Ammo finally becoming available?

I just got back home; had to go to Canadian Tire for other stuff. Wandered past the ammo cabinets, plural. No empty spots, one cabinet full of centre-fire, lead shot, steel shot, and one cabinet full of small-cal.

No shortage here. Not much market, either. Few guns around, other than hunters.

My brother just got a Beretta Px4 full-size, in .40S&W, that he shoots at the range. His FAC doesn't permit transport, even in a locked case, so it stays in a locker at the range. He's got about 350 rounds through it, and he likes it. He's not much of a shot, yet. I tried it yesterday, put a box of 50 through it, and found it a bit difficult to control. I think I'd put rubber grips on it, if it was mine. One of his buddies had a Remington 1911 R1 stainless. I got to fire off a couple of rounds with that. Butter. Beretta not in the same class, but it's half the price. The Remington just seemed to fit my hand, almost like an extension of my arm. The shop didn't have anything else on display that fit my hand like that one did.

I paid him for a box of ammo from the shop at the range. $45 for Federal. No lack of stock on the shelves there, either. Seemed pricy, but it was the cost of the afternoon's activity.

It was an interesting and fun couple of hours. I think he wasn't prepared for learning that I can shoot, a bit. The range made us "first-timers" go through a short course on range safety, which I thought was wise, and an informative refresher.
 
luvvinvinyl said:
I just got back home; had to go to Canadian Tire for other stuff. Wandered past the ammo cabinets, plural. No empty spots, one cabinet full of centre-fire, lead shot, steel shot, and one cabinet full of small-cal.

No shortage here. Not much market, either. Few guns around, other than hunters.

My brother just got a Beretta Px4 full-size, in .40S&W, that he shoots at the range. His FAC doesn't permit transport, even in a locked case, so it stays in a locker at the range. He's got about 350 rounds through it, and he likes it. He's not much of a shot, yet. I tried it yesterday, put a box of 50 through it, and found it a bit difficult to control. I think I'd put rubber grips on it, if it was mine. One of his buddies had a Remington 1911 R1 stainless. I got to fire off a couple of rounds with that. Butter. Beretta not in the same class, but it's half the price. The Remington just seemed to fit my hand, almost like an extension of my arm. The shop didn't have anything else on display that fit my hand like that one did.

I paid him for a box of ammo from the shop at the range. $45 for Federal. No lack of stock on the shelves there, either. Seemed pricy, but it was the cost of the afternoon's activity.

It was an interesting and fun couple of hours. I think he wasn't prepared for learning that I can shoot, a bit. The range made us "first-timers" go through a short course on range safety, which I thought was wise, and an informative refresher.
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Wow, I had no idea things were like that in Canada. Permits to own and transport a gun are all news to me. That aside, I stopped at a gun shop awhile back and checked out the handguns. I felt the same way about beretta, it just didn't fit right. I felt the same way about Rugers, although some of them weren't too bad, they had some models that felt like kids' toys.
Taurus fits well though. I've got a little .22 handgun (PT-22) that is surprisingly comfortable! The downfall is that it's not accurate past 30 feet :)



$45 isn't too bad for .40 cal.. It's a decent sized handgun round. The gun shop owner said there isn't really much difference between that and a .45, except they are cheaper. .40 is pretty easy to come by here too.
 
luvvinvinyl said:
I just got back home; had to go to Canadian Tire for other stuff. Wandered past the ammo cabinets, plural. No empty spots, one cabinet full of centre-fire, lead shot, steel shot, and one cabinet full of small-cal.

No shortage here. Not much market, either. Few guns around, other than hunters.

My brother just got a Beretta Px4 full-size, in .40S&W, that he shoots at the range. His FAC doesn't permit transport, even in a locked case, so it stays in a locker at the range. He's got about 350 rounds through it, and he likes it. He's not much of a shot, yet. I tried it yesterday, put a box of 50 through it, and found it a bit difficult to control. I think I'd put rubber grips on it, if it was mine. One of his buddies had a Remington 1911 R1 stainless. I got to fire off a couple of rounds with that. Butter. Beretta not in the same class, but it's half the price. The Remington just seemed to fit my hand, almost like an extension of my arm. The shop didn't have anything else on display that fit my hand like that one did.

I paid him for a box of ammo from the shop at the range. $45 for Federal. No lack of stock on the shelves there, either. Seemed pricy, but it was the cost of the afternoon's activity.

It was an interesting and fun couple of hours. I think he wasn't prepared for learning that I can shoot, a bit. The range made us "first-timers" go through a short course on range safety, which I thought was wise, and an informative refresher.
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The fact that you weren't comfortable with the Beretta doesn't make it less of a quality weapon. My wife has a PX4 in 9mm and can drive tacks with it. I like it as well, but not as much as my Kimber 1911 or Springfield XD45. If you're used to a 1911, any thick, double stack pistol has a completely different feel to it. I think you'll also find that the .40S&W round is a great round, but not nearly as much fun to shoot or easy to control as a .45 or 9mm, particularly for someone just learning. Lots of muzzle flip on a .40 and it will take awhile to get control of it. Just an observation, as you mentioned that you were something of a newbie to shooting.
 
I shot in my youth, forty years ago. Rifle, mostly, some competitive. Not a lot of experience with handguns, even then. I know about "tack driving".

The Beretta didn't feel like it was in the same league, in my hand. Somewhat awkward. That phrase could have been written better, sorry. I have a large hand and short fingers, so fitting is always an issue. Golf club grips, pool and snooker cues, always difficult to get a good feel. That's how the 1911 surprised me. Fit into my hand like it was made for me.

The Beretta is objectively a quality weapon, as evidenced by the number of them on the range that day, and their happy owners. My brother loves his, and he tried out everything before he bought. Just doesn't float my boat.

Handguns are restricted weapons, in Canada, and there are multiple levels of permits. Let's not get into this more deeply, as we're treading too close to the line already.
 
Beautiful, polished rosewood grips on the Beretta didn't help me hang on, either, but, yeah, there was some 'flip'. Not feeling like my grip was secure didn't help, either. Checkered grips on the 1911, black against the stainless. Looked very good, and felt great.
 
I understand. I have a big event every April where about 150 of us Mopar fans get together in Bowling Green, KY to hang out and race, one event that has become a big hit is a range day. We have a bunch of guys from Canada that come down and they have a good time shooting with us, especially many of the weapons we bring that they are not allowed to own.
 
Rosewood on a PX4??? Never seen one like that as the PX4 is a plastic frame. You sure it wasn't a 92? From your description of the number of owners, that's what it sounds like as there are thousands of 92's out there for every PX4!!! It's not a very common sight on most ranges.
 
In my area, .22 is pretty available. 9 and 10 mm is still hard to get except sporadically. .38, .44 and .45 are also still hard to find.
 
Just went to the website, and 92 it must be. PX4 must have been a different one I had held at the counter. It didn't feel comfortable, either. I think the counter guy is on a Beretta incentive program. He REALLY wanted me to buy a Beretta. S&W and Springfield were two other makers he pushed, when I said I like the Remington, which they don't carry. Similar in feel, but not quite the same. Legendary names, too.

My brother says the grips were something he bought from one of his shooting buddies who first made his own, using his access to CNC equipment, at his work, and a factory set of wooden grips. They look nice, highly polished, to be sure, but not for me.
 
Yeah we won't talk about the laws anymore. I was just commenting about not realizing what went on there with handguns.

Also with the Berettas, they are very nice guns, I believe with a lifetime warranty as well. A lot of companies offer that now-something goes wrong, take it to a dealer, pay the shipping, and they'll fix it no questions asked.

When It's in the budget the plan is to get a Springfield xds or xdm probably in a .4o or .45 cal. I had no idea there was so much "kick" with a .40 cal until you guys mentioned it. The 1911 is out of my budget :)
 
Remington is not really a huge player in the 1911 market so they may not be the most available one out there. There are lots and lots of great 1911's.

toby,
I have the XD45 and an XDs45 and they are great guns, nearly everyone that has shot mine has bought one themselves. I don't have an Xdm, but have many many friends that do and they universally love them. The XDs in particular has a big pop in a 3" gun, so you better be hanging on when you squeeze it!!!!!
 
BT, I defer to your experience with them. I've been getting the itch to shoot, so, when the time comes, I'll be asking for advice about calibers and makers.

I guess we've thoroughly hijacked this thread, so we had better surrender it back to the original topic, the availability of ammo.
 
luvvinvinyl said:
I guess we've thoroughly hijacked this thread, so we had better surrender it back to the original topic, the availability of ammo.
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As the OP, you can Hijack.. talking guns is better than the shortage of ammo anyways..and less chance of getting into trouble :)

I think I'd go with the XDS, it would be a better carry gun, and I can get rid of my heavy .32 Caliber. But then again I see the XDM has a compact model as well.. what's the difference?
 
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tobyj17 said:
I was also shocked at the dissapearance of .22 shells. they used to be so cheap..we'd use one instead of a pellet rifle when i was growing up. Run out? no biggie..just go to the store and get another 500 rounds for $20.

They were the last ones i'd ever think to disappear.
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My guess is that it's the least profitable round and that much of the manufacturing infrastructure got repurposed (at least temporarily) for the megabuck calibers and accounts.
 
tobyj17 said:
As the OP, you can Hijack.. talking guns is better than the shortage of ammo anyways..and less chance of getting into trouble :)

I think I'd go with the XDS, it would be a better carry gun, and I can get rid of my heavy .32 Caliber. But then again I see the XDM has a compact model as well.. what's the difference?
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XDs is .45 only and single stack. It is very small. XDm compact is a shorter version of the XDM still a double stack so still fairly thick.

rnorton said:
My guess is that it's the least profitable round and that much of the manufacturing infrastructure got repurposed (at least temporarily) for the megabuck calibers and accounts.
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I don't doubt that some resources are moved around a bit, but CCI has dedicated plants just for rimfire so I doubt it's repurposed, but materiel may be short to keep them running at full rate. There is a video on the tube showing CCI's main plant and it is very impressive!
 
rnorton said:
Let's hope for enterprising smugglers.
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I'm absolutely certain that there is a thriving black market for this commodity, given how zealous so many of the participants are. I bet they are preying on the panicked atmosphere, making big bank, and hoping that the mania continues.
 
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