Loe..... It Has Come To Pass.... Ammo Is Gone

  

Not surprisingly, folks are a bit nervous these days. The reasons are many, and this post isn't really about politics or even about folks being just plain foolish.

But, the fact is; the 1st is just as important as the 2nd Amendment. That being said, all this "stuff" in combination with Covid-19, and everything else has created a run on gun stores the likes of which hasn't been seen for quite some time. 

Remember, these are "new" gun owners, meaning they don't have any ammo. It's not like me buying another 9mm with quite a lot of it put up. You combine all that with today's consumer going to Youtube for information and what you get is a bunch of new to the gun-world people watching videos telling them they should have at least a thousand rounds of ammunition for every caliber or every gun and there you go! Did I mention that it's also an election year with the results being very iffy regardless of which side you're on.

To give you an idea how bad it is out there; here's a little story. First, in case you haven't heard; nobody has ammo (other than pure hunting stuff like .243 Winchester). The big retailers are all out. The only places that have any are the small "mom & pop" gun stores like the one in my town. I was in there the other day, and sure enough, he had a case that he'd broken open and selling by the box instead of the whole 1000 rounds. A guy came in and wanted 2 boxes. THEY WERE $45 EACH!!! These were the normal 50 round boxes....

So, what do I do? More correctly; what did I do? The last 3 years after President Trump was elected, the firearms industry has experienced an epic slump. Everything from ARs,handguns, to ammunition was cheap. AR's between $400 and 500, $200 9mm semi-autos and 100 round boxes of 9mm at Walmart for less than $17. 

I filled up a 50 Cal ammo can with 14 boxes of this stuff, bought one or two at a time from 2017 to 2019 at about $17 per box, making it 17 cents per round. Over this same period, I bought close to 1500 rounds of .223/5.56 ammo at about 25 cents per round. The same goes for .22LR, 12 gauge shot shells of various types and some 300 Blackout as well. This is just the stuff that's sealed up in ammo cans waiting for a rainy day.

Just as, if not more importantly, I picked up several pounds of powders for each of my main calibers, several thousand primers and over a thousand projectiles. 

I'm not telling you all this to brag. What I'm saying is that I can still shoot because of the preparation work I did when times were good. I can shoot reloads because I have the supplies and equipment to make them. I have 22LR versions of my main guns (AR and Walther PPQ), so I can shoot that as well. I'm betting that, this too shall pass and prices will once again drop, but it's going to be awhile and I'll keep on shooting till then! 

Planet of The Apes Gun

In the 1968 Sci-Fi classic, "Planet of The Apes", the main weapon used was a carbine. It wasn't particularly notable due to the setting of the story, but it could be described as rudimentary and certainly not terribly attractive.

..... and if found it on the shelf of a store, you'd probably describe it as downright ugly!

Fast forward to today.... yeah..... It's called a Hi Point 995! Granted, it's the "classic" verson, and whoa, is it an ugly gun. OK, I just bought one..... Why!?! Well..... here's the deal. 

This is what I mostly shoot, and plan on shooting even more; the 9mm "Luger" or the 9 x 19 round. As of right now, I already have 2 handguns that are chambered for it; an HK VP9 "service type" pistol, and Taurus PT-111 Millennium G2 compact for "concealed carry". But, what, I'd like to have to go along with them is a "carbine". This category, specifically the "pistol caliber carbine" is one of the hottest in the firearms market today. For those interested in having one, there are of course, several ways to do it. 

The simplest and most obvious way is to buy a model that was/is produced by a mainline manufacturer, like this Marlin Camp 9, or the Ruger PC9. Only one problem..... they were made in the 80s-90s, were not popular, and are now out of production. The biggest problem? They're somewhere between $600 and $1000 when you can find one!

Then, there are these; a pistol caliber AR. Indeed, these are very attractive, especially since I'm already in the process of building an "AR" platform carbine right now, but in the standard 5.56/223 caliber. Why wouldn't I do a AR build in 9mm? Aaaa....., they tend to run into the $500-600+ range as well, that's why! Now what?

Do I do a "Planet of The Apes" gun? As you can see; even tarted-up, it's hard to escape the sheer awkwardly ugliness!!! 

 

 
There is this route; a stock available from ATI that roughly simulates the Beretta CX4 Storm carbine. Again.... no. I don't think so, I don't think I could even bear this in a BB gun. Is there a solution?

Sure there is (OK, will be). As you can see, this is a computer rendering. What is it? It's a High Tower Armory MBS 95. A polymer drop-in stock in a "bullpup" configuration for the Hi Point 995 (either Classic or Tactical stock versions). This will make this rather short carbine even shorter! I'd expect this configuration to cut at least 8" off of the original's 32" overall length putting it in the 24" range! 

Here's a preproduction prototype "in the flesh". It should really be a handy little carbine. No, it's not in production yet, but I figured that if I waited to find a cheap 995 until the MBS 95 becomes available, the price will have spiked. Therefore, last week, I bid on and won an auction on Gunbroker of an ugly original 995 for $130. Of course, after shipping and FFL cost, it will run about $150, but it's still a good price. So, just wait and all will be well? Not exactly.....

The original gun was developed during the "Clinton Assault Weapon Ban" years. Of course, this means that the design has a 10 round max. For this type of gun, that's really a sore area. Certainly the aftermarket has an answer.....right?

Of course it does! The most well known, is the Promag, 15 rounder. Unfortunately, it's almost as well known for it's inability to feed without jams. I've ordered 2 of these. What the....?!? The current ones are version 3, so I'm hoping that Promag being a well known and long standing company have made changes to resolve the issues. If, not, I'll try one (or more) of the fixes that can be found on Youtube.

In the end, it will be a "project gun" that should be fun and unique.