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April 5th, 2014
 On the Norma website, in the products area, you’ll find dozens of illustrated cartridge profiles. Many of these have been augmented with “Caliber Histories” providing background information, both historical and practical. These entries will benefit those interested in the origins and development of popular hunting and match cartridges. Many of the “Caliber Histories” also include information on bullets and twist rates.
CLICK HERE to access the Hunting Products page on Norma’s website. There, on the left, you’ll see a vertical list of 58 different cartridges. Click on any cartridge name and you’ll see an illustrated “overview”. For most (but not all) listed cartridges, there is also a gray tab labeled “Caliber History”. Click that tab to see a cartridge diagram and a few paragraphs explaining the cartridge’s lineage and design features. For example, the .280 Remington Caliber History explains: “This cartridge was constructed in 1957 for Remington’s model 740 Autoloader. It is basically a .30-06 necked down to accept 7mm bullets, but the shoulder was moved forward a little in order to prevent the cartridge from being loaded into .270 Win. rifles by mistake.” Many of the Caliber History entries offer recommended bullet weights and barrel twist rates. Shown below is the 6.5×55 Swede’s Caliber History:
Article tip by EdLongrange. We welcome reader submissions.
April 4th, 2014
 Last year, to catch up with demand for its most popular products, Hornady temporarily halted production of a significant number of bullet types and ammunition products. Some shooters were upset because they were no longer able to get their favorite bullets. Well, here’s some good new guys — Hornady has resumed production of a number of bullet types, and four ammo varieties.
CLICK LINK to View Updated 2014 Production List.
Highlighted items have been removed from suspension.
http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/support/CurrentProductionList.pdf
We scanned over the updated production list (linked above), and we found these highlighted items, which should now be back in production. As Hornady may update the list with new items, we suggest you contact Hornady if your favorite projectile is not yet back in production.
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Bullets Restored to 2014 Production
22492 22 CAL .224 52 GR A-MAX®
2250 22 CAL .224 53 GR HP MATCH
22281 22 CAL .224 60 GR V-MAX®
2278 22 CAL .224 68 GR BTHP MATCH
27352 270 CAL .277 140 GR SST®
27402 270 CAL .277 150 GR SST®
27200 270/6.8 .277 110 GR BTHP W/C
28402 7MM .284 162 GR A-MAX®
28405 7MM .284 162 GR BTHP MATCH
30311 30 CAL .308 140 GR MFX (308MX)
30310 30 CAL .308 140 GR MONOFLEX®
30370 30 CAL .308 150 GR GMX®
3072 30 CAL .308 180 GR BTSP
3560 9.3 CAL .366 286 GR SP-RP |
Ammo Restored to 2014 Production
8218 AMMO 300 WIN MAG 195 GR BTHP
8115 AMMO 30-06 SPRG 165 GR BTSP
4747 470 CAL .474 500 GR DGX®
82741 AMMO 45-70 GOVT 250 GR MFX LVR |
April 1st, 2014
The number one complaint among our readers is: “I can’t find any rimfire ammo … where did it all go?” Well, though .22 LR ammo is in very short supply in the United States, you can find plenty of rimfire ammo in other countries around the globe, including many of the world’s most popular tourism destinations. With the availability of cheap .22 LR ammo overseas, you may want to plan an ammo-buying adventure in an exotic location. Sun, sand, and ammo galore make for a perfect getaway.
 Recognizing the unprecedented demand for rimfire ammo, a new specialty travel company, Ammo-Ventures.com, is now offering “ammo buying spree” holidays in exotic destinations worldwide. Participants can jet off to Brazil, Costa Rica, the Philippines, and Thailand. All Ammo-Ventures tour participants will be allowed to purchase up to $3000.00 worth of rimfire ammo while on holiday. Ammo-Ventures will handle all the packing and shipping chores, and will arrange for your ammo to be air-freighted right to your residence in the good old USA. In addition, if you’re itching to go shooting once you return home, you can pack a limited amount of rimfire ammo in your regular luggage. From most locations you can bring back up to ten boxes (i.e. 500 rounds) of rimfire ammo in your checked luggage.
Along with ammo-shopping sprees in exotic locations, Ammo-Ventures offers its customers a wide variety of adventurous diversions and “daily escapes”. In Costa Rica, you can enjoy the famous San Jose nightlife, raft a wilderness river, or go deep-sea fishing in the Gulf of Papagayo. In the Philippines, tour participants can go on a jungle jeep tour or dive idyllic, unspoiled coral reefs in Palawan province. In Thailand, Ammo-Ventures offers remote beach getaways, plus scintillating Pattaya nightlife.
About Ammo-Ventures LLC
Ammo-Ventures LLC was founded in 2013 by Frank “Cisco” Leland and Sam “Stinger” Yee, two seasoned world travelers who are also avid shooting enthusiasts. They personally accompany each Ammo-Venture holiday. For over two decades these rugged adventurers have organized exotic travel holidays including “romantic adventure” tours to Thailand, the Philippines and Costa Rica. Cisco Leland says: “With our interest in shooting and tropical destinations it seemed natural to organize specialty travel trips for shootists who need to stock up on ammo. With the current ammo shortage in the United States, it makes more sense than ever before to visit an ammo-rich, gun-friendly tropical destination. Now you can enjoy the sun and the fun, and come home with with a crate full of ammo. If that sounds like the perfect vacation… well it is!”
March 30th, 2014
 G. Salazar regularly reviewed important shooting books on his RiflemansJournal.com website. One of the notable treatises reviewed by German is Modern Exterior Ballistics by Bob McCoy, the respected expert from the U.S. Army Ballistics Research Laboratory.
Salazar tells us: “We hope to cover a very wide range of books related to accurate rifles; some will be familiar to experienced students of the rifle, some will be quite obscure. There is no specific time frame for the books, so you may see something from the 19th century one month and a new book hot off the press the next. The only common factor is that these will all be books that have appeal to the serious student of rifle accuracy.” Here is a segment of Salazar’s review of Modern Exterior Ballistics:
Modern Exterior Ballistics – Robert L. McCoy
Review by G. Salazar
 Bob McCoy is widely and properly regarded as the dean of modern ballisticians and this book is his most accessible work. For those who are not familiar with McCoy’s work, I can think of no better introduction than these words, written after McCoy’s death, which appear as a dedication to the book over the signatures of 54 of his fellow ballisticians at the U.S. Army Ballistics Research Laboratory:
“This book on exterior ballistics represents the life work and passion of Bob McCoy. It was his wish to leave a historical perspective as well as an accurate technical treatise for both the engineering community and the sporting arms industry. Bob was in fact an aerospace engineer, but he always referred to himself as a ‘ballistician’. He was very proud to have worked for and served the American people for 30 years at the U.S. Army Ballistic Research Laboratory while truly enjoying his passion. Bob was one of the most respected members of the staff of the U.S. Army Ballistics Research Laboratory and had an international reputation in aeroballistics. We will always remember his professionalism, his enthusiasm, his boisterous laugh, his passion for ballistics, and most of all, his friendship. We his students, his co-workers, his peers, and his friends dedicate this book to the memory of the last true ballistician of the 20th century.”
CLICK HERE to read full review….
March 29th, 2014
Looking for the best prices on rifle and pistol ammo? Here’s a service that can help you comparison-shop pricing among multiple online ammo vendors. Starting this week, The Firearm Blog will be researching and posting ammo prices from two dozen different websites. Prices are displayed for 500 and 1000-round lots of the most popular pistol and rifle calibers: .380 ACP, 9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .22LR, .223 Rem, 7.62×39, and .308 Win. This is a useful service. Not only do the charts help you find the best price, but this weekly report helps spotlight sources of hard-to-find ammo, such as .22 LR rimfire ammunition. Among the 24 vendors surveyed, Alamo Ammo, Outdoor Limited, and Smokey Mtn. Munitions, are showing some kind of .22 LR ammunition in stock.
CLICK HERE to View all TFB Ammo Listings for 3/28/2014.
March 25th, 2014
The “Old Warhorse” .30-06 Springfield cartridge is not dead. That’s the conclusion of Forum member Rick M., who recently compared the 1000-yard performance of his .30-06 rifle with that of a rig chambered for the more modern, mid-sized 6.4×47 Lapua cartridge. In 12-16 mph full-value winds, the “inefficient and antiquated” .30-06 ruled. Rick reports:
“I was shooting my .30-06 this past Sunday afternoon from 1000 yards. The wind was hitting 12-16 mph with a steady 9 O’clock (full value) wind direction. My shooting buddy Jeff was shooting his 6.5×47 Lapua with 123gr Scenar bullets pushed by Varget. Jeff needed 13 MOA left windage to keep his 6.5x47L rounds inside the Palma 10 Ring. By contrast I only needed 11.5 MOA left windage with my .30-06. I was shooting my ’06 using the 185gr Berger VLD target bullet with H4350. I managed the same POI yet the .30-caliber bullet only needed 11.5 MOA windage. That’s significant. From this experience I’ve concluded that the Old Warhorse ain’t quite dead yet!”
Rick likes his “outdated” .30-06 rifle. He says it can deliver surprisingly good performance at long range:
“To many of the younger generation, the Old Warhorse .30-06 is ‘outdated’ but I can guarantee that the .30-06 Springfield is a VERY ACCURATE cartridge for 1000-yard shooting (and even out further if need be). With some of the advanced powders that we have today, the .30-06 will surprise many shooters with what it’s capable of doing in a good rifle with the right rate of twist. My rifle has a 1:10″ twist rate and I had it short-throated so that, as the throat erodes with time, I could just seat the bullets out further and keep right on shooting. My recent load is Berger 185gr Target VLDs pushed by IMR 4350. This is a very accurate load that moves this bullet along at 2825 fps.”
March 22nd, 2014
Ever wondered how Hornady bullets and ammunition are made? You’ll see every stage of production in this interesting video from the Outdoor Channel. Starting with raw materials (lead, copper, and brass), this 9-minute “factory tour” video shows how bullet cores are produced, how jackets are crafted, and how cartridge cases are formed, headstamped, and inspected. If you watch carefully you’ll also see the massive, multi-stage cartridge loading machines. Now one of the most successful manufacturers of ammunition and reloading components in the world, Hornady Manufacturing has come a long way from its early days. In 1949, Founder Joyce Hornady started the company “making bullets… in a garage down on 4th street” in Grand Island, Nebraska.
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Lead cylinders are pressed into lead wire used for bullet cores.
Spools of flat copper are fed into cupping machines. The punched cups become bullet jackets.
All cartridge cases and loaded rounds are hand-inspected.
Hornady Manufacturing — The Early Years
During World War II, Joyce Hornady served as a marksmanship instructor at the Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant. Following the War, Joyce and his family stayed in Grand Island, Nebraska and opened a small sporting goods retail store that sold everything from basketballs to shooting supplies.
After WWII, shooters and hunters used surplus military ammunition. This surplus ammo however, did not offer the accuracy or performance needed for target shooting, big game, or varmint hunting. Recognizing the need for better bullets, Hornady and his original partner Vernon Speer built a machine that converted spent 22 rimfire cases into bullet jackets, and then into bullets. The business relationship between Hornady and Speer later faltered, and Vernon Speer moved to Lewiston, Idaho. Using a surplus bullet assembly press in a rented garage on 4th Street in Grand Island, Nebraska, Joyce Hornady began to produce his own .30-caliber bullet.
The first year of business, Hornady Bullets had total sales of $10,000 – a figure that increased three-fold the next year. Hornady added equipment and workers, confident that more growth lay ahead. During the Korean War, Hornady earned contracts to produce a variety of products not associated with bullets — aluminum hearts for bracelets, and condenser cans for the government. After the war, the can material and the technology developed to produce them was utilized to make ultra-thin copper jackets for varmint bullets.
In 1958, the company moved to its present location on the west edge of Grand Island. The new, larger facility featured an 8,000-square-foot plant. In 1960, Hornady added a 200-yard underground testing facility.
March 17th, 2014
Hornady’s annual Get Loaded™ redemption program has become one of the company’s most popular promos. The 2014 Get Loaded™ program offers a lineup of quality reloading tools and accessories that qualify buyers for either 500 or 100 free bullets (from a list of ten bullet types).
Buy Hornady Gear, Get Free Hornady Bullets
Here’s how it works — if you buy Hornady reloading gear, you can get free bullets. Purchase a Hornady Lock-N-Load® Ammo Plant, AP Press, Classic Kit, Classic Deluxe Kit, Precision Reloaders Kit, or Hot Tub Sonic Cleaner from January 1 through December 31, 2014, and you can receive 500 free bullets. Purchase Custom Grade Die Sets, or the Lock-N-Load® Case Prep Trio and receive 100 free bullets. Application is required. CLICK HERE for more details.
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with purchase of one of these products
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with purchase of one of these products
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Qualifying Bullets for Get Loaded 2014 Promotion:
You are allowed to select only ONE item number per redemption.
March 15th, 2014
Now that Lapua is making very high-quality .221 Fireball brass, those of you who own an AR may be considering a 300 AAC Blackout project. For AR shooters, the 300 Blackout (300 BLK) offers the ability to fire a heavy-weight bullet from standard AR15 magazines. When loaded to supersonic velocities with heavy bullets, this little cartridge packs more punch than a 30-30 round. Alternatively, when loaded to sub-sonic velocities, the 300 Blackout is ultra-quiet when used with a suppressor.
Writing for the CTD Shooter’s Log, CTD Mike has authored a good Beginners’ Guide to the 300 AAC Blackout. This explains the basics of this interesting cartridge, which is a .30-caliber round that works with existing AR15 magazines and upper. You can purchase 300 Blackout factory ammunition or you can load your own. The easiest way to make 300 Blackout cartridges is to neck-up Lapua .221 Fireball brass. But if you have hordes of .223 Rem brass, you can also cut those cases down and reform them into 300 Blackout. But that is much more work. With Lapua .221 Fireball brass, you lube the inside of the necks, expand, and you’re good to go.
300 Blackout vs. 6.8 SPC
AR owners who have considered a dedicated upper in 6.8 SPC, should give serious consideration to 300 Blackout instead. First, with so much .223 Rem available, you have a virtually infinite supply of parent brass. 6.8 SPC brass is not so easy to find. Second, to function optimally, the 6.8 SPC requires dedicated magazines. CTD Mike says: “6.8 SPC II and 6.5 Grendel both require specific magazines [that are] different from the Standard NATO Agreement (STANAG) AR-15 magazine. These magazines are not nearly as common … and of course cost a bit more. On top of that, you lose capacity in those calibers, down to 25 rounds instead of 30, because their casings are fatter and take up more space[.]”
The Sound of Silence — Suppressed 300 Blackout Properties
The 300 AAC Blackout is a great option if you live in a jurisdiction that allows suppressor ownership. A suppressed 300 Blackout is ultra-quiet and very reliable. CTD Mike explains: “Unlike 5.56, subsonic [1000 FPS] loadings that still cycle the AR-15 action reliably are easy to make [with] a 220 grain .308 bullet. At close range, these 220 grain rounds really thump, and the real kicker is that using an AAC suppressor with them in a 9-inch barrel brings the sound level to only 125 decibels. That’s quieter than an MP5SD shooting 9mm rounds, and much quieter than a MK23 pistol shooting .45acp rounds. You have to be there and shoot one of these rifles with a ‘can’ attached to realize that this 220 grain bullet is nearly as quiet as a silenced .22 pistol.”
 AR15 Podcast Talks about 300 Blackout
If you are intrigued by the 300 AAC Blackout, you should consider listening to an hour-long AR15Podcast hosted by Reed Snyder and co-Host Anthony Hardy. In this Podcast, Reed explains how to re-barrel an AR15 for the 300 Blackout. Step by step, he explains how to remove your .223-caliber barrel and install a .30-caliber barrel chambered for the 300 Blackout. Reed lists the tools you’ll need and he also explains how to tune adjustable gas blocks for best performance with a 300 Blackout upper.
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AUDIO FILE: AR15 Podcast about 300 AAC Blackout (Warning Loud Volume) |
For those who are undecided about adapting their AR15s for the 300 Blackout, Reed weighs the pros and cons of having a dedicated .30 caliber in your AR arsenal. Here are some of the strong points of this interesting cartridge:
- 300 Blackout cartridges fit and feed in standard AR magazines.
- 300 Blackout rivals 7.62x39mm performance.
- Brass and Bullets are readily available.
- Barrel is only part that needs to be modified.
- Excellent Subsonic Performance — very quiet.
- .30 Caliber suppressors can be used with smaller calibers as well.
About the 300 AAC Blackout (300 BLK)
The 300 AAC Blackout cartridge shares case-head dimensions and body taper with the .223 Remington. Not only does this allow for compatibility with existing magazines and bolts, but it allows reloaders to form their own brass from cut-down 5.56×45 mm or .223 Rem cases. You can also form 300 Blackout cases by necking-up .221 Fireball brass. Take Note: Lapua has started producing .221 Fireball brass — this should be available in the USA by the end of April.
The 300 AAC Blackout is a similar concept to previous wildcats, such as the 30-221 and 300 Fireball, as well as the proprietary 300 Whisper®, except that 300 BLK was the first to be a SAAMI-approved cartridge and any company is free to make firearms or ammunition.
300 AAC Blackout is also finding use with hunters, who may not have been able to legally hunt with .223 in their state, and who prefer .30 caliber bullets for medium-sized game. It provides similar effectiveness to the 7.62×39 or the slightly more powerful .30-30 cartridges except works in the more up-to-date AR-platform rifles. Effective hunting range is about 150 yards. Some innovators, such as Dave Whitford, have also experimented with the 300 BLK for Across-the-Course competition. READ Whitford story in Rifleman’s Journal..
Related RESOURCES:
American Rifleman Article with 300 AAC Blackout AND 300 Whisper Reamer Prints.
.330 AAC Blackout Factory Ammunition Review.
March 14th, 2014
 Lapua has a very cool video — “eye candy” for any precision shooter. Definitely WATCH THIS VIDEO. This 12-minute video contains a surprising amount of “hard” info on Lapua products. As well, there are some amazing segments showing Lapua brass and rimfire ammo being produced. Watch carefully and you’ll see most of the processes used for forming and loading brass. Another short segment shows a Lapua technician inspecting a case for run-out. Neat.
The video spotlights some of the important American and international records set with Lapua ammo. You’ll see top 300m and Olympic rifle shooters in action, and there are also short comments from many champions, including American Benchrest legend Tony Boyer.
NOTE: This is long video — you may need to let it buffer (pre-load) for 10-20 seconds before playback. If that doesn’t work, let the entire video load, then hit the replay button.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this VideoPress video.
Yes, this video is first and foremost a marketing tool, but that doesn’t lessen that fact that it is fascinating to watch. We suspect many of you will want to save the video to your computer for future viewing. That’s easy to do. Just click on the link below. (Note: After downloading, we suggest that PC users play it back through Windows Media Player. You can then drag the Media Player corners to expand the video viewing size.)
CLICK HERE to download 25mb Lapua Video (fast connection recommended).
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