It’s the first Monday in October!
I fully admit my two favorite seasons are spring and fall. Temperatures are usually pretty moderate which makes it a perfect time for some casting. Unfortunately I’m not sure I’m going to get much of that done this fall. Not with all the unpacking and organizing of the garage.
The big update this week, is really a small update. A friend of mine sent me the results for his deer and elk load. If you are wanting to know how IMR 4166 performs with a 165gr Nosler Partition out of a Ruger American Predator Rifle chambered in 308 Win, the load is in the database. The barrel length was 18in, and he reported it consistently shooting some very tight groups.
In other news I scored a calibration weight set. This weight set isn’t quite complete, but it is miles ahead of my current weight set. So I am glad to add it to my collection. Weight sets like these are good additions to the reloading bench as it allows you the check your scales. The weights that come with the scales are not always the highest quality. While this set is missing a few of it’s weights it will be fine for my use.
In industry news, there are several ammunition manufacturers reporting backorders out to May 2021. With one small manufacturer in Arizona reporting more then $80 Million in back orders. If there was ever a time to be glad you were a hand loader, now might be it. Though, I know components are tricky to find right now, still, at least you have some ability to adapt to the market, try some new powders, or perhaps try your hand at casting.
Depending on how the election goes, we might not see a return to normal for sometime. It took probably a year to 18 months before inventory came back after the 2012 rush. Even then prices were never quite back where people were used to prior to the rush. It will be interesting to see if the industry is repeating the same mistake it made in 2016. In the months leading up to the 2016 election wholesalers stocked their warehouses anticipating a Hillary win. Instead Trump won, and the bottom fell out of the market overnight.
I wouldn’t say they were giving away ammunition, but it resulted in a market correction. A lot of small Mom and Pop shops that were making AR-15 parts with their garage CNC operations disappeared post election. The industry had treated the Obama bubble as the new normal, and well, it wasn’t. Things in the ammo world are hopping right now, and if things keep going the way they are at my current job, I might start looking to get back in. We will see.
That is the update for this week. If you’d like to submit your loads, please check out the Load Submission Form here. If you’d like to share pictures of your trophy buck, email them here, jayandrew338@gmail.com. If you want to see what I’m up to, I try and post my unfiltered life to Instagram. Lastly, if you want to join the conversation, you can look us up on Facebook.
Thanks for subscribing, stay safe out there, and good luck on the hunts!
The Ballistic Assistant