B.L.U.F.
First article about choosing powders. There is another article coming on the same topic, covering different parts.
(1500 words)

I had been “gifted” a box of reloading supplies. This was a bunch of 30-30 bullets, some miscellaneous things, and 200+ .45 ACP cases. This sat on a shelf for years before my friend mentioned that one of her co-workers was selling his reloading press. I offered to buy it.

Today I know that I over paid. What got was a Lee Single stage press. Not enough for me to reload, but enough for me to at least get started. Along with all of those .45ACP cases was a set of dies for .45ACP. Maybe two sets. I know I have two sets of .45ACP dies now.

I decided that I was going to learn how to reload to make some range candy.

My history with guns started very late in life. I managed to sell a domain name for a boat load of money. That money went to numerous things. That included a 7.62×39, 7.62×51, 5.56×45, 9×19, and a .45ACP. Along with each of those, I purchased 2000 rounds of each caliber.

I was down to around 500 rounds of .45ACP and made the reloading plunge.

So there I am, with numerous tools and no idea how to use them. Since my press said “Lee” on it, I purchased the Lee reloading manual. I still have that book.

I read the section on how to reload twice and then went shopping for what I needed to complete my first round of reloading.

According to that book, I needed:

• Bullets
• Primer
• Powder
• Calibers
• Powder measuring device

Do NOT use this list. It is incomplete, in my opinion.

The measuring device they recommended was a volumetric device. Little calibrated scoops. Each scope would measure out a fixed amount of powder, by volume.

The Lee people had taken many samples of different powders to find their density. Once they knew the density of a powder, they could translate a load given in grains into a volume in cubic centimeters. If a powder was consistent enough in density, and the safe charge could be made with one of their powder measure scoops, they would give that measure in their recipes.

They are so confident in this method that each(?) die set from Lee comes with a powder measure scoop that should work with some powders for that caliber. And they have that reloading information with their die.

As you can tell from this tale, I bought into this. The cost of the entire set of scoops was less than a scale.

Having decided I was going to reload this way, I had a set of powders that “worked” with this method. I went to my LGS and looked through all the powders they had until I found one that matched the list of powders I had recipes for. That happened to be Accurate #5.

I brought it home, primed 5 cases, put powder in 50 cases. Checked the powder level in all the cases, then seated the bullets in each case.

All the rounds worked. I had successfully reloaded 50 .45ACP cartridges!

Why did I choose that powder?

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B.L.U.F.
What is the difference between an as applied challenge and a facial challenge to law?
(1550 words)

In Antonyuk v Hochul, the plaintiffs challenged parts of New York’s CCIA on facial grounds. This is to say, they claimed that the challenged legislation is always unconstitutional.

For example, it has been established that a ban on all handguns is unconstitutional. There is no case in which it would be considered constitutional. The state argues around the fringes, if a ban on all handguns is unconstitutional, how about a ban on some guns?

Consider a different civil right, a right protected by the constitution, the right to assemble for free speech.

In my town we have a commons. It has a pretty gazebo and during the summer months they will have open air concerts and art festivals and discussions and all sort of assemblies. If I want to show up and start playing my fiddle (badly) at the gazebo, there is no issue.

On the other hand, if I would like to have an ‘event’, I need a permit.

The first question asked is, “Does this touch fingers with a core civil right?” The answer to that is an unequivocal “YES”.

Since the proposed conduct, having an event on the public commons, implicates the plain text of the First Amendment, it meets the first prong of a facial challenge.

Permitting is well established, so only a lawyer interested in fleecing me would take the case, but assume it got into court.
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B.L.U.F.
This is the long-awaited opinion from the Second Circuit court regarding the CCIA challenges. This panel was anti-gun, there is nothing negative in the opinion that is surprising.

What is surprising is that we won even a little bit.

The plaintiffs will either request an en banc rehearing or take it to the Supreme Court. I believe that the Antonyuk case is at final judgement at the district level. If that is the situation, then this case is ripe to be heard by the Supreme Court.
(3100 words)

The Second Circuit Court has finally issued their opinion on New York state’s Bruen tantrum. It isn’t great.

If you are applying for a CCW in New York, you no longer have to give social media information and access, private property no defaults to “carry ok” rather than “gun free zone”, and Pastor Spencer and his church members can carry in religious locations.

Everything else seems to still stand.

Background

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B.L.U.F.
An introduction to how to mess up big time when reloading. Remember, don’t trust me. Read the instructions in your reloading guides, your press and die instructions. Follow their instructions.
(2400 words)

The wonderful thing about reloading is the amount of control you can get over the process of creating the “perfect” load for your firearm. The negative thing about reloading is that a mistake can send you to the hospital, or worse, the morgue.

Every “regular” cartridge has a SAAMI specification for it. The SAAMI specification includes the dimensions of the chamber and the pressures for each cartridge. The SAAMI specifications also include how to perform tests.

In general, we do not have the equipment to perform the tests that would give us objective insight into what our loads are doing. Everything we have to work with is measured after the bullet leaves the barrel. This includes velocity, grouping, and other objective measurements of the results of our load.

Unfortunately, there are many aspects of the reloading process that can change velocity or groupings.

What we cannot measure is the pressure inside the chamber. This is the critical measurement.

Here are a few of the pressure measurements from the SAAMI specifications.

When we purchase a “modern” firearm, we are told that the firearm can safely chamber and fire rounds that meet SAAMI specifications. In the US, that is done by manufacturers not wanting to be sued.

When the gun banners scream about “only gun manufactures are protected from being sued”, they are lying. If you purchase a modern firearm and use only reputable ammunition, and that firearm “explodes”, the manufacturer can be sued. And rightly so.

In other countries, they go a bit further.

Proofing

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We have another 2A case going to conference with the Supreme Court. It will be sent to conference on January 5th. This is a challenge out of Illinois regarding how the Illinois supreme court is a bought and paid for political entity of the governor.

We are waiting for word from the Supreme Court on the Bevis v. Naperville application for emergency relief. That might even be out by the end of the day.

I hope you have been enjoying my data dump regarding reloading. There have been some great comments. Thank you to all that have interacted.

Please leave us a comment.

December 7th, 1941. A day that will live in infamy.

B.L.U.F.
The state filed their reply in opposition to having the Seventh Circuit Court’s denial of an injunction on the Illinois gun and magazine ban overturned.

This was done on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket. Justice Barrett required a response from the state, by 1700 Wed. Which they did file.

The application and reply will be distributed to the Court, which will issue a response in the coming days. I actually expect something by Friday. The court will either grant an injunction or deny the injunction. There maybe an opinion issued with that order.

We live in interesting times.
(2000 words)

History

In September 2022, Robert Bevis and the National Association of Gun Rights filed suit in the Northern District of Illinois federal District court. This was a challenge of the Naperville Municipal Code “assault weapon” ban.

By December, the District court had stayed the implementation of the “assault weapon” ban.

In January 2023, the plaintiffs (good guys) and amended their original challenge to include the state law, PICA.

In February, District Judge Virginia Kendall stated that … although the plaintiffs have standing to bring this lawsuit, they are unlikely to succeed on the merits of their claim because Naperville’s Ordinance and the Protect Illinois Communities Act are consistent with the Second Amendment’s text, history, and tradition.

Virginia profoundly erred when she ruled:

The plaintiffs appealed to the Seventh Circuit court.
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