I have heard from dozens of NRA members from all over the country about the conditions where they live and seek ammunition. It varies greatly. Some said they are not having trouble, while others said there isn’t a single round of .22 Long Rifle within 50 miles of where they live. Some called me a liar—or worse—some reported “scores” or long lines waiting for empty trucks. One guy told me his quest to find ammo is akin to hunting “Bigfoot”—and just about as successful.

While at the 142nd NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Houston, Texas, I had a chance to speak face-to-face with representatives of the major American ammunition companies. These were guys I know and trust, including some close friends and others I have worked with for more than 20 years. All of them—I repeat all of them—reported they have their plants working full out, and are shipping more ammunition than they ever have before. One vice president told me his firm’s percentage of Federal law enforcement and military sales is down due to increased production of consumer ammunition. The company is not making less ammunition for the government; it is making more ammunition for consumers. The numbers for government sales are fixed and have been—and that number is in low single digits of overall production—but the amount going to the consumer marketplace is up. Way up.

Often NRA members will suggest that if every one of us signed up just one new member, we could double NRA’s size overnight. How about signing up more than 16,000? And not just Annual members but Life members? In just seven weeks, from early February to the end of March, outdoor personality and nationally syndicated radio show host Tom Gresham signed up 16,630 NRA Life members.

Gresham has long encouraged his Gun Talk listeners to join NRA. “The point is when Chris Cox goes into a congressmen’s office, they ask how’s membership?” he said. “That’s the yardstick.”

I am not talking about a 1980’s advertising campaign lamenting composition chicken in fast food. Guns are made out of (you guessed it) parts. Gun parts, to be precise—and a lack thereof is affecting the unmet surge in demand for semi-automatic AR-style rifles.

The AR is a pretty complicated rifle. Making use of “modern” materials, the original Colt AR-15 had 122 parts, ranging from the magazine box (1) all the way to handguard snap ring (122). Much of the total comes from little bitty pins, springs, snap rings and lock washers.

In case you hadn’t noticed, we are in the midst of an ammunition, primer and propellant shortage. Stories are making both local and national news, and rumors abound on the Internet. I understand there have been large Federal contracts, but those cannot come close to explaining the increased demand for ammunition and components. There is more than a billion—that’s billion with a “B”—rounds of .22 Long Rifle produced in this country every year. One estimate puts it at closer to a billion and a half. The DHS has not bought a billion and a half rounds of .22 LR, so it cannot be pinned on them. Also, it is unlikely to me that Janet Napolitano is trying to corner the world market on Hodgdon Varget, even though it is one of my favorite go-to powders.

I have some anecdotal evidence of what is going on here. A friend called me from the parking lot of a gun store in Southwest Virginia, “Mark, I just scored 5,000 rounds of Federal .22 Long Rifle!” I cut his euphoria short by saying, “Tim, you have never bought more than 500 rounds of anything before.” To which he replied, “Yeah, but I bought all they had.” I believe Tim’s “score” is being replicated all across the country every time the UPS truck arrives.

I have received a slew of questions—many from first time AR-type rifle buyers—about the .223 Rem. and the 5.56x45 mm NATO cartridges. Can I shoot 5.56x45 mm NATO in my .223 and vice-versa? Are these the same cartridge?

Externally, the two cartridge cases are identical. The main differences are that 5.56x45 mm NATO operates at a higher chamber pressure (about 60,000 p.s.i. versus 55,000 p.s.i. on the .223 Rem.) and the 5.56’s chamber is slightly larger than that of the .223 Rem. Also, the throat or leade is longer in the 5.56x45 mm chamber. What does this mean? You should not shoot 5.56x45 mm NATO out of a rifle that is chambered in .223 Rem. And be aware that some .223 Rem. ammunition will not reliably cycle through some AR-style .223 Rem. rifles, but it usually does. As a matter of fact, I have not encountered any difficulty with current .223 Rem. loads cycling through a 5.56 mm AR-style rifle.

While you are at the NRA Annual Meetings in Houston, Texas, I encourage you to take a break from the show floor and attend two special events. Noted sniping authority Maj. John L. Plaster, U.S. Army (Ret.), and historian Martin K.A. Morgan are onboard for two American Rifleman Special Sessions of tremendous interest to NRA members. On Saturday, Plaster will be the speaker at “Civil War Sharpshooters,” discussing the sharpshooters and their arms from America’s bloodiest conflict 150 years ago. The author of the practical The Ultimate Sniper, Plaster is a fantastic and dynamic speaker and is also one of the leading historians on the subject and the author of The History of Sniping & Sharpshooting.

On Sunday, historian Martin K.A. Morgan will conduct “The Men & Guns of Operation Market-Garden,” covering the deeds and arms used by the British and American Airborne troops in a desperate gamble to seize a bridge across the Rhine River in September 1944. Morgan has conducted hundreds of interviews with the men who fought to take “A Bridge Too Far,” and this talk, backed up by imagery and videos, promises to be one of our best sessions yet. I will serve as the moderator for both, give brief remarks, make the introductions and then let the two most dynamic and knowledgeable speakers we have take their respective microphones. Both sessions are free to NRA members and should last about two hours.

Photo Courtesy of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection, Harvard College Library

As you may have noticed, this is the first time a Colt’s Automatic Gun, Model 1895 has appeared on the cover of American Rifleman. As Philip Schreier’s March 2013 cover story points out, this was the first machine gun model (mechanical guns such as the Gatling are not self-loading, fully automatic machine guns) used by the U.S. Army in combat. Of course we have Gatling video here, too.

On Saturday night, I was absently checking Facebook when I came across a post from my friend Philip Schreier, “This is very sad and disturbing. Chris was scheduled to visit the museum and tape some TV segment in the near future.” There was a link to an item reporting the death of former U.S. Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer Chris Kyle. News accounts allege that Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield were murdered by a former Marine suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Last year I spoke several times with Chief Kyle about his forthcoming book American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History. I was taken with the humbleness and devout patriotism of this NRA Life member from Texas. Major John L. Plaster wrote an article about Chief Kyle in the July 2012 issue, and I wrote a “From The Editor” about American Sniper. The book, which went on to become a New York Times bestseller, was extremely forthright, insightful and gritty. The proceeds from the book were donated to help the families of those Kyle served with who didn’t return home. Kyle retired to spend more time with his wife and two children, but his work trying to aid his fellow servicemen didn’t end when he hung up his uniform. Kyle established a non-profit foundation, FITCO Cares, to treat returning servicemen suffering from PTSD.

So jet-lagged and sleep-deprived is how I began my 20th SHOT Show in row. There are no prizes or ribbons for such things. A late departure (thanks to perhaps the most uncivil woman I have ever observed being ejected from my plane to Las Vegas) and the time change eating at me resulted in an even, seemingly, earlier start to Media Day At The Range, which was the best I have experienced in years.

Split into two shifts, it was far easier to do my job reporting on the newest guns and gear. Today as I fired the shooting industry's newest products, I knew most of the people competing for time on the firing line. The highlight of my day, which you can see unfold here at AmericanRifleman.org, gun by gun, was the propane heater at the Springfield Armory bay, which was my last, warming stop. Springfield has the new 9 mm Luger XD-S, which will be a game changer once available. With the wind chill, I am told the high while I was on the firing line was a balmy 17 degrees Fahrenheit. I know, it seems like I am whining, but shooting these guns was great fun, and you can see all of them at the Straight from SHOT Show 2013 blog. There is plenty more to come, so make sure you stay tuned to AmericanRifleman.org/SHOTShow.

One of the firearms that has always fascinated me is the wheellock. If you have ever seen a Zippo lighter and a clock that has a key to wind, then you will understand the basic concept. The National Firearms Museum has a wheellock that is attributed to John Alden, which is called the “Mayflower Gun” because we are pretty sure that is how it got to North America. Sadly, the museum staff has no sense of humor about shooting national treasures, so we asked Dale Shinn to send us one of his excellent replicas, a Germanic, ornate wheellock pistol.

On a wheel lock, a piece of pyrite is clenched in the jaws of a cock that is pressed up against a steel wheel that is powered by a clockwork spring. The pyrite is literally pressed against the steel “wheel.” When you think about the complexity of the mechanism, no wonder it took a mind like DaVinci’s to come up with it. It also took the craftsmanship of a clockmaker to actually fabricate one, and it is a clockwork spring wound with a key that provided the power to move the toothed wheel that creates the sparks that set off the loose powder that acts as the priming charge.