#Prime

Back in April TFB covered the developing story between PRIME Ammunition and RUAG Ammotec. At that time this writer had had a lengthy discussion with the CEO of  PRIME and determined the issues presented were complicated and would likely not be resolved quickly.  Fortunately, for both parties, proceedings did not drag on as long as anticipated.

Bushnell has been on a furious pace in the last year to innovate and re-create their brand with a flurry of new products. This has come in the form of new riflescopes, red dots, rangefinders, and many other shooting related components. With this has come 4 new series of products that essentially exemplify 4 different tiers of quality. The Prime series is your entry level, the Engage series is a step above that initial starting point, the Nitro series is your mid tier of quality and features, and finally the Forge series is the top tier. This summer we will get to see a bunch of NEW Rangefinders through their Bushnell Prime, Engage and Nitro series. Some of the traits that these NEW rangefinders will boast, according to Bushnell, can be read below:

Our regular readers may remember this  article back in May of 2018 about PRIME Ammo’s new 6mm Creedmoor offering. Cool, but not huge news. The bigger news is why the new cartridge never made it to market. A lot of us would have just written it off as typical gun industry “vaporware”.  Not the case though: in fact this ammunition actually exists and has been (according to PRIME) paid for and produced en mass. However, it has allegedly never been delivered to PRIME. This is one of the complaints in PRIME Ammo’s lawsuit against RUAG Ammotec. Here is a link to the counter-suit PRIME has filed against RUAG Ammotec ( https://www.primeammo.com/uploads/041519-Answer-to-Amended-Complaint.pdf). It doesn’t take a lawyer to recognize the term ‘counterclaim’. RUAG first filed a claim again Citizens Amunition LLC (PRIME Ammo) in November 2018 ( https://www.primeammo.com/uploads/11_19_18-Served-Amended-RUAG-Ammotec-Complaint-RUAG-vs-Ctiizens.pdf).

I know very little about belt-fed machine guns and the feed chute systems available to guide the ammunition reliably. So when the TMIL Systems PRIME belt-fed manpack and ammunition system popped up on my Twitter feed, my first thought was that it might qualify as news-worthy. Then I got that weird ‘gear deja vu’ feeling. And after a minimal amount of searching, I found it: the TYR Tactical MICO belt-fed backpack and feed chute has been around for about five years and has been covered by several major digital and print publications.

Not long ago I reviewed the superb Arsenal Firearms Strike One pistol. While I really enjoyed it there were a few areas that I felt could be improved. When I went to the Prime booth I was surprised when I saw what appeared to be a modified Strike One hanging on the wall. After talking to Jim with Prime he informed me that Prime had teamed up with Arsenal Firearms and Salient Arms to improve on the Strike One. The pistol received a stipple job as well as a new slide profile and sights, a flat trigger as well as a trigger job, and a new twist on the name. After a few minutes of fondling it I came to the quick conclusion that Prime Mfg Group did an amazing job improving an already wonderful pistol.  

As the panic buying began to taper off, PRIME Club introduced a new model for procuring ammunition for the shooting community. Shooters were able to purchase a membership and receive minimum guaranteed ammo shipments on a quarterly basis (a “shoot-scription”). At its release, the concept was well-received by a small and vocal portion of the community, but the larger community was hesitant, especially looking at the pricing structure. PRIME was high during a time of falling prices.

(Updated) How would you feel if you had a guaranteed ammunition supply, even during the worst “panics”? PRIME Club seeks to answer this question by providing ammunition at various levels through its membership program.