Ammo

Less popular than 9mm, there is still a wide selection of .40 S&W ammunition for training and personal defense when other calibers are sold out. Despite conventional wisdom, gun buyers, new and old should consider the .40 S&W.

Hornady and other manufacturers are working as hard as they can to meet today’s unprecedented demand. But the shortage may last another two years.

Browning is also rolling out a line of X-Bolt rifles in 6.8 Western while Winchester will add Model 70 and XPR rifles to the mix.

Vista Outdoors, the parent company of ammunition brands Federal, CCI, Blazer, and Speer (among others), announced during an earnings call last week a yearlong backlog of ammunition orders worth $1 billion.

Bullets have evolved considerably since their first use from homogenous pure lead to homogenous copper and brass. Along the way, velocities have increased from a few hundred feet per second (fps) to a few thousand feet per second. For the most part, hunters have strived for complete penetration on whatever game animal they are pursuing.

A new firm, Atlas Arms, is working on an all-new, different kind of ammo that combines hollow point fragmentation and expansion along with a level of barrier-blindness capable of defeating some kinds of armor.

The Clean-22 coating technology that made rimfire clean is now being used to extend the range and power of 22 WMR.

Upon first consideration, it would seem to be a decent idea to use handloads for self-defense.  A person experienced in handloading could choose the right combination to create tailored ammunition which would be far more effective in a real-world situation than the standard ammunition available for purchase in a store.  However, there is a risk. 

Directly infringing on the people’s right to keep and bear arms doesn’t make them safer, obviously. It makes them soft targets for the criminal element that thrives under adverse conditions.