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! 

Keeping (if not yet), Bearing Arms

Well; I did it...... I bought a handgun. I started out looking for the Walther PPQ M1, in 9mm. I had really wanted the this first version of the Walther with a "paddle" magazine release, but they are far harder to find than the M2 (Americanized "button" release version). What it came down to, was that I could have the Walther if I wanted to pay anywhere from $500 to $550 depending on whether I was willing to buy online or not. So, I went with the alternative; which is similar spec'd, at higher list price at $720, but way easier to find and I was able to score for $400. More on this later. I'm actually going to start by discussing the process.

Of course, I'd start here. I've loved pawn shops for a long time. You're liable to find anything at one these establishments. But, if you're interested in guns, you are in luck, because these businesses are full of them ranging from the scary "Saturday Night Specials" all the way to collector's fine firearms. I went to virtually every one of them in a 50 miles radius. They're also a good place to start research as they tend to be a good indication of what's going on in the market. Related to my search, I found only 1, Walther PPQ M1, but it was chambered in .40 S&W, however I was able to find several of the H&K VP9s. They ranged from $500 to $550.

Then I hit the "big box" of the sporting world. Around here, we have Bass Pro, Dick's Sporting Goods and Academy. They have LOTS of guns, but the prices are all the same, which is some % off of the suggested retail price. Great places to go and handle the various guns that are out there and find what fits your hand, but not great to actually shop at for the same reason that you don't get computer advice at Best Buy or plumbing advice at Home Depot! Generally, the sales people are there to make a buck selling as much product as possible (hence,the "big box" title)..... not to be experts.

While all that was going on,  I was also taking advantage of modern Internet shopping. There are a number of popular websites out there. Some pretty good, and very active, like Gun Broker.com and others not as active with lots of dead end ads. If you want to use this service, you'll have to find a local FFL (Federal Firearms License'd) dealer that can take possession of the package when it ships. So you'll have to calculated in that cost, since these guys typically charge a nominal fee for their services. That is unless you find one that's being sold locally. 

Which is why I chose to use Texas Gun Trader, which of course if exclusively Texas, so I only have to find someone in my area that has what I, which is in fact what I ended up doing.

Next on the agenda were these. Actual, "brick and mortar" gun shop. They function just like the stereo/home theater store that I worked at for a time. A place where the guy behind the counter actually knows about what's inside the display case. He knows the guy who just came in, and after introducing himself to you, will know you as well. We should all frequent and support these places, because they are a dying breed. It's hard for them to compete with the above in today's world. Although he didn't have what I was looking for on Saturday, I'll be back and I'll spend money there, because I'd hate it if he has to close. 

...... And then there's this...... If you didn't already know, this is a "Gun Show". You know, that special place where fanatical the NRA-types and other "fringe-lunatics" go every chance they get so they can stock up on items that no sane person should want. Yup, I went there; in more than one way. It was fun, kind of like going to First Monday Weekend in Canton that place those decorator-wanna-be fringe-lunatics go, or to First Saturday where the computer-geek-fringe-lunatics go. Where there are all kinds of nefarious "loop-hole" activities being committed! Hillary help us all!!! OK, I really went for the following reasons:

• I hoped that since there'd be lots of dealers there, someone might have a Walther P99 so I could decide if I really wanted to dig down that far and explore that option.
• I really hoped there'd be one or more dealers with an M1 "Classic" version of the Walther PPQ (preferrably used), for roughly what I was seeing the VP9 sell for.
• My other alternative was to pick up a 5" "long-slide" version of the PPQ.
• Possibly be overwhelmed (price-wise) by some other "dark-horse" candidate (eg. Canik TP9, HK P30 or CZ P-07).

Yeah.... none of the above happened. What did happen was that  was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of AR type stuff being sold, and other nebulous "junk". Oh, don't get me wrong; what I mean by "nebulous junk" is only in relation to my task at hand. Which means, that if I wasn't looking for something specific, I'd be all about looking at 35 tables of cool AR oriented stuff, and the 15-20 tables of militaria!  So, indeed, it was like Canton for gun lovers! Back to my job. I did see 1 PPQ "Classic" from a vendor who was willing to go down to $539, and a PPQ "Long-slide" from another guy who was around the same price.....

This ended up being the biggest distractor. It's the Canik TP9SFx, which is basically a copy of the Walther P99 design manufactured by the Turkish defense industry conglomerate. It was being offered for around $450! That's the SFx meaning the "long-slide" tricked out for competition version. In the end, I stayed disciplined and walked out with the cash still in my pocket. How?

 

I went in with a plan. I had decided that the HK (Heckler and Koch) VP9 would be fine as an alternative. This pistol roughly tick the same boxes as the PPQ, albeit with a higher list price of $720. My plan was not only to have specific thing I wanted, but also made sure that I had an alternative instead of painting myself into a corner. It turns out that at least in my location here in the DFW area of Texas, the HK is WAY easier to find than the M1, or "Classic" version of the PPQ. How if played out, was that I had found a VP9 up in Frisco for $400 on Texas Gun Trader. My execution, was that I was willing to go a little over (maybe $50) to get the Walther, but if the price got over that set point, then I'd go with the HK. This allowed me to make a good decision, a good deal, and have a clear conscience.