To the best of my figuring, only about 5% of American men are afflicted with ‘shooters disease’. Which the past 18 months has made rather tough. I sent a note to Winchester (Olin) the other day. I said: “If you’re not going to make ammo, at least sell us primers so we can make our own.”

Winchester among other things makes powder, primers and ammunition. I’ve never seen the stranglehold two corporations have on the Second Amendment. Winchester and Vista Outdoor (Federal, CCI, Blazer, Remington) have to control 90% of the U.S. market.

Organizations that are supposed to be looking out for the Second Amendment like the NRA, don’t seem to grasp that. Never has the right to bear arms been so tenuous. Or rather the ability to put something in those arms. It doesn’t matter that brass, powder and bullets are available, without primers nothing works.

Which I happen to have some recent experience with. Midway USA this week has had some large pistol primers available from CCI. Through some stroke of dumb luck I stumbled upon the Midway site Monday and nabbed a 1,000. Midway did a good job of limiting purchases to 1 per person per week (they still have some as of Thursday – and by Friday they were gone).

Brownells got some CCI small rifle primers. The best I can figure is that they have one-way interchangeability. Rifle can work in pistol, but pistol can’t work in rifle. We’re about to test that out. I nabbed a 1,000 of them (why get 2,000 until I know for sure they’ll work in pistol?).

So I nabbed 2,000 of the first primers I’ve seen in 18 months. Which is important as I’ve made a vow not to buy ammo from these domestic shysters and their contrived shortage. Its a pain having to “roll your own“, but its worth it to be somewhat in control of your own destiny.

I’m old enough to remember when you could walk into a store and buy anything you wanted. That was old America. I recently ran into a clerk who interacts with Federal. He was told by the Federal rep that they thought they were 5 years out on catching up with their orders.

5 years essentially without a Second Amendment. On top of that you have the shipping container shortage cutting off our main supplier China, along with the backlog at the Port of Los Angeles. A key shortage is copper. Its the material used to provide a ‘jacket’ around the lead bullet. Its also a component of the ‘brass’ used to hold the powder and the bullet.

Is the copper shortage legitimate? Maybe. Its like the chip shortage for automobiles, I assume its legitimate. Store shelves are mostly bare except for your NATO cartridges 5.56 and 9 mm. There’s a smattering of .40 S&W, .45 ACP and some rifle cartridges, but there is still a lot of bare shelves.

“Lead styphnate is the primary explosive in modern primers, while barium nitrate is the oxidizer that adds oxygen to the explosive. Tetrazene is a sensitizer that makes the primer easier to detonate. The remaining elements are fuels. The specific ingredients in primer compounds vary from one make to another” – none of those elements explains to me why there is a primer shortage. Its not like they’re as rare as printer ink.

The thing I cannot get past is how within a year a necessity that is used by 100% of the people, toilet paper, was back to normal supply. And yet a recreational item used by only 5% of the people is still in short supply?

And why does global trade exist for everything but ammo?

[10/1/21 update: Brownells of Grinnell, Iowa had CCI large pistol primers Friday. This is on top of their CCI small rifle primers they had on Wednesday. CCI is also the brand I ordered from Midway on Monday. CCI seems to be trying at least. Now I feel bad when I sent them an email asking, “Canada’s got primers, why don’t we?” In the spring I saw a guy on Facebook saying he’d been on Midway’s “notify me” list for 18 months with nothing. You have to check their sites every day twice a day. They’re not sending out any emails.]

A subject I thought I’d be exploring till the day I died was: “Where did all the legends go?” That period of the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood from 1935 – 1965. When they operated under the “oppressive” Motion Picture Production Code. Once they were passed being oppressed, they’ve barely managed to turn out a handful of films of note. Unequivocally movies were better then. Just no way around it. Now I think I have the answer to that question.

It was in an article on Eric Wayne’s blog: “The Fraud of Contemporary Art“, a book by art critic Avelina Lesper. Its the idea that the art world has been turned over to the businessman. He talks about how in an art show now the artist might not even be mentioned, its all about the curator. As if none of this would have happened without the curator’s wonderfulness: “In the brochures of the exhibitions the artists are no longer mentioned. Now the name of the curator is put first and it is specified that it is a project under the guidance of such and such an expert.”

The lethal blow was: “The curators refuse to exhibit great art, because such works do not need them.” I can see how this also applies to the world of film. The artist and the actor are now irrelevant, its whoever fits the suit (Johnny Bravo). I didn’t realize but I was asking the same question in my August 14 post: “Where Did All the Music Go?” That came out 5 days after Eric’s post The Fraud of Contemporary Art. Eric’s answer to the death of the music industry was telling, his theory was that it also had been turned over to the accountants. That the musical artists there were also no longer relevant.

I can definitely see a pattern now with music, art and film. Regrettably I also have to bring politics into it. Just as those who control the artistic world fear real talent, the independent, the mono-party fears the ‘rogue operator’. Someone who is not part of the system (Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Pat Buchanan, Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor-Greene…). Their phrase NWO was not by accident, they intend to have just that. They want nice round pegs, not surprises.

Even someone like me who is completely unfamiliar with the contemporary art world can remember “legends” from 50 years ago that I just don’t see on the horizon today: Andy Warhol and LeRoy Neiman. I also did this theme from the world of sports, name me today who is the heavyweight boxing champion? 50 years ago everybody knew who Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali were. I don’t have the full answer yet. I think a lot of it is that the ‘powers that be’ want to put a stake in the heart of individualism.

[Gore Vidal once described Andy Warhol as “The only genius I’ve ever known with an IQ of 60”.]

Brutal! His take down of Winchester Silvertip it is. Harrell is good at eventually getting down to brass tacks (the first 10:30 is him shooting 5 rounds each of 4 different .22 LR through 3 different guns over a chronograph, I skipped over that. After each shot he turns with a dramatic “Shatneresque” pause and announces the number in feet per second). The gist of the video was that the “optimization” of the Silvertip for handguns was all marketing hype. Those 3 other rounds on the board (mini-mags, Stinger and Yellow Jacket) all outperformed it. And in most cases at a lot less cost.

The point of this post was not so much about this ammo, but the concept of the .22 LR round as a defensive round in general. There is a very vocal cadre on YouTube that vehemently hates (with every fiber of their being) the idea of using it as a self-defense round. Its like dang, let it go. If somebody wants to use it, let ’em use it. To me their argument is from the wrong perspective. They simply look at the diameter of the bullet and say it is too small. Do they think the human body is as tough and rugged as a moose? I can assure them its not.

Killing a human is quite easy. There cannot be a mammal with a thinner hide and a more flimsy skeletal frame. Not to mention as a defensive round you have to throw in the “fear factor”, you start shooting at a human with that loud bang and their flight response kicks in. They’re not going to hang around to find out if you’re shooting a “respectable” caliber at them or not (it has to be above .380 you cad!). They keep saying things like, “If you shoot them with a .22 you’ll just make them angry!” Or the time and again dis-proven argument, “A winter coat will stop a .22!” My main hope is that someone new to shooting will not buy into this stuff.

As a doctor will invariably say, “Emergency Rooms are filled with .22 gunshot victims who never make it home.” I tend more to believe another YouTube video where a guy explains as a teenager he accidentally shot himself in the foot with a .22. He said it was the most painful thing he had ever experienced and put him on the ground screaming. I say all this because a .22 is a very smooth shooter. The lack of recoil makes it a very accurate weapon. And they generally are infinitely concealable. Where it fails isn’t in the diameter of the bullet, its the less than reliable ignition of the cartridge. That’s where a .25 acp is better. Its also a very smooth shooter, but it has reliable centerfire ignition. Wouldn’t you know it, there may not be any current production .25’s on the market!

The idea that a .22 round is just going to bounce off an assailant is ridiculous. These guys may be great with guns, but they don’t get how frail the human body is.

[All this is irrelevant, as neither the Silvertip or a similar round the Federal Punch is even available! The GD ammo manufacturers have found it more profitable to play the shortage game.]

One of (if not the) best archery videos on YouTube. The video is 20 minutes long because she has 20 minutes of content. You can see in the comments that a lot of people were like me, having stuff explained that the “experts” just assumed you knew somehow. Brace height, why you would twist your string, how to silence it. Tips on not shooting out your shoulder. Why arrows in the target would lean left, or why they would lean right. And a bunch of other neat stuff. You get to a certain age and really appreciate people who cut through the crap.