This is the last website update for 2020. Thankfully, 2020 is almost over. It has been a year for the record books, and I do not think anyone has been spared. We have had our fair share of challenges. However we had made a lot of progress on the website in the past year, adding more content, working on making it a bit more useful as a resource. We’ve also had some great conversations with people. I am working on formatting them to add to the mail bag session.
As for our library, we wrote up a review on an old classic. This book is one that should be in everyone’s library, as a reference on how it used to be done, and in some places still done. Thoughts On: Advance Gunsmithing
We also did some updates to the powder burn rate chart. Expect to get a few more updates in the future. Somehow I missed a lot of the new IMR pistol and Shotgun powders introduced in 2017, those have been added in there proper positions. Powder Burn Rate Chart Update 12-22-2020
One thing that has bothered me since I launched the site was the powder catalog. I intended for it to be one thing, but realized that I may have bit off a bit more then I could chew. So I rethought the approach and began to rework it. There is quite a bit of work that goes into the catalog, we are approaching 600 powders on the burn rate chart, and each one will need an entry at some point.
We are starting with the faster burning Pistol and Shotgun Powders. This is still a work in progress, given the complexity of it, we wanted to get to a point where we could go live, and continue to work on it. Here’s where we are at so far. Pistol and Shotgun Powder Catalog
In doing the research for the Pistol and Shotgun Powder Catalog I found a new online resource which I’ve included in the resource section of the site. This site has some great images of powder and the canisters they come in. I expect to use them more in the future. In the mean time, take a moment to check it out, you won’t be disappointed. National Center for Forensic Science Powder Database .
We have also kicked off a new page, with the hopes you’ll get to know us a bit better through the cartridges that interest us. Here’s the new page Favorite Cartridge’s and Cartridge’s of Interest . I plan on doing a write up on each of the cartridges, going on an in-depth exploration and discussion on each one. We kicked it off with this one 30mmx173 Write Up.
In firearm news the ATF has pulled down the request for comments on the pistol braces. The firearms community is celebrating it as a win, that the 48,000 comments resulted in the ATF backing down. This celebration bothers me a bit as that is not how I am reading this at all.
Gun control is often called the “third rail” in American politics. Rightfully so, it’s a charged issue for both proponents and opponents of the issue. Opponents are looking to score a political win and will use such wins to raise money and clout. I suspect there are a few things happening here, none of them have to do with the pushback the firearms community mustered.
- The incoming administration asked the ATF to hold off, with plans to reintroduced the ban sans the $200 amnesty as an executive order. Much how the bumps tock ban was handled. This would be an easy win for the Biden administration and they can hold it out as a totem to supporters to say “See we stood up to the gun lobby”
- The ban will show up in a new Assaults Weapons Ban push. Executive orders (EO) last as long as the administration is in power, a new administration can reverse any EO, including an EO on bump stock bans. So codifying it in legislation means that the only way it can be removed is through future amendments to the bill. Again, it’s unlikely we will see any sort of amnesty or “Understanding” and “Good Faith” as was being proposed by the ATF.
- Someone caught on that offering to waive a $200 tax stamp is going to cost a lot of money. Think about it, if 100,000 people decide they want to take the ATF up on it’s offer, register their pistol brace equipped firearms as SBR’s that will result in a $20,000,000 loss to the ATF. If the ATF proposes the amnesty and then backs off of it when it enacts the guidelines, then they can expect to spend close to that in lawsuits. It placed the ATF in a no win situation. (If this route is offered, please consider putting a proper stock on the firearm and turn it into a true SBR. I think you’ll be much happier then continuing to use a pistol brace)
So yes, while people are celebrating the fact that ATF has pulled the proposed rule. I am less optimistic. This may make me a geek, but when I read the news the ATF was rescinding their proposed rule change the following meme captured my immediate thoughts.
The next time we do a formal website update we will be in 2021. I suspect many will celebrate the end of 2020, as it has been a rough year for everyone who participated. We will see what 2021 holds, whether or not things begin to return to 2019 levels of lunacy, or if we end up at some weird “New normal”. We will see if things like, the COVID vaccine can weather virus mutations, how many EO’s are enacted that further restrict Rights, what kind of backwards logic legislators try to cram down our throats, and whether or not the GOP can hold the senate.
Either way, we will keep on, keeping on. There is plenty of work to do on the website, plenty of infomation out there to collate, research, organize and present, and hopefully at some point we will get the site to where it is a halfway decent resource for the firearms community.
As always if you are looking to get in touch, best way is to send me an email jay@theballisticassistant.com. You may check us out on Parler, Facebook, Instagram, MeWe, and Reddit If you’d like to submit a load to our load database the instructions are here.
Stay Safe Out There!
The Ballistic Assistant