4411 Mercury St, Suite 103 · Kearny Mesa, San Diego
Who we buy from
16 names, and an honest line or two on each: what they are actually known for, and what a shooter reaches for them for. If you came here searching a brand and a city, this page is written for you.
Read this first
The list we buy from — not a live inventory feed, and no prices. Both move faster than a page updated by hand.
Searching a brand and a city asks two questions at once: do they carry it, and is it worth the drive. We buy from every name below and keep the volume range lines moving, because that is what this neighbourhood shoots. A specific defensive load in a specific bullet weight might be here or might be three days out — call or text and somebody will walk to the shelf while you are on the line.
What we will not do is print a stock light next to a brand and let you drive across the county on it. Prices are off the page for the same reason; the exception is the deals page, one fixed price for one fixed week.
On the shelf in Kearny Mesa
In the order we would name them at the counter, house line first. Each links to the part of the catalog it lands in.
Remanufactured pistol · the case-buy
The name on the sign outside, and known for remanufactured pistol ammunition: once-fired brass, new primer, new powder, new bullet. The honest cheap way to shoot a lot of 9mm — run a box before you commit to a case.
In the catalog
Volume range ammo · new and reman
An Idaho loader built on high-volume range ammunition, new and remanufactured, in the calibers people burn through fastest. A case brand rather than a carry brand, for days when the point is round count.
In the catalog
1866 · covers all four shelves
American since 1866, and one of very few names that turns up on all four of our shelves. Most shooters meet it as the white-box USA range line; clays shooters know it for the AA target shell.
In the catalog
American Eagle · HST · Gold Medal
Minnesota, and probably the most widely issued name in American law enforcement. American Eagle is the practice side, HST is the duty hollow point people ask for here by name, Gold Medal is the match line.
In the catalog
The rimfire house · Blazer Brass
If you shoot .22 you have probably shot theirs — Mini-Mag is what a lot of people mean by a good .22. CCI also loads Blazer: Blazer Brass in reloadable brass cases, plain Blazer in cheaper aluminium you cannot reload.
In the catalog
UMC bulk · Core-Lokt hunting
1816, and the green UMC box is one of the older sights in American shooting. UMC is the bulk practice line, Core-Lokt the deer bullet two generations grew up on, Golden Bullet a .22 bulk-pack staple.
In the catalog
A bullet maker that loads ammo
A bullet maker that also loads ammunition, so people buy it for what is inside the case. Critical Defense and Critical Duty are the defensive lines, V-MAX the varmint bullet, ELD the long-range one. It also helped create the .17 HMR.
In the catalog
Gold Dot · Lawman
Gold Dot is the reason to know this name: a bonded hollow point carried by more American police departments than almost anything else. Lawman is its practice partner, loaded to behave like the Gold Dot you carry.
In the catalog
The ammunition, not the guns
Worth saying plainly in a shop with no firearms in it: Browning ammunition is a separate, much newer line than the guns the name is famous for, spanning pistol, rifle, rimfire and shotshell. We stock the ammunition side of the name, and only that.
In the catalog
Bronze · brass-cased value FMJ
Precision Made Cartridges, loaded in South Korea, and the value brand a lot of range regulars settle on. Bronze is the one people search for — clean, brass-cased, boxer-primed FMJ worth keeping if you reload. X-TAC is the 5.56 line.
In the catalog
Prvi Partizan · the odd calibers
Prvi Partizan, from Serbia, and the answer when nobody else still loads your cartridge: 8mm Mauser, .303 British, 7.5x55 Swiss. Brass-cased and boxer-primed, at a level that keeps an old rifle worth feeding.
In the catalog
1825 · straightforward new brass
Czech, and older than almost everybody here — the company dates to 1825. Straightforward brass-cased range ammunition across pistol and rifle, and where we point somebody who wants new rather than remanufactured without premium money.
In the catalog
Italian · a shotshell house first
Italian, 1876, with a US operation in Missouri, and a shotshell maker before it is anything else. It loads pistol ammunition too, which is where most of our customers meet it, but the shells built the name.
In the catalog
Swedish · rifle and brass
A rifle brand first and a brass brand almost as much: handloaders pay extra for Norma cases and then keep them for years. Premium hunting and precision loads, and not where you go for cheap volume.
In the catalog
All-copper bullets · nonlead
The monolithic copper bullet people: TSX and TTSX are solid copper rather than a lead core in a jacket, and VOR-TX is the ammunition loaded around them. No lead is why they come up in every California nonlead conversation — though the requirement turns on whether the specific product is certified, not on the metal, so check the load rather than the brand.
In the catalog
Match .22 LR · rimfire only
Rimfire and nothing else. SK is German match .22 LR, made at the same plant as Lapua's rimfire, for people shooting at paper for score — more ammunition than a plinker needs.
In the catalog
We are a retailer. Nothing above is an endorsement by any manufacturer, and none of them has any say in what we write. If you shoot something that is not on this list, tell us.
Straight talk
Nobody here will talk you out of a brand you like. But if you are choosing between two boxes, the headstamp is rarely what should decide it.
Caliber first, then bullet weight and bullet type — a 115 grain full metal jacket and a 147 grain hollow point from the same maker do different things in the same gun. Brand lands after that, mostly as a proxy for quality control you cannot see from outside the box. The exception is a defensive load: buy new, and run a box of that exact load through that exact gun before you trust it — the long version is here.
Three cases break the rule. Shoot an old military rifle and one or two makers keep your cartridge alive while the rest do not. Compete at smallbore and match rimfire is a different product to a bulk pack. Hunt in California and nonlead is a legal requirement, so bullet construction picks the brand for you.
Before you drive out
Every ammunition sale in California happens face to face at a licensed vendor — state law, not our policy, and the reason there is no cart here. Bring your California ID; every purchase runs a DOJ eligibility check with a state-set fee collected on the state's behalf. Accessories are in-store only too, but that is our policy, not the law. General information, not legal advice; last reviewed , and the official source is the California DOJ — Ammunition Purchase Authorization Program. Ammunition and accessories only — no firearms, no range here. Se habla español.
Stock & deal questions
Text is usually faster than a call for this one. Send the brand, the caliber and the bullet weight — somebody will walk to the shelf and tell you what is actually there today.
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How California's ammo law works