This purchase is due to Carl’s contribution to the New Shooter Ammo Fund, and has been marked and set aside for that specific purpose.

The same amount of .223 ammo² would cost a bit more than seven times as much, and would be considerably bulkier and heavier. Although prices have risen, .22 is still cheap, small, compact, and lightweight.

It’s also a heck of a lot of fun.

1. including $1.72 for Midway’s NRA Round-Up contribution and $14.81 for shipping
2. Prvi Partizan M193

As far as I can tell, nothing prevents this from occurring.

I’m almost tempted to start up such a service for California residents, except that:

• My apartment is small, and my landlord would object to my having a few tons of ammo in my apartment.
• I think there’s a no-running-a-business-from-the-apartment clause in my lease, probably to keep drug dealers from plying their trade.

I suspect that U-Haul rentals for round-trips between Los Angeles-Phoenix (and San Francisco-Reno) will increase substantially in the next year or so.

Which one do you prefer the most?

Personally, I like the paper boxes with plastic trays — they’re much less fragile than the all-plastic boxes (which seem to crack and shatter on me), and the rounds aren’t resting on their noses like in the all-paper ones. It’s also easy to just slide the tray out to expose 10 rounds, making it very simple to get exactly the right amount of ammo to load a magazine.

I used to own a small Bersa Thunder .380 but sold it probably 2-3 years ago. Somehow, I managed to hang onto a box of Gold Dots for it.

As I don’t have a .380 pistol now, I’m looking to sell it. I’m willing to let it part for the original, still-affixed purchase price of $13.95.

If what I think is the lot number is correct, it’s lot number 23606.

The ammo looks to be in good shape. I’ve fired gobs of Gold Dots in the past, and they’re good stuff.

With quantities this small, a local buyer would be the best choice. Anyone in Tucson interested? If so, send me an email.

On Friday, Sept. 11, the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 962, by a 44-31 vote.

Among other regulations, AB 962 would:

• Ban all mail-order and Internet sales of handgun ammunition.
• Prohibit the retail sale, the offer for sale or the display of handgun ammunition in a manner that allows ammunition to be accessible to a purchaser without assistance of a vendor or employee.
• Require that the delivery or transfer of ownership of handgun ammunition occur in a face-to-face transaction, with the deliverer or transferor being provided bona fide evidence of identity of the purchaser or other transferee.

That evidence of identity, which must be legibly recorded at the time of delivery, includes:

• The right thumbprint of the purchaser or transferee.
• The date of the sale or other transaction.
• The purchaser’s or transferee’s driver’s license or other identification number and the
• state in which it was issued.
• The brand, type and amount of ammunition sold or otherwise transferred.
• The purchaser’s or transferee’s signature.
• The name of the salesperson who processed the sale or other transaction.
• The purchaser’s or transferee’s full residential address and telephone number.
• The purchaser’s or transferee’s date of birth.

The bill is on the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, where it awaits his consideration. He will have until Oct. 11 to sign or veto the bill. If he does not veto the bill, it will become law.

Arizona

• Don’t be a criminal.
• Pick out the ammo you want, be it local or online.
• Pay for ammo.
• Receive ammo.

The other day, I was at the local gun shop perusing their wares. I overheard a conversation between a customer and the employee. Evidently the customer was a visitor from California, was spending a week or two here visiting friends, and wanted to pick up some ammo for the range. He inquired as to what restrictions exist for purchasing ammo, and whether or not he had to be an Arizona resident or show ID to buy ammo here. The employee considered this for a moment and said “Well, so long as you’re not a criminal and can pay for it, you can buy whatever you want.”

He looked rather amazed. After browsing for a bit, he picked up a few boxes of .380 and something else I didn’t see.

Who in their right mind actually thinks that the bills waiting for the governor would have any effect on crime? Prohibiting customers from handling boxes of ammo in the store will accomplish…what, exactly? Makes no sense at all.

For all the flaws that Arizona has (and no state is perfect), it’s still a rather free state, unlike our neighbor to the west.

Specifically, the 75gr .223 Remington stuff.

The local shop had a bunch for $12.29/20rds, which was just two bucks more than the PP M193² I was picking up, so I grabbed a box on a whim.

Normally I don’t think of “Made in Serbia” as being a mark of high quality, but PP’s M193 stuff has changed my mind, so I’m willing to give this stuff a try. Any experience?

Surprisingly, I was unable to find lot numbers on the individual boxes of 20 rounds. This is surprising for match-grade ammo (their mil-spec stuff has lot numbers on each box). Do they have the lot numbers printed on the case itself, if one buys in such quantities? It’d be nice to stock up a thousand rounds or two of the same lot so one could practice and compete with identical stuff.

Any additional information would be much appreciated.

Update: There appears to be some confusion in the comments. To clarify, I have shot several thousand rounds of Prvi Partizan M193 5.56mm NATO-spec ammo in the past and have found it to be excellent, and I now shoot it exclusively for recreational purposes. That said, I’m asking specifically about the Prvi Partizan 75-grain Match ammo. Has anyone used it in competitions? How does it compare vs. other match-grade ammo?

1. Yes, I know their factory had an explosion. Somehow the local shop still has tons in stock at a reasonable price. Hope PP gets back to production soon.
2. Fantastic ammo, 100% reliability in both my ARs, powerful, and pretty accurate for mil-spec stuff. It’s also actually available, unlike the US-made mil-surp. It’s also looks a lot better than XM193, and meets all the mil-spec. I’ve always been under the impression that Federal XM193 on the civilian market, while made in the US, was being sold to the public because it failed mil-spec in some minor, not-safety-related way.

While 80 rounds might not seem like much, most new shooters I take to the range really seem to love the ARs, and so an extra few magazines worth is always useful.

I could have gotten quite a bit more .22LR than .223, but the local shop was short on .22, and didn’t have stuff that my 10/22 seems to prefer.

Many thanks to all those who’ve donated. The fall semester is off to a busy start, and I don’t have as much time as I’d like to take new shooters to the range (heck, I don’t know any more new shooters! Anyone in town want to send them my way?) right now, but hopefully that’ll become possible as grad school applications go out.

Dear friend and colleague,

With great sadness we regret to inform you of an incident at the Prvi Partizan Amunition factory in Uzice.

A series of explosions occurred Thursday evening, severely injuring fourteen employees. Seven injuries were fatal.

None of the machinery at the plant was damaged, but other damage was caused by activation of the sprinkler system which resulted in a flood that will delay production. It is estimated that production and shipping will be delayed approximately 2-3 weeks.

We are very aware the effect of this delay and appreciate your patience and understanding.

We will keep you informed as matters progress.

Sincerely,

TR&Z team

I’d like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the friends and families of all those killed or injured in the explosion.

So far, the news has not revealed any more information about the cause of the explosion. According to the BBC, six of the seven fatalities were women.

More details are available from various media sources here.

As of the other day, the Tucson Sportsman’s Warehouse has a few dozen boxes of .223 Remington, which has been completely bare for the last few months. Murphy’s Guns has, for some unknown reason, had constant availability of Prvi Partizan M193 5.56mm NATO rounds for the last few months at not-unreasonable-for-retail prices. Now they’ve got a wider variety of 5.56mm/.223, such as 200-round packs of Federal American Eagle (which has been completely gone for months).

While Murphy’s prices for non-Prvi .223/5.56mm ammo is a bit steep, it’s not wholly unreasonable for the current market, and its good to see ammo back in stock.

Primers, though, are a different matter: nearly everyone I’ve asked is either critically low or completely out of primers. Murphys has some CCI Large Rifle primers for $33/1000, which seems rather high to me. Again, though, it’s nice to at least see some primers rather than none, even if the current stocks are closer to “none” than “some”.

I can’t wait for this stupid buying crisis to be over.

“Let’s make a new cartridge! Since everyone loves the .30-06 and it’s got a goodly amount of case capacity, let’s essentially neck it down from .30 caliber to .27 caliber and put a new bullet in it! Nobody would ever confuse the two. Ever. Nope. Never.”

Bastards, the lot of them.

I tumble brass based on caliber (e.g. all .30-06, all .308, all .223, etc.) or, if I lack enough of a particular cartridge to make a full tumbler load, neck size (all .30 caliber necks, all .22 caliber necks, etc.) — it keeps the cases from getting stuck together. Since tumbling is hardly a critical stage in the reloading process, I go fairly quickly when I remove brass from my “spent brass from the range” bucket and toss it into the tumbler.

Since I mainly shoot .30-06 and .223, it’s easy to tell them apart. Unfortunately, I’ll occasionally pick up a piece of .270 at the range, as it just happens to be in my .30-06 brass field. As I don’t expect them¹, I don’t usually keep an eye out for them. It seems that at least one or two always get into each tumbler load of .30-06 brass, and from there into my caliber-specific “clean brass” bins in the closet.

As it turns out, a .30-06 resizing die’s expander pin can blow out .270 to .30 caliber without too much effort. I’ve created not a small number of these “.30-.270s” over the years, but always catch them when it comes to priming them, as I look at the base in detail and read the headstamp. So far, none have made it through the whole process.

Even so, the similarities between the two rounds annoy me to no end. I’m sure it’s a fine round, but it still is far too similar to .30-06 for my taste.

1. No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!