Loaded Wallet
Another Idea Dave Wishes He Had First
A little plastic box with a big payload, the Ammo Wallet
is a clever way to carry spare ammo.
This is a story with two parts, and both of them highlight what might be called “the story of my life. This tale is about one of the niftiest accessories I’ve ever owned, and how I lost track of one only to find it some years later, loaded for bear.
Way back in the last century, I more often than not carried a .357 Magnum revolver in the outdoors — when I wasn’t packing a .41 Magnum — and sometimes instead of a cartridge belt, I had spare ammunition in a clever little thing called the Ammo Wallet from MTM Case-Gard.
Made from rugged Polypropylene, the Ammo Wallet is one of those ideas I wish I would have thought of first. Oh, well.
There are several versions of this handy accessory, and they hold anywhere from nine rifle cartridges to 18 handgun rounds, depending upon the individual model. I have models for 12 or 18 rounds in .38/.357 and a third which holds a dozen .41 Magnums. They’re called Ammo Wallets because they snap shut securely and slide into a hip, shirt or vest pocket. Every time I hear that commercial asking “What’s in Your Wallet?” I subconsciously answer, “Spare ammo, what’s in yours?”
I got turned onto these things decades ago, and I’m delighted they’re still being made.
Easily fit into one’s back pocket, this little accessory
carries 12 or 18 rounds.
Truth be told, I always liked packing spare rounds in a leather cartridge belt — made by myself or somebody else — or on a 6- or 12-round belt slide, or maybe in a couple of speed loaders carried in the cargo pocket of my down vest. If you’re going to pack a sixgun, you have to carry spare ammunition. To do otherwise is rather foolish, especially in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest.
I’ve dropped these things during all kinds of weather, and the cartridges inside never suffered a scratch. They stayed dry, too. So, this is the end of Part I of the tale.
How They Work
The Ammo Wallet is formed with little dividers inside into which one snaps loose cartridges. They’re really quite simple. Inside, the individual cartridges stay dry, even in wet weather, they don’t collapse, and I’ve never heard of one breaking at the hinge.
Made from tough Polypropylene, the Ammo Wallet from
MTM Case Gard keeps spare cartridges dry and protected.
Dave wishes he’d have thought of it.
On the outside, the surface is textured so you can’t lose your grip in damp weather. At one end is a snap clip which closes the box securely and at the other end, the tough Polypropylene material acts as a hinge. Mine have been opened and shut more times than I can remember, and none of them have ever failed.
They’re formed out of warm material in some sort of mold, it appears. Find them online or in a gun shop, and they’re not very expensive. But out in the boonies, they just might be priceless.
Gone Fishin’
In my past life as an outdoor writer, I got a remarkably good deal on a new-in-box Colt Python. I still have the box, with the letter of ownership signed by then-President Gary W. French. Inside was the Styrofoam inner box, and inside of that was the Colt nestled in a plastic bag, well-oiled and finished in that eye-popping Royal Blue only the original Python wore so well.
The six-inch vent rib barrel with full underlug was polished almost to a mirror finish. There was the all-black front sight, the adjustable rear sight, that wide checkered hammer, the oh-so-perfect trigger and a set of checkered grips that feel so good in the hand. Today, I’d say the finish is still better than 90% and when I showed up at the range, my pals drooled.
I got a cartridge belt and field holster back then, sighted that 6-inch revolver for small game and even something bigger, and packed it proudly in the wilds and it didn’t get banged up at all. When I decided to carry a little more horsepower, I tucked that Python into a lockable fishing tackle box with padding, a couple of speed loaders, and an 18-round Ammo Wallet. While the handgun eventually went back into the original box and landed in my gun safe, the Ammo Wallet stayed in the tackle box along with about 50 rounds of full-house .357 Magnum handloads pushing a 125-grain JHP over a brisk load of 2400 or H110.
Dave’s got these things for .38 Special, .357 Magnum and
.41 Magnum handguns. Keep one in your glove box, console,
tackle box, or anywhere it stays out of the way until needed.
The tackle box disguise seemed like a good idea, stuck in the back corner of a closet next to a bigger tackle box which, as one might guess, smelled like it had been covered in fish innards. Who’s going to steal anything smelling that bad? What curious kid is going to touch it?
About a year ago, I started looking for the Ammo Wallet, not just because I had a use for it, but because — doggone it! — 18 of my favorite cartridges were inside! Searching high and low, but not in the old tackle box, I wrongly concluded I’d lost the thing. I still had a 12-rounder, and it still worked in my hip pocket.
So, one afternoon I’m rummaging around and picked up the old tackle box, which I thought was empty, and there was a pronounced rattle inside. I popped it open and there was the 18-round box, along with an old Smith & Wesson cleaning rod I thought lost as well, and a screwdriver. We’ve all had these moments when something we thought to be lost suddenly turns up again. Feels good, right?
The cartridges inside were sparking new and the ones I tested shot just fine.
Court Victory
Something significant happened last month in Minnesota and a lot of people missed it because it wasn’t widely reported. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a unanimous ruling that the state’s ban on issuing concealed carry licenses to young adults is unconstitutional.
Of course, at the time the country was focused on the Republican convention and its aftermath, and the near-fatal attack on Donald Trump.
Worth v. Jacobson is the name of the case, brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and four citizens, Austin Dye, Alex Anderson, Joe Knudsen and Kristin Worth, for whom the case is known.
The 27-page ruling is worth reading. Authored by Circuit Judge Duane Benton, it bluntly notes the Second Amendment “shall not be infringed.”
“Importantly,” the judge observed, “the Second Amendment’s plain text does not have an age limit … Ordinary, law-abiding 18 to 20-year-old Minnesotans are unambiguously members of the people. The Carry Ban … violates the Second Amendment as applied to Minnesota through the Fourteenth Amendment, and, thus, is unconstitutional.”
The case might go to appeal. It might even go to the Supreme Court. It will not go away.
