Gosh, I’m just full of it lately… optimism, that is. This moment of buoyancy is brought to you by the good folks at Armalite. They make some of the best components and rifles in their AR family which includes the AR15 semi-auto rifles that are extremely popular in “high-power” 200-600 yard matches sanctioned by the CMP and NRA.
In my recent family budgeting session, we decided that I get to build a service rifle in .223 caliber as soon as possible, as an economy measure. Okay, you wise guys can stop laughing, get up off the floor and finish reading my sales pitch here. Ya’see I can reload .223 for a new rifle so much cheaper than .308 for the old one that the difference in ammo cost will pay for the smaller rifle in one season of practice and match shooting. Any graduate of government-school financial analysis classes will tell you that 100% return on investment in 9 months is very good indeed. (You can try this argument free of charge in your own household budgeting, but I won’t guarantee results.)
Back to my tale of comfort and joy …
So we figured out where the money was coming from, going to and that the time was now…
Due to overwhelming volume, Armalite is not accepting phone calls.
Due to overwhelming volume, Armalite will not accept orders on a very large number of components.
Please don’t call us asking for delivery date information on existing orders.
The way I’m reading this is ‘we are peddling as fast as we can to keep up and simply don’t want to take the time and resources away from building and shipping to chat with you all’.
Whoa dude, that sounds like bad news.
On an immediate, personal level, Yes. But I’m more of a big-picture kind of guy.
The Big Thing giving me a sense of urgency is the apparent power of the anti-gun movement. You know exactly what I’m talking about with one of the most anti-gun senators being coronated as exalted ruler, both houses of congress bristling with anti-gun majorities and the ant-gun media revving their engines. It is pretty hard to tell which way the next round of assaults on self-defense will end (your congressman is an assault weapon). I’m not betting either way. Well, I guess I am hedging one side of the bet with a few preparations against the worst-case scenario, like the rifle I seek to build.
I’ve been hearing and reading of sold-out gun shops, shortages of ammo, prices climbing and long waiting lists. It was all of theoretical interest and anecdotal evidence until today. Now it is real and personal. The 2nd Amendment crowd is stocking up. I am far, far from alone.
You wanna take our guns and ammo? There will be a rifleman behind every bush and every tree. While we aren’t willing to give you our guns, powder, primers and brass, you can have the bullets… at 2200 feet-per-second. CATCH!!!