I'd be lucky to only shoot 100 per gun
I'd be lucky to only shoot 100 per gun
A couple weeks ago grandpa called and said he'd ordered a new firing pin for the Winchester. Thanks for the link Matthewmcl! So I found a video of a guy who did a "full tear down and reassembly" with reasonable explanations and instruction. Except he didn't show how to take the bolt apart. That was what I really needed. Anyway, I figured it out. New firing pin installed!
So, on to reassembly. The dude in the video had made some slave pins for reassembly because the 88 is a pain without them. Can confirm. I used a combination of tiny screw drivers, drill bits, regular screw drivers and a tapered punch. The whole action is held together with two pins that slide all the way through a sandwich of parts. Pretty fiddly, and it took two tries, but I got it.
Old and busted:
I didn't get a pic of the new one, but it's home now. I like this gun.
I'll try to get out tomorrow and run a couple through it just to confirm, but it cycles well and makes the noise when I dry fire it. Gonna ask for this one to get willed to me. Maybe his o/u too.
bigdaddylee82 said:Preaching to the choir in this thread I know, but I thought this was pretty interesting, and telling, of just how bad the ammo situation is.
This is from Natchez Shooters Supply's Black Friday email ad. Take a look at the ammo they've got "on sale," a who's who of random and obscure. The most common round they've got is the .450 Bushmaster and the .338 Lapua, and neither of those are really range day staples.
WHAT--NO 8X56MM HUNGARIAN?
THE BASTARDS!!!!!!
bigdaddylee82 said:Preaching to the choir in this thread I know, but I thought this was pretty interesting, and telling, of just how bad the ammo situation is.
This is from Natchez Shooters Supply's Black Friday email ad. Take a look at the ammo they've got "on sale," a who's who of random and obscure. The most common round they've got is the .450 Bushmaster and the .338 Lapua, and neither of those are really range day staples.
I didn't even know they still loaded 307win....
stroker said:*snip*WHAT--NO 8X56MM HUNGARIAN?
THE BASTARDS!!!!!!
LOL
At this point ammo can be found for my off the wall calibers (6.5 x 50 Arisaka, 7.5 x 55 Swiss and 7.62 x 54R) but I am unwilling to pay the prices. I saw 2 boxes of 30.30 at the local Walmart but left it for someone that maybe needed it more.
BTW, good looking lever rifle barefootskater. I am glad you were able to fix it.
barefootskater (Shaun) said:
What kind of Winchester is that?
Not to sidetrack from the awesome 88, but where are ammo prices that people are actually paying? I have some seen some silly prices, but no idea if things are actually selling that high. What prices that people actually still buy when they see it?
In reply to matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) :
On my Walmart run today I was prepared to pay $1/rd for .308 but they didn't have anything in stock.
Over the last six months or so, when stuff is in stock locally the prices are mostly normal, but finding it in stock is like winning the lottery. Last I bought 9mm was September and I paid .25/ea. Seems like that's where it's been for a few years.
In reply to matthewmcl (Forum Supporter) :
I haven't been in a store that sells ammo in months, but I just searched completed listings on Gun Broker, there's a lot of $0.70+/round 9mm on there, so I guess folks are buying it.
I bought 1000 rounds of bulk/loose CCI 115 grain FMJ 9mm in April for $199.99, looks like I'm setting on a gold mine.
In reply to bigdaddylee82 :
That is what I have been seeing, too, but I don't see any of it moving. I tried to sell some that high (hey, why not?), but no takers, other than a couple boxes. I did sell 1000 rnds of CCI brass cased 115 for a little over $400, so that was okay. I saw a lot of people advertising .223 up that high, as well, but none of that seems to be moving, either. Utahns are pretty good at prepping, though, so people out here aren't really pressured into panic buying.
I found a decent buy a month ago on .45. Still well stocked on .223 thankfully. But prices have gone insane and no one has stock.
Things don't look good, Vista Outdoors, parent company of Federal, CCI, Blazer, Independence, etc. say's they've got a year long backlog for ammo.
Chris Metz CEO - Vista Outdoors said:
We currently have over a year's worth of orders for ammunition in excess of $1 billion
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vista-outdoors-reports-ammunition-backlog-195827832.html
In reply to bigdaddylee82 :
I scanned through that article. It didn't say anything about production being down or the reason for the backlog. I'm assuming it's simply demand?
The folks selling locally all said the same basic thing about the early covid shutdowns causing a pause in production, and all the manufacturers just can't catch up. Seems plausible.
What's weird to me is 8/12 years ago when there were ammo shortages, .22 was the most scarce. I see .22 available now much more frequently than 9mm or .45.
It'll be interesting to see what happens over the next few months.
Demand is far surpassing supply, and hasn't let up for going on 9 months.
COVID, protests, defund law enforcement movements, 24/7 news cycle of doom & gloom, 24/7 of social media vitriol, and the cherry on top, it's an election year. Firearm & ammo sells always spike during an election year and after a national disaster. We're in an election year with over 8 months of national disaster.
Folks that never considered arming themselves are stocking up, and have been since February.
The pawn shop that I do my FFL transfers at, said they haven't had 9mm on the shelves since March, and has every <$300 Taurus, Sccy, Hi Point, etc. sold before it arrives since about the same time.
In reply to bigdaddylee82 :
I'm close enough to the local shooting places that I can tell you it's not all hoarding either. My biggest complaint is that most of them are picking up their brass too. Used to be, I could go out, pick a caliber, and grab a couple dozen shells at each of the common spots in just a couple minutes. These days, there's almost nothing but .22 and shotgun shells.
I need to find some 9 somehow or I'll never get any practice in.
In reply to barefootskater (Shaun) :
Pay shipping and tell me how much brass you want
I guess it's a "deal" in the current climate, Magtech, M80 Ball (147 Gr FMJ) .308 for $0.78 a round before shipping.
https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...ain-200-rounds
In reply to bigdaddylee82 :
That's not bad right now. I'm gonna try to convince wife that I need an early Christmas gift.
Happened to be at the pawn shop picking up a transfer yesterday afternoon, I did a once over of the mostly empty ammo shelves. They had .17 HMR, .41 Magnum, .38 Special, and some shotgun shells.
Before paying for the transfer, I asked the guy, "probably wishful thinking, but you don't have anything to feed this do you?" He just kind of laughed and shook his head, then said, "wait, this is a .45," turned around and there were 5 boxes of brass, 230 grain, Federal, 45 ACP target rounds hiding behind him. Limit 1 box per customer, but it was normal-ish price, $25.09 after tax for a box of .45 ACP.
Also of note. My grandpas Winchester is confirmed operational. Ran 5 rounds through to sight it in.
And I'm able to keep a 4" spread @60y standing up with my AR. Those pumpkins didn't stand a chance. No pictures because I suck.
barefootskater (Shaun) said:Also of note. My grandpas Winchester is confirmed operational. Ran 5 rounds through to sight it in.
And I'm able to keep a 4" spread @60y standing up with my AR. Those pumpkins didn't stand a chance. No pictures because I suck.
Very respectable.
Thankfully have been able to snag extra ammo but in general keep myself well stocked.
Got the rare chance last Sunday to get my Dad, both my brothers, and my son out to the range for the afternoon. Had a ton of fun. My son figured out he can decimate pop cans rapid fire with my 10/22. I fed him a bunch of the crappy remington thunderbolts that literally nothing likes.
I went out today and tried to run some rounds through my Magnum Research MLR. It uses 22 Win Mag. I picked it up for a great price used but it struggles with feed failures. I took it to a local gunsmith who checked it out, cleaned the receiver, shot a few 15 round magazines through it, claimed it was fixed, charged me, and said it was fine. I had two feed failures within two magazine. Rounds come up out of the magazine but cock and crinkle the brass and jam. Manual states it requires 40 grain min ammo to cycle and I'm using new 40 grain CCI JHP . It's a sweet little gun to shoot when it works but this is frustrating. I'll switch to another brand/type and see if I can get some better results.
In reply to wawazat :
My 22 struggles to cycle with certain brands of ammo. Maybe try a different manufacturer if you haven't already. Yesterday my BIL learned that his brand new 12ga pump jams with the cheap stuff but works flawlessly with better rounds.
In other news, I'm at the point with my AR that a scope is very much on my radar as soon as I can come up with funding. Gotta move the VW I guess. Also I got a GI sling, now I need to learn how to use it.
Lastly, FIL picked up some new hunting sticks. A couple semi 06s and a semi 300winmag. Gnarly.
In reply to wawazat :
Make sure the chamber stays clean and run lots of lube. Different ammo is good to try, also, but clean chamber and action wet with lube are good places to start. WMR id leaps ahead of LR, but both need all the help they can get as compared to most centerfires.
You'll need to log in to post.
