The West is Best

 

I like the town of West, population 2,860. It's the Czech capital of Texas and justifiably famous for its kolaches. Pull off I35 on the way to or from Waco and get some, worth the stop. But that's not all, there's plenty of bars, see LL's franchise, and restaurants, which gives the place a happy, small town country vibe.

Plenty of Hardware, no Bullets

But I wasn't there for that, I was after ammo at True Value, which is a hardware store that sells guns and ammunition. At least it did, and even in the days of the infamous Obama bullet shortage this store was always stocked with ammo at normal prices. Maybe history would repeat itself, I walked through the door to find out.

Looking West

No. A few rifles, mostly Henry levers, nice, but hardly any bullets and what there was wasn't affordable. A solitary 500 round "value pack" of .22 LR for $80? Sorry, guys, not gonna do it. The pleasant young Czechoslovakian woman behind the counter apologized, "I'm sorry, nothing is normal now." I agreed, and we looked each other in the eye, "Ain't that the truth." A meeting of minds, for sure, but no bullets.

West is Catholic And Has More Fun Than Other Towns

So I headed back down the speedway deathtrap that is I35, and in a few short minutes was back in the rural haven of the County Seat itself. At its Walmart, in fact. Maybe this evil Chinese incursion onto US sovereign land would have bullets.

A Typical West Street Scene

Sure enough, there they were! Boxes of 12 and 20 gauge, .22 LR, .22 Mini Mag, .22 WMR and .17 HMR, and all at normal price. Shocked and astounded, I bought three 50 round boxes of CCI .22 WMR to go through the Marlin I don't have, and looked at a Savage bull barrel .17. Nice looking gun for 212 bucks, then again, so were the levers at True Value. Hmmm.

Look at Those Bad Boys!

And that was that, a short excursion into ammoland in North Central Texas. Now it's time for Hamburgers, to celebrate the victory of it all.

Shoot straight,

LSP

A Miracle

 

Found at Walmart this morning, normal price. I'm celebrating this miracle with a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. No fooling.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Look What I Found!

 

And at normal price, too, from Walmart. Some claim the age of miracles is over. I would dispute that claim.

Shoot straight,

LSP

A Miracle!

 

I managed to buy a valupak of 12 ammo today and celebrated the miracle with hot dogs. Thanks, LL, for the inspiration. Speaking of which, here's a photo of a Tech Giant caught in the act of taking down Parler. Via Virtual Mirage:

Let's hope this sinister enemy of free speech was brought to swift and decisive justice.

Shoot straight, if you can find any bullets.

Cheers,

LSP

Winter Wonderland!

 

It started off as cold, sleety rain, and then our Old Adversary the Weather escalated the fight. Yes, it began to snow. "Well that's exciting," I thought as I fired up a Mission for Mass, "Snow, in Texas." But here's the thing, it didn't stop, on the contrary, it intensified.

By the time Mass was over and we opened the doors of the church and looked outside, there it was, a veritable winter wonderland. "Haven't seen anything like this in ten years," said one churchman. "This is more snow than we had in Oklahoma," said another, mysteriously. And I agreed, we haven't seen this much snow here since the great Global Warming blizzard of 2010. Exciting.

Back at the Compound I started getting calls from Mission #2. Like, "We've had to turn around, padre, sorry about that," or, "We fishtailed on 56 and headed back, didn't want to risk it." Also the power was down in the area, so we called a snow day on the service and I emailed the crew with a "make your Spiritual Communion" reminder. Then what?

Brush the snow off your rig and take a recce through town. No small thing, I tell you. It was like the Kharkov Front, or maybe Narnia. Still, I wasn't complaining, it's rare to see anthropogenic global warming like this in the great state of Texas.

I know, same-old, same-old for everyone living north of the border, but a big thing here. So too, apparently, with the Corpse and the Whore's incoming ascension to power; all the shotgun ammo was gone at Walmart yesterday, no fooling. Never seen such a thing before, make of it what you will.

In the meanwhile, snow continues to fall.

LSP

Ancient & Modern

New Skool, Old Skool

I bit the not so proverbial bullet and went out for a well needed shoot; just a bit of ranging about with one of the Lees and an AR. I say "just" as though it wasn't any great deal. Not so fast; with the cost of ammo being Homeland Security IRS pricey, you've got to make every shot count, before you go broke. Like the economy.

Bore Sight!

And the question in my shooter's mind was, "Is the cheap 2nd hand Burris Fullfield, 50 buck wonder, scope broken?" Would it dial in? Last time I tried I wasn't so sure.

Getting there

It did OK. I bore-sighted the old-skool way by peering  at the target with the bolt out, then gazing like a Chaldee through the scope. Were both sight pictures the same? Adjust accordingly. After things were appx. sorted out at 25 yards I moved out to 50 and called EndEx when the rounds were impacting 1" above the X Ring.

Rule Britannia, DIY

Good result. A $150 rifle, with 1917 history, that I'd refinished and restocked myself coming in as a contender in the "kill the evil hog at 100 yards" stakes. Or whatever. To be honest, I think I'll lose the scope and get a 'smith to fit iron (express) sights. 2 folding leaf would be neat and not too expensive. Authentic(ish) too.

.303 Brit

Shot off a couple of mags of 5.56 afterwards to clear the head. Did best off-hand, oddly. Pathetically inaccurate kneeling and prone. Must have lost concentration in the later evolutions.

Go home and eat ribs

A good and well needed days shooting over, I headed for home and BBQ Country Style Ribs. Result. 

Shoot straight and remember, there'll always be an England, until, of course, that there's not.

God bless,

LSP

Ammo

Walmart's Finest

Interesting article about ammunition in Pajamas Media...

"Scan the ammunition shelves at sporting goods stores, your local gun store, or even Walmart and odds are that you won’t find what you are looking for. The most common cartridges are in short supply, and many stores ration ammunition a box or two at a time to spread their meager stock among their customers.

This isn’t new. But why is this nationwide ammunition shortage still happening?"

Why? Unprecedented demand, especially from LE here in the U.S. and, in China, a burgeoning market for raw materials; but still, millions of rounds are left unaccounted for -- stockpiled?

Maybe and you can read the whole thing here, but for myself, well, I tend to shoot them as fast as I buy them.

Cheers,

LSP