A couple people had expressed interest in this topic, and I have a bit of extra time for a couple days, so here goes:
Bona fides: I am a former infantry NCO and sniper, hunter, competitive shooter, reloader, hobby gunsmith, sometimes firearms trainer and currently work in a gun shop, mostly on the paperwork/compliance side. Back in the day, was a qualified expert with every standard small arm in the US inventory circa 2003 (M2, 4, 9, 16, 19, 249, 240B, 21, 24, 82 etc.), and today hang around the 75th percentile of USPSA classifications. I've shot Cap-and-Ball, Trap and Sporting Clays badly; Bullseye and PRS somewhat better and IDPA/USPSA/UML/Two-gun with some local success. Been active in the 2A community since the mid-90s, got my first instructor cert in high school, and have held a CPL for almost twenty years now.
I certainly don't claim to be an expert in every aspect of firearms, there's huge areas that escape my knowledge base, but if you've got questions I'll do my best to answer.
Technical questions
Gun control proposals for feasibility
Industry
Training
Wacky opinions
General geekery
Some competition links (not my own) just for the interested.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=U5IhsWamaLY&t=173
https://youtube.com/watch?v=93nEEINflXE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=utcky0zq10E
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Notes -
Do you have any hot takes on the ammo shortage? I compete in pistol and I've definitely noticed the empty shelves for common rounds. I've not had any trouble getting match rounds, or to say any more trouble; I've always had to order it and wait.
Relatedly, do you thing home-reloading is viable for hobbyists? The range I practice at has a productive reload business so I've never needed to look into it. Good reliability too based on some stories I've heard.
The ammo shortage has been sort of regional. It's bad in some places still, never was bad in others. In my state, we're all caught up on major calibers like 9mm and 5.56, but anything other than a few big ones is uneven supply. And there's nothing like the variety or cost of pre-covid ammo. Attendance is down at most competitions around here due to the scarcity and cost of ammo.
For reloading, yes if you're going for extreme precision, no otherwise. It's hard to beat a factory in cost per round for range trash ammo, but you can make match-grade stuff a lot cheaper than you can buy it. To make bulk reloading work, you need to go well beyond "hobbyist" and get some automated Dillon shit for several grand. Components for reloading have been harder hit than loaded ammunition, especially primers. Almost all competition shooters reload, but many of them can't due to primer shortage.
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