Meeting special ammo requirements

Shooting Industry, Feb, 2004

Ammunition is the ultimate handgun accessory, and worth a short examination.

Many dealers report their single best-selling handgun is the little Walther .22 pistol with polymer frame. It carries a "Volkswagen price" with a "BMW name," it's a fun gun, and it's--cute. While many see it mainly as a plinker, there are those who see this and other handguns firing the .22 Long Rifle cartridge as self-defense pistols.

If you can't talk the customer into something more substantial, he's just going to shop elsewhere and carry the same gun, so it's better for both of you to at least get him into some decent ammo. The same is true of customers who buy pistols like the very popular SIG/Hammerli Trailside .22, and expect it to perform double duty as a home defender.

Dealers who stock CCI Quik-Shok give it high marks for performance and good sales. It's the only readily available high-tech self-defense ammo in .22 Long Rifle.

CCI's Gold Dot line of high-tech expanding bullet loads in the major self-defense handgun calibers is dominating the police market. That's translates into good sales for you in the private citizen market, also.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

It's smart to sell your customers, who buys a short-barreled pistol, ammo that's designed to open up when fired from short barrels. These are the high-tech "designer hollowpoints." The Gold Dot is one great offering. So are Federal's Hydra-Shok, PMC/El Dorado's Starfire, Remington's Golden Saber and Winchester's SXT.