Recent content by western living

Not anymore. Break-even, maybe. Wage inflation has averaged about 4.5% since 2020, so about 14% higher. If we suppose that primer manufacturing is not labor intensive, the cost of capital has also gone up since 2022. The cost of corporate debt has risen from practically free to about 5.75%...

Looks great. Today's the first I've heard of it, so I guess I haven't been up-to-date. I think in that price range, it would be the top-pick. Personally, I would hope to find a used California Mark V for a little less, but if I were buying new, I'd go for it because the new Mark V's are too...

So is this like a Tikka/Ruger American/Savage clone? Accuracy on the cheap because it's so easy to bed the cylindrical action? And then they made it Remington 700-compatible? I'm not trying to knock-it, but to understand what it is. It looks like the prices aren't much above the Ruger...

Here's two charts that explain Vista's past and present course: From this first chart, we can see Vista's revenue over the last two cycles. At the end of 2019, they're revenue had bottomed and they'd endured three years of negative growth. 2020-2022 were banner years, but they were right...

I didn't claim they didn't increase supply. They increased supply by running their existing capacity as much as they could. They didn't increase capacity. They haven't and won't because they've long held that the increase in demand is cyclical. They still believe if they increase capacity...

Here's the letter from 2021: Press Release December 21, 2021 Dear Customer: Thank you for your business and for your continued support of American jobs and manufacturing. As we continue to see supply chain constraints and increases in our raw materials, we are increasing our pricing to help...

Supply is constrained because Vista, for example, flat-out refused to expand their capacity meaningfully and instead, Jason Vanderbrink blamed customers for the shortage. He's recorded in a 2019 interview claiming that Vista has excess capacity. Then Vista raised prices the next year because...

Ammo prices are definitely higher than they were before October when I could get WWB 556 for 39 cents shipped (after rebate), or Federal XM193 for 45 cents shipped. On the other hand, many reloading components are still at 3-year lows.

I'm seeing very good powder availability at the local Sportsmans Warehouse and Powder Valley has a few things to fill in the gaps. I know some of the propellants are up there around $60/lb., but others are still in the ~$30 price range. If I need one of the expensive powders, it's probably not...

I found some Large Rifle Magnum primers at a local big chain sporting store. They're Remington 9 1/2 Magnums. They're going by the box for $9.99 with a limit of 10. I did some research and it looks like they're fairly wimpy in terms of magnum ignition and also tested as less consistent than...

Vista Outdoors (Federal, Remington, CCI, Speer, Hevishot, Estate, Alliant powder), for example, has been sending notices of price increases pretty consistently over the last several years. These notices are not new. They're regular occurrences. The suppliers cannot increase prices without...

I can appreciate that I'm over-analyzing. I get it. Part of the reason for that is because I can't just go hunt. A bull elk tag in my state comes maybe once in 10 years. I can't afford to hunt out of state. I also can't afford another larger caliber elk-specific rifle. I mean, I could...

I've used the Berger calculator, but it is not using the Miller formula. From what I can tell, Berger is primarily interested in calculating the loss of BC from their calculated Sg. If I put a reasonable muzzle velocity of 3200 fps into the Berger calc at 5000 feet with a temp of 0 deg. F, I...

I want to pick a 6.5mm copper mono for elk and I'd like to stay under 1.42" length for 1.5 Sg in 1:9 twist in 264 Win Mag at high-altitude (6000 to 9000 feet). So that is the pre-determined criteria: .264", 1:9 twist, copper mono. I'm not considering anything outside those parameters. There...

Winchester #41's are $62.98 / brick right now at Cabelas.