Category: Uncategorized

Most of the past two weeks have been spent working on the drone, and the accompanying website. I pretty much picked up where I left a year ago and have been ordering and assembling everything together. There have been a few issues that I’ve had to work out. However nothing that has been substantial. A few days ago I put together a write up detailing everything that had been done to date.

Photogrammetry Drone: Putting Everything Together

There is some additional work to be done, mainly the final touches prior to test flight. We will also need to find a suitable test field to fly on and put together a mission plan. The nice thing about the autopilot is we should be able to get a tremendous amount of data on how the flight went. Everything from airspeed to battery life. We will use the data to evaluate changes we make to the airframe, especially as we look to integrate the camera into the build.

Looks like we won’t get the props until the 18th, so any test flight will have to occur after that date. I’ll have additional write ups to discuss the lead up to, and the results of the test flights.

In terms of firearms news. A friend and I had an interesting discussion regarding calibers, barrel length and elk. He wanted me to talk him out of purchasing a 45-70 lever gun. He was concerned his 308 Ruger American rifles with a 18in barrel wasn’t enough to do the job. He was considering either purchasing a 45-70 or another Ruger American with a 24in barrel, chambered in 308 Win. He stated that he wanted a rifle that he could comfortable take an elk from 0 to 300 yards. (My first response was his beard was not long enough and he did not live in a log cabin in the mountains to justify the 45-70)

I stated to him that I believed that he would be fine with the 18in 308 Win, especially if he switched to a 150gr monolithic bullet such as a Barnes TTSX or a Hornady GMX. The reason being the copper monolithic tend to penetrate deeper, track straighter and have less mass lost when compared to a a conventional cup and core lead bullet. After getting off the phone with him, I decided to run the ballistics to see if my statement was accurate or if I was just blowing smoke.

At the muzzle, there is no doubt that the 45-70 Govt. has the energy to take down an elk. However due to the flat nose bullet design of the 250gr Barnes TSX Bullet, the energy is lost quickly. As we approach 200 yards we drop below the 1500ftlb of energy that the Colorado Parks and Wildlife recommend as the minimum amount needed to reliably down an elk. In addition the bullet drop on the 45-70 is pretty dramatic, nearly twice that of the 308 Win at 300 yards.

The differences between the 308 Win barrel lengths is less dramatic. The criteria is from 0 to 300 yards as that what my friend felt were the ranges he’d be shooting. So if we look at the energy requirements we see both bullets make the cut off but the 18in barrel squeaks by at that 1500ftlb threshold while the 24in barrel imparts 1700lbs or a difference of around 13%. Now, is the elk likely to notice if it go hit with a bullet with 200lbs more force? No, I don’t believe so. The terminal ballistics are going to be very similar.

There is one thing that does matter which is the minimum velocity needed to reliably expand. Nosler claims there minimum expansion velocity is 1800fps. What I don’t know is the level of expansion you get at 1800fps. Is that the expansion that yields the picture perfect expansion you seen in the magazine photos or is that just enough to open up the tip to claim the bullet expanded. (Perhaps a couple test shots are needed with some wet newspaper). With the 1800fps spec provided, we can say that the 18in barrel will meet the spec yielding 2023fps.

At the end of the day, I told him he did not need to buy at 45-70 Govt. and that he was likely fine with the 18in barrel. Now that I’ve taken the time to run the numbers, I am more confident in the conclusion. His 165 Nosler Partition load will be fine for elk when shot from his 18in American Predator. Yes the energy threshold is just barely there, but as long as he does his part to place the bullet in the proper location he will fill the freezer.

So how about my advice on the loads? Switching from the 165gr Nosler Partition Bullet to a 150gr Monolithic? Well, I substituted a 150gr Barnes TTSX, and adjusted the load using QuickLOAD to get an estimated velocity of 2515fps. Since the bullet is a little bit lighter we get a bit of a velocity boost.

The minimum velocity for expansion for the Barnes 150gr TTSX is 2000fps, when purchased as a handloading component. The bullet used in their 308 and 30-06 factory loads have an expansion window down to 1600fps, but to my knowledge, is not sold as a handloading component. So he is likely on the edge for the stock 308 150gr TTSX handloading bullet on store shelves.

As far as terminal ballistics goes, it is true that the copper monolithic penetrate deeper, track straighter, and retain more weight when compared to traditional lead core hunting bullets. Undoubtedly the 1500ftlb minimum was set with traditional bullets in mind, and the advancement in bullet technology may reduce the amount of energy needed for an ethical kill. That is up to an individual hunter to decide. I am not convinced it will make as big of a difference as I initially had thought.

Well that is all I have for this week. We did decide to move to Parler, but are keeping our Facebook and Instagram account live for now. You can find us @TheBallisticAssistant. We are looking at MeWe, but haven’t finished the set up over there yet. For right now we are treating Parler kind of like Instagram sharing photos but we may expand how we use the platform. We will see.

As always, you can reach me at jay@theballisticassitant.com. Email me with your comments suggestions or questions. I have no new updates for the load database this week but if you’d like to add your pet load, the submission sheet can be found here and we will get it added ASAP.

Thanks for subscribing!

Stay Safe Out There!

The Ballistic Assistant

Well, I fat fingered something and lost the whole update. *Facepalm* Here we go again…

We will stay away from the election results. Though we do not expect that the ammo/component/firearm shortage will ease anytime soon. So that’s going to be fun for us.

Moving to Texas has been a change of scenery for myself. Utah is in the midst of a snow storm, and I can’t step outside without breaking a sweat. The humidity is a bit much for me in November. It scares me to think this is mild compared to what it can be. I’ll get used to it. We are working on settling in, part of that is going to be checking the sites on my rifle.

Changes in atmospheric conditions can have dramatic effects on downrange ballistics. Moving from an average elevation of 5500 feet to 350 feet is about as dramatic of a change as you can get. Air is more dense down here, which means drag is going to be higher. The bullet is going to lose more velocity at a given range, and the point of impact will be lower as a result. The effect will be more noticeable at range. Which is why I am a protenant of a 100 yard zero, but checking the rifle at range you actually expect to shoot at. The table below reinforces that point.

I know people who have spent serious $$$ on a limited hunt. They lived in Utah and planned on hunting somewhere close to sea level. They spent a ton of time working up a load, developing and checking a ballistics table, and then when they get their they check their rifle’s zero on a hundred yard target. Well, it should surprise no one that they felt their rifle was just fine.

As long as they were taking game at or under 400 yards, they are probably going to be ok. The difference is about an inch. At this distance, if you are shooting 1 MOA, which is the absolute best most experience shooters can hope to do in the field, you are noticing a 1 inch shift down in your point of aim/point of impact. given group sizes are going to be around 4in, this may not be immediately noticeable.

However this changes as you begin to past 500 yards, where this point of impact shift becomes 2 inches. At 600 yards it’s 4 inches, at 7 yards its 6 inches, and by the time you hit 8 yards it is more then 1 MOA difference (Mind you these are results from my 338LM, other calibers such as 45/70 could be more dramatic). It’s arguable that you shouldn’t be taking game past 500 yards anyways, but people do it, and if you are planning on it, you should know the variables which will affect shot placement.

Shooting competition is where these differences are really going to be noticeable. You cannot check the rifle at 100 yards an have any confidence that things are on. You must check at the ranges you will be shooting at. Notably if you are someone who likes to run heavy for caliber bullet weights. High elevations are more forgiving of bullets that are riding the edge of the stability envelope. You might get by running a 90gr 223 cal bullet in a 1:7 twist at 6000 feet. However you drop down to 300 feet above sea level and the bullet will start to key hole.

Running heavy for caliber bullets is a trick some competition shooter use, as bullets have slight imbalances that can cause groups to open up a bit the faster you spin them. If you spin them just enough to stabilize but not a revolution more, you can sometimes get slightly better groups. It might be enough to eek out a win over the competition, or so proponents say. However it will bite you, if you’re shooting at a range that’s at a different elevation. Sometimes all it takes is shooting a match during a cold morning to upset these loads.

There are other variables that can affect things. A notable one is the companies published B.C values. We all rely on them to generate that initial bullet drop chart. However the company doesn’t typically shoot them in all atmospheric conditions. For example Barnes Bullets shoots must of their data at a range in Price, Utah. How does the B.C compare to that of a bullet shot in Backwoods, Georgia? These are all variables that can only be taken into account by shooting and developing a table in the actual environment you intend to shoot in.

Lucky for me, I really only have one precision rifle I shoot. I’ll check and adjust the tables on my Barret MRAD, but the rest of my rifles have either iron sights or they are something I do not plan to shoot at distance with. The 30-06 I have, has only a 10x scope on it, and I would find it hard taking shots at more then 400 yards, so I’m not terribly worried about it. Perhaps when I have a developed pet load for the rifle I’ll develop a drop table for it.

In other news I have been busy with putting the drone together. We started this project about a year ago but ended up shelving it. Well now that I’m putting together a business that centers around drone surveying, it’s a good time to finish it. Kind of a key component of the whole operation.

Professional drones cost quite a bit of dough, and many of them use the same off the shelf components that I’ve ordered. For this reason I’m building my own. It will reduce maintenance costs, and operations costs as long as I am successful. Given this technology is mostly DYI, and there is plenty of information out there, I find it hard to believe I’m going to have substantial issues getting it in the air.

I plan on working on this over the next few weeks hopefully having a successful test flight sometimes next week and able to carry out surveys Thanksgiving weekend. Accompanying this has been the development of a website for the business showcasing some of the work I’ve done for other companies. If I can make enough money to support my family, I’ll call it a success. We will see.

Its all related to ballistics, even if it is a different field. Hopefully some people will enjoy seeing this project finished and flying, even if its a bit off the normal topic of the website.

As some have notices there is a concerted effort to move people from Facebook to Parlor. I have not decided whether or not I will make the change. There have been similar efforts in the not so distant past. They seem to be somewhat limited to the firearm’s community and has always been in response to Facebook’s crack downs on content. This time feels a bit different, there seems to be a larger movement, though it seems to be limited to those of a more conservative mindset. These campaigns do not typically work, as the reach on alternate platforms never comes close to what the reach on Facebook is. From a business aspect, if the people aren’t there, it doesn’t make sense to invest in it.

I am considering doing doing both a Parlor page and a Facebook page, I’ll provide and update next week on what we come up with. For now you can check us out on Facebook, Instagram or you can send us a email at jay@theballisticassistant.com. As always I welcome the feedback. If you have a new load to add to the database, you can do it here.

Stay Safe Out There!

The Ballistic Assistant

Today is election day, which for the United States happens once every two years. There is no secret that my political views are more conservative leaning, with that said I do try and be somewhat a-political in running the site. Hopefully, everyone has had a chance to go vote, make their voice heard, if not for the presidential election, for the down ticket candidates and ballot measures. In most States, that is what where your voice matters most.

We got to Texas early, we left mid day Sunday, drove all day, spent the night in New Mexico, and then drove all day Monday arriving to our destination about 2am Tuesday morning. We are beat, the last week has been a whirlwind of activity, culminating in about 24 to 26 hours of driving. We were fortunate, we fit everything we intended to. We have not even began to unpack, so who knows what survived and what did not. Either way we achieved our goal and got to our destination prior to the election results rolling out. I did not want to be caught out on the highways if chaos ensued.

In industry news, there has been quite a bit of noise made over the ATF’s recent determination letters and indications that they might be changing the rules, this time in regards to pistol braces, and pistols. A recent determination letter to Q, LLC which manufactures the Honey Badger pistol, stated that the pistol brace effectively was a stock and thus they were selling a SBR.

Controversy over the pistol brace is hardly a new thing. I am young enough to remember that the ATF issued a ruling stating that “Shouldering” a pistol brace is effectively redesigning the weapon into an Short Barrel Rifle. The ATF backed down from that interpretation, but honestly I have been waiting to see this issue come back up again, especially when the ATF reclassified Bump Stocks as machine guns.

Instead of focusing on the the Pistol Brace or on the Bump Stock, I think the real issue is more how the ATF is making determinations. This is clear as they have made indications they are revisiting what is constituting a “Pistol”. There has been some hay made over the definition of pistol, specifically that at pistol is designed to be held “By one hand”. However pistols and rifles are both often “held” by one hand, and “fired” using two hands. To you and I, this would be splitting hairs, but lawyers bread their butter by splitting such hairs.

This is the danger of broad bureaucratic powers that have been granted to the executive branch by the legislator. They are able to define and redefine how they interpret and enforce the laws at whim, and they are not bound by precedent. Groups pushing more firearm laws have been pushing bans on pistols which have a magazine outside of the pistol grip. On the national level these bans have failed, however I strongly suspect they have approached the attorneys at the ATF and are working to have the ATF interpret the law in a way that accomplishes, in part, the same thing, without having to go through the legislator.

It is my sincere hope that the 2nd Amendment Foundation, and other similar groups are able to push back against this behind the scenes effort. I strongly suspect the outcome of such efforts will be tied to the outcome of this election, which is not how it should be for something that is a constitutional Right.

Well, we are watching results come in. Over the next few weeks I’ll be working on another website, so I do not expect to have significant updates. As always we will keep top on of the Load Database, if you have some load results to submit, email me, jay@theballisticassistant.com. You can join the conversation on Facebook, or check out our latest doings over on the Instagram.

Stay Safe Out There

The Ballistic Assistant

We are one week out from the big move. The garage is looking cleaner, the house is looking emptier and we are counting down the days. It is going to be a big change for me, I’ve live in Utah for about 40% of my life. Basically all of my adult life, so moving to Texas is going to be a bit of an adjustment.

However this recent cold snap, has convinced me that maybe Texas will be a welcome change this time of year. Winter sure came on quick and it came on hard. It’s likely going to pick our route for us, while I am incline to go I-70 thru to Kansas and then hit I-35 south through Dallas, the recent winter storm is making me think perhaps going south through Arizona, New Mexico, and West Texas might be the better option. I’ve gone both routes, and I like sticking to the highways, but going over the continental divide towing a trailer, in a possible snow storm is not my preference. We will see.

We are trying to make a push to get moved prior to the election results being announced. I really do not want to have to drive through anywhere that people might be acting out there opinions over who won, and who lost. This means we will likely be hitting the road on Monday, and arriving to our destination east of College Station Tuesday evening. So there will likely be no update to the website next week, given that I wanted to take a moment to update it tonight.

In packing up much of my reloading stuff, I’ve come across many gems. One of them I posted to Instagram the other night. A Littleton Shotmaker. I bought it sometime in 2014, about the same time I bought my Benelli M4, and a Lee 1oz slug mold. The obvious thought here was that I was going to start churning out my own shotgun ammo. Well, I don’t think I loaded more then two or three dozen shells, and had several failures before I decided perhaps I’m not as into shot shell reloading as I am in metallic cartridge reloading.

To be fair I will likely revisit the shot shell reloading hobby sometime in the future. However I do not know that I’ll fire up this shot maker unless I have something close to an unlimited source of lead. I felt like it took me at least 1/2 hour for the thing to start making shot, and then another 1/2 for it to make “Good” shot, and by the end of an hour I had run 20lbs of lead through the thing, and I had a hell of a time figuring out how to QA/QC the darn stuff. Clearly I need to spend some more time working with it, but at the end of the day I just don’t shoot enough shotgun shells to justify it.

Someone once offered to trade me a Colt HBAR for the shot maker. At the time the shot maker was too new. I was still convinced I just needed to spend a bit more time with it to justify the expense, I pass it up. Now in hindsight, I wish I had not. If you are someone who is decent at casting, would like to take on a bit of a challenge, and has a lot of time and lead on hand, you might think about emailing me. I might be convinced to part with this for the right deal.

Everyone has that story, where they wanted to take things to the next level, and then found out, maybe they were fine with the level they were at. Another conversation I have had with more then a few people is how much time and to what level of precision to prep brass with. I used to be there, where I wanted to get everything just right. Ever single case needed the exact same overall length, the powder had to be weighed out to the exact same charge, and the flash holes had to be completely burr free. If a case looked out of place, I lost all confidence that the batch would shoot well.

Working in the industry cured me of that mentality, quick. Brass could be +/- .005in on case length, bullet seating could be off as much as .010in from spec, and the charge weight’s could very as much as a grain but yet everything produced tight clover leaf groups. It almost became a curiosity as to what parameters were the most important in order to get accurate ammunition. In the end, I decided what was most important was a quality bullet, a good rifle, and good rifleman.

While we bicker over what will tighten a group up by .1in, the reality is, that is really difficult to measure. Bench rest shooters sometimes times win or lose by .01in, but that is not reflective of what our rifles, and what we as shooters can accomplish in most scenarios. Do we need honestly need to fret about that .002″ or .003″ variation in case length? I would argue no, but I know there is one thing at play here that is hard to measure. It’s a mental game to many people, a form of OCD. If they do not feel they have taken every measure to produce the best ammunition they feel they can produce, then as they line up on target, a little voice in the back of their head will say “That extra .2gr of powder is going to send this shot high.” The shot inevitably will go high by a .25 MOA, and you will never forgive yourself, regardless if the flyer was resultant of a 0.1% difference in charge or not.

That is all I have for thoughts this week. Just a reminder, my new email address is jay@theballisticassistant.com, if you forget, jayandrew338@gmail.com still is live. If you have a new load to submit, the sheet it found here. If you feel like saying “Hi” shoot me an email or check us out on Facebook.

Stay Frosty out there, and as always, stay safe.

The Ballistic Assistant

Good Wednesday Evening,

Its been a busy few weeks. Three weeks ago I was unpacking things and planning for a reloading space. These past two weeks we’ve reversed course. Because we’re moving to Texas, I’ve had to develop four piles, the junk pile, the donate pile, the packing pile and the sell pile. Have to slim things down, renting a trailer is not cheap.

There has been some work in the background. I am in the works of starting a new business focusing on aerial surveying, and expanding some of the consulting work I’ve been doing for the metal/non metal mining industry. Part of this is developing a new website for the business which means I needed to upgrade the Bluehost account to accommodate a second website. This upgrade comes with an email domain. So I’ve changed my primary contact information for this website from jayandrew338@gmail.com to jay@theballisticassistant.com. It might take me a bit to update everything, but there will be a transition.

Both email accounts are live, so if you send something to either email you’ll get a response from me. I appreciate the feedback and the suggestions. Keep them coming.

Back to the topic of packing, how do you store your spent/prepped brass? For a long time I used gallon and 3 gallon bags. This worked for sometime until I had so much brass, I had to switch to tote. I bought a bunch of totes and tried to organize it all only to have to find space to put all the totes. The problem with plastic bags is the rip too easy, and the problem with totes is they take up a lot of space.

I’ve decided to use my vacuum sealer to store brass. The vacuum packing is overkill, but what isn’t is the the thickness of the bags. They are a bit thicker, and you can seal the brass in. The bags are easy to stack, and you can pick up the bag without fear of it ripping. No I don’t actually suck the air out of the bag, but I do press it out and then use the heat sealing function to seal the end of the bag. I know it’s a pain to open a bag and not be able to reseal it, but for brass that you don’t load for very often, or excess brass that you’ll rotate in at some point, it does seem to be the best of both worlds.

As I’ve been packing, I was able to find my stash of primers. As such, I am open to trades, I know what I got so no haggling. I’m looking for a Barret M107 with accompanying suppressor. No suppressor no deal. 😛

Thanks for the messages of support. We are looking forward to this move and the new challenges and opportunities that it will bring. As always you can reach out to us at Facebook, check us out on Instagram, or now email us at jay@theballisticassistant.com.

Stay Safe Out There!

The Ballistic Assistant

Good Monday Evening!

2020 has proven to be a crazy year, and as you know I have not been spared. A broken ankle, a job change, a move, and now a second move. Yes, just as I was getting settled in, we received some bad news. My wife’s father is not doing so well, so we have decided to move closer to her parents to help care for him.

This will be quite the move for us. We are currently located in Cedar City, Utah. We’ll be moving to someplace in eastern Texas. This means we have to downsize quite a bit. Since we want to be down there for the holidays, the timeline is a bit compressed. Obviously this is not something I planned on or was expecting but the last week has been a whirlwind.

All of this means I will be slow providing any sort of updates until after I can get everyone moved. If loads are submitted I’ll make sure they get uploaded to the spreadsheet promptly, however there won’t be much else I can do.

As always, you can reach out to me at jayandrew338@gmail.com. If you want to submit a load the submission form is here. You can check me out on Instagram here, or you can join the conversation on our Facebook page.

Stay safe and good luck to all those hunters!

The Ballistic Assistant

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

Well this past week has been a crazy one but with some good developments.

First off, I know most hunting seasons have either started or are starting. So I wish everyone a safe and bountiful hunt. I know many people who’ve been using this social distancing and isolation as an excuse to develop new hunting loads. I look forward to hearing how they performed in the field.

Secondly, the big firearms news of the week is Remington companies being sold off as part of the bankruptcy. When it comes to ammunition, the most interesting news is Remington Ammunition being acquired by Vista Outdoors, and Barnes Bullets being acquired by Sierra Bullets. Since I’ve been somewhat close to the fire on both organizations, I am curious to see how this affects both companies long term.

Barnes Bullets is most well known for their TSX and TTSX line of copper solid bullets. To my knowledge Sierra Bullets never came out with a copper solid, further more Sierra does not manufacture it’s own ammunition. Barnes Bullets does both. While Barnes used Sierra bullets in a few of it’s loads, it more often used the Match Burner bullets. It will be interesting to see if Sierra allows the Match Burner to continue as it directly competes with Sierra Match King line of bullets. I’m not saying they’ll kill the brand any time soon, but I’ve seen it happen before.

One of the bummer things to come out of this for Barnes is that it looks like they had bid to be their own company. Basically purchasing themselves from Remington, I’m not sure if it was to be an employee owned, but I do know that many Barnes employees had wanted to be employee owned business.

The purchase of Remington Ammunition by ATK can only be a good thing for the company. I’ve been to the Lonoke Arkansas facility a few times. Much of the equipment has been rebuilt many times over, and the plant is in need of an manufacturing update. Remington had attempted to do this, but had only updated their 9mm manufacturing line, and it was not without it’s own issues.

The last bit of news is the progress I’ve made on the garage. Ever bit closer, honestly I feel bad not devoting more time to the website, but in a way getting that taken care of will allow me to produce the content that I’ve been wanting to all along. So bare with me a bit longer and we’ll get things sorted.

Of course there is the impending Supreme Court battle, but I’ll stay out of that…

If you’d like to submit a load to the database, download the form here. Regardless of what I am doing when I receive the email, I will review the entry and will add it to the database right away. No new loads this week, but there will be some soon.

As always you can reach me at jayandrew338@gmail.com. I enjoy the emails and feedback I receive and will always respond as best I can. Alternatively you can follow us on Facebook, or Instagram to see what we are up to.

Stay Safe Out There!

The Ballistic Assistant

Good Monday Evening!

I have been working diligently to get my garage converted over to a handloading and bullet making workspace. This involves a lot of unpacking, organizing, and sorting through boxes of tools, components, and miscellaneous junk. I have posted pictures of the progress on the websites Instagram page.

Much of the time I would normally spend on the website, or it’s associated projects, has been spent trying to get things set up. Admittedly I am somewhat slow as I can be particular about how my tools are organized. For this reason I have not made much progress on some of the CAD work I was working on earlier. We’ll come back around to that soon enough.

In the meantime I’ve been working on a workbench for the new space. I’ve contemplated purchasing one ready made, but I also enjoy building these types of things even if I’m not much of a wood worker. I’ve been working through the design on Solid Works.

It really doesn’t take much of a bench to reload on. Actually you don’t need a bench at all. I’ve mounted my Lee Classic press on the top of a 4×4 post with a makeshift base. I’ve also repurposed some inexpensive desks. For the most part the forces required for loading are low, and while you can certainty break apart a flimsy desk I found its usually sufficient for reloading.

Swaging is another story. The large +70lb press needs a sturdy workbench to support it. While most of the forces of swaging are contained within the press, you have a longer lever and can stress a bench more then a standard reloading press, especially when drawing down jackets. Still, the bench as designed, is likely overkill. I’m still working through it, and given that I plan it to be a free standing bench, I.E not attached to the wall I’m reluctant to put a backing on it.

For those who are interested in the drone project, there has not been much of an update on that for sometime. However I got my hands on an Aeromao Talon. This was purchased by the company I am working for to conduct aerial surveying and mapping. There has been some issues, and it uses the Mission Planner software. I do plan on doing a write up detailing my impressions of this more budget fix wing mapping solution. The package we bought was still $15k, but it is not the $25k the Ebee mapping solution was.

That is pretty much all I have for this week. As I work to get the garage set up for reloading I’ll continue to post updates on the Instagram page. If you’d like to join the discussion you can check out our Facebook page. Of course if you have comments, questions, or suggestions please feel free to email me at jayandrew338@gmail.com.

We do not have any updates to the load database this week, if you have an entry you’d like to submit please fill out the submission form located here.

As always, Stay Safe and Have Fun!

The Ballistic Assistant

Good Monday Evening,

I’ll start off by saying there was no updates over the past two weeks. I’ve been quite busy unpacking, organizing tool boxes, cleaning up the work space in an effort to settle into the new place. Last week was Labor Day and we spent much of the holiday in South Eastern Utah admiring the landscape there. As such I did not send out an update letter.

Of course the world moves along despite me taking a vacation. Industry news of note, Remington is reportedly selling some of it’s companies including Barnes Bullets, which is located in Mona, Utah. Barnes Bullets is most well know for introducing the TSX and TTSX copper monolithic bullets which expand and nearly always retain 100% of it’s weight. Barnes was the crown jewel of Remington’s Ammunition business. When Barnes was acquired by Remington, it was largely left alone, which is likely the primary reason quality never suffered. Unfortunately this was not true of other companies that Remington acquired.

Western Powders announced a recall which I have included below.

Recalls are expensive, when I was working in the industry, a recall announcement cost the company on average of $1 Million dollars. So if Western is announcing a recall there is probably a good reason for it. Check you lot numbers if you use this power. I will likely be working on a catalog of reloading component recalls in the near future. This recall and many others will be posted there.

One last interesting piece of news I ran across today. The military apparently shot down a cruise missile with at 155mm Howitzer. Of course pictures of a salty old Sergeant calling out Kentucky windage immediately comes to mind, but that is quickly overshadowed by the many variables and complexity of the math required to pull off such a shot with any sort of repeatability.

The reported velocity of the round was Mach 5 or roughly 5,750fps. the rounds are hyper velocity projectiles which are light weight and are guided, I.E capable of making course corrections mid flight. Of course I want more details, like chamber pressure, and barrel life. Those are not forth coming.

The maximum theoretical velocity of a bullet is ~6,000fps. So 5,750fps is approaching what can be realistically achieved with the current generation chemical propellants. It is something of a remarkable feat in marksmanship, even if it’s a computer doing the work.

That is it for the updates this week. I do not have any updates to the Load Database this week. If you do some testing and want to share the results, download the submission form and email them to me at jayandrew338@gmail.com. If you’d like to see my progress on unpacking my garage and setting up my workspace, go to our Instagram page. If you want to join the conversation, you can always check us out on Facebook.

Thanks a bunch for Subscribing and Stay Safe Out there!

The Ballistic Assistant