It has been a few weeks since the last update. I was on the road for about two of those weeks. First time driving up from the South to the NorthEast. I found it to be a fairly decent drive. Spent a few days in New Jersey at a machine shop to sign off on some new product coming off the line. This will be announced on CreedmoorSport.com when it becomes available and I will do a write-up article explaining the development and its production. I am pretty excited about it.
Since getting back to Alabama I have been rushing around playing catch up which accounts for the rest of my absence. The weather here in Alabama is, as a friend of mine put it, “Fat Boy Weather.” As a naturally raised Yankee who happens to be horizontally challenged (for the moment), this weather is much appreciated. I actually believe it is getting to be perfect casting weather. Too bad half of my equipment is currently in Texas. We will hopefully get all of that consolidated here in November and then start doing so more casting projects in December.
As far as industry news goes, there is a lot that has been happening. Right now it is SHOT Show registration. If you are going, or have people you would like to go to, nows is the time to get in. If you were hoping to check out the Sig Sauer booth, unfortunately, they will not be going this year, however, Vista Outdoors has expanded their booth to cover the vacuum that Sig will be leaving. With COVID a big part of the news, it will be interesting to see who will and who will not be there. When Sig made the announcement that they were pulling out, SHOT was suddenly up in the air for a few days, but I think with Vista Outdoors doubling down, we are likely to see it happen this year. I will be going this year, there will be some writes up that come out of this year, and I’m excited to be able to put those together.
The website is still live as of the time of publication (10/18/2021)
The other piece of news that caught my attention was Hodgdon closing the last domestic Black Powder Manufacturer in the United States. Goex powder has been with us for well over 200 years and Hodgdon announce, rather unexpectedly, that they were closing the plant in Camp Minden, Louisianna. Unfortunately, Hodgdon really did not give many details on why it was closing the plant down. Leaving a lot of us speculating. With the advent of so many black powder substitutes, it is entirely possible that the production of Black Powder just cannot be done competitively enough to make it worthwhile. Remember Black Powder is truly explosive, unlike Smokeless Powder. Meaning that the manufacture, transportation, sale, and storage of Black Powder is a logistical challenge compared to Smokeless Powder. Unless some other company purchases the GOEX brand/assets we are likely relegated to imported brands of Black Powder if we want the true “Smoke Pole” experience.
Anyway, that is what 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.
This update is coming on a Tuesday, instead of the usual Monday. Life just got a bit busy. I do not have very much in the way of firearm news to cover so I wanted to take a moment and share some data I was given. This was supplied to me to take a look at and pass some judgment on. The question on hand was whether or not the powder thrower was functioning as advertised.
Before I get into the data, here is a little preface. It is important for everyone, including precision hand loaders, to not only understand there is variation but to embrace a certain level of variation. Otherwise, you can spend a lot of time and money trying to solve a problem that is very likely a perceived issue rather than a significant or practical issue. We see these problems a lot in the manufacturing and engineering world. A considerable amount of time, effort, and money are spent chasing issues that are later determined to be of little consequence.
Handloaders focused on precision can often be swallowed by the “No Variation Monster” and it’s partly the industry’s fault. We sell people on the idea that absolutely no variation leads to winning matches. Like all good lies, there is a bit of truth to it, it is “A Factor” but not “The Factor”. Plenty of matches have been won with ammunition assembled hastily, sporting all sorts of grievous sins. It turns out, ammunition and rifles tend to outperform shooters, even competitive shooters, and the deciding factor between wins and loses comes down more to raw ability rather than equipment.
When it comes to handloading, I have set my own rules on dealing with variations that I follow. I share these because they keep me from going insane, and they have worked well for me. Keep in mind, that sometimes adjust the rules for specific loads, and that I base the powder measurement rules on using a powder measure that measures powder volumetrically.
Jay’s Rules for Handloading Sanity:
Charge weight
+/- 3% if less then 25gn of target or +/- .2gn which ever is greater
+/- 1% if greater then 25gn but less then 50gr
+/- .5% if greater then 50gr
Case Length +/- .005in
Cartridge Overal Length (COAL) Base to Meplate +/-.005in
Cartrdige Overal Length (COAL) Base to Ogive +/- .002in
Bullet Weight Variation for Pistol +/- 1.5gr for rifle +/-0.5gr
There are a few reasons why I allow greater variation for small charges, and it deals with how volumetric throwers can sometimes struggle to throw small charges accurately, and that most scales are not very accurate at the lower end of the weight range. I also am not shooting these cartridges extremely long distances where I would expect to see the point of impact shifts from velocity variation.
So let’s dig into the data a bit. I’ve run some quality control charts for the sample set, to illustrate how this thrower is performing and to quantify how many “bad rounds” I would expect to have. The below chart is based on the thrower being set to 42.0cc, with a sample size of 10 throws.
Based on these results, my +/- 1% rule allows for +/- .265 grain of variation. This sets the acceptable upper charge weight of 28.86 grain and the acceptable lower charge weight of 26.33gr. The performance of the powder thrower was well within the upper and lower spec limits that I set. If I was consistent in my throwers, I would expect that there would be very few “bad charges” thrown. Because the sample size is so small, and there are no sub lots it is very hard to say if this is sustainable. (It likely is not) However, based on these results, I see no issue with this powder throwing a ball propellant. In my opinion, there are likely other significant sources of variation that I should spend my time on.
Let’s take a look at an extruded powder. The sample size here is even smaller at 7 throws, which is less than ideal, but we will do what we can.
Ok, this is a bit more interesting. At 58 grains we are close to cut off for 1%. We applied the tighter 0.5% spec and it would seem that this spec is a bit too tight for this powder in this thrower. About one-fifth of the rounds loaded would have a charge weight that was either too heavy or too light as we have it currently spec’d. Now that is not to say there is a problem and that I should completely scrap the process. Only to say we probably should dig into this a bit deeper. Statistically, this is a significant variation, but we have yet to determine if the variation is practical. If it is, then I am going to have to throw a charge light and trickle in the last few grains. Doable, but that takes more time. Let’s run the ballistics through QuickLoad and get an idea of what the difference might be.
Shown above is the QuickLoad Set up for the nominal Charge of 58.54gr. This charge is a little light for the 300 Win Mag, but for comparative purposes it is fine. Notice the velocity and pressure, 2,440fps and 45,086psi respectively. That is the nominal load.
Increasing the charge to 58.83 grains yields 45,660psi and 2450, while decreasing the charge to 58.25 grains results in 44,524psi and 2,429fps. In velocity that is roughly a difference of +/- 0.4%. Pressure is about the same. So a .5% tolerance in powder weight in this load yields approximately the same difference in pressure and velocity according to Quick Load. Again, you may look at this and say, that could be significant. So there is one more step we need to take to properly display the practical effects of this. That is to run the ballistics on each load based on predicted muzzle velocity.
This is where we begin to see the actual difference that .5% charge weight makes in this particular load. Notice the drop at 1000 yards, it is basically within 1 MOA at 1000 yards. That is 10.47 inches difference in impact from the highest shot to the lowest shot. Keep in mind we are looking at a singular factor. There are many variables that impact where the shot ultimately will land. These variables can cancel each other out or can stack and magnify one another resulting in a flier that is greater than 1 MOA from the center of the group.
So, after doing all this work, what have we learned, and are we going to change our process? Velocity variation that results from the .5% tolerance does not become a significant factor until we reach ranges beyond about 600 yards. Beyond that, it is application-specific, keep in mind premier factory ammunition is almost always +/- .5 to 1.0gr at these charge weights. If I was shooting 1000 yard bench rest or F-Class, I might say this is not acceptable, but if constrained on time, and did not want to weight every charge, then I would probably let it slide.
Was the unit defective? What sort of consistency should we expect from our powder throwers? Honestly, this is the consistency I would expect in a powder thrower. The next level is throwing charges light and trickling in the last grain on the scale. As previously mentioned factory ammunition uses volumetric throwers. Even on “Top of the line” premier products, the machines just are not capable of consistently holding tighter than +/- 0.5 grains of powder over a given run. Especially when throwing charges over 50 grains. Thrower performance varies with brand, quality, and user.
Anyway, that is what 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.
Good Monday Evening! It’s been an interesting week, for the firearms community and the nation at large. Before I touch on a few of the current events I’d like to roll out a new webpage that I’ve been wanting to do. It is a product highlight page, it is a way I can bring attention to some new products that catch my eye. Sometimes it will be new products that I have a hand in developing, or it may be something that I am able to work on within the course of my job and want to spread the word. The new product page can be found here: Product Highlight Page.
At this time, unless it is linked to Amazon, I am not getting any sort of commission or free product. It is just stuff I’d like to draw attention to because either I had a hand in its development or I think it’s a neat thing and would like to get the word out. The first of these products is something I had a hand in designing and bringing to market. It is called The Puck, and it started as a handy multi-tool for Case Prep, but we found out it had a lot of utility beyond that.
Sold exclusively through Creedmoor Sports and developed, in part, by yours truly. Let me know what you think of it
If you’d like to read more about it here is a write-up I did on it The Puck. I talk a bit more about the inspiration and how we have found it to be useful. I know it’s a dead-simple tool, but it’s really proven to be pretty handy both on the reloading bench as an addition to a field cleaning kit.
Moving on to current events. When it comes to what is going on in the firearms community the big news is that David Chipman’s nomination to head the ATF has been pulled. Basically, the Senate did not have the votes to confirm him as head of the ATF. While this is a significant win for the firearms community, I am a bit pessimistic that it is going to do anything more than delay the inevitable. Look for another nomination, who is just as anti-gun, but has a less overt history.
We should be wary of anything coming out of this administration at this point. Especially given the pattern of flagrant disregard for the Constitution. If recent events are any indication, it would not surprise me if we see more Executive Orders that come out of the Oval Office which on their face are blatantly unconstitutional, but will issue anyway. The strategy seems to be, that try and force everything you can through and let the Courts figure it out. Right now COVID is being used as the blanket justification, but I suspect the recent rule changes being proposed by the ATF may also be part of that same strategy.
While I do not mean to be all doom and gloom there is a bit more bad news to share. It does not look like this component shortage we have been dealing with will be relaxing any time soon. Many powder suppliers have begun to announce that they will not be accepting new orders for powders from many medium to small ammunition plants. They are likely concerned that they will be struggling to keep up with the current contractual obligations they have with large OEM and Military contracts. This also means we are likely to see price increases in the coming year on powder, so when it is available it is likely to be anywhere from 5% to 10% higher.
The shortages are not unique to Ammunition and Ammunition Components. Pretty much every supply chain, from raw materials like steel and copper to semi-finished good like computer chips are facing major slowdowns. The cost of a standard shipping container has gone from $2,500 to over $20,000 in some cases. This has been going on for many months now, so it is not new. However, we thought maybe the market for ammunition and related components was beginning to ease, but that seems to be reversing right now.
The industry is at mercy of the State Department. Given the recent moves from the State Department to clamp down on Russian Ammunition imports, many are wondering if there might be more clamping down on importation which will future starve the industry of much-needed components. That could really have a disastrous impact on many small to midsize ammunition and firearm retailers.
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.
It’s been about two years since the website has launched. Being that I launched it around Labor Day 2019, I have been happy with how things have progressed. Careerwise I could not have forseen all of the changes that would happen over the last two years. I know I have mentioned that I have returned to the shooting industry but I was purposefully not specific about where I took a job.
As it relates to some of the new product spotlights I’ll be doing in the coming weeks and months it is important to me to disclose where I am so people are aware there is a bit of a bias. I am currently working for Creedmoor Sports located in Anniston, Alabama as a Senior Technical Product Expert. A lot of my time is spent on new product creation, but also as a technical resource for customers who might need a bit of help when it comes to reloading, and general shooting questions.
It’s an obligatory picture of me, Jay Andrew, or as the rest of the world knows me as Jared Haehnel. I like to write under a pen name, don’t know why I just do.
This website was created while I was working in the mining industry as a way to fill my time during a period of care and maintenance where the mine was shut down. We still had to be on-site to make sure the equipment did not walk off, but I had so much free time that I built a website that would help share my passion with the rest of the world. Now that I work in the industry, I am able to share that passion with like-minded folks every day. This is not a declaration that the website will go away, rather it is to expose the bias you are likely to see. I am likely to review many new Creedmoor products as many of them are of my design or came out as a combined effort between myself and other members of our team at Creedmoor. Since I had a hand in their creation they are my “babies” and I am anxious to both get the word out and also to solicit discussion and reviews of these new products from everyday people.
This is likely the only post you will see about it, though I will be updating the “About” page. I do not like to “toot my own horn” but I also want to be honest and forthright about any perceived bias. That may come across in my future posts. I have been working at Creedmoor since February 2021, but somewhat worried about conflicts of interest and wanting to get settled into the new position prior to making any announcements I opted to wait. Anyway, this website will continue to grow independent of my employment, and I’ll do have plans for new projects and finishing old ones all in due time. Meanwhile, if you have new ideas for reloading equipment, shooting equipment, or anything related to that, my ears are always open.
There are a few other industry news segments that are worth touching on. Those who do a lot of online reading on Firearm Blogs and Websites will be saddened to hear that Chuck Hawks has passed. His website, ChuckHawks.com, founded in 1997 was one of the first online gun rags out there and many of us perused his pages. It is sad to see another industry influencer go. The official announcement on his website can be found here. Thanks, Don for bringing this to my attention.
As far as new firearms go, the most notable firearm I have seen announced is Smith and Wesson’s M&P 12 which many will point out is very, very similar at least in form of the KSG 12 that Kel-Tec has been making for some time now.
Smith and Wesson’s new M&P 12 is marketed as the new pump action to have for home defense or tactical operation.
Smith and Wesson claim this shotgun has basically been designed from the ground up to operate the new 1 3/4 long 12 gauge shells that were first made popular by Aguila and have since been standardized by SAAMI. At the time I note that we very likely see new shotguns that were designed around this “Mini” shotshell now that it had been adopted by SAAMI. We did not have the wait long.
As I have not handled one, I really cannot give much beyond my first visual impression. I think it looks very tactical, and I can see where it would have some real-world application but it is really not the sort of gun that really appeals much to me. I am too much of a traditionalist, for the most part, I tend to buy with my eyes, and I like traditional-looking shotguns and rifles. Also, it is of note that it would seem that Smith and Wesson really took a stab at Kel-Tec, which would not be the first time a Kel-Tec design was more or less imitated. Ruger did it with the LCP about a decade prior.
I am still waiting for the ammo maker to come out with an all brass shotshell about the same length as the 1 3/4 but can handle pressures of around 21,000 to 36,000psi. You would truly have close to a 2 3/4 shell performance out of a much smaller shell. Likely the best of both worlds. When that does happen, I’d like to convert my Benelli over to feed them.
There is one last thing I might touch on for a moment. We often think of things in isolation. Meaning what happens to one thing, or in the case of one issue, does not bleed over into other things. For example, what might happen in an Abortion Rights Case, will never bleed over to anything related to firearms. After all what could the two issues possibly have in common? Again, to be clear in my bias here, I am ardently pro-life, so I approach things through that lens.
If you have been following the news, Texas has pulled an interesting trick to try and get around many of the legal barriers to restricting abortion rights. Regardless of how you feel about the issue, it is worth understanding how this law was set up. Basically, it allows for individuals to civilly sue abortion providers if abortion is allowed to take place prior to 6 weeks. The Supreme Court upheld the law, but only because the plaintiffs lacked standing. This law made it so that the State was not enforcing the law, but it was enforced by citizens through the use of civil courts.
How does this relate to firearms? Well, again, the legal world does not live in isolation. What happens on one issue, may have some carry over to other. There has already been talking of trying to hold firearm holders legally responsible for crimes if their firearm is used. I believe in some jurisdictions you can be held legally responsible, which may include doing time if you are in violation of reporting a missing firearm, and it gets used in a crime. While this Texas law still has to work through the courts and is not in the clear just yet, I would be wary of similar proposed laws being put on the books regarding firearm owners.
How hard would it be for an FFL to get liability insurance if the State in which he/she resides has a similar law? Something that says in essence, that if an FFL sells a firearm and then that firearm is later used in a crime then a civil suit can be filed against the FFL and monetary fines can be assessed. Then it is not the State that is enforcing or infringing on the Right, at least not directly. While we think we would always win the favor of the courts, this has not always been true. I think FFL’s would find it impossible to operate in states where such laws were in place.
Yes, right now this is speculation, but I would not be at all surprised to see this trick pulled in States where the Firearm Laws are already quite strict. Pay attention, not saying that we should oppose or support the law in Texas, just saying keep your eyes open. If I was on the other side of the debate, my first response to this law would be “Huh, neat…”
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.
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.
It’s been quite the week for me. I have had a bit of a family emergency, all seems well for now but I was not able to post on my regular schedule.
There are a few good updates I have this week and a bit of commentary. First the updates, I posted my review on Ammunition Making by George E. Frost last week and got some good feedback. Don, a subscriber to the site, pointed out that this book is available for free download at Archive.org. Given this book is out of print, and looks to be prohibitively expensive a PDF copy will have to suffice for most of us. I have updated the review with the link to the PDF. You are required to sign up for a free account on Archive.org, but it is a small price to pay.
There is an updated Burn Rate Chart. I have posted it here. No big changes and I have added Reloder 15.5. Given that it is a fairly new powder the relative position may change as I get more data, but for now, it is between Reloader 15 and Reloder 16 with the burn rate being slightly faster than Power Pro 2000MR. I have found some Russian powders that I would like to add to the chart but that may take a bit of time as there is very little information and load data out there beyond what they provide. The company is, Milan Blagojevic-Namenska which is a government-run entity.
Given current sanctions on ammunition important, I doubt we will see this powder in the US anytime soon. This is a bit of a bummer, I am always game for trying a new powder, even if it is from the Soviet Bloc. There are also some pull-down powders that I have seen listed on the internet which claim Soviet Origin. I was thinking of throwing those on the chart, but am not sure I will. The issue with these types of powder is they tend to be of limited quantity, and the information on who made it and when is typically not available. There are a few surplus powders out there that are reclaimed from pull-down ammunition, with powder being hard to come by commodity I can see where it is tempting, but I would rather not buy a bunch of pull-down powder, do the work of working up a load, and then find out two years from now I cannot get it, or the next batch I get is completely different from the first.
Back to the Burn Rate Chart, I am getting enough requests for a “printer friendly version” that I have put a permanent link on the website for a downloadable copy. Please now while it is printer friendlier, it is not going to be easily printed from your desktop injet. The type will be too small. It is better to print in 11×17 Ledger paper, which means you will need to bring the file to your nearest printer/coper that can handle that size paper.
I got to spend some time playing with a Teslong Borescope this week. I plan on reviewing it and posting some pictures. I have to say, I was impressed. I have used the Hawkeye Bore Scopes which cost somewhere between $600 and $800 up to well over $1k depending on the model. This kit cost $130, came with a handheld screen that doubles as a camera, and has a bit of a magnification feature. Being able to stick the probe in, and sit back looking at a monitor made bore inspection a breeze. The image quality was more than sufficient.
Click on the picture to be taken to Amazon. If you are interested in purchasing it, use the link to give me a bit of a kickback on the sale at no cost to you. The money goes to helping support the website.
All the rifles I stuck the probe down needed a good cleaning. So I plan to take some before and after pictures and point out some of the interesting things to see in a bore. All of my rifles have been shot quite a bit and the bores show it. I think I might see what there is to see in a few of my suppressors as well.
In addition, I got to handle a rack grade, M1 Garand, from the CMP. Just handling the rifle reminded me how much I really appreciate the design of the M1. For whatever reason, the form, fit, and function of that rifle are about as perfect as you can get. I think it is a gorgeous rifle, even if the one I handled was a bit battle-worn and could stand a bit of extra work to bring it up to the standard a decent marksman might inspect.
Another thing worth noting is the manufacturing of these rifles is almost considered a lost art. While there are a few companies that churn out new M1 and M14/M1A receivers, they are a dying breed. The receivers for the M1 and M14 are by far the most complex receivers ever made for a US service rifle. They started out as forgings which gave the general form of the receiver, large portions of the receivers were broached into the final shape. Broaching was considered the forefront of manufacturing technology in the day. While broaching is still used today, it is an expensive process when compared to what can be done on modern CNC machines.
It is very costly to manufacture a brand new M1 Garand or M1A receiver, compared to an AR-15 receiver, and the demand is not there to justify tooling up. It would not surprise me to see the new manufacture of M1 Garand or M1A’s cease in the new few decades. The existing surplus parts have pretty much dried up. Unless another country decides to retire their arsenal, we are likely with in 5 years of surplus Garands drying up completely. I know it is likely heresy to say, but I would love to see a new production M1 Garand that incorporates some design changes to make manufacturing with existing equipment easier, preserves the lines form, fit, and function of the 80 year old design, and upgrades the system to handle modern 30-06 ammunition at more modern pressures.
There is even a part of me that dreams of finding a way to extend the internal magazine capacity to 10, does away with the dreaded risk of M1 Thumb, upgrade the receiver to handle 65,000psi service pressure, add about an inch to the length of pull, and incorporate a more modern gas system, as is found on the M14 but retain the same form as the original Garand. You might ask why? Well, again, I just love the original look of the design. The lines are clean, the sights are pretty much perfect, the clip system is actually a pretty smooth way of loading, and the clips are light when compared to a mag, and there is not much to catch on clothing. Yes it is a heavy rifle, and there is no doubt that the M4/M16 is a better mousetrap, but there is just something magical about this old warhorse that I would love to see carried forward into the 21st century.
With that said, I am not a fan of what Ruger did in the Mini-14. They stripped everything down to make a rifle easier to manufacture, and it does have its own character. I think there could be room for an “Updated M1” given it would not qualify for service rifle competitions and it could likely not compete against the high power rifles in terms of accuracy, it would be something niche. Something that was a solution for a problem that may not exist, but stranger firearms have seen the light of day.
The last bit of commentary I wanted to touch on was Biden’s comments about two weeks ago. He touted that they would be cracking down on FFL’s who make illegal gun sales. Everyone else focuses on the Nukes, and the F-15’s. Let’s be honest the meme’s that came out of that have been epic, but on a serious note, Biden basically stated there will be a crackdown on FFL’s. I do not believe we have an serious issue of FFL’s selling firearms illegally. I think this is a political ploy. What concerns me is the FFL holders that may have missed dotting an “i” or forgot to cross a “t”. It is entirely likely the unfortunate victims of this so-called “crackdown” will be good people who do not have their books in order. I bet, within a few years, especially as an election nears, there will be some statistics spouted off. That they arrested or yanked the license from 1,000 FFL’s who were selling guns illegally.
The truth will be, they may be caught a handful of bad apples maybe 10 or 20. However, what they really caught was a bunch of FFL’s who were not diligent about record keeping and they got their license pulled. If you are a firearms dealer, do not be caught with your pants down. Go through your books and make sure everything is in order. If you have not called your Senator to oppose David Chipman, take the time to do it, that battle is still ongoing and we can expect if he is confirmed more of these “sting operations” will happen.
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.
Good Monday Evening! I am happy to report that I actually got some stuff done on the website this week, and not only that I got out to the range. One of the great lies about working in the shooting industry is that you get to shoot all the time. Well, sometimes you do, but it’s no the type of shooting any of us would consider helpful. Before we get into what I did at the range, let’s talk about what we updated the website with.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was working on a book review for Ammunition Making by George E. Frost. I have finally finished the review. You can read the review as well as get some sample pictures of what is contained in the book. The link for that is here Thoughts on Ammunition Making by George E. Frost. Unfortunately, this book has been out of print for some time and it is scarce. Scarcity has driven up the price and I have seen copies listed at $300 to $600. Keep an eye out for it at used book stores, or online use book shops. Sometimes you can sneak in and get a deal when the seller does not know what gem they have.
Do not let the photo fool you. This was my best ten shot group of the day, my second best was in the 70’s and then it dropped precipitously from there.
This weekend I had the pleasure of shooting in a 3×600 match at the Civilian Marksmanship Range in Talladega Alabama. What a treat that was. We had a tropical storm moving in on us and it rained the whole time we were shooting but surprisingly very little wind. This range will spoil you with the electronic targets, you get nearly instant feedback on your hits, and can dial in the sights without walking downrange or the use need of an optic.
This means the equipment you need to bring to the range is pretty darn limited. Basically, it comprises of yourself, your rifle, some ammo, and a pair of shooting glasses/ear pro. Honestly, I find this to be a huge blessing as one of the hurdles for me is having to bring a truckload of equipment. Spotting scopes, shooting mats, targets, staple gun, logbook, spotting scope stand, and depending on what I am doing, a chronograph. Somedays I feel like I spend very little time shooting and most of my time, setting up, taking down, or walking back and forth between the targets. The system at the CMP range is not new to me, most commercial ballistics labs with a testing tunnel have some sort of electronic target. however having it on a covered outdoor range, to where we were able to shoot all morning long without getting wet, is sweet.
The other guys at the match were shooting mostly service rifles with some guys shooting F-Class. We had one guy shooting his Palma rifle. I was the only one shooting traditional iron sights, from an M1A in 308 Win. I know I can catch some flak for not shooting an AR-15, but honestly, my passion for the M1A runs deep. It is a rifle I really enjoy shooting. I am not a competitive shooter, but I like to test myself, and shooting this rifle at 600 yards was a real test of my skills. The 3×600 is shot prone, 20 rounds per course of fire with two sighters, you have 2 minutes to shoot the sighters and make any corrections to your sight, and then you have 20 minutes to shoot 20 shots. My first round was basically 20 sighters, just trying to shake the rust off and get the rifle dialed in.
Once I was dialed in, it was more or less an exercise in endurance. Typically my first ten shots did a lot better than my second ten. The sling I have on my rifle is a Les Tam, and I got the sling to use for this type of shooting, I am still learning how to use it properly. I knew going into it that I was not going to score very well. The guys at the match all competed nationally, the scores that won the match were all in the 590’s with 30 or more Xs. They had proper service rifles with 4.5 power optics, shooting jackets, shooting mats, optics, and probably about $500 of other assorted gear. Not to mention hundreds of hours of practice time under their belts. I am ok with that, I kind of like the simple challenge of what I can do with my rifle, in what you might call an “everyday” dress and wear.
I look forward to the next match, I may not shoot next month, but I hope to shoot a bit more regularly. I will probably try and bring some other rifles to the match. I need to work on a load for my Lee Enfield, and I would like to get some more trigger time on that historic rifle especially at distances. Someday I’ll build or buy an M1 Garand and I am sure I will bring that to the range frequently. There was a time shooting competitively that really appealed to me, but that time has somewhat faded. I just like to shoot to improve myself, and buying a shooting jacket, or having $1000’s of dollars of gear to tote around, is not really appealing to me.
As far as industry news goes, there is not much that has caught my eye this past week. The ATF nomination keeps getting put off, if you have not called your senator then please take the time to do so and oppose David Chipman. Also, head over to the ATF’s website and write a thoughtful comment on opposing the two new regulations that are being proposed and at in comment periods. Namely the redefining of what constitutes a Firearm, and what is allowed when it comes to an arm brace. Both of those reinterpretations of existing laws really have the potential to upset a large portion of the industry. Combine that with the confirmation of David Chipman who has openly worked for the Anti-gun lobby, and we have a nasty situation brewing that can really have long-term ramifications for the industry.
Lastly, thanks to everyone who has been using the Amazon Affiliate link. It’s a small program that helps out small websites like this to offset some of the costs of registering and upkeep. I do not make any money from this site, in fact, it costs money to run. I do it because it is a passion. There are other affiliate programs I would love to be a part of but the traffic to the site is not quite large enough to qualify for enrollment. We will just keep on keeping on, but thanks to everyone who takes the time to use our links to buy stuff, I do appreciate it.
I anticipate the I will be doing an update on the burn rate chart in the next few weeks. I have a couple of emails requesting a printable copy. Hold tight, I want to get you a copy of the new stuff. I’ll send you a version when that is completed. Just heads up, the update will likely be adding another column which is going to make it a bit harder to print. If there are powders you are not interested in, what may be best is for me to hide those columns so they do not have an impact on the overall text on the chart. Let me know in advance and I can alter it for you.
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.
Here we are halfway through June and so far in 2021, it seems like we cannot go a week without some sort of major announcement, or new law change in the firearms community. This time we get to look at a new proposed change by the ATF in regards to how it will classify firearms that use an AR brace.
Now, I have probably made it somewhat known that I am not a huge fan of pistol braces in general. Personally, it is worth it to me to pay $200 and get a stamp to put proper stock on a firearm. When I do an AR build I likely will have $800+ into it, and while it is silly to have to pay $200 to mount a $50 piece of plastic, I figure it in as a cost. Overall the larger stock fits me better, and it is generally more comfortable to shoot. I have also objected to the fact the widespread use of the brace as a “wink, and nod” circumvention of current NFA laws does more harm to the initial purpose of the brace. Mainly to allow veterans and shooters with a disability to stabilize and shoot an AR pistol build. As I stated in December, when a proposed rule change was brought out by the ATF, the harm this does to those with legitimate disabilities is the true story, not curtailing rights for the average shooter.
Well, as we know they retracted the initial rule change. Many in the firearms community celebrated this as a win. I was far more sanguine about it. I saw it more as a political ploy, that the Biden Administration would resubmit the proposed rule in some form or fashion to claim they were making good on campaign promises. We did not have to wait long for that to happen. On June 7th, 2021 the ATF announced their proposed rule change for Pistol braces. This is a completely different document than what we saw in December. In some ways, it is a bit more lenient as it allows the majority of pistol braces to be kept in circulation so long as the build they are placed stay within certain criteria. The full proposal can be read here.
The rule change boils down to this; firearms WITH a pistol brace will be subjected to a point system in order to determine if they are a legitimate use of a pistol brace or if they are an SBR. The ATF provides examples of the forms as part of the rule change that gives an overview of what the criteria are. I have included the forms below. They include items such as, does the firearm have a forward grip stop, or does it have flip-up rifle style sights. The firearm must also weigh between 64 to 120 ounces.
It is important to note that a total of 4 points or more indicate the pistol is an SBR. If we look at some of these examples, they can be pretty subjective, and you can see how someone really gets into trouble pretty quickly. If anything that ATF has at least finally provided the firearm community with a really good illustration as to how absurd and ridiculous Short Barrel Rifle laws are. While the ATF bills these builds as being particularly deadly, anyone who is familiar with them knows the opposite is true. In nearly every case a shooter is better off with a 16in barrel rifle and a proper stock than a 10.5in pistol build with a “pistol brace”.
The thing that is the most troubling to me, is how many shooters will get themselves in trouble accidentally. Firearm laws are already somewhat confusing. SBR and SBS laws are excellent examples of this. The illustration to the right is meant to be both comical and true. It really is that nuanced and this point system is not going to help, as you can have a perfectly legal pistol build and then decide to swap out sights, and have an illegal SBR. Do not put it past the ATF or any other Federal Agency from looking a social media pictures of people firing their “Pistol Builds” and using that as evidence against them. I do believe this law will end up getting otherwise law-abiding people into trouble. Unfortunately, as with any other firearm, the law is backed by felony charges.
Still it is important to note this only applies to pistols with pistol braces. A lot of false reporting has happened to say this will kill red dots on pistols, and that does not appear to be true. As egregious as this proposed rule changed is, we have to be honest in how we report it. The chances the ATF will back down this time are pretty slim, still it is worth leaving a well thought out and well worded comment. As with what most of the Biden led ATF is doing, we will need to fight this in the courts.
While back I mentioned that the Civilian Marksmanship Program put out a letter about the proposed pressure of 30-06 Springfield rounds to be a fire in the M1 Garand and 1903A3 rifles. They had stated that anything with pressures greater than 50,000 CUP was too high for these old warhorses. At the time I was displeased that they would use Copper Units of Pressure since that unit of measure has been retired for 20+ years. No ammunition manufacturer is using CUP to measure pressure in 30-06 ammunition. I reasoned that they should at least limit pressure to the 50,000psi that is specified in the Mil-Spec for M2 ball ammunition.
Well I was recently working on a project with 30-06 doing a bit of load development and happened to run across the SAAMI spec. While CUP is not longer in use, SAAMI maintains the record for these loads. Please pay attention to the bullet weights and velocities in the following section.
The keen eye will notice something. The velocities for a Maximum Average Pressure of 50,000CUP or 60,000psi are exactly the same for any given bullet weight. Since velocity is a product of pressure, it can be reasonably asserted that the peak pressure is identical. This is confusing, to say the least, if the CMP recommendation is suppose to be a “Softer load” then this comparison would refute that. They again would be better off publishing 50,000psi maximum that the M2 Ball load is spec’d out at.
Anyone who is familiar with CUP versus PSI will know that there is not a direct comparison that can be made between CUP and PSI as you are effectively measuring two different things. CUP measures the Area Under the Pressure/Time Curve, while transducers measure a true Pressure/Time curve. However how CUP has been treated by SAAMI is highly variable, if you flip through the SAAMI catalog you will find some CUP pressures appear to be identical to the peak pressure in PSI. Other times the CUP will be a little lower. The easiest place to see this is in the Rifle Cartridge Catalog where I lay it out. With that said if CMP was trying to provide a spec for softer ammunition, I think they have missed the boat.
I do believe the CMP has a point, even if they have not communicated it well. A service pressure of 60,000psi or 50,00 CUP may very well be a bit much for these antique firearms and you are better offloading down a bit. However, there is not much in the way of 30-06 loads published at 50,000 PSI. Stick to the min loads, and I think you will probably accomplish the same thing.
Well this has been a decent update. This week I do hope to carve out some time to do a Burn Rate Chart update. I came across some information on some Russian powders that I have not seen before and wanted to add those to the spread sheet. I am also planning on hammering out a couple book reviews so look for those to be posted 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.
Good evening, after a bit of a hiatus here is a proper weekly update. I per the usual I have been very busy mostly between work and family. It is all good things, but it sometimes means I am not able to update the site as often as I would like. Before we get into some of the updates, we need to pause for a moment and recognize the anniversary of D-day which was yesterday, June 6th, 1944. It is worth noting that on, June 7th, 1944 the success of the D-day landings was definitely not clear, and while the allied troops pushed inland it was not without great sacrifice.
American troops of the 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division onboard a landing craft heading for the beaches at Oran in Algeria during Operation Torch, 8th of November, 1942. While these troops did not land on the beaches of Normandy, but it is one of the most striking photos depict the youth of the men who did.
We refer to those who served during World War 2 as the Greatest Generation. I have often wondered what prepared these men to face the guns of the Third Reich, and the Imperialist Japanese? We are a mere seventy-seven years removed from this time. While it was before I was a twinkle in my father’s eye, it is a drop in the bucket compared to human existence. I look around today, the men in the photo above, they were barely 18, some were younger, fresh from high school. On their shoulders were the hopes and dreams of a nation, and many of them paid with their lives. A debt that we can never hope to repay, a debt that can only be honored by the way we live our lives.
There has been something lost, these men had, a certain grit and an unbreakable will that we have lost. It is troubling to me, that my children will never know a World War 2 veteran. Members of this, the Greatest Generation, will have long been laid to rest by the time my children come of age. We are fortunate to have so many records and testimonies given by these men. I hope we have all taken a moment to pause and reflect on those who have served, who continue to serve, and who will serve.
I realize this next part is a bit of a 180 in tone and tenor of the update. So pause here….
A friend of mine shared with me the fact that a mutual acquaintance of ours got busted for purchasing a Solvent Trap and a lightning Link from Wish.com. This is one of those facepalm moments. For those who are not familiar with Wish.com, it is probably for the best. Basically, it is an overstock site that sells stuff direct from China, for what seems like outrageously low prices. It is probably the biggest scam out there. It does not take much of a search on your favorite web browser to see the outright stupid stuff that is sold on this site. Now, with that said, I have bought a few things from Wish.com. Small electronic-type stuff and a few computer fans or whatnot. I have not really been burned by it, but I also did not buy the $300 item selling for $19.99.
Where some gun owners have gotten themselves in trouble is buying firearm parts from Wish.com. You can purchase Solvent Traps, you can purchase items that are downright illegal to own. There was a time, early on when the ATF was not keen on this, but that time has long since passed. Typically one of two things happens when you buy a Solvent Trap from Wish.com or another similar site.
You get an empty box that has a letter to the effect “This item was confiscated at customs as was an illegal item”
You get a visit from your local ATF agent.
Unfortunately for our mutual acquaintance, he got the latter option. That visit came with confiscation of all of his firearms. He is not allowed to touch a firearm, discuss firearms, or really associate with folks who have firearms. Undoubtedly this is going to come with some hard time in club fed, fines, and he will be a lifelong felon and unable to legally purchase or own a firearm.
This should be a hard reminder to every one of us that every firearm law on the books is backed by a felony. Are there a few minor infractions that may result in a misdemeanor, maybe, but they are ones you and I could probably count on one hand. I get frustrated by the ridiculousness of firearms laws on a semi-monthly basis. Something rubs me the wrong way, but at the same time, I really enjoy my hobby and my profession. I do not have an interest in crossing that line. That is usually the reason I tend not to like items like Solvent Traps, Bumps Stocks, or Braces. They are riding that edge of legality, and too many people are woefully ignorant of basic firearm laws let alone the nuance of Short Barrels Rifles, or Suppressors.
Another interesting thing I am starting to see more and more issues with FedEx, UPS, and USPS. I realize there may be some bias here, and I may be more sensitive to the idea of lost packages as a whole. Some are just simple things like batteries, but others are very expensive things like a couple of SPAS 12 Shotguns that recently got lost. I had DHL deliver half of a $15k drone to an address in Las Vegas back in August. As for my incident with the bullets, UPS refunded me the cost of shipping, plus the insured value. In total, we lost about $200 in the deal.
Popularized by movies and videos games the SPAS-12 shotgun is a interesting firearm as it is one of the few shotguns that could be switched from Semi automatics to pump action fire. It had limited importation into the United States and was a fairly expensive firearm so few are “in the wild” as production of the shotgun ceased in 2000 prior to the expiration of the 1994 AWB. These are mostly collector firearms now, losing them in the mail would really suck.
I am thinking the shipping industry as a whole is not particularly reliable right now. I hate purchasing extra insurance but I recently had an Oehler 43 box shipped back to me. They asked me how much I wanted to insure it for, given it is no longer made and would cost about $8300 for a replacement Oehler 83. I insured the box for $5,000. I figure if FedEx screws it up they can pay 3/4 the cost for a new Oehler 83 and I figure that will be a bit of a win.
We are going to end on a happy note. If you are even remotely plugged into the firearms news, no doubt you have already heard of the recent decision coming out of California. The judge ruled California’s 30 year old Assualt Weapons Ban unconstitutional. This was the same judge who ruled the magazine ban unconstitutional in 2017, resulting in a 72-hour airlift of 30 rounds magazines into the State before a stay was granted.
There are a few neat things about this case. The first is, that the whole case was built on several Supreme Court rulings that have happened in the last two decades. Namely the Heller v. DC case and the Mcdonald v. Chicago. I am probably butchering the summery of this this, but the Heller case established that if a Firearm was in common use, then it fell under Second Amendment Protections, and the McDonald Case established that the 2nd Amendment applied to the States and the Federal Government. Previously to the McDonald case, the common practice was to lay out the phony argument that the States could choose to ignore the 2nd Amendment and only the Federal government was bound by it.
This court decision built on those two cases, and basically stated that the AR-15 passed the Heller test, and by doing so fell under 2nd Amendment Protections as outlined by the McDonald case. If there is one take away here, there are legal guys out there on our side, who are playing some pretty slick games of chess. We can get frustrated by the time, money and effort that goes into what should be a universally recognized Right, but progress is being made and we need to recognize it when it happens.
This win really puts California in an interesting position. They will appeal this to the 9th Circuit Court. Unlike the magazine ruling, the ruling did not strike out the laws, meaning no “AR Airlift”, but it has a lot of folks who are on the far left up in arms. When the 9th Circuit hears the case, they have two options, they can either rule in favor of California, which sets up an appeal to the Supreme Court, or they can rule in favor of SAF and FPC who are arguing the case and California will need to deal with the fallout. The 9th Circuit coming out with a favorable ruling becomes the basis for challenging laws in other jurisdictions, basically it opens doors and if two circuit courts have competing rulings it increases the chances the Supreme Court will take up some future case.
If it goes to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court rules that the law is unconstitutional, then that ruling becomes binding to states like New York, and New Jersey. This means legal challenges there are basically certain, and the judges will have to choose to follow the Supreme Court precedent or ignore it. This has happened with the Heller decision where judges have outright ignored the ruling, typically this means more legal processes and eventually another case will make it’s way to the Supreme Court which could further solidify the ruling.
There is a catch if the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Assualt Weapons ban, then it will make it difficult to challenge any bans in the future, and basically embolden the anti-gun factions. With the current makeup of the court, it is likely we would get a favorable ruling, but legal processes taketime. One strategy that is often used, is to stall cases. There are various ways this can be done, by either party, to try and wait for a more favorable court make up. Its unlikely we will see it here as I doubt we will see a significant change the make up of the Court in the next three years, but who knows.
Generally, though, this is a step in the right direction. It is also why I am a big advocate for the Second Amendment Foundation, they have made a lot of progress where other organizations just have not. If you have not checked them out, kick them a few bucks, it is the one organization that seems to be really fighting the good fight.
Generally, though, this is a step in the right direction. It is also why I am a big advocate for the Second Amendment Foundation, they have made a lot of progress where other organizations just have not. If you have not checked them out, kick them a few bucks, it is the one organization that seems to be really fighting the good fight. If you would like a somewhat interesting read, the ruling can be found here.
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.
Hard to believe we are nearly halfway through this year. Few more weeks and we will hit the summer solstice. I did not post last week because I was away at training to learn some new CAM software. Programming CNC machines, pretty neat stuff. This week has been quite busy, so this post will be short.
I have gotten a few emails, I need to respond to. If you are waiting on a response, you are not forgotten. I will work on getting them taken care of in the next few days, I do like to take the time to give good responses to an email, so it can take me a bit of time to respond. For that, I apologize. As I said, this would be short, but I wanted to get something out to let people know I am still alive and kicking.
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.
