I hope everyone has survived Thanksgiving. I spent a good portion of it on the road between Alabama and Texas. Finally consolidating everything back to Alabama. Now we have the process of moving it from the trailer to the storage unit and then the long process of going through everything. I am just going to say it right now, if you are a handloader, especially if you cast bullets and like to maintain a healthy supply of lead to feed your addiction…it is best to not move often. Your back, your truck, and just about everyone else you know will thank you if you just stay anchored.
Because it was a holiday week and I spent most of the time on the road, there are only a few things worth mentioning. First, CMMG announced a new AR build in 4.6x30mm. They call it the Four Six. It comes in pretty much every color of the tactical rainbow. From what I understand you can purchase just an Upper or the complete rifle. The 4.6x30mm was developed around a 7.0in the barrel and the Banshee sports an 8in the barrel. It is my opinion, that the only proper way to have this rifle is to go through the hoops and get it as a Short Barrel Rifle as opposed to trying to mess with a pistol brace. For two reasons, the first being the ATF is working on trying to put a crimp in the pistol brace popularity, and secondly, a carbine ought to have a proper stock that fits the shooter well and pistol braces just don’t.
Of course, why stop at just having one tax stamp? No doubt this ankle biter is going to have a bit of a bark to it. So you might as well go all in and get a suppressor, and then a proper red dot or holographic sight. Sure the MSRP is $1399, but I do not see how anyone does not end up with at least a $2500 to $3000 dollar rifle by the time they are done with it. Especially if they do the proper thing and stick a binary trigger in it…with how easy the 4.6x30mm is to control, and the fact the CMMG mag capacity is 40rnds….how can you not?
The 4.6x30mm has been out for quite a while mainly as a Military and LEO cartridge, rarely has it been seen out in the wild in the United States. In Europe, there have been a few bolt action production guns on the market, but again only the people who are serious ammo or firearm geeks really have heard much about this cartridge. It will be interesting to see how this rifle does and if it begins to spurn some interest for other manufacturers to offer bolt guns. Personally, I think it would be an excellent 50 to 150-yard varmint cartridge, in a 16in barrel bolt gun and would offer a viable alternative to the .17 caliber rimfire market, and probably would compete well against some of the .17 cal centerfire cartridges.
As far as bullet diameter goes, the 4.6mm is actually a .18 caliber which more or less amounts to a stouter mouse turd in comparison to the .17 cal. If you wish to reload for it and have big meat hooks as fingers, as yours truly does, a pair of tweezers might be a worthwhile investment. Bullets for reloading are hard to come by. If someone has not already done so, I would expect a wildcat .17 cal with 4.6x30mm serving as a parent case to be not long in the making.
The announcement of this rifle is what likely drove quite a bit of interest in the 5.7x28mm VS 4.6x30mm comparison write-up I did a year ago. For that reason, I did an update to the article as the kids napped and the turkey cooked. Made a couple of corrections and a few additions to mention the CMMG Four Six. Thanks to everyone who has read the article and taken the time to subscribe. I appreciate it.
The second thing worth mentioning is a new (to me) Internal Ballistics Software that I was turned on to. As most of you know I have used QuickLOAD for many years. I have been satisfied with it, and have found it to be a reasonably accurate predictor of pressures and velocities so long as I do my part and feed it the right data (Remember Garbage In – Garbage Out is the defining rule for any simulation). The cost or QuickLOAD is about $153 plus shipping, and then if you want Quick Design that’s another $153. You are a little over $300 to get both. Update CD’s cost about $16 and update the powder, cartridge, and bullet library. A new update is released yearly.
Again, before anyone gets on my case about being critical of QuickLOAD, remember, I love the software and have used it quite as both a hobbyist and professionally. With that said, it does have a dated look to it, think Windows 95. QuickLOAD relies on manufacturers to provide a lot of the data, and some powder companies will not provide data on their powder to QuickLOAD so there are gaps. Most notably, St. Marks will not provide data on its powders. While many St. Marks powders are found in QuickLOAD the data has been gathered by some other means.
That is where I have found Gordon’s Reloading Tool to be quite interesting. First, it is free, and it looks to be community-driven, the funding for development is supported through Patreon. The software has a modern look and feel to it, and integrates all of the features found in QuickLOAD, QuickDesign, and more into one package. I have played around with the software to get a feel for it. The user interface is more modern, and in many ways, I find it easier to use.
From what I read and understand, the guys developing this tool do testing on their own, and develop the models based on the results of the testing. They are clear, the math behind the modeling is different than what QuickLOAD uses, and thus the results will be different. You might ask, well which is more accurate? I am not sure yet, but I am going to use both for a bit, and then come back with my assessment. This is not the last time you will see me write about this software, but I wanted to let you guys know it is a tool that is out there and to go check it out.
Lastly if you are a VZ-58 builder and have some time to kill. Garand Thumb released a new YouTube video with a VZ-58 shorty that is worth a watch. Here’s the link. I noticed in his review he did not complain about the trigger, thus there has to be a better option out there. The fire controls were also modernized a bit with larger buttons/levers. I have been itching to do a bit more with my VZ-58. There is likely a continuation of the build series in the works. I have updated the resource/parts vendor list to include Supanik.com which has a lot of VZ parts for those looking for parts to spice up their build or to just complete it.
Anyway, that’s 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.
As always, shoot straight and stay safe!
The Ballistic Assistant