280 Ackley Improved Alert

A few years back Nosler decided to bring the 280 Ackley Improved into their list of custom brass and rifles. In order to do this they wanted to take the 280 AI to SAAMI and have it standardized.

Part of the process of standardizing the cartridge was for Nosler to see if other manufacturers had worked with it. They found that Remington had been chambering the 280 in their custom shop. Now here is where the alert comes in. Remington’s Custom Shop chose to shorten the headspace on the venerable design by .014″. When Nosler sent drawings to SAAMI they picked up that number as well.

So by a vote of the members of SAAMI the commercial established specifications for the 280 Ackley were changed from the original design.  The reason reported for this change is that Remington believed it was necessary in order for factory 280 Remington ammunition to be fireformed safely in an Ackley chamber.  Apparently they did not know that Ackley was the single most successful wildcatter of the 20th century.  While he was not the first guy to create and “improved” design, he was the first to standardize the idea and create a safe method of fireforming factory ammo in improved chambers.

Ackley’s method was simple, he simply used a headspace gauge .004″ shorter than the factory case.  This shorter headspace assured that the cartridge would be held tight between the bolt face and the junction of the neck and shoulder of the chamber during fire forming.  Ackley’s method worked fine for more than 50 years before these alterations to his design were made.

Bottom line for anyone who now works with the 280 Ackley Improved you must decide which version of the chamber you will use; the SAAMI or the Ackley; you cannot safely use the Nosler brass in  a traditional Ackley chamber, although it would still be safe to fire form factory ammo in a SAAMI/Nosler chamber.

Prairie Dogs and Norma Components

At the end of May I was invited to attend a prairie dog shoot in Northern Wyoming, near Devil’s Tower.  Norma was the host for this event and much of the powder burned and other components were supplied by Norma.

Shots were available at just about any range you want.  One pair of shooters were there specifically to shoot long range they were concentrating on the dogs over 500 yards.  The longest confirmed hit was over 1200 yards (don’t laugh, it took a lot of shots to walk that one in.)  The equipment that these boys used is highly specialized.

One of the guns we shot on the hunt was a 6BR Norma.  The Norma designation refers to the specifications of the chamber that are designed for use with Norma Brass.  They clearly are capable of good accuracy.  Richard Folsland is the Reloading Editor for Gun World Magazine, this was his 6mm Norma BR rifle.  He showed us some groups from is load development, ranging from .287″ to .452″ with an average of a little under .400″.

The rifle is a Remington 700 left hand in an HS Precision Stock, McGowen Precision Barrel LLC provided the barrel for this custom rifle.  It was put together as a varmint rifle rather than a BR competition gun, yet it was easily minute of ground squirel out to at least 300 yards.

If you would like to read more about this gun, check out the Novemer 2009, Gun World Magazine.

Update to “Stop the Stupidity”

It pays for grassroots to make noise.  That combined with the efforts of the NRA-ILA have reversed the DoD decision to suspend the sale of once fired brass.

On March 17th, 2009,  DoD  confirmed the lifting of the suspension to pro-Second Amendment United States Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.), who sent the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) a joint letter vigorously opposing the suspension, on the grounds that it had “an impact on small businesses who sell reloaded ammunition utilizing these fired casings, and upon individual gun owners who purchase spent military brass at considerable cost savings for their personal use.”

In short, good news, problem solved.  Never hesitate to speak, it made a difference here.

For more details see this story:  http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=12244

 

http://www.nraila.org/News/Read/NewsReleases.aspx?ID=12244

Stop the Stupidity!

You can kiss cheap brass “Good-Bye” or this is one time that we as gun owners can raise our voices and make a difference.  Call your Senator, your Congressman, and I would hit the economic development folks in your state.  Point out the impending loss of jobs at a time when all jobs are highly important.  Don’t be afraid to tell your Governor that you are worried about the loss of this source of brass because Law Enforcement agencies rely upon it indirectly through their ammo suppliers, for practice ammunition.

The military can sell reloadable brass for $2.00 per pound. Brass that has been destroyed for reloading purposes and value sells for about 35 cents per pound. So the DLA is expecting taxpayers to pay DoD extra to make reloadable brass unavailable to civilian gun owners and Law Enforcement.

Someone in the Obama Admin.  has decided that it makes more sense to waste $1.65 per pound than to continue having well trained police officers nationwide.   By the way, has anyone considered the cost of demilling this brass so that it can be sold at a loss.   Of course the real objective is to make it that much harder for the law abiding gun owner to afford to continue his/her sport, and long term to disarm the American Public.

Senator Max Baucus is Chairman of the  Senate Finance Committee. He could apply appropriate pressure upon the Pentagon to force a quick reversal of this wasteful policy.  Baucus’s former Chief of Staff, Jim Messina, now Deputy Chief of Staff at the White House, dude… Make a Call!

I recommend you communicate with the Baucus, Tester and Rehberg staffers who are tasked to firearms issues. They are:

Baucus – “Heather O’Loughlin” heather_o’loughlin@baucus.senate.gov

Tester – “Lillstrom, Alpha” <Alpha_Lillstrom@tester.senate.gov>

Rehberg – “Abra Belke” <abra.belke@mail.house.gov>

Tell them we simply don’t accept the military destroying perfectly good brass that could be sold into the civilian market for private and commercial reloading, which also affect Law Enforcement agencies.

You can find the addresses and e-mails of your own senators and congressmen by going to www.senate.gov and www.house.gov.   Both pages have locator aids at the top of the page.

Below are some related stories.  As usual there is no reporting of this in the mainstream media.

http://jpfo.org/alerts03/alert20090313.htm

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2009/03/13/government-ordered-destruction-of-all-military-spent-brass/

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207438/posts

DOD Surplus is wasting Money!

Do not write to the liquidator, write to your local editors about the waste of valuable resouces that can help reduce the negative cash flow that is government.  Tell them how this hurts secondary industries like companies the load commercial ammo for law enforcement agencies, and the public.  There is currently a serious shortage of brass and ammo, making this resource more valuable.   Speak out about this wasteful and obviously politically driven decision.

There is an easy way for you to contact local Editors, Click here to learn more.

From:  SurplusNews@govliquidation.com

SurplusNews@govliquidation.com
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2009 5:34 PM
To: rlepage@usa.net
Subject: Important Notice to Scrap Metal Buyers!

http://www.govliquidation.com

Dear Valued Customer:

Please take a moment to note important changes set forth by the Defense Logistics Agency:

Recently it has been determined that fired munitions of all calibers, shapes and sizes have been designated to be Demil code B. As a result and in conjunction with DLA’s current Demil code B policy, this notice will serve as official notification which requires Scrap Venture (SV) to implement mutilation as a condition of sale for all sales of fired munitions effective immediately. This notice also requires SV to immediately cease delivery of any fired munitions that have been recently sold or on active term contracts, unless the material has been mutilated prior to sale or SV personnel can attest to the mutilation after delivery. A certificate of destruction is required in either case.

Thank you,

DOD Surplus
15051 N Kierland Blvd # 300
Scottsdale, AZ 85254

Women’s History Month

The Cato Institute pays homage to Three Women Who Resurrected Classical Liberalism

 

Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand

For those of you who may not know it, Classical Liberalism, is the foundation upon which this country was founded.  The tennants of classical liberalism includes the importance of human rationality, individual property rights, natural rights, the protection of civil liberties, individual freedom from restraint, equality under the law, constitutional limitation of government, free markets, and a gold standard to place fiscal constraints on government as exemplified in the writings of John Locke, Adam Smith, David Hume, David Ricardo, Voltaire, Montesquieu and others.

Three Women who in the early 1940s unabashedly defended individualism and free-market capitalism in an age that widely considered American capitalism dead and socialism the future. In 1943, Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane and Ayn Rand published three groundbreaking books (The God of the Machine, The Discovery of Freedom and The Fountainhead), which laid the foundations of the modern libertarian movement.

The Messiah is a Liah!

CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, reacting to yesterday’s remarks by Obama’s Attorney General Eric Holder that the president will seek to reinstate the ban on semi-automatic firearms, Gottlieb said  “We warned America that Obama’s ‘support’ for the Second Amendment was empty rhetoric,” he stated, “and now Holder’s disclosure has confirmed it. Obama was lying, and now gun rights may be dying.”

 U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s response to a reporter’s question on weapons’ regulations, Holder said, “Well, as President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to re-institute the ban on the sale of assault weapons. I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.”

Holder refused to speculate when regulations would move forward, likely no law would be passed, instead a decree will be handed down from mount Olympus.   “There are obviously a number of things that are — that have been taking up a substantial amount of [Obama's] time, and so, I’m not sure exactly what the sequencing will be,”  Holder said.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF)  in response to Attorney General Eric Holder’s comments on Feb. 25, 2009, about reinstating the assault weapons ban, NSSF issued a press release reminding Congress and all Americans that such a ban would result in a loss of jobs, have no effect on reducing crime and would deprive millions of law-abiding gun owners of their Constitutional right to own the firearm of their choice.

History is a good teacher.  We know that the Clinton Gun Ban had ZERO effect on crime in the United States, or Mexico for that matter.  There is no reason to reinstate this restrictive and useless ban except to limit gun ownership.   Assault weapons as defined in the Clinton Ban were involved in less than 1% of homicides before the assault weapons ban took effect in 1994. The same is true as of 1998. (1)    As of 1998, about 13% of homicides involve knives, 5% involve bludgeons, and 6% are committed with hands and feet. (1)    The Clinton administration prosecuted 4 people in 1997 and 4 people in 1998 for violating the assault weapons ban. (2)

(1)    “1998 NRA Fact Card.” Viewed in January of 1999 on the National Rifle Association web site, http://www.nra.org/

(2)    Heston, Charlton. “Truth and Consequences.” 1999.

Heller Decision is Continues Making a Difference.

The Village Council of  Winnetka, Illinois voted unanimously to repeal the Council’s 20-year-old handgun ban.  This is the third Chicago area township to drop an unconstitutional complete ban on handguns following the U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer in the District of Columbia vs. Heller case.  The Court held that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right to be exercised by any American who wishes to.

Chicago itself is still defying the decisson and is in a court battle with the NRA.  It seem Mayor Richard Daley would rather waste taxpayer money fighting a loosing battle than allow American citizens to exercise God given rights.  My favorite quote on this subject comes from Steve Chapman who wrote for “America’s Frist Freedom” an NRA publication Feb. 2009 issue,  “The city, however, notes that the nation’s capital is a federal enclave, and that the court did not say states must respect the Second Ammendment.  That’s true.  The court’s ruling also did not say that China is in Asia, which doesn’t make it part of South America.”

What part of “Shall not be infringed” do they not understand?

NRA-ILA offers a great tool to help you write to your local Editor.

Check out this link below, the site allows you to easily locate contact information for your local media.  Sometimes I think people hold back from writing the Editor simply because they don’t know where to send the letter.  Well, here you go:

http://www.capwiz.com/nra/dbq/media/

Gunsmith’s Career Fair, update

The job fair includes seminars so gunsmiths attending will pick up valuable information no matter how the job search turns out.  This is the only job fair I know of that gives gunsmiths access to these well known premium employers all in one location.

Seminars for 2009:

Which Job Opportunity is Right For You?

Creating Additional Markets for Your Skills

Marketing Your Business Through local and firearms industry media

Generating Sales & Traffic With Reloading

Other seminars by the key industry organizations, and participating employers are in development. In addition, NRA and NSSF have signed on as sponsors of the April 17th breakfast (NRA) and lunch (NSSF).

There is now a web site devoted to this job fair. 

www.gunsmithcareerfair.com