Jason Vanderbrink is the president of the division that makes Federal, CCI, and Remington ammunition. He releases a video on Friday regarding the ammunition shortage. He tries to dispel some of the misinformation, rumors, and out-right lies.
I think he has got it right – the increase in new shooters has increased the demand for ammunition. When you add that, COVID-19, and the need to train new employees, it does account for a good deal of the shortage.
I’m in the process of updating my old Mossberg 500 and “slicking” it up. That is, I’ve polished the bore, replaced the follower, and have removed the rust, crud, and dried up oil. I still plan to repaint the camo from a kinda woodland to a black and green tiger stripe. I may even put a red dot on it.
Originally, only Aguila had the short shotgun shells. They have been joined by Federal (see the video below) and the Canadian brand Challenger.
The problem from what I’ve deduced viewing many reviews of the shorty shells on YouTube is that they have feed problems even with modifications. The OPSol Mini-Clip for the Mossberg seems to have had the best success in fixing the problem. Even so, from what I’ve read even it is not a sure thing with a pump shotgun.
That said, for the price of the OPSol Mini-Clip ($17 ppd) and a few boxes of various shorty shells, it might be worth a try just to run my own tests. I know the supposed advantage of the shorty shell is that it gives you more rounds in a standard shotgun in a defensive situation. However, if it doesn’t function 100% every time then it becomes a liability. That said, it might work well enough for extended practice so that you don’t kill your shoulder whereupon you switch back to regular 2 3/4″ shells for actual defensive situations.
I did get to shoot the Mossberg Shockwave with the shorty shells at the SHOT Shell at the Crimson Trace booth. It worked well enough there so I don’t think I have much to lose by giving it a try.
Vista Outdoor announced yesterday that their Federal Premium developed .224 Valkyrie cartridge specifications had been approved by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturer’s Institute aka SAAMI. Standardization of both the cartridge and chamber specifications certainly will help push greater adoption of this new cartridge.
From Vista Outdoor’s release:
Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute Publishes Approved 224 Valkyrie Cartridge SpecificationsANOKA, Minnesota – March 27, 2018 –
The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) voted
to approve the Federal Premium
224 Valkyrie as an official new cartridge during their committee
meeting at the 2018 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Nevada this past January.
224 Valkyrie’s SAAMI standards documents are now published and available
to the industry as a whole, as well as to the public.“It’s
thrilling to have brought the world’s best MSR 15 cartridge to market.
We’re proud and excited about our new cartridge, and we deeply
appreciate SAAMI’s support with this launch,” said
Federal Premium Ammunition President Jason Vanderbrink. “SAAMI’s
approval of the cartridge was a crucial step in
legitimizing it within the industry. Their work creates standards
for the cartridge, increasing safety, interchangeability, reliability
and quality for the dozens of firearm manufacturers currently building
rifles in our 224 Valkyrie.”SAAMI
allows free access to technical data and drawings for the cartridge and
chamber designs, which are posted in the Information and Specifications
section of the organization’s website. All
cartridge and chamber drawing documents are contained within the
ANSI/SAAMI Standards and can be found on
www.saami.org. The New SAAMI Cartridge Cartridge/Chamber Designs and Revisions for 224 Valkyrie can be viewed here:
http://www.saami.org/PDF/224-Valkyrie-Introduction.pdf.
SAAMI
was founded in 1926 at the request of the federal government and tasked
with creating and publishing industry standards for safety,
interchangeability, reliability and quality, as well
as coordinating technical data. SAAMI’s Technical Committee, which
consists of firearm and ammunition industry experts, reviewed the 224
Valkyrie submission over a period of about six months. The official
cartridge name, maximum cartridge and minimum chamber
dimensions, pressure limits, test equipment, and other characteristics
are all considered and scrutinized during the process.
Federal
Premium’s 224 Valkyrie is based on a 6.8 SPC case necked down to 22
caliber. It offers dramatically improved trajectories over all other MSR
15 cartridges, including the 22 Nosler, 223
Rem. and 6.5 Grendel—with roughly half the recoil of larger cartridges
offering comparable ballistics, such as the 6.5 Creedmoor. Shooters can
expect best-in-class ballistics, supersonic flight past 1,300 yards and
extreme long-range accuracy from this exciting
new cartridge.The
224 Valkyrie is initially available in four loads: 90-grain Gold Medal
Sierra MatchKing, 60-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip Varmint, 90-grain Fusion
MSR and 75-grain American Eagle TMJ. These
proven Federal Premium offerings provide options for long-range
competitors, target shooters and hunters pursuing game from varmints up
to deer-sized animals.
Breast cancer research receives a donation from Federal for each box of these shells sold. I can get on-board with that. Now that I know about it, I’ll start to see if local dealers have any in stock and buy a few boxes.
by