What is the hardest to find pistol ammo?

9mm glisenti
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Just don't put 9mm Luger in there by accident! :eek:

For those of you unfamiliar with these pistols, 9mm Glisenti is almost dimensionally identical to 9mm Luger- supposedly a historical coincidence- but it is only loaded to ~2/3 of the pressure. The popular story is that the Italian military insisted that the Glisenti pistol had to have a single easily-removable sideplate that exposed all the moving parts for easy cleaning, but the addition of the sideplate weakened the frame so much that the ammo had to be loaded down to keep the pistol together. :(

Glisenti pistols will readily chamber 9mm Luger, but are known to spontaneously disassemble themselves with considerable force if standard-pressure 9mm Luger ammo is fired. :eek:
 
Do Remington XP-100's pistols count? If so, .221 Fireball or 7mm BR is in the hard to find class. Dan Wesson revolvers in 357 SuperMag or 32-20 can be hard to feed off the shelf. In 1911 autos, 38 Super is another hard to find round.
 
If you're really sadistic, buy him a TC Contender in some round like the 25-20 (available in pricey factory loads on line) or one of the Herrett chamberings (.30 or .357, pretty much custom loads and $$$$).
 
I can never find .32 French long....and if it does exists as new manufacture, it tends to cost an arm and half a leg.
 
I bought this Nagant and although you can get ammo online I decided just for fun I'd only buy it in person. I found this one box at a show 2 weeks ago. I bought the gun almost 4 years ago. For half of your budget you could get two and a cartridge belt with matching Uncle Mikes right and left holsters. Wait, I got it , the Gyro Jet pistol!


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I was reading my friend's forensic science textbook the other day. In the chapter for ballistics, it said "the most common pistol calibers are 9mm, .40 S&W, .38 special, .357 magnum, .45 auto and .25 auto."

Needless to say I pointed out that .25 auto is not as common as the book's writers think. :eek:
 
If you really want something that is likely to never be shot, any rimfire cartridge bigger than .22 will be nearly impossible to find new production ammo for and is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to reload. Small single and double derringers and revolvers in .32 Rimfire, .38 Rimfire, and .41 rimfire can often be found for fairly reasonable prices due to the ammunition situation. When ammunition for these can be found, its often old stock and usually sells for arm, leg, or firstborn child prices.

Many older top-break revolvers made by companies including S&W, Iver Johnson, H&R, Hopkins & Allen, or Forehand & Wadsworth can be found for very low prices in calibers like .32 S&W (not to be confused with .32 S&W Long) and .38 S&W (not to be confused with .38 Special). While ammunition for these cartridges is currently available, it is neither cheap nor particularly easy to find.

If you want a semi-auto, it's not particularly hard to find Star and Astra handguns in 9mm Largo (not to be confused with 9mm Luger) for reasonable prices. While 9mm Largo ammo is available and not too expensive when you find it, you'll likely have to do some searching and settle for surplus ammo as I'm aware of no manufacturer currently producing 9mm Largo ammunition.
 
I don't believe there are any laws in my state (Illinois) that forbid it. I gifted my brother an old West German .38, actually pretty much only to see if he'd get bitten by the gun bug (and it worked, bigtime), and I just wrote up two receipts that we both keep in our files for the mandatory 10 years.
 
Can you even give a gun as a gift? Wouldn't that similar to a straw purchase?
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State and local laws may vary, but there is no federal law prohibiting giving someone a firearm as a gift so long as A) the person receiving the gun is not legally prohibited from owning it and B) the gun is purchased with the giver's own money with no compensation from the receiver. The line between gift and straw purchase is the point at which the receiver gives money to the giver which the giver uses to purchase the gun for the receiver after which they both wink, nod, and call it a "gift". Also, while you may legally give a firearm as a gift to a resident of another state, the gun would have to be transferred to the receiver through an FFL and, in the case of a handgun, an FFL in the receiver's home state.
 
Buy a Herters POWERMAG revolver in .401 Powermag. About the same wallop as a .41 Mag, but they are not interchangable. .41 Mags will not fit in the .401's chamber. JP Sauer in Germany made the revolver for Herters, good quality arms (also sold as the Chief Marshall in .357, .44 Mag), looks like a Ruger S/A, but the .401 Powermag round was only sold by Herters. You can reload them today, IF you can locate dies and brass :D but it is a Pain in the @&^. Buy him a .401, and he will HAVE locate the stuff to reload, or buy $$$$ collectors shells.
 
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Dan Wesson .375 SuperMag (that's not a typo. The .357SM or .357Maxi is a little easier to find). Or perhaps the .415SM.
 
Way back in the 1950s when cowboy movies were all the rage, the first reproduction single actions came out. I ca an't recall the name at the moment, although Keith mentioned them in his book Sixguns. Great Western comes to mind. One of the chamberings was something called .357 Atomic, if I recall correctly. It was probably more of a marketing gimmick than anything, I suspect. Of course, such revolvers are very uncommon these days and it may even be that few were produced in that rather 1950s futuristic named round. It's probably easier to find a Ruger automatic in .30 Luger.

I doubt many are being fired anymore but I've seen empty cases for .38 ACP on the shelf. In this case, however, the case is identical to the .38 Super, not that common itself, only the .38 ACP is conventionally loaded in brass cases, the .38 Super in nickel plated cases.
 
.357 'Atomic' was simply the name that 'Great Western Firearms' used for a hot .357 Magnum load:

Regular calibers in the Great Western line were: .22LR, .22 Magnum, .38 Special, .357 Atomic, .44 Special, .44 Magnum, and .45 Colt. The name “Atomic” was used to take advantage of the sense of power of the nuclear weapons of the fifties, and a higher velocity .357 round was actually produced and tested by Weatherby. The cartridge case was dimensionally a standard .357 Magnum and would be considered a “+P” today.

http://www.greatwesternfirearms.com/htm/body.htm
 
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