Today is Memorial Day. Let’s take a moment to remember those who gave all so that we may remain free people. It is a shame that this holiday has become so commercialized, and that people are more apt to look for the “Memorial Day Sales” than to take a moment to pause and think of those men and women who gave everything.
Website Updates and News
In terms of website updates, we have one! The new burn rate chart is finally live [LINK].. We included a few new powders that have been released over the past three years. Mainly Hodgdon powders.
Time at the Bench
The last few weeks I have been working on getting caught up on my reloading. I had a large pail of collected brass, some that I shot myself, some that I picked during range trips. I have been cleaning that, then running it through a decapping die and cleaning it some more. I really don’t like putting dirty brass on my presses.
I have loaded quite a bit of 45 ACP and have switched my Dillon 550 over to load 9mm. I think this is the first time I’ve loaded anything else besides 45 ACP on that press. Switching over a Dillon 550 is not hard, it is straightforward it just takes a little bit of time to get everything swapped over and the dies adjusted right.
As far as rifle loading, right now I have been working through the backlog of 30-06 brass I have collected. Mainly I am loading for my FN Mauser in 30-06. I’d like to spend more time shooting that rifle and getting it dialed in. For the load I am running 44.0 grains of N140 under a 168-grain Sierra MatchKing.
I hear Marc is working on some loads for his 45-70. Last time I helped him work up a load he did me a favor and let me test the loads in his Marlin Lever gun. I’ve shot 45-70 before, I had not shot “that” 45-70, and I decided I didn’t much care to shoot it again.
Industry News
Progress of the Hearing Protection Act
The obvious buzz in the industry is the excitement over the possibility of suppressors being removed from the NFA. The Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 152 / S. 494) cleared the House on May 24, 2025, and is now in the Senate. Now is the time everyone should be on their phones calling their respective Senators to keep this legislation in the bill passed by the House. I tend to be pessimistic about stuff like this, while a new important milestone that has been reached there is much politicking to be done. Still, I have a few guns I would love to “accessorize” with a can.
Adjacent to this is the blowback the Silencer Central is getting. I personally have been slow to get upset over this. Brandon Maddox, the CEO Silencer Central and Banish suppressors, gave an interview to Tom Gresham of Gun Talk which aired, Sunday the 18th. The CEO laid it all out, and I found his explanation about the accusations credible. There is no doubt that if suppressors are removed from the NFA just about any company that makes suppressors is going to see a demand so great that we may see a new industry bubble.
It has been my observation that the Gun Owners of America (GOA) has a tendency to want to make a lot of noise and then fundraise over it. They are not beyond taking on other gun right’s groups if those groups do not take the same 100% No Compromise approach that GOA champions. After reviewing a lot of online commentary, and listening to the interview on Gun Talk, I truly believe this is a manufactured narrative pushed by GOA for the purposes of stirring the pot and then fundraising off emotions. Boy, do we love a good conspiracy theory, and we can often be very quick to eat our own before the full story can be released. Moving on.
ATF settles with Rare Breed over Forced Reset Triggers
Rare Breed, the company behind the Force Reset Trigger, reached a settlement with the ATF in May 2025. While details are limited, it appears the ATF has dropped its classification of the FRT as a machine gun, though stipulations remain regarding use in handguns. This is a stunning about face that I don’t think anyone saw coming.
For those who are not familiar with Force Reset triggers, it still complies with the definition of “Semi-Automatic” as it fires one round per actuation of the trigger. The hammer and sear are mechanically returned to a non-firing state prior to being tripped by the shooter and fundamentally work different from auto sears. As a shooter you are able to increase the rate of fire and prevents you from getting a “Dead Trigger” because you have overrun the bolt. The ATF had sought to classify these as a machinegun conversion.
With the this new Trump Administration we have the largest swings in governmental attitude towards the 2nd amendment in my lifetime, and quite possibly since the turn of the 20th century.
As always, my concern here is when this political pendulum swings the other way, how many of these changes are going to withstand the test of time in five years or ten years? Then what will be the state response? As we have seen, many states will pass laws for what I chalk up purely to spite.
Legislation Efforts to Ban Glock Pistols
To reinforce the point there are many efforts in states across the nation in restricting or banning firearms. This is probably the most notable in California where they are seeking to ban any firearm that can be readily converted into a machine gun.
This is mostly targeting Glock pistols as there has been a surge in the availability of so- called Glock Switches (Pictured Right) . Regardless of if you are a Glock fan or not (personally they are not my favorite) it is admirable that the basic design has not changed much since the initial release of the Glock 17. The means that for most of the Glock models’ parts are interchangeable. Several states have filed lawsuits, claiming that Glock refuses to “fix” their pistols, so that “Glock” switches become irrelevant.
As per usual, these laws seek to make something that is already illegal (it is illegal to modify a firearm to fire more than one round per press of the trigger) to be more illegal. Because making things more illegal, always seems to solve the problem *Sarcasm*. With California, you can count on them to try this, it will be challenged legally, and it will go to the 9th Circuit Court, which then will likely rule in favor of California, and it will be a crapshoot if that makes its way to the Supreme Court. Other States would have to do a similar thing and we would like need a circuit court to rule the opposite of the 9th circuit. A process that takes half a decade or more.
Never mind that the Glock Pistol is the definition of “Common Use” as outlined in the Heller decision.
New Stuff
For those who use QuickLOAD. The 4/29/2025 QuickLOAD update is available now. You can find that here. This updated amends the Cutting-Edge Bullet Database, however like all QuickLOAD updates it will update all the databases with the most current information. If you load a lot of Cutting-Edge Bullets, or you are a few updates behind it is probably worth looking at this update.
Weatherby has launched a new line of rifles: the Model 307, which is compatible with Remington 700 accessories. This is something I can really get behind, anytime you have a manufacturer back a design, whether it is an MSR or bolt gun, I think it is a good thing. It creates more demand for after-market accessories and this benefits everyone. It is also nice to see Weatherby offering just the action for those guys who like to build rifles.
Springfield Armory has launched a new chassis version of their 2020 bolt action and have called it the Heat Seaker. Marc’s first impression of this was “Who came up with that name?”. Chassis bolt guns have become popular, especially with the PRS crowd. It’s the flavor of the week right now, no doubt it’s a quality rig. For the price point it better be.
Lastly I wanted to say thank you to all those who wrote in to welcome me back. It was not something I was expecting, and I was grateful to receive so many messages of support.
That’s what I have this week.
Jay
Hello, Jay, Thank you for your insightful remembrance of those who never made it back home. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.
also appreciate your insights regarding the Hearing Protection Act.
Those of us who enjoy the shooting sports need to be mindful that rational minds must prevail if we are going to preserve our integrity and credibility. Those entities, both inside and outside the industry who can see beyond their bottom line and are prone to extreme comments that play on human emotions are apparentlyu blind to the fact that we all represent each other when we are public facing. Fomenting peoples’ emotions seems to be a common ploy to facilitate their self-serving agenda. As a responsioble gun owner, I represent you, and you represent me. if I protray an image the feeds the agendas of those who are dedicated to removing or harming our 2A rights as United States Citizens, then shame on me. We advoc ates of responsible and rational gun ownership have to be very diligent in “doing it right”.I appreciate the ppoints yuou made, Jay. Please keep them coming.
Thanks Don I appreciate the support.
I 100% agree, each of us are advocates of our community. The way we treat others and the way we represent ourselves can either help or harm the community as a whole. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the fight that we forget that we must have the support of people who are not part of our community. No Compromise sounds like a great slogan, but that attitude more often then not, will shutdown the conversation.