Good Monday Evening! It has been a while since I have been able to send out an update. I have been dealing with some personal issues over the last eight weeks which has forced me to step away. While these issues have not come to a resolution I have found that I currently have an abundance of time to devote to projects that have been otherwise lagging.
Enough about me, there has been a lot going on in the firearms world. The NRA show was canceled, mostly due to COVID concerns. At this point, I suspect it is about a 50/50 chance that SHOT Show happens this year. This is really due to a lot of companies not wanting to take the risk of exposing employees. Whether or not you and I think it is warranted is pretty much irrelevant. Companies are all about minimizing risk to themselves, whether it is engineering safe products at the expense of cool features, or keeping employees from getting sick, risk management is a big thing most large companies deal with on a day to day basis.
If you have been following what has been going on with the ATF you’ll note that the comment period has ended for the redefinition of a firearm. This is Proposed Rule 2021R-5, which is a pretty insidious power grab by the ATF. We are likely a year away from finding out when this rule is going to go into effect. I really have very little faith that the comments submitted will deter this administration from pushing forward with this rule change. Which means this will need to play out in the courts, but that can only happen once the rule change is made. So we will be waiting to see whats happens for a while. Personally, I am about to stock up on some 7075 bar stock. I figure should the rule change move forward, there will be a lot of people looking to buy 1% lowers. ;-P
The other significant thing I have been following is this ban on Russian Ammunition imports. Honestly this was something most everyone who follows this stuff expected to happen. Our current President cannot get his legislation through Congress so they are doing other things to curtail access to arms and ammunition. I wrote about Biden using the State Department to clamp down on imports around the beginning of the year. I am somewhat surprised it took as long as it did. This honestly could only be the beginning. While this was thinly veiled as a “sanction” against Russia for some illicit behavior, it was honestly just low-hanging fruit.
Probably the most well-known brand of Russian ammunition is the Wolf Brand of ammo. I have used it, specifically in my VZ-58 build. Personally, I am not a fan of steel-cased ammunition, I find it tends to be a bit more sticky when it comes to feeding and extraction. Brass is my personal preference but I know plenty of people who use it and like it just fine. So I am not going to bag on it. I currently am sitting on some 40 rounds of 7.62x39mm, this might be something, along with my primer stash I hold on to for a while. Might be worth something someday, then again, with demand for this stuff as high as it is, maybe I should sell now.
This has been a pretty short and to the point update. We are two years into the life of this website. 75,000+ visits, and 150 subscribers. I am very happy with the progress made and am thankful for everyone who visits, who has left a comment, or who has emailed me. We will keep on, keeping on and see where this goes.
That’s all I have for this week. As always if you are looking to get in touch, the best way is to send me an email at jay@theballisticassistant.com. You may check us out on Parler, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit. If you’d like to submit a load to our load database, the instructions are here.
As always, shoot straight and stay safe!
The Ballistic Assistant