"Standard" ammo chamberings

That Guy at Rock in a Sea of Chaos has made a very good point.  Remember all of the intarweb gun forum talk of "standard" chamberings for survival rifles and how in the occurrence of said emergency situation you would just be able to find it anywhere?  I think our current state of affairs has proven that theory very wrong.  Unless you're willing to fight someone for it who obviously has more ammo than you (since that's what you're after), then the supply will be non-existent when high demand occurs.  I guess I'm glad I have some of the funky calibers in the safe that I can still get ammo for if I really needed to.

Oh my, more boxed joy

It's so amazing they can fit so much pleasure in such a little box.

Christmas!

I don't know why, but for some reason buying a couple of boxes at the store doesn't quite have the kid-in-a-candy-store feel that the brown parcel company does.  We have an upcoming event that will require burning a lot of this off.  Oh, I guess if I have to...

Ammunition microstamping into economic ruin

New York is on a roll now.

The mind of a politician has always confounded me.  They like to wield their bureaucratic power and then act absolutely and completely puzzled when people and businesses don't just fall in line or do something "unfair" like "resist sensible gun legislation."

You see, politicians don't have to make a profit.  Governments rarely have to actually follow the budget they set forth.  It's a foreign concept to them that A. a company has a duty to their shareholders to make a profit and B. a duty to their customers to provide the product and back the ideals the consumers expect.  We all know that we as consumers expect firearms and ammunition manufacturers to not back gun legislation.  It's not especially good for their bottom line.  You can ask Smith and Wesson how that turned out for them some years back.  The politicians are already trying to cast the blame on the businesses for moving and cutting all of those jobs.  Amazing how the company would much rather not spend the money to move the business, retrain a bunch of people and reinvest in a bunch of new equipment.  We all know that they have weighed the cost of all of that versus implementing the microstamping.  Obviously, the cost of the microstamping in addition to the reputational considerations are worse than moving a whole production site out of state.  But a politician just isn't ever going to get that.

How do you lose 268,000 rounds of ammunition?

Just make one wrong turn.

Ouch.  I wish they would have just swung by our house on the way through and dropped it off.  It would have saved a lot of drama.  I do have to say that I've seen (and taken) those exits they are talking about and some of them, you really have no option when you take them except to go to the border crossing.  The big mistake he made, however, was not telling Customs and Border Patrol what was going on so they could figure something out besides taking ammunition into Mexico.

Range Time (finally)

I finally got out and did some shooting.  It's been a little while and I had some things to check on.  The slide from my Les Baer took a little tumble as I was cleaning it and landed on the front sight.  Results on that one made me smile as I chewed out the middle of the target.  Sigh of relief there.

I burned a couple of magazines through the P3AT and had no issues with the 9 round magazine, but some with the 6 round magazine.  I've made the determination that this gun needs to be run relatively "wet".  While that doesn't make me super happy, I think I have a solution.  We will see.  If not, it's going on the auction block.

I had removed the red dot sight from my AR for hunting season and slapped my scope in the quick detach rings on it.  It turns out I didn't really need it, but I had to put the red dot back on and I wanted to make sure it was still on.  The good news is that it hit real close, but was a tad low.  I adjusted for that and we're back in business.

I let Mrs. 45er do some work with it:

Then I did a few reps of multiple target acquisition and mag change stuff.  I also had an unintentional failure drill.  It went click when it should have gone bang.  I was happy that I went straight to the bolt and cycled it out, finishing the exercise.  It's always nice to know that you revert to training when you don't know it's coming.  What did I find that caused it, you ask?

Eeeek!

Wolf, steel ammo, yes.  I haven't had problems with feeding or firing since I've started using it, but this was interesting.  My guess is that the case doesn't have a flash-hole drilled into it so the primer ignition could not get to the powder and therefore blew back out of the pocket.  My next thought was:  I'll bet I could pop that piece of primer off and confirm my suspicion.  My very next immediate thought was:  What the heck are you thinking?  Stupid and dangerous for no reason.  In the trash it went.

As it got later, I did some laser sight training with Mrs. 45er and had a little fun with that.  All in all a good range day.  Then again, short of shooting yourself, when is range time not good?

Ammo Change

This is a short one.  I was really happy with the Hornady Critical Defense in the .380 pocket rocket, but I thought I would try something different.  Just to, you know, try something different.  Well, I was very impressed with the Speer Gold Dot that I got my hands on.  It fed wonderfully and the damage it did to the jugs made me very happy.  I wouldn't be concerned at all carrying this stuff for defense.  I quickly changed out the mags and filled them up with this stuff. 

With .223 for comparison

Overall, I'd say I would be happy with either.   I'm very happy with the development of modern ammunition and bullet technology allowing us to carry even more concealable firearms.  Go Team!  :)

Kel Tec P3AT Range Report

So the general consensus is that I'm very happy with the new P3AT and so is Mrs. 45er.  The recoil was manageable but I would not call it light.  Mostly, it is the lack of much grip on the gun that makes it feel a little snappy.  With a proper and firm grip, it is just fine.  With the magazine/grip extension it was much nicer to handle.
Also, I guess the adage from Clint Smith: "Two is one and one is none" applies to cameras as well.  I was getting all prepared this morning and charging batteries, then failed to put the battery back in the fancy camera.  Luckily, I brought the back up for video in front of the muzzle so it took place as primary.

Ammo specs:

Blazer 95 gr TMJ (total metal jacket), aluminum case.  The cheap stuff.
Independence 95 gr FMJ (full metal jacket), brass case (still Blazer).  Medium quality stuff.
Hornady Critical Defense 90 gr FTX (bullet trademarked name, Flex Tip)

Gun stats (as weighed on digital scale):

gun unloaded, no mag - 7.90 oz
gun unloaded with empy 6 round mag - 9.10 oz
gun with loaded 6 round mag + 1 in chamber - 11.35 oz
gun with unloaded 9 round mag - 9.55 oz
gun with loaded 9 round mag + 1 in chamber - 13.00 oz

For comparison to some things we recognize:

12 oz can of soda - 13.55 oz
standard bottle of tobasco sauce (2oz) - 5.00 oz

So, on to the good stuff:

Just a little handful

In the DeSantis Nemesis pocket holster

Bang

I'm not going to make this post as wordy as some of my other diatribes that I've submitted you to because I have a TON of pictures and a video that I think tell the story.  Above is me taking the first shots using the 9 round extended mag.  I really like the grip extension.  If I'm not pocket carrying, that will be in the gun. Speaking of pocket carry, the DeSantis holster did great.  I've drawn both fast and slow and it hasn't pulled from my pocket in loose shorts, dress pants or blue jeans.





Front sight focus, if you can find it.

Yeah, the sights aren't huge.  However...



 Not bad.  We were shooting at about 6 yards, which is what I would consider medium-ish range with a pocket pistol.  That is 10 shots, so I'm pretty happy.  I also wasn't "bullseye" shooting.  I'm thrilled.  Then, along comes Mrs. 45er:



Do ya feel lucky, punk?

 She was very happy with controllability.  Of course, the 9 rounder with the grip extension felt much better for her.  She still did great with the 6 rounder.  As a matter of fact...

Well, do ya?

...she royally handed me my rear end.  She put a round or two in the center of mass square and wasn't happy that she couldn't track her shots in the group, so she decided to switch to the head square.  Show off.

So, here are some specifics.  I was using two types of plinking ammunition.  One (Blazer) is bottom of the barrel.  I probably won't buy it again, but thought testing with the cheapest would give me an idea of the worst that could happen.  I had 3 jams in about 25 rounds with the cheapest ammo and an unfired gun.  For now, that's fine.  I'll keep an eye on that if it doesn't improve.

The Blazer aluminum case ammunition is gone and isn't coming back.  The Independence did just fine (about 25 rounds fired).  The Hornady did fantastic.  The FTX bullet design has more of a rubber insert, the "Flex Tip" as opposed to the normal polymer insert you're used to seeing.  The bullet performance was pretty impressive.

I really liked the hydrostatic performance.  Yes, it didn't blow the thing in half like a 230 grain Hydrashok from a .45 ACP, but this is what I was hoping to see from good defense ammunition in a .380.  Now, the aftermath.

Ow

The bullet on the right penetrated through one jug of water and into a second but didn't exit.  The bullet on the left penetrated one jug of water and stopped against a phone book, hence the slight flattening at the front.  The bullet to the rear still has a date with destiny.  The red things are the rubber inserts (flex tip) in the FTX bullet.

Nice form, sir.

So, the final analysis is that I'm really happy with the gun.  I'm also satisfied with the performance of the Critical Defense.  This is what I want to see a defense round look like when it does its job.  The Hornady was flawless in function in the gun as well.  I'll be happy to carry this for defense.

For my initial thoughts when we first got the P3AT and more pics, you can see them here.

EDIT:  I wanted to add a video of the gun so you could judge recoil and a picture of the extended magazine with the new paint job.