A day out hunting ammo and more!
All in all I have to say I have not experienced a more OC friendly area of the state to date. I recently moved back to the Kitsap Penn since living out in Tacoma and Gig Harbor. I spent the day last Sunday checking out the area, visiting multiple stores and ranges, without a single incident or even a single sly stare.
I started out the day by visiting Big 5 in Poulsbo, the staff there are all very friendly and no one even gave me a second glance. I checked out the ammo and nothing popular here. You would be hard pressed to find a single box of .22LR, .45ACP, 9MM Luger, and will likely have to run up to even the $60.00 boxes of specialized hollow-point defense round if you want to grab a box of .38 Spec. I decided that I wanted to invest in a truck gun, so I grabbed a cheap Rossi 'tuffy' 410 shotgun. I realize this is really a youth gun, but the fact that I can almost safely fire this shotgun with one hand makes it an under the seat backup to my sidearm. Also, I feel like it would be a little better than a full size 12 gauge for home defense. I will likely make a different butt stock for it however because the snake charmer style doesn't fit my thumb very well and I have a feeling after a bit of time popping targets it would get irritating. Big 5 +1 for awesome. While I was there I filled out all the paperwork, got delayed, again and bought some .410 for the impending shotgun.
After I cruised down the hill to Walmart in Poulsbo, where again I found that they had no ammo that I need, only thing they carried besides the large caliber rifle rounds were some H17 rounds, blah. I looked around and decided to grab a simple metal plate target for the ol' pellet gun because I am thinking about fabricating some of my own for competition shooting. With that in hand I made my purchases and moved along. Walmart Poulsbo another, +1.
After running out of possible ammo suppliers in Poulsbo I was going to head home but figured today would be a good day to look into the archery scene in this area to see about a place to shoot with others, as well as checking out the Pro Shop in Belfair. I knew that the archery places I wanted to visit were close to each other so I decided to make a day out of it and get all my scouting done. I ended up at Penninsula Premiere Pro Shop and when you go there it feels like your just going to a friends house. Depending on the time you go there are people around getting ready for a round of paintball, archers talking about the latest bow tech and a nice supply of archery supplies, that makes the drive out worth it. Because I have been wanting to also get back into traditional archery, I grabbed up a new Matrix recurve bow, and (12) traditional wooden arrows, fletched by a gentlemen in Poulsbo, WA. Keeping it all around the sound, I was perfectly satisfied supporting a local and was happy with my purchase. They did have some ammo, but a very small amount and the only stuff I could have used was the 9mm Luger. They had a couple boxes but I figured sine I purchased (4) boxes with my Berretta BU9 Nano a couple weeks before I would leave those for the next guy. Everyone was awesome there +1 for these guys.
After the pro shop, I located the KBH Archery Club, because they were less than 10 minutes away. After doing a google search I found this to be the closest 'actual' range to shoot a bow at on this side of the water, so I thought I would see what they were all about. The archery range is gated and member accessible only, but using my secret squirrel tactics I was able to slip in after someone coming out. Good timing I suppose, but its the only way to take a closer look without walking the drive all the way to the end. There were about (6) people there, none of which even second guessed my intentions for OC. I asked one of the guys there who was a member about the club, about some of the upcoming events, and he grabbed me a membership form which can be sent in with the yearly fee of $80.00 for an individual. They have 3D events in the warmer months and a 10-100 yard outdoor range with flats. After watching a few archers sling a few arrows I was back on the road again.
I headed from here back through town and ended up at the Big 5 in Silverdale. They were clean out of ammo as well and after spending a few minutes there took off again, no one saying a thing to me. +1 Big 5 Silverdale.
Last stop of the day for me was the Wholesale Sports store in Silverdale. I have not been to this store yet and figured it was a better deal than Cabelas, because it wasn't the Walmart of sportman and because I didnt have to drive to Lacey to get some supplies! None of the employees mentioned my sidearm, it was like it wasn't even there...I checked out the stock and there again was no ammo for popular calibers. The only .22 they had was in WinMag...got me to thinking...since you can't reload your own rimfire and I enjoy shooting .22 why not find a rifle that I can get a supply of ammo for rather than trying to find the ammo? I have been looking into getting a match grade // ish rifle for a while in .22LR but it just so happened that they had a sweet Savage BESV in .22 WinMag just taunting me. I decided to fill out the paperwork for it and make the purchase, since most places actually have .22 WinMag and nothing else...
Again, I was delayed...as usual...I grabbed up some .22 WInMag for the impending rifle, have still heard nothing back on it. I guess I will give them a call later today if there is still nothing. I also looked around and found a new 16 oz. canteen, water tabs, and checked out the handheld GPS units for a while. Everyone was very friendly +1 to them!
Rolled back home with a bunch of new ammo for weapons I dont have, but it was a good day.