Friday, August 8, 2014

Old Ammo - Like Old Faithful

Old Faithful is a geyser within the confines of Yellowstone national park. It erupts, send a plume of water skyward, about every 60 to 90 minutes dependent of the length of the previous eruption. The intervals between eruptions lasting less than 2.5 minutes is about 60 minutes; however, if an eruption goes for more than 2.5 minutes then the next one should take place in about 90 minutes (source). The thing is that Old Faithful has been faithful respective to its eruptions at least for hundreds of years, maybe thousands of years, because it always goes bang (so to speak).

I can happily say, I recently bought some ammo that is akin to Old Faithful in that regard - it always goes bang - at least so far anyway and I think we fired about 150 rounds of it this past weekend. Now my ammo is nowhere nearly as old as that geyser and not even old as my oldest ammo but it is kind of old. In fact, it was dated, I imagine by its previous owner, 12-30-93. So it is 20 years, 7 months and 9 days old as I type. Consider though that it is value pack ammunition (in other words inexpensive or cheapo ammo) and it still has gone bang for every round we have taken out of the box. That is a good thing. Besides being good that it still booms, it means I did not waste my money when I bought two 550 round boxes of it at auction without realizing it was already 20 plus years old. Not wasting money on old misfiring ammo definitely is a good thing.

Bang-bang, shoot-shoot.
The ammo in question is Federal .22 LR, high velocity, 36 grain, copper plated, hollow point, value pack ammunition. I have to hand it to Federal, they made some good ammo back then. Besides being viable after all those years, it also is pretty accurate. I am not saying it is target grade ammo but it is certainly suited for plinking or hunting. At 5 yards, while at the recent bloggershoot I attended, I was able to put in in nickel to quarter sized groups just about every time from a certain pistol. I said just about because, at least once, I put 10 rounds of it into a single hole smaller than a dime. Sometimes I amaze myself. Yes, I know, that may not be great shooting for an expert target shooter but it sure as hell was for me and yes, I am easily amazed.

Now that I have opened the box, I guess I will use it up as my go to 22 ammo whenever I shoot 22s. It fed, fired, extracted and ejected in three different pistols without any failures - a Beretta 70S, a Ruger MKII, and S&W Model 22A-1. Luckily, I purchased two boxes of it. I can keep one closed and maybe try it out in another 10 or so years; although, I doubt I will be able to hold off that long. I will probably fire it long before I fire off any of my newer 22LR ammo.

All the best,
Glenn B

Having To Do Ammo Transfers Sucks But With Volko Supply...

...I can say without a doubt it is easy and pleasant. Yeah, I know, if you don't live in NY you may be wondering what the hell is he talking about - ammo transfers. The state of NY and our communist socialist tyrannical governor mandated, by passage of the so called NY SAFE ACT, that we serfs (they certainly think of citizens as serfs or so it seems) must purchase ammunition only in face to face dealings with FFL dealers or registered ammunition dealers in NY. So, when one orders ammunition from an online dealer, it must be shipped to either one of those. I don't like it and when and if I travel out of state and get a chance to visit a sizeable ammo dealer with good prices, I will stock up but for now, when I buy ammo online, I comply with that law even though it sucks - FUAC.

Yes the law sucks but as they say: Every cloud has a silver lining. In this case, the silver lining are dealers like the folks at Volko Supply. They make the process about as easy as it can be and charge a reasonable rate to do the transfer $10.00. That is for whatever amount of ammo they receive on behalf of the buyer in one shipment. Just as you probably would not buy a single box of 50 rounds online because it is cost prohibitive with shipping, you would not transfer only 50 rounds through them either. A case of ammo, on the other hand, makes that $10 fee a decent deal. Besides a fair deal, they are always professional, efficient, courteous and pleasant to deal with. They have, in advance, notified many online ammo dealers that they are legally able to accept ammo shipments here in NY. If a dealer does not have them listed all it takes is a phone call to them to get it arranged. That is if the out of state dealer will ship to NY. Many will not thinking it illegal. Some out of state dealers know it is legal but simply will not ship here for whatever screwball reasons they have in mind. Screw them as far as I am concerned.

I digress, this is supposed to be about Volko. So, as I was saying, the folks at Volko Supply make the process easy, almost enjoyable. It certainly is nice dealing with them, I just wish it was for something else instead of mandated ammo transfers which I despise. They also do FFL transfers for rifles. As I recall they charged me $25 for that service. I imagine they would do transfers for pistols too but that requires a separate NY  State license as I understand - which is probably a huge pain in the neck to acquire or to deal with. In addition to the FFL and ammo transfers, Volko Supply Co. Inc., located in Garden City Park, NY, is a building supply business. If you uphold the RKBA and live in the area and are in need of their firearms services (or building supplies) I recommend them highly.

All the best,
Glenn B

PS: This, as are all of my endorsements, is made freely and without me receiving any compensation.

Little By Little - The Blog Roll Grows

Got a comment today on one of my posts and clicked on the link for the commenter only to find yet another blog worthy of inclusion on the blog roll. If you have not already become acquainted, why not visit 3boxesofbs (love the blog's name) at http://3bxsofbs.infamousanime.net/.

All the best,
Glenn B