Month: September 2025

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Brass, Barrels, and Bureaucracy #14

This week is the official full week of fall, and we’ve already had our first frost warning. Last we had a few days that spiked up into the high seventies/low eighties, but the evenings have all been cool. This is my favorite time of year. Perfect weather and if it was like this year-round, I would have little reason to complain.

We had some successes this week. The 3D SLA printer I’ve been working on has finally come to life. I put enough warranty parts in it that I feel like it’s about 50% a new machine. Any Cubic was surprisingly good to work with and when I ran into an issue they would send a new part, no questions asked. I’ve spent the rest of the week dialing in resins and printing off both prototypes and figurines for the kids.

At the end of the day it is a cheap SLA printer, I did not have high hopes, but now that it’s working prototyping has moved along much faster.

As you might have noticed, we skipped a week. This was not intentional, to be honest, the week got away from me a bit and I was not able to get all of the editing and formatting done.

Website Updates

Last post we posted a question asked by a subscriber, as a reminder here is the question.

Jay
I’m reloading for a 505 Gibbs with Hornady 525 both solids and softs.
I settled on 142 gr H1000 for 2150fps.

I have two questions one seems to turn the way I understand physics on its head.
First the simpler one would a faster powder loaded to same 2150 fps kick less? This 11.5lb gun kicks the snot out of me now.

The more interesting question is how can a .458 caliber 500 gr bullet be propelled at the same 2150 fps with roughly half the powder charge and half the recoil as the larger caliber similar weighted projectile?
Thanks

Mark B.

Here is my answer.

Good Evening Mark,

Thanks for subscribing, and thanks for the question.

For your first question, yes, in theory, a faster powder can reduce recoil. Powder weight counts as part of the mass being ejected from the barrel, so less powder means less ejecta. If you achieve the same velocity with a smaller charge of faster powder, recoil energy on paper will be slightly lower. The trick is that “felt recoil” isn’t just math. Recoil has an impulse curve: a short, sharp impulse can feel harsher than a longer, slower push, even if the energy is identical. That’s why one load may be technically lighter on recoil but still feel worse at the shoulder.

For your second question, the difference comes down to case design and pressure. The .505 Gibbs is a very large, low-pressure cartridge. It isn’t standardized by SAAMI, but CIP lists its maximum average pressure at about 39,000 psi. By comparison, the .458 Winchester Magnum runs at 53,000 psi, and the .458 Lott at 62,000 psi. Those higher pressures make the .458 cartridges more efficient; I.E you can drive the same 500 gr bullet to 2,150 fps with much less powder.

Powder charge directly affects recoil because the gases are part of what the rifle reacts against. In recoil calculations, the bullet mass is added to about 1.5 times the powder charge to get the “effective ejecta mass.” That means your Gibbs load with a 500–525 gr bullet and 120–150 gr of powder reacts like launching a 620–650 gr bullet. By contrast, a .458 with the same bullet weight and only 70–80 gr of powder behaves more like 570–580 gr. The Gibbs hits harder at both ends not because it’s more powerful, but because it’s burning almost twice the powder at lower efficiency.

I had to think a little bit on that second question, on the face of it, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me either until I did a little digging. I learned a little tonight about the 505 Gibbs, not a cartridge I have had much experience with.

Thanks,

Jay

What do you think, did we get it right? Did we leave anything out? How would you have responded?

Time at the Bench

338 Spectre Primed

Majority of my time was spent priming 338 Spectre brass. I had hoped to get a little further along than I have gotten but, my plan is to prime everything I’ve got so I can focus on loading. Nothing groundbreakingly exciting about this, it is just one of the many menial tasks that must be done.

I also spent a good amount of time trying to clean and organize my bench. Things just kind of got carried away. Lots of little projects combined with little time and I have found myself a little messier than usual. When this happens I always find a random primer, or a random screw, or something and I am immediately like “Jeesh I hope that wasn’t important.” I’ve got a few projects coming up and I wanted to read to go.

Industry and Legislative News

Normally this would fall into our “New Guns and Gear” section but this has become an “Interesting New Release” into a huge flub on Franklin Armory’s part. Sometimes bold actions do not always turn out how we might expect. To understand this we need to roll back time into another one of Franklin Armory’s releases, the Reformation.

Franklin Armory Reformation

For those who can remember the Reformation was an attempt to skirt the NFA laws regarding Short Barrel Rifles by offering a firearm that was not classified as a rifle and could not be classified as a shotgun. This made it classified simply as a “Firearm”, meaning it was not subject to either the $200 tax stamp for Short Barrel Shotguns or for Short Barrel Rifles.

I applaud Franklin Armory for pushing the NFA boundary, even if it is will a gun that is less then effective at distances beyond 50 yards.

The way they did this was to manufacture a barrel with straight grooves that imparted no twist on the projectile whatsoever. Obviously, there were issues, the twist imparts a spin on the bullet which prevents the bullet from tumbling and keeps it from wandering all over the range.  So, to counter these issues Franklin Armory has what can only be described as a Nerf-Football-style projectile. The drag stabilized concept is not as ludicrous as might seem, smooth bore cannons shooting fin stabilized projectiles have been the staple of the M1 Abrams design for nearly a quarter century.

If you have one, I’d love to add it to my collection

The Reformation hit the market in 2018 under this premise. However, the ATF did what the ATF commonly does and decided to reverse their classification in 2019 and determined that it was indeed a Short-Barrel Shot Gun (SBS). This ended up tying up the legality of the Reformation for some time. So, let’s now fast forward to 2025, the ATF decided to backtrack again, this time under the likely direction of the Department of Justice under Pam Bondi.

ATF Backtracks on Reformation

In a letter dated August 29, 2025 the ATF again decided that the Reformation was not classified as a rifle or a shotgun, but simply as a firearm, and thus could be sold to the public without the burden of NFA restrictions.

The letter went on to address the Antithesis firearm, another submission to the ATF’s Technology Division, which under its letter’s description, was designed to fire (This is important) “Antithesis is a type of firearm that utilizes a 14.5-inch rifled barrel to fire .410 bore shotshells and slugs, in addition to .45 Colt cartridges”. At the time ATF had classified it as a Short Barrel Rifle but was also rescinding this decision.

Under this letter dated August 29, 2025 the ATF was basically green lighting Franklin Arsenal to sell the Reformation which was introduced in 2018, and a new gun the Antithesis which, to my knowledge, had not been released. Classifying both as a “Firearm” for the purposes of the NFA. Thus neither required the NFA restrictions.

Where Franklin Armory went wrong.

The Antithesis launched on September 19th, 2025. I got texts and messages from friends, and it was a big to do. Folks were excited to see what looked like an SBR being offered as a “Firearm”. There was not one model being offered in .410/45 Colt, rather their offerings were in 5.56x45MM and 300 Blackout. My immediate question was “How are they getting around the SBR requirement?”

The answer was surprisingly novel; they had developed a shot shell that could be loaded into a 223 Rem/5.56 NATO case and fired. Each payload had essentially what was 3 balls of buck shot partially encased in a sabot or polymer shell. Duplex and Triplex loads are not new, they have been played with before, but I don’t think anyone has claim that loading a rifle with “buckshot” load was effectively turning it into a shotgun.  This was Franklin Armories attempt to push what the ATF considered a “Firearm” and you can see how they got there from the decision that a rifle that could fire both a .410 Shotshell and a 45 Colt, was a firearm and not a “rifle” or a “shotgun”.

Neat, but is it $10/projectile neat?

The ATF was quick to shut that down. Not even three days into it and Franklin Armory yanked pretty much everything to do with the Antithesis from their website. Issued an apology letter and a full refund for all those who bought the rifle.

My Takeaway

I think this is a clear attempt by Franklin Armory to pull a bait-and-switch on the ATF. So, it’s hard for me to get upset over this. You do not magically develop a “shotshell” that can be loaded into a rifle cartridge overnight. The looks of it, there was some serious R&D that went into it, including what is likely injection molding costs and what not. However, it was pretty darn clear it was a ploy. The list price for the projectiles was $40/10. This is not loaded ammo, this is just the payload, and it tells you tips and tricks on how to load it.

So what Franklin Armory did was challenge the NFA’s firearm definition with what was probably a legitimate product, an AR that could shoot both 45 Colt and .410 shotshells. Get the “Firearm” classification and then in effect say, “Here’s an AR in .223 Rem that shoots both regular 223 Rem and these special shells that shoot multiple rounds like a shotgun, thus it’s identical to the .410/45 Colt example that you ruled on an said was ok”. There is little doubt that Franklin Arsenal was also counting on recent change in administration and the legislation zeroing out the NFA Tax to be on their side.

The ATF called their bluff, and I can only assume it was called hard, as quickly as Franklin Armory yanked everything. What most people don’t realize is the gamble that Franklin Arsenal made and then lost. They wanted to be ahead of the market with a non-NFA SBR. They designed a whole product line around it, paid for marketing, and obviously put some R&D money behind it. They would have set a precedent in the market, in order to have a legitimate Non NFA “SBR” it had to be able to shoot shotgun like shells. “Wink, Wink, Nod, Nod”

Every Tom, Dick and Jerry who put together ARs would have quickly pointed at that and said “Same Rule applied to us” and launched their own lines. This would have continued to pound nails into the NFA coffin. Which many of us knew on seeing the launch of the Antithesis, including the ATF. Which is why I am sure the ATF quickly squashed it.

Is there someone who is right or someone who is wrong? Is there a reason to be outraged here?

No, not really. In my opinion, Franklin Arsenal attempted to pull bait and switch over on the ATF banking on the Administration’s friendly attitude towards the 2A Community, the recent passage of the revisions to the NFA Tax, to carry them through. A gamble which clearly pushed the line too much. (They pulled out all the stops offering the guns fully kitted with binary triggers and angled fore-grips). We have a long history of doing this, pushing the line of what is legal, trigger cranks, forced reset triggers, bump stocks, binary triggers, angled for grips, arm braces, solvent traps, 80% Lowers, this list goes on and on. Sometimes we get away with it, but usually someone gets burned. Whether it is the company that produces them, or the unwitting consumer that buys them.

Which is why I have played the game “wait and see” with all of these products. The last thing I want to do is dump money on a $500 trigger and then get a letter a few months, or years later after the ATF has changed it’s mind and have to forfeit my property. Yes you can argue illegal confiscation, but at the end of the day, giving up $500 is far cheaper then the lawyer and years of legal fees to keep what is, at the end of the day, a gimmick.

Editor’s Note and ATF follow up

When I originally wrote this, the ATF had not publicly come out and offered their side of the story. On September 25, 2025 they published this letter which pretty much confirmed what I suspected. The original authorization was for a .410/.45 Colt rifle, and that was what had been submitted. Franklin Armory took that and ran with it, and while they submitted the new version to the ATF, they did not wait for the ATF to make a ruling on whether it was legal.

New Guns and Gear

So, for new releases that have not pushed the legal boundaries,

Area 419 Zero Press Gen 2

Area 419 has released the 2nd Generation of its ZERO reloading press.  They have updated the linkage, added a few creature comforts like a ball detent to the primer tray smoothing out the stroke, and small tweaks to ergonomics.  The ZERO press’s claim to fame is a lock-up so consistent that you can expect the position of the turret to repeat within .0005in. It’s a beast of a press at 70+lbs, so there is no doubt you’re getting $1400 worth of precision machined aluminum.

Both Marc and I have opinions over the ZERO press, neither of us are big fans. Mainly because no one has yet to demonstrate the incremental gain you would get from spending $500 on a Redding T7, or spending (in this case) $1400 on a ZERO Gen 2 press. By incremental gain, we mean, when you develop a load on a Redding T7 press and it shoots a group size of 1.54 inches at 100 yards, does the ZERO press shrink that 1.54-inch group down to 0.54 inches, or only to 1.44 inches?  This is not to knock on the quality of the press; it is a very sturdy and well-built machine that will last a lifetime. It is a press that looks great on Instagram, in the background of YouTube Videos and will impress all your friends when they see it.

Rossi RS22 Pistol

Rossi announced a pistol configuration for their 22LR Semi-automatic action. This is the same basic action of their RS22 Rifle released a few years ago. I am not sure there is a lot to comment on here, but if we see the NFA get completely wiped off the books I think this becomes a cheap and affordable  SBR Host.  MSRP on this is $199

Rideout Arsenal – Dragon

Rideout Arsenal, a new company, has a new gun that is on preorder for $5,200. Their claim to fame here is an ultralow bore axis. For those who are not familiar with the concept, the lower the bore axis the less muzzle flip you tend to experience. This is due to the bore being more in line with your wrist, a higher bore axis acts as a lever and will push your wrist back and up. The gun is an all-metal frame, 5in barrel, and it is set up to be optic-ready. The package will ship with a Trijicon SRO optic. Reportedly it uses Springfield Armory Echelon Magazines.

This one just made my head turn. We see stuff like this from time to time in the gun industry. A radical new take on something and you always ask yourself if it’s going to be something or if it will die on the vine. When Glock came out with their “Tupperware” Glock 17 design few were aware of the explosion it would kick off.  On the flip side of that there are many, many examples of radical designs not paying off, only the most recent is the Hudson H9.  With the price tag this high, expectations for performance will be equally high. If it fails to meet them, it will likely end up a boutique curiosity just like my beloved chimera the MK36 by Overmatch Precision Arms.

I think everyone has that one gun, that they wish they could have bought. This is one of mine, for not other reason then its a marriage of the old and the new.

If you have questions, comments, or ideas, we’d love to hear from you.

Jay – jay@theballisticassistant.com

Marc – Marc@theballisticassistant.com

If you’d like to support this website, please use the affiliate links. We get a small commission whenever you purchase something through a link regardless of if it is the product that was linked or not. This is at no additional cost to you. 

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Brass, Barrels, and Bureaucracy #13

I know the equinox is around the corner, but the trees are already turning. With how dry New England has been, I doubt we’ll see much vibrant foliage this year, which probably means fewer leaf peepers, and that’s fine by me.

To folks who haven’t seen it before, I suppose it is still cool, but it’s not as bold and vibrant as it can be. It’s just been too dry of a summer.

Recent political events have left many of us feeling buried. I’ll admit, I’m worn out. This is one of those moments you will remember exactly where you were when you first heard the news. It is a tragedy any way you slice it, and my heart goes out to Charlie Kirk’s family. While it is of no consolation, they caught the suspect and charged him with aggravated murder. Prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.

It has also made me reassess my everyday carry. For years I kept a firearm in my backpack, mostly because of workplaces that did not allow firearms on the property. It worked, but I recognize it was far from ideal. Now I have returned to carrying on the hip, which forced me to reevaluate both gear and wardrobe. At thirty, with my metabolism in the rearview, I have found OWB much more comfortable than IWB.

I have been very happy with this holster produced by Craft Holsters. Very comfortable if you like Out Side the Waistband Carry

After Aurora, I decided that a Ruger LCP was not enough for daily carry, and I needed to move toward a compact. This led me to the CZ-2075 RAMI-P and eventually to my current HK 45CT. I am making similar changes again. A button-down shirt over a T-shirt conceals well enough here in rural Vermont. I carry my HK in a Craft Holster OWB thumb-break leather holster on a Bigfoot Gun Belt. It is bulkier than I would like, but I enjoy shooting that pistol, which is a criterion for me when choosing a carry gun. I have also been considering an HK P2000SK, which would keep the fire controls similar to the larger HK pistols while slimming everything down.

Bigfoot Gunbelts is another company that made a really good product but has gone out of business. I am in the market for a new belt, not due to wearing out my old one, but rather a waist that has unfortunately outgrown it’s current belt.

My kids recently learned that both my wife and I carry. When my son saw my holstered pistol for the first time, it sparked a conversation about why I carry and why it is not something to mention in public. It was not a talk I expected to have so soon, but it turned out to be necessary.

Like many of you, I am uneasy about where this country is headed. Nothing we could have done would have changed the outcome of recent events, but they serve as a reminder that the world is unpredictable. The best thing we can do is stay trained, stay equipped, and keep our families prepared.

Website Updates

Nothing new on the website this week, we have been chipping away on a few projects to stay tuned.

We did have a new subscriber ask a really good question, that I think everyone will enjoy. It’s one of those questions that can really make you think. I used to have a “Mail Bag” section but to be honest, I didn’t have a lot to put into it and I wasn’t sure if it was just cluttering up the webpage, so I moved it to the archive.

Anyway here’s the question.

Jay
I’m reloading for a 505 Gibbs with Hornady 525 both solids and softs.
I settled on 142 gr H1000 for 2150fps.

I have two questions one seems to turn the way I understand physics on its head.
First the simpler one would a faster powder loaded to same 2150 fps kick less? This 11.5lb gun kicks the snot out of me now.

The more interesting question is how can a .458 caliber 500 gr bullet be propelled at the same 2150 fps with roughly half the powder charge and half the recoil as the larger caliber similar weighted projectile?
Thanks

Mark B.

I’ve already provided an answer, but what would your answer be?  I’ll post my response next week, and if anyone else has a question lay it on us. Marc and I would love to take a shot at it.

Time at the Bench

Finally some 338 Spectre

I am working on 338 Spectre, finally circling back around to that cartridge. Looking at developing a few test loads. 300gr Sierra Matchkings, Barnes 225gr TTSX (minus the tip), some Hornady 225gr SST, and I think I have a few other random 338 Bullets I might work a load up in.

I still need to mount an optic on the rifle, and figure out the range situation here in Vermont, but at least I’ll have the ammo loaded and that’s half the battle. I am queuing up to have a bunch of loads that need testing.

40 S&W Missing Barrel

So about 18 months ago I bought an H&K VP40 with the intent to use it as a host platform to do some tinkering with 357 Sig. Yes, I really like my H&K pistols, no I don’t consider it a “problem”. I bought a threaded 357 Sig barrel from Rim Country Manufacturing, and I have proceeded to do nothing with it besides installing the new barrel in the gun. At which point I decided I needed to put the old 40 S&W barrel for that gun in a place that must have only made sense to me at that moment in time. Two moves, later and I cannot for the life of me figure out where I put it. So, I am now sitting on a bunch of 40 S&W ammo I have loaded, and I don’t have a gun to test it in.

I’ve bought a few HK related parts from Rim Country Manufacturing. Have always had a good experience and I’ll likely pick up the replacement .40 S&W barrel from them. Bonus, it’s a standard thread, no metric weirdness.

There is a bittersweet side to this: I get to have an excuse to buy a new barrel. I’ll pick up a 40 S&W barrel, either made by H&K or from an after-market manufacturer like RCM. It’ll be threaded so if I ever decide to pick up a .40-cal suppressor, I’ll have something to put on. In my sleuthing of looking for a replacement barrel I came across the fact you can purchase a conversion barrel that will take your H&K VP40 and effectively turn it into a 9mm. No new recoil spring, no new mags, just a new barrel.

A VP40 to 9mm Conversation Barrel is a VP40 barrel that has the outside dimensions of a VP40 barrel but has a 9mm bore and chamber. A VP9 barrel has a slimmer profile and will not work in a VP40 Slide.

The VP40 slide is beefier than the VP9 slide, so it may result in a softer shooting 9mm? I don’t know. Either way, that is now on my “to buy list”.   Sometimes losing a barrel leads you down unexpected paths.

Lights for Everywhere

This has been a fantastic addition to my 550, only issue I have had if if I am using standard lock rings on the die, sometimes they are a bit too thick for the light to slide in.

I have discovered the joy of having more light on the bench. It started with a lighting kit for my Dillion 550 press and now has moved to two different adjustable lamps at both benches and even has moved to a small ring light around the quill on my drill press. I do not know if it’s just that I have gotten older and my eyes appreciate having things lit up like a Christmas tree.

I’ve clamped one of these to a shelf that sits above my bench. I can position it so I have the light right where I want it, and if I need to pull it down to get a closer view it’s right there. Not a bad deal for $50.

LED Desk lamps really make a difference, and they don’t act like light heaters, like the old incandescent, or halogen bulbs. For checking to see how high the powder charge is, or for just inspecting cases, I have found that a well-lit work bench really does make it a bit more enjoyable to reload.

Industry and Legislative News

NOE Closing Shop

Credit goes to Mark K. to bring this to my attention. (As a side note, I have an abundance of Mark’s who subscribe or who contribute in some way to this site, I would like to thank all of them but also recognize the statistical anomaly for what it is.)

For those who are not familiar with NOE, they are, or rather were, an awesome bullet mold making company located in Provo, Utah.  They had probably the largest selection of bullet molds, and configurations of molds of any bullet mold maker out there. They also took suggestions from hobby guys like me, and their minimum run quantity was low. If you could get ten people on board purchasing a mold they would likely run it. It is how myself and one other guy go the cast bullet mold for the 300gr 338 Mold designed specifically for the 338 Spectre into production.

315gr 338 Cal mold for the 338 Spectre, the bullet I helped design, and NOE brought to life. That’s almost 10yrs ago

They have announced they are closing up shop and they are blowing out the rest of the inventory. I don’t have any insight on why they are closing their doors, if it was a retirement of Al Nelson, or if they are the victim of the poor economy. Either way we are losing a great company that really made some fantastic products for the casting and reloading hobby. NOE’s closing is only the latest casualty of what is presently endemic in the industry.

Industry Slowing

To put it bluntly, the industry continues to slow. Year over year revenue is down 9.6% on average across all shooting related companies and product lines, with firearms being down 11.5%. This is also born out in NICS data which has shown a marked decline.  For most of us this is not news, we have been feeling the effects of it if not being direct contributors to the decline.

I know I have bought less hobby related things this year than I have in years past and that is not because I am any less engaged. We just have less room in the budget to spend. Rising housing and food costs, rising energy costs, without appreciable increases in pay, and honestly the cost of powder and bullets has gone up. Primers have come down in price some but nowhere near what they were pre-COVID.

A few more companies have recently closed shop. SSCY Industries, makers of affordable subcompact pistols, closed in May. Anderson Manufacturing closed its doors early this summer. The Fiocchi of America is now fully owned by the Czechoslovak Group (CSG). CSG and Vista Outdoors are now consolidated under the Kinetic Group.

You got to hand it to them, they really pulled out all the stops on the engraving. Very nice, a bit over the top for my taste though.

Ruger has recently gone through a restructuring and the headcount at Ruger has dropped by about 5%.

These are normal responses to a soft market. Companies that are unable to weather the storm close up shop or get bought out. Larger companies look to cut costs, sometimes that means cutting workforce, as unfortunate as that is, and other companies are looking to diversify their product offerings. Trying to find niches of the market segment that might be seeing growth.  I.E the double stack 1911 market.

I would not read too much into it, other than a soft market means there will be change. While some might be referring this as the Trump slump 2.0, I don’t think it’s near as bad. Plus, on the bright side it may force the market to be more competitive, I may be optimistic, but I’d really love to see primers drop below $50 a brick of 1000. I need some large pistol primers.

Open Carry is Now Legal in Florida

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down Florida’s ban on open carrying of firearms. I think the surprise, for many of us, is that it was not already legal. Either way it looks like the state’s Attorney General is not going to appeal this ruling, saying “It is now the law of the land”.

If you choose to open carry in Florida or anywhere else, please do so in a dignified manner and professional manner, that does not paint everyone else as complete dufus.

New Jersey Upheld “Sensitive Places” Restrictions

In the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, a three-judge panel ruled that the New Jersey Legislature can define so called “sensitive places” and prohibit open and concealed carry within those places. As anyone who carries regularly knows, these “sensitive places” are almost always areas where it ends up being very inconvenient for those who choose to carry.

You want to pick up the mail at the post office? That’s felony to carry inside a post office.

You need to drop by an see your relative in a nursing home, or in a hospital. That’s a sensitive area, you can’t carry it there.

Libraries, Museums, parks, beaches, zoos, the list goes on. These all end up being “no carry zones”. So, you are left with 2 choices, obey the law and leave the firearm in a vehicle. Or break the law and carry regardless. Concealed is concealed right? That is a very personal decision, and I do not advocate for either.  The point is, lawmakers are finding any excuse they can to make lives difficult for those who wish to exercise their constitutional right to self-defense. This court ruling upheld the lawmakers’ intent to do that.

New Guns and Gear

MDT Timber Core – Rifle Stock

I am a sucker for a traditional looking wood and metal gun. I like the WOOX stocks, I like some of the wooden stocks and grips you can find on AR’s, and this MDT stock caught my eye.  It’s maybe a little less traditional in style, more akin to a mashup of their chassis and traditional wood stock, but I can get behind it. It offers many of the same features you might get in a chassis gun, v-block bedding, free floated barrel, and a bottom metal that works with magazines.

I have at least one bolt action rifle that I might consider refinishing and using a stock like this on. That is a someday project.

Steyr ATd and ATc Pistols

Steyr has announced a new line of pistols the ATd which is focused on self-defense and the ATc which is focused on competition.  I have to admit the competition guns are handsome looking. They are hammer fired which is a departure from the norm with Steyr. A lot of people have speculated these are a rebranding of Slovenija arms maker AREX. I see the similarities and both companies are now owned by Czech Republic’s RSBC Investment Group.

Steyr has an import facility in Alabama so it would make sense if AREX guns are imported that they come in under the Steyr name which is a more recognized brand in the US Market. The MSRP is said to start around $1,170, and I am sure they will go up steeply for some of the competition models. Specs are about what you’d expect for a 9mm. 18rnd magazines, DA/SA trigger, and optics ready. They do advertise that the system is easy to tune, and that there is some modularity of parts. It is also noteworthy that it is an all-metal frame.

An all-metal frame gun in 9mm is usually a recipe for a good time at the range.  

If you have questions, comments, or ideas, we’d love to hear from you.

Jay – jay@theballisticassistant.com

Marc – Marc@theballisticassistant.com

If you’d like to support this website, please use the affiliate links. We get a small commission whenever you purchase something through a link regardless of if it is the product that was linked or not. This is at no additional cost to you. 

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Brass, Barrels, and Bureaucracy #12

This week was a whirlwind. Work was especially busy, and I got hit by the migraine freight train one day and a cramped up back the next. It’s been exciting, on the bright side, fall weather is setting in, which is much appreciated. Despite the cooler weather, the leaves haven’t begun to turn yet. At least I haven’t seen any trees with yellow leaves yet. We can expect that to begin at any day now.

I took my daughter out to fly her airplane and that did not go as well as I would have liked. I think I finally understand what it means to be tail heavy and why it is so devastating to fly a plane that is tail heavy. It seems like a simple concept but for some reason I couldn’t quite grasp it, until I launched her plane and it kind of just clicked, about two seconds before it completed a flip and nosed dived into the ground.  

I’ve always gotta be careful going to events like these, as I might end up as an attraction, right there in between the goats and the sheep.

My wife and I plan to visit the Tunbridge World’s Fair, I enjoy watching the horse and oxen pulls along with seeing the old engines and machinery. It’s been awhile since I have had the chance to go to that fair but I am looking forward to  it.

Website Updates

When Marc wrote his article on the chronographs it got me thinking about how people generally use their chronographs. I often do not hear much about Standard Deviation, or discussion around how shooters apply that to their loads to figure out if “good enough” is “good enough”. Statistics can be a deep and dark well to dive into especially if you don’t have a background in math or engineering. So, I thought it might be useful to try and explain it in the simplest terms I could muster so folks might get the benefit of using their Chronograph not only to measure what is, but also “what might be”.  See the article below and let me know your thoughts.

A Handloaders Guide to Standard Deviation

Time at the Bench

I opted to switch my Dillon 550 over to rerun that .223 Remington where the COAL was a touch too long. It turned out better than I had thought it would be. Most of the rounds were fine, it was just a couple of lots that I needed to go through. It’s a pretty darn quick process. One die to set the bullet back about .025 and a second die to reapply the crimp.

So close, the tips would just catch on the inside of the mag.

You could argue that I shouldn’t need to reapply the crimp, especially since I am not crimping especially hard. However, I felt it helped the rounds gauge a little better, as does just tuck in the case mouth and prevent it from hanging up. It’s not much, but it’s noticeable.

New Cartridge (for me) 7.62x39mm

Some steel cased Wolf 7.62x39mm I bought several years ago. I have no idea how it got wet, but the box on the left was so corroded it’s probably not worth saving. The two boxes on the right survived unscathed. A personal reminded not to store ammo without some moisture protection.

This is a new cartridge for me. I have been collecting components for a while with the intent of loading ammo for that VZ-58 I built a few years ago. I had some left-over components from some experimentation I did with the .303 British. Both cartridges have a bore diameter that can range from .310 to .312. The bullets I had were some Sierra 125gr Soft Points measuring .311in.

About 8 years ago I was playing with extremely light loads in my .303 British. I still have an assortment of 90gr and 85gr .32 cal bullets that I never used up. The loads worked, velocities were impressive but the accuracy wasn’t there.

I had a few different powders I could have used for this load, but I decided to use H335 as I have an abundance of it at the moment. This powder is on the slow side for what will work, but I don’t mind that. Case fill will always be 100% and I don’t run the risk of overtopping the service pressure.  My big holdback on getting the rifle sighted in will be the trigger, it’s horrendous. I’ve got to figure out how to fix that.

Industry and Legislative News

Rest in Peace Charlie Kirk

This is a news story that has hit closer to home than usual. I lived in and around Orem, Utah for 10 years, and I went to school at Utah Valley University. So, to see the tragedy happen not only in a city I knew well, but at the college campus I knew well, it’s hard to watch. Charlie Kirk was not someone I had in my regular rotation of podcasts but I have heard him speak on a few occasions and I have always appreciated his wit and stalwart defense of the Constitution and of Christian values. It has been absolutely heart breaking to see this unfold.

To those who are not familiar with the area, Orem and Provo Utah are basically one city with two major colleges. Utah Valley University (UVU), and Brigham Young University. Like much of Utah, the community is between 30 to 50% members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the interest of full disclosure, I am part of that community, having been a member of the church all my life. The crime rate for both cities is lower than the national average.

Utah is unique in that if a school receives state funding, then they must also allow individuals with Conceal Carry Permits to carry on campus. That is true for colleges as well as grade schools. Many people, including myself, regularly carried a firearm while attending UVU. No doubt many of the attendees at Charlie Kirk’s tour were also carrying. It is of no surprise to me that security could be considered “lax”. Charlie was speaking to a large but very friendly crowd, and even the people protesting were tame when it comes to university protests.

Charlie Kirk was standing immediately behind the enclosed walk way that is behind the reflection pools. This is known on campus as the “Hall of Flags” as every flags from every country around the world is hanging.

The campus is set up, like many modern campuses, with large outdoor spaces. However, you could get pretty much anywhere you wanted to go through long corridors. Many of these corridors were also terraces on top and served as additional walkways. Elevated positions, and lots of open spaces, it is everything a sharpshooter could ask for. I wish very much I was not having to write about this, as it is a true tragedy. I suspect it will not be long before the culprit is apprehended. A surplus Mauser .30-06 has already been recovered, and investigators have released pictures of a suspect who remains at large. Whoever the shooter is, the death penalty will likely be on the table.

 Even still, Charlie left behind a wife and two young children, and a conservative movement that happens once in a generation. Whatever punishment or justice is granted it will not replace the truly a good man we lost, and it makes me genuinely concerned about the future of our country. If we can no longer have discourse about ideas, even those which may be unpalatable to some on the left, right or center, then we have lost the Republic.

DOJ Considering Restricting Gun Rights to Trans individuals

With the shooting two weeks ago, and with the recent assassination of Charlie Kirk. The discussion around gun control and gun rights is still very much in the forefront of the public discussion. Reports indicate the Department of Justice is internally deliberating whether or not individuals suffering from Gender Dysphoria should be stripped of their gun rights. This stems from the fact that several of the most recent mass shooters claimed to be suffering from gender dysphoria.

I am somewhat upset that I have to be put in the position of “If you do it to them, then you’ll do it to us.” Literally millions of Americans struggle with mental health issues, including Anxiety, Depression, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Many of our veteran struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which go hand in hand with depression and anxiety.  So, if we begin to strip rights from individuals with mental health issues, where does that line get drawn? Are we putting our rights into the hands of the American Medical Association, who have been vehemently antigun?

I find it unlikely that any such restriction is going to be held up in court. There are processes to adjudicate individuals as mentally ill, and there are legitimate arguments over that process, and how the Rights are restored to that individual when they recover. This whole “Transgender” issue has irked me in more ways than one, and it irks me a bit more that I am put into a position of “Yes, they are mentally ill, but no you cannot strip their gun rights from them”. If the shoe was on the other foot, I have little doubt that I would be thrown wholesale to the wolves.

Delaware Judge Strikes Down Age Requirement

The minimum age to purchase a handgun was moved to 21 as a response to the Columbine shooting. Since then, there have been many arguments that this was unconstitutional, as the age of majority in the country is 18. Why should we give some people the majority of rights at 18 but withhold the remaining rights at 21?

There have been several lawsuits and verdicts upholding this requirement but now we have at least one instance where a judge found it was unconstitutional, from Delaware of all States. Expect this ruling to be appealed. There are other courts cases in the works dealing with the same thing, and there has been a push in some states to include so called “assault weapons” under the 21 or older requirement.

Steps Towards Conceal Carry National Reciprocity

We have had at least one pending ruling that has the potential to erode the barriers towards the goal of National Reciprocity. At the end of August, it was ruled in Higbie v. James that New York must allow nonresidents to apply for concealed carry permits. This does not exempt them from the state’s extensive requirements, but it’s a step in the right direction. The more concealed carry is normalized, and the more restrictions that are struck down in court the closer we are to getting national reciprocity.

To that end, New Hampshire has joined 24 other states in asking the U.S Supreme Court to review Massachusetts’ onerous permitting requirements. To highlight the severity of the issue, gun owners have to be hyper vigilant when crossing state lines. An arbitrary line on the map is the difference between being law abiding and being a felon. It is not theoretical, in many areas you can go for a walk on a street at the beginning of your walk you are perfectly legal, by the middle of the walk you are a felon. Given the Right to self-defense is a National Right, and not a State Right, then that right should apply regardless of State lines.

Tennessee Mandating Gun Safety Classes in All Grades

One of my biggest frustrations about school is that they do not teach skills that transfer into the real world.  Skills such as:

  • Managing money, what is a credit score, what and how to manage debt, how to file for taxes
  • How Insurance works, what is a deductible, and what it means to be in-network
  • How to vote in local, state and national elections, how to be engaged civilly
  • How to rent an apartment, what tent rights are, how to read a lease, what is a security deposit.
  • First aid and basic health literacy, CPR, when to go to the ER vs. Urgent care,
  • How to write a resume, interview for a job, negotiate a salary, and avoid the pitfalls of internships

This list is probably a mile long, but it’s things we as adults have to figure out on our own. Well in Tennessee, they are going to be teaching gun safety, something that used to be taught nationally through programs like the NRA’s Eddie Eagle.

This guy is still around, it’s really a decent program, but most schools don’t want to touch anything with the NRA’s name attached to it. Which is too bad.

New Guns and Gear

Taurus 66 Combat

Taurus recently announced a new 7 shot 357 Magnum Revolver. This is a medium framed revolver with a double action only hammer. Clearly this is targeting the folks who like to conceal carry a revolver, as the hammer has been bobbed and the barrel is a short 3in. This all but guarantees that the flash is going to be extraordinary and blinding when shot in low light conditions. It does come predrilled and tapped for an optics plate if you’d like to mount a red dot, that is handy.

Wilson Combat SFT9

While not a “New” product it is something Marc was able to put his hands on this week. Wilson Combat announced and released this pistol back in August of 2022. I would deem it a modernized 1911, eliminating the grip safety, as well as offering it in a double stack 9mm. Marc reports that it feels very comfortable in his hands and over all he was impressed with the fit and finish of the handgun. The only thing I would change is the front barrel bushing, while it is iconic 1911, a reverse plug like found on a double stack in 1911 just makes servicing these guns a bit easier.

Hi-Point HP-15

A new addition to the entry level AR-15’s, the HP-15. Honestly, I am like everyone else, when we see a new MSR hit the market, apathetic. Most of us know Hi-Point for their very inexpensive and ugly as sin pistols. Yes, they work, yes they will never win a beauty pageant, even if they are the last contestant standing. Apparently, they have seen a hole in their line up and have decided to make the bold move of offering a budget AR-15. Now to be completely fair, the specs read to be just fine. 1:8 Twist 16in Nitrided barrel, 15in Free Floating M-LOK handguard, M16 Full Profile Bolt Carrier, etc.

The price tag is fair, at $499.99 you’re not going to break the bank. It’s probably just fine for someone looking for their first AR. It’s just a very crowded market right now. AR’s are a dime a dozen, Andro Corp Industries AR-15’s are regularly on sale for $369.99, which is about as low as I have seen an AR go for.  So I am not sure why a company would be looking to launch budget ARs in this market. Yet here we are.

If you have questions, comments, or ideas, we’d love to hear from you.

Jay – jay@theballisticassistant.com

Marc – Marc@theballisticassistant.com

If you’d like to support this website, please use the affiliate links. We get a small commission whenever you purchase something through a link regardless of if it is the product that was linked or not. This is at no additional cost to you. 

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Brass, Barrels, and Bureaucracy #11

The kids went back to school this week and at weeks end the school is still standing so all is well. The weather this week has been wonderful with the air almost turning a bit nippy at night. We have seen our fair share of rain over the last two days. The leaves aren’t turning yet, but I suspect we will start seeing the maples get a bit of a golden tinge here in the next week or two.

3D printers have become so cheap and so good that it really is not cost effective to build your own, unless you are a sadist. I have long since abandoned my own project to build one.

Along with my many other projects I have been working on trying to fix an SLA printer. I have torn it apart and put it back together more times than I can count. I fixed one issue and then another cropped up. Some people might think it’s more trouble than it’s worth, but at the end of the day it’s a $600 machine rescued from the dumpster. My expectations are low, but I think I’ve got the issue narrowed down, and since the machine is still under warranty, the manufacturer has been willing to send me the replacement parts, though shipping will take 7-20 days.

Website Updates

This week Marc had the opportunity to test out the Athlon Chronograph. He took some time to put together a survey for those folks who might be looking at purchasing one.

Understanding Chronographs: A Guide for Reloaders

Time at the Bench

40 S&W Returning to My Roots

Everyone has their first pistol, this was mine, somewhere I have some old pictures of it. The M&P 2.0 look way cooler, but function more or less the same.

I’ve been loading several lots of .40 S&W lately, which takes me back to when I first started reloading. My first pistol was a Smith & Wesson M&P in .40 S&W. At the time, the cartridge was still being promoted as the “man stopper.” The Utah Highway Patrol officer who taught my concealed carry class swore it was the only caliber where he never saw an assailant get back up. Today, the myth of a one-shot man stopper is well behind us.

I put thousands of rounds through that pistol, most of them cast myself with a Lee 20-lb melting pot and a 145-grain SWC mold, then loaded on a Lee Pro 1000 progressive press. Eventually I sold the M&P, picked up a CZ 2075 RAMI P, and later traded that for an HK45CT. For me, the .40 S&W always felt snappy, and full-power loads were never as enjoyable as running .45 ACP through my HK Mark 23.

I actually purchased this gun without doing a ton of research. I saw it, I liked how it felt and look and I bought it. Shot it a few times, decided it wasn’t for me and sold it. If it had been the metal framed pistol I might have kept it.

As a caliber, .40 S&W is on the decline, especially since the FBI dropped it in 2014 in favor of the 9×19. .40 S&W will not disappear completely because there are probably hundreds of thousands of guns chambered in .40. However, I doubt we will see many new offerings. Shooters are now gravitating towards its bigger brother, the 10mm Auto, when they need something with more punch than a 9mm. The only reason I am loading .40 today is because I have brass, bullets, and an HK VP40 I bought with the intent of experimenting with .357 Sig.

While I do have the .357 Sig barrel, I have not built up a stockpile of brass and bullets. For now, I just load .40 S&W to have something on hand if I want to shoot the pistol. Since I have not done much loading with .40 in recent years, I was caught off guard when I started looking up data for 180-grain bullets with Vihtavuori N330. QuickLOAD showed surprisingly low pressure. I had been running 6.0 grains of N330 with 155-grain Hornady XTPs, and I expected to have to reduce nearly a full grain for the heavier bullet.

Thanks again Brian for the save here. Good Data.

Vihtavuori’s published data only covers N320 and N340. This is when it pays to have friends who can cross-check. After a few texts and photos of different manuals, I found Sierra listed the data I needed. QuickLOAD confirmed their numbers, so I picked a mid-range charge and started loading.

Trust but verify. QuickLOAD was right this time, but as Marc wrote a few months back, it is always best to check data against at least one other source, especially when you are relying on software.

Lee Precision 223 Remington Dies

I have some really nice dies I break out for special occasions, but honestly I have found that Lee Dies work fine for about 90% of of my reloading tasks.

When I started reloading, I used a lot of Lee Precision Reloading Dies and I must honestly say, beyond a few quirks, I still think they are good value for the money.  So, when I found out that I could not find my set of 223 Remington Dies to fix that batch of 223 Remington where the COAL was too long, I ordered a set of Lee Dies.

I am about 90% sure Lee uses 12L14 as their die material of choice, as it characteristically forms a very light rust on the exterior surfaces over time.  The decapping pins are a one-piece deal, and they are usually soft, to where the pin will bend quite a bit before it breaks right off. Those pins do not take the abuse like some of the other pins out there on the market. Sometimes you’ll get a die or a tool head that has some pretty rough chatter or ugly looking threads, but at the same time, I have not personally seen where a $400 sizing die improves accuracy much, if at all, over a $20 Lee sizing die.

Once I am done with loading the 40 S&W, I’ll switch everything over and drop in the Lee dies to run through those 223 Rem loads through my Dillon 550.

Industry and Legislative News

Much of the week’s industry news was overshadowed by tragedy. It is a grim reminder that evil exists in the world. Our hearts go out to all those affected. As a parent, I cannot imagine the pain and anger of going through something like that.

These moments always spark reflection on the balance of freedom and risk. The same tools that preserve liberty can also be misused. The freedom to travel means we endure car accidents and, at times, deliberate acts of violence with vehicles. A free financial system allows us to work and spend as we wish, but it also creates opportunities for criminals to exploit and drain the savings of others. No one, left, right, or center, has an easy answer.

With that weight acknowledged, the industry has still moved forward with several notable developments this week.

Air Force Clears the M18

“…SIG guys strut like they’re fresh of a SEAL team six op but really they are just trying not to ND in the parking lot…”

Sig Sauer announced that the Air Force has cleared its pistols to return to duty. The last update on this case involved an airman who was arrested for making a false statement. It seemed there was more to the story than an “uncommanded discharge,” but the Air Force’s decision to reinstate the pistols does not settle much.

I remain skeptical. Sig has too much at stake to be impartial, and with multiple lawsuits pending, dismissing the issue as poor gun handling feels hollow. Remington tried that same approach with its safety problems: deny everything, fight it in court, and only change course when forced by a judge. That path contributed to Remington’s bankruptcy. I hate to see Sig following in those footsteps. Time will tell.

Hanover Armory Loses Baltimore Lawsuit


Hanover Armory lost a case against Baltimore over sales of so-called “ghost guns.” In reality, these were unfinished receivers. I am not sure which type they sold, but it hardly matters. The company stopped selling them after Maryland’s ban took effect. The lawsuit claims Hanover failed to conduct background checks on 80% lowers before the ban, despite there being no legal requirement to do so.

The decision came from a jury, which in firearms cases often means prosecutors stack the deck by excluding jurors who know the subject. This case will likely be appealed, and I would not be surprised to see it overturned.

Tennessee Judge Tosses Gun Restrictions

If I don’t have a map to remind me where Tennessee is, I am liable to forget. It gets lost in that cluster of states that have a Buc-ee’s and the ones who don’t

A Tennessee judge struck down laws tied to the vague phrase “intent to go armed.” The wording was too ambiguous to have legal merit, and the court ruled that restrictions on carrying firearms in parks were unconstitutional.

The ruling does not affect permit holders directly, but Tennessee is already a constitutional carry state. That created a contradiction: citizens needed a permit to carry in parks but not to carry concealed elsewhere. The judge’s decision resolved that inconsistency, and it was the right call.

New Guns and Gear

The Glock Store GS 26X Frame

For those folks who like Glock pistols, The Glock Store has their 26X frame on preorder. This frame seeks to make the ultimate Glock conceal carry gun, it combines the G19 grip length, allowing the use of double stack magazines, while allowing you to pair it with a G26, 27, 28, and 33 slide. The front profile of the grip features a very similar profile to the G43X which allows the use of sub compact weapon lights and lasers.  

This is something that really caught Marc’s eye as it is something that the Glock community came up with. They saw a niche application and purposely designed a frame to fit. This is not an 80% grip, rather it’s a serialized frame so you’ll need to run it through your local FFL.

If you have questions, comments, or ideas, we’d love to hear from you.

Jay – jay@theballisticassistant.com

Marc – Marc@theballisticassistant.com

If you’d like to support this website, please use the affiliate links. We get a small commission whenever you purchase something through a link regardless of if it is the product that was linked or not. This is at no additional cost to you.