AMMO!

Do you shoot?

I used to, from time to time.  These days, not so much.  I'm afraid to deplete my precious and limited supply of ammo, engaged in frivolous practices like shooting aluminum cans, or paper targets, or the occasional whistle pig.  You don't want your ammo boxes empty, on the night of the Zombie Apocalypse!

(Ammo is scarce.  Guns are, too, for that matter.  The demand has exceeded the supply.  "Why?" you ask.  I'd blame it on "gun grabbers" who want to further restrict gun ownership by passing new laws.  Of course, those laws would only apply to people who obey the law - duh!  I'd also blame it on "defund the police" efforts, at the same time crime is running rampant - particularly in population centers.)

Only the rich can afford to shoot any more.  (That's a form of discrimination, isn't it?)  A cartridge that should cost 15 cents, costs a dollar.  Heck!  .22LR is upwards of a dime, every time you pull the trigger!

Anyhow... what's your favorite caliber?

9mm is popular.  Even if you miss your target, your pistol might give you 10 or 15 more chances to "right the wrong."  45ACP makes a bigger hole.  And then there's 44 magnum.  ("Do you feel lucky, punk?  Well... do ya?")  It makes a big hole like 45ACP, and then keeps going, making holes in more stuff.

If your gun is longer, .223 is probably the rifle-equivalent of 9mm.  Quality AND quantity, right?  7.62x39 - AK ammo - is probably the most-hated by the gun grabbers.  "Double-ought" buckshot... at close range - fired out of a freakin' twelve-gauge - likely the most lethal.

Where am I going with this?  It's all leading up to a photo I happened across...

30-06 (thirty-ought-six) is likely the most popular hunting cartridge.  My dad had a sweeeet Remington 30-06 hunting rifle.  (He wasn't a hunter, so it remained in pristine condition; one of my siblings inherited it.)  Many a deer, or elk, or bear has been harvested by a sportsman wielding his (or her) trusty 30-06.

The ammo is pretty impressive looking.

Or is it?

In the photo below is a 30-06 cartridge.  It's the wee bullet standing next to a 30x173 cartridge... as used in a 7-barrel "autocannon," firing at a rate of 3600 per minute.  And that autocannon can be found on every A-10 "Warthog" plane... as flown by the Idaho Air National Guard, for example.  (It should also be noted that the projectile is made out of depleted uranium, a material more dense that pretty much everything else... so it goes through pretty much everything else.)

(Here I am, fretting about $1 bullets.  How much does it cost, if you hold down your A-10 trigger for 5 seconds?  Let's see, that's 300 rounds... probably $200 per round... )