20 Sept 22
Trends:
Friends in the distribution business are telling me:
1) 7.62×39, and particularly 5.45×39 (Soviet), rifle ammunition is currently in short supply on this side of the Atlantic.
Ammunition in these two calibers that is manufactured in eastern Europe (and subsequently speedily consumed in the Balkans) is all going to various factions participating in the current Ukraine War and also the on-again/off-again armed conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia (which has the potential of expanding exponentially)
Some is manufactured domestically in the USA, but precious little of the foreign-manufactured supply is currently making its way over here!
2) Israeli-manufactured (IMI) Galil Rifles (5.56x45mm) are popular and hard to find. Likewise IMI Tavor Rifles, also in 5.56x45mm
3) M4s continue in-demand, but there are now so many domestic manufacturers that there is currently a more-than-adequate supply at the retail level.
Curiously, the most popular M4s are the low-end and the high-end!
M4s that can be purchased for $600.00-$700.00 sell very well. Likewise, M4’s that sell for $2,000.00-$2,500.00 are also in high demand.
M4s that sell in the middle, $1,200.00-$1,600.00 are not as sought-after!
4) Other serious rifles that enjoy a solid reputation, DSA/FAL, RA/XCR, CETME, PTR, M1A, AK, all move at a steady pace
Springfield Armory’s Hellion (VHS, imported from HS in Croatia), since its recent introduction into the USA, has garnered a significant following, including me!
My opinion:
Particularly when traveling (within CONUS), the only two calibers that make sense (for serious guns/serious purposes) are 9mm (9×19) and 5.56×45 (223 Remington).
There are many other perfectly-fine pistol and rifle calibers, but just about anywhere you go within CONUS, you’ll find 9mm and 223. What you find may not be your favorite brand, but at least it will fit into your gun(s) and shoot!
This nation, indeed the entire world, is extremely unstable right now. Violent crime is off the charts in major metro areas, and getting worse. We’re overrun with illegal invaders, many of them violent drug-dealers and other criminals. More coming-in by the hour. Ever-expanding “homeless” encampments are taking-over entire sections of cities, and they have scant fear of our impotent criminal/justice system, nor should they.
Ever-increasing squalor, anarchy, filth, and lawlessness is what we can look forward to, and nothing will improve in the immediate future.
And never forget: It’s all by design!
Accordingly, Operators (of all ages) need to be prepared to take care of ourselves, as our crippled police and our “woke” courts are no longer the deterrent they were even a few short years ago, no deterrent at all in many places!
Things might turn-around some day, but not any time soon!
“Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so, because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even when it comes at high cost.
In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains:
What is worth defending?
What is worth dying for?
What is worth living for?”
William J Bennett
/John
