Month: April 2020

Unfortunately there was no updated over the past week. I did work on some content for the website but did not finish any of it to the point where it is publishable. The one hurdle I am running into is images to use for the site. As much as possible I try to use images that are examples I have on hand.

Occasionally I do use stock images of products that are from websites such as Midway, Brownell, or the Manufacturers own website. However when it comes to cracks on brass, or showing the burr’s after trimming brass, I’d like to use my own photos. With this broken leg, I have been severely limited in my ability to take photos since most of my examples are not at the house with me.

Perhaps this is a long way to share that the next few weeks will be a bit slow in updates. I’ll do what I can but until things heal up to where I get clearance from the doc to drive myself places, I’m stuck with what I have on hand.

With all of that said I hope everyone is keeping sane with the “Stay at home” orders. In my case this is probably the best time could have broken my leg. With that said, I very much wish I could be outside enjoying this spring weather.

As always, if you want to reach out to me my email is jayandrew338@gmail.com, or you can check out the Facebook page. Feel free to share what you are doing to the kill the time during this unprecedented period of self isolation.

Thanks,

The Ballistic Assistant

Good Monday Evening, this update is coming a bit later then usual, due to me having my cast removed this morning. It is such a good feeling to get rid of that cast and get into a walking boot. Ankle is still pretty tender, and I’m still very much laid up, but I’m a little more comfortable.

This past week was a bit crazy for me, and this week is shaping up to be a busy week too. I did publish a write up on Friday of last week. We talked about some of the cleaning methods and went over sizing dies. I combined the two topics as a lot of people clean once before they size and then after they size to get ride of the size lube.

Handloading Your Way: Cleaning and Sizing Brass

I will likely revisit this write up in the future and add some photo’s to it. Unfortunately with me being laid up, I’ve been unable to get to my box of examples. Some photos, such as press set up, and examples of defects in brass, didn’t make it into this write up prior to publishing. Look for a revision in the future to see photo examples.

This week I’ll continue to try and get at least one write up finished. It likely won’t be until closer to the end of the week, we will see what time permits. I appreciate everyone who has subscribed, it’ll be a few weeks but we’ll start back into some of the project we’ve been working on. As always if you have any suggestions, comments or criticisms, feel free to email us at jayandrew338@gmail.com. You can also check us out on Facebook.

Thanks,

The Ballistic Assistant

It’s Monday again. Hope everyone survived the past week.

Everyone has a different approach to reloading, using different tools, methods and techniques to produce their own quality loads. We continued our series of “Handloading Your Way” taking a look at some of the tools used to get rid of spent primers, prep the primer pocket for a new primer, and inserting a new primer. You can read the write up at the link below.

Handloading You Way: Ready to Prime

I am still waiting on this broken ankle to mend, so many of the projects that I’ve been working on are on hold. Instead I’ve been working on planning and research for current and future projects. Hopefully I can get back and at them in the next few weeks. In the mean time I’ll continue to work on the “Handloading Your Way” Series and other projects that I am able to do largely from the comfort of my couch.

Like many of you I am keeping a close eye on the current virus situation and the market trends and responses. Some might say it’s a good time to be in the firearms industry with all the demand, however many factories and retail outlets have been forced to close. As a result there are many in the firearms industry who have not benefited from the recent “Run on Guns”. Hopeful we are past the apex of this crisis and we will return to normal soon.

As always if there are questions, suggests, comments or concerns please feel free to email us at jayandrew338@gmail.com. Alternatively we can be found on Facebook, and we love to engage with our readers there as well. Thanks for subscribing and stay safe out there!

The Ballistic Assistant

We made it to Monday, which seems like a bit of an accomplishment.

We try and talk about safety in our write ups as it is central to everyone’s lives. I have a bit of a safety share, which happened to me over this past week that hopefully you can learn from. My current job has me doing Environmental Managing and Process Improvements to a mill and mine site in rural Utah, having moved on from the firearms industry a few years ago.

Tuesday I found myself in a heavy equipment maintenance building where there were some industrial batteries on the floor. These batteries are about the height and width of a typical car battery but are 2 feet long in some cases. I was talking to a co worker when I took a step back, and my foot unexpectedly hit one of these batteries, I stumbled, tried to regain my footing, rolled my ankle over, and ended up breaking it in three places.

This accident was obviously a preventable one, the batteries had been stored there for many years without incident, but should have been stored on a shelf or elevated platform where they were not a tripping hazard. I should have been paying closer attention to my surroundings and recognized that as a potential risk. I was wearing steel toes boots that ended well above the ankle, as I knew I had weak ankles, this likely prevented a more serious injury. (Though I wonder how it could have been worse)

Now that I have plenty of time to reflect on what could have been, I think about all the times I did potentially dangerous things, and paid close attention to safety and to my surroundings. It was something simple, that ended up really messing me up. Fortunately it is a lesson to be learned, if you work in the industry, and use the 2.5 gallon buckets, or even the 5 gallon buckets, what are you doing to ensure they don’t become a tripping hazard? How about empty pallets? Do you keep the work area clean from stray bullets? they are like bearings and they can be a slipping hazard.

I fully recognize that you could have tripped like I did, 1,000 times over, and had a far more favorable outcome. I’m not old, just 32, but I’m not a spring chicken either. Just take a moment today and look around your work space and see if there is something you can do to prevent a trip or a fall.

With all of this week’s excitement, that ended with surgery and a permanent plate in my ankle, I was hard pressed to get a write up finished. However I did finish one on the Hi-Tek coating. Luckily I was able to finish coating the bullets on Monday, and had the time to write the article over the past few days.

Overall my impression is favorable of this new coating. However it did not come without it’s challenges and lessons to be learned. Here is the write up for that.

Hi-Tek Coating Cast Bullets

I’ll still try and maintain at least one write up per week as I go through this healing period, but a lot of the projects I have been working on, are somewhat delayed. As it will take me somewhere between 6 to 8 weeks to get back on my feet. We’ll keep on keeping on 🙂

As always if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions please email me at jayandrew338@gmail.com. Alternatively you can check out our Facebook page. Thanks for being a subscriber and have an awesome week!

Best Wishes!

The Ballistic Assistant