For Saturday morning cartoons today, we watched “The Princess Bride”. Boo loved swashing some buckle. And yes, I’ve sung this song to a girl, long ago and far away.
Today’s Earworm
Posted by daddybear71 on March 31, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/31/todays-earworm-20/
Service Comparison – Online Ammunition Dealers
With the cost of ammunition going up and Girlie Bear learning to shoot, I’m going through a lot more .22. I decided to stock up, and while I was at it I thought I’d compare service between the online ammunition dealers.
I bought the common denominator between all of my .22’s in what they liked to eat: Remington 36 grain Golden Bullet .22 Long Rifle. This is basically like comparing boxes of flour or any other commodity, so I was able to find several different vendors who offered them. I bought it in the 525 round packs, as that seemed to be the largest box you can buy from most dealers without having to buy thousands of rounds at a time.
I compared my purchases on cost, ease of purchase, and time to ship to my home. I used no special discounts on the purchase prices, and I paid for the lowest cost shipping available from each dealer.
Cost:
| Vendor | Cost | Shipping/Handling | Fees | Total Cost | Cost Per Round |
| Cabelas | $19.99 | $5.25 | $25.24 | $0.05 | |
| Ammunition to Go | $18.95 | $11.64 | $30.59 | $0.06 | |
| Midway USA | $21.99 | $9.95 | $3.00 | $34.94 | $0.07 |
| BassPro Shop | $20.49 | $5.00 | $25.49 | $0.05 | |
| Sportsman’s Guide | $21.49 | $8.49 | $0.99 | $30.97 | $0.06 |
| Lucky Gunner | $20.00 | $13.09 | $33.09 | $0.06 |
Cabelas and BassPro were the least expensive at 5 cents per round, with Midway USA being the most expensive at 7 cents. All of the others had the average price per round of 6 cents. Bass Pro and Cabelas would have come in a little cheaper if I had gone to one of their stores to pick up my purchase, but the nearest Bass Pro is more than $5 worth of gas away, and there won’t be a Cabelas near here for a few more months. It should be noted that most of these vendors offered a discount for buying several of these packs together, usually 10, so you could get a cheaper cost per round if you bought from one vendor in larger quantities.
Ease of Purchase:
Overall, all of these vendors had a pretty good shopping experience. I bought from all of them as a ‘guest’ account, so none of my stored information with them was used. Bass Pro Shop and MidWay USA probably had the best purchase sites based on the fewest number of clicks to get from the “Shopping Cart” page to the “Order Confirmed” page. Sportsman’s Guide took the longest to purchase from, had the largest number of pages to get through to complete the order, and I had to click through several “Don’t you want to join our club and save money?” pages. However, the difference wasn’t significant and wasn’t frustrating enough to make me quit. Please keep in mind that this portion of the evaluation was totally subjective and based upon my impressions as I was making the purchases. Your mileage may vary.
Time to Ship:
| Vendor | Date Ordered | Date Arrived | Elapsed Days |
| Cabelas | 03/21/12 | 03/26/12 | 5 |
| Ammunition to Go | 03/21/12 | 03/26/12 | 5 |
| Midway USA | 03/21/12 | 03/23/12 | 2 |
| BassPro Shop | 03/21/12 | 03/30/12 | 9 |
| Sportsman’s Guide | 03/21/12 | 03/27/12 | 6 |
| Lucky Gunner | 03/24/12 | 03/28/12 | 4 |
In the amount of time it took to get from “Order Complete” to “Putting the box in the foot locker”, Midway USA was by far the fastest at two days. I got the shipment notice from Midway USA the same day I ordered, as has been my experience in all of the purchases I’ve done with them in the past. Dead last by several days was Bass Pro, who took 9 days to get the bullets to me. This was probably due to them being on back order, a situation Bass Pro was polite enough to tell me about half an hour after I had finalized the purchase on their website. The average time from order to front door was 5 days.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
Like I said, Bass Pro put my order on back order without telling me about it during purchase. I probably wouldn’t have included them in my comparison if they had told me that they didn’t have that product in stock at the time of purchase, but since they finalized the order and then told me, they got put in with the rest of the pack. Their time from order to delivery was 9 days, almost twice the average time of 5 days.
Lucky Gunner had the exact opposite problem. When I was making the rest of the purchases on the 21st, they didn’t have this particular .22 LR in stock, so didn’t list it. A few days later, they had it in, so I bought from them. They got the bullets to me in less than the average time, so I’d put them up as a win.
Conclusions:
Honestly, with the exception of the out-of-stock situation with Bass Pro, all of the vendors excelled in some way, either in price, ease of purchase, or speed of shipping. Bass Pro and Cabela’s were the least expensive, while Lucky Gunner and Midway USA were the most expensive. However Bass Pro took the longest to get me my merchandise, while the more expensive options of Lucky Gunner and Midway USA got them to me the fastest. Cabelas appears to be the sweet spot in this comparison for excellent cost per round and average speed of shipment.
So which one would I recommend? Well, it depends. If you need the rounds fast, I’d say go with Midway USA or Lucky Gunner. If cost, not speed, is your priority, then I’d suggest Cabela’s or Bass Pro. However, the other vendors, while not outstanding when compared to any of these choices, still got my purchase to me in a reasonable amount of time and at a reasonable cost. I would definitely recommend looking at all of these vendors if you are considering purchasing ammunition in the near future. The major difference in cost between all of them was due to shipping costs, so what was less expensive to ship for me might be more for you and vice versa, especially if you are buying in bulk.
Disclaimer: I received nothing to do this review, and all materials and services discussed in it were paid for by me.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 31, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/31/service-comparison-online-ammunition-dealers/
30 Days of Churchill – Day 29
Occasionally he stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened. — On Stanley Baldwin, as cited in Churchill by Himself (2008)
My Take – This can probably be said about all politicians, professional and amateur.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 31, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/31/30-days-of-churchill-day-29/
Blogs Roundup
- Mama Bear has me smacking my forehead and wondering “Why didn’t I think of that?” Update – She has pictures of the finished product too!
- Bob Owens at Pajamas Media has a great rundown on an Appleseed event. I need to get Girlie Bear and myself signed up for one of those.
- Roberta X gets my Irish up about the lack of good choices in presidential politics since about 1984.
- Peter owes me big time for all the hot coffee I snorted out through my nasal passages while reading his latest anecdote.
- NavyOne brings us a story about an American who gave his life so that an Afghan child could live. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Where do we get such men?
Updates for posts I stumbled across after I hit “Publish”
- Whitecoat brings us a story that has some of the best visual pictures I’ve had in a long time.
- Badass of the Week has a profile of someone I could see using as a model for my life. (Language Warning)
Posted by daddybear71 on March 30, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/30/blogs-roundup-2/
Today’s Earworm
Due to the way our schedules work out, I’m normally the parent who gets Boo ready in the morning and takes him to school. For whatever reason, I either listen to a mix of kids music or a mix of classical music on the iPod for our 15 minute drive.
This morning, the classical mix brought us to the beginning to the choral part of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, which I have been told I incorrectly call “Ode to Joy”. The recording I have has a great German baritone doing the initial solo, and Boo got into it.
As we walked into the school, he was singing “Fweude! Fweude!” as dramatically as he could.
I think I’m doing something right.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 30, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/30/todays-earworm-21/
30 Days of Churchill – Day 28
Truth is incontrovertible. Panic may resent it, ignorance may deride it, malice may distort it, but there it is.– Speech in the House of Commons, May 17, 1916
My Take – The truth can be spun, colored, twisted, ignored, and lied about. But if you dig deep enough, you will find it.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 30, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/30/30-days-of-churchill-day-28/
Quote of the Day
Honey, I forgot to duck. —Ronald Reagan
Posted by daddybear71 on March 30, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/30/quote-of-the-day-6/
Recognition
I grew up among veterans, from World War I to Vietnam. My father and all of the fathers of my friends served in Vietnam. All of them were normal guys who had gone and done their duty then returned to pick up their lives and drive on. Some Vietnam veterans weren’t so lucky, and those who needed help or reported problems were out in the cold for way too long.
Thanks to Castle Argghhh!!!, I see that President Obama has proclaimed today to be Vietnam Veteran’s Day.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your service. Please enjoy your day and remember that our country appreciates what you did for us all.
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| This memorial has the Three Soldiers staring off at The Wall |
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| This is the only time I’ve seen this memorial without flowers to the nurses on it One of the nurses gazes over at the statue of the Three Soldiers, who she is watching over. |
Posted by daddybear71 on March 29, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/29/recognition/
Dumbass of the Week Award
This week, we salute the guy from Pennsylvania who forgot to take the materials he uses in his hobby of blowing stuff up out of his bag before he tried to go through security at Philadelphia airport:
A 29-year-old-man was taken into police custody this morning at the Philadelphia airport after attempting to board a flight to San Francisco while carrying items that could have been assembled into an explosive device — a vial with a fuse, a plastic bottle filled with explosive powder and three M-80 type fireworks.
This is one of the reasons that my range bags are my range bags and my airport bags are my airport bags and never the twain shall meet. I go through airport security every day, and all it would take is for me to forget to take a magazine or a box of bullets out of my bag before throwing the laptop back in it for me to find myself in a world of pain.
Remember kids, take the explosives, guns, knives, bottles of water, and tubes of toothpaste out of your bag before going to see Uncle BadTouch, or you may end up on my blog as a bad example to others.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 29, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/29/dumbass-of-the-week-award/
Simple Answer
France is struggling with what to do with the remains of the coward who murdered three children, their teacher, and three soldiers over the past few weeks. This piece of filth was lucky enough to catch a piece of copper jacketed lead with his cranium during a standoff with police, so there won’t be any trial where he gets to rant about how the cause of jihad is advanced by shooting young girls in the head while they’re being held up for the camera. Algeria, where this “person’s” family comes from, has declined to take the body off of France’s hands, so now the French government must find a way to dispose of it.
My answer to their conundrum is pretty simple: Don’t.
This murdering bastard doesn’t deserve a proper burial. Toulouse is a medieval city, so I suggest a medieval solution:
I’m sure that if you go to the main gate of the old city walls of Toulouse, you will find either hooks or places to put hooks in the wall. From those hooks a cage can be hung with the earthly remains of this waste of good protein in it. Then you walk away. Let the world press take all the pictures they want, and let the crows have a feast. It’ll be messy for a few days, but after that, all you’ll have is a cage full of bones for a few years that will act as a reminder that child murderers aren’t handled with any kindness in Toulouse. Place a guard of paratroopers from the local regiment to make sure no-one tries to retrieve the bodies before the birds have had their fill. Something tells me you won’t have much trouble getting volunteers.
French authorities are also holding this bastards ill-begotten brother. My suggestion as to what to do with him if he’s convicted is eerily similar, except we don’t have to wait for the putz to get a 9mm aneurysm.
Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh, but after reading what this guy did, my humanity meter is reading a little low in reference to him and his ilk.
Update – The BBC is reporting that he’s been buried in Toulouse. Here’s hoping they used good French porcelain for the urinal.
Posted by daddybear71 on March 29, 2012
https://daddybearsden.com/2012/03/29/simple-answer/
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