering that Democrats could very well lose their control of the House, and as Trump looks like he will win re-election.

[ … ]

The “Jamie’s Law,” which calls for universal background check for individuals looking to purchase ammunition, was named in honor of Jamie Guttenberg who was on of 17 students and teachers killed at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

First of all, I doubt the democrats will lose control of the House.  Second, I’m not so sure of what a republican Senate will do, and third, I’m not so sure as the author about what Trump will do.

But one safe bet is that sooner or later the democrats will be back in control of the House and the White House, and at that point the dam will break and let loose a flood of gun control bills.  Ammunition control will be among the larger set of gun control bills.

Because after all, a gun is no good without ammunition.  The democrats have said they’re going after ammunition, and we should all believe them.  In this case they’re actually not lying for a change.

BLOAT.

Duncan Johnson at Ammoland.

While only a third of active ammunition consumers report spending less than they did three years ago, the difference is in the size of their purchases. On average, those who report spending less have reduced their annual purchases (in dollars) by 38%, while those who report buying more are buying only 23% more. When combined, the net effect of the two groups translates into a roughly 2% decline in overall retail ammunition sales. The differences between manufacturers’ reported declines and the numbers reported here can be attributed to this survey’s orientation towards more avid spenders and retailers’ inventories which affect the volume of orders received by manufacturers.

Over the past five years, stockpilers, or those who set aside 20% or more of their ammunition purchases for future use, account for 44% of all ammunition purchasers. Reasons given for storing ammunition include:

1. Uncertainty about future supplies, 69%

2. Uncertainty about the political climate, 64%

3. To save money, 57%

4. Uncertainty about future economic conditions and income, 54%

5. To save time, 39%

6. Other, 8%

I don’t believe this is very complicated.  I expect sales to pick up in about a year or little less as the election draws near.  Then it will go berserk right after the election or slow back down for another four years – depending upon the results of the election – at which point it will go gangbusters again, never to slow down until made illegal.

This is just a temporary lull.

Reader =BCE56= links Ballistic Pressure Wave Contributions To Rapid Incapacitation In The Strasbourg Goat Tests.

Chamberlin observed damage remote from the wound channel he ascribed to the hydraulic reaction of body fluids [CHA66]. Tikka et al. showed that ballistic pressure waves originating in the thigh reach the abdomen. Wounding and delayed recovery of peripheral nerves have been reported [LDL45, PGM46]. Pressure waves cause compound action potentials in peripheral nerves [WES82], and ballistic pressure waves have been shown capable of breaking bones [MYR88].

This shows that, all other factors being equal, bullets that produce pressure waves of greater magnitude incapacitate more rapidly than bullets that produce smaller pressure waves. The Strasbourg test data convincingly supports the pressure wave hypothesis and allows (perhaps for the first time) the fast response time to be modeled as a function of peak pressure wave magnitude.

[ … ]

The trend in bullet design over the last decade has drifted toward bullets with little fragmentation and a higher percentage of retained mass. Bullets that both fragment and meet minimum penetration requirements create larger pressure wave magnitudes and offer improved incapacitation potential.

There is much more at the link.  I find it especially interesting that the authors use a 4*pi()*r^2 model for pressure wave solid angle (as with sound, light and radiation, unattenuated [or scattered] and unreflected).  The pressure wave isn’t forward peaked.

I often claim I have the best readers on the internet.  I really mean it.  This is a good example of that.

And this analysis goes to the heart of the design of the 5.56mm round, which is to induce a pressure wave due to high velocity (KE = 1/2 * m * v^2) and then fragment into shrapnel with multiple wound tracks.

Thanks to reader =BCE56= for that great read.