If you are concerned with the dimensions of the reamer you will be using to cut your next chamber, you need to understand more about prints.  Like many things in life, people take some things for granted about chamber prints. When I started out in gunsmithing in 1981 nobody ever pointed out what I am going to tell you here. In truth, I was totally ignorant of tolerances (like most of the shooting public). The industry standards saved my bacon until I understood more. I learned it the hard way, experience, mistakes, asking questions and lots of reading. I am blessed with a mechanical mind ..read more

The Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) has chosen the American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI), as their exclusive Professional Gunsmithing Training Provider. “The AGI Gunsmithing Course is part of a new and unique, five-tier internal staff development program to increase the skill level of our members in the Design, Function, and Repair (DF&R) of Pistols, Revolvers, Shotguns, Rimfires, and Centerfire Rifles,” states Greg Raines, CMP Chief Commercial Officer. “Now, our team members who come to work for us and become Certified Armorers, will also have the opportunity to become Certified Gunsm ..read more

In 2005 Fred Zeglin in conjunction with LR Books publish Fred’s first book, “Wildcat Cartridges”. That title was created by the publisher in an effort to seek more direct market appeal for the book. Right before the Introduction is a leaf page that has the real title, “Reloader’s Handbook of Wildcat Cartridge Design”. That first Edition is now collectable. it was a hardbound 8.5″x11″ format. There was a second printing of the book in paperback 9″x6″ to fill demand when the first printing became unavailable. Gun Digest became interested in the title and Zeglin agreed to assemble a Second Editi ..read more

Misfires in bolt action rifles can happen for many reasons.  Having a working knowledge of how a bolt assembly functions and how ammunition must match the tolerances of the chamber are essential for gunsmith’s. Left, primer shows weak strike, Center, normal fired primer, Right, primer was fired in a gun with headspace the case was forced to forward in the chamber and under pressure that brass stretched, re-seating the primer causing he flange appearance. I use the K.I.S.S. method for diagnosing mechanical problems.  If you have never heard of that, it stands for “Keep It Simple Stupi ..read more

Fred Zeglin I met Ken Howell back in the late 90’s.  I bought a copy of this book from him in 1998 which he numbered and signed for me, NO. 627.  As a gunsmith and owner of 4D Reamer Rentals I used that book hard.  It has been a reference in my Shop/Office ever since. Ken was an interesting guy.  We talked about cartridges and guns when he stopped in Casper, WY while passing through.  That was long before I picked up my pen seriously.  I remember one thing he said that stuck with me when I started writing.  “You don’t find time to write, you make time to wri ..read more

Yes, it’s on the way…    How do we know?  Well that and the fact that SAAMI has published the specifications already.  The same print from SAAMI comments that a 32 grain bullet will go 4100 feet per second (fps).  Like the 22 Nosler the 20 is based on the 6.8 SPC case or 30 Remington depending on how you view it.  They both have rebated rims so as to fit in a standard AR-15 Bolt face. The 20 Nosler will have about eight (8) percent more case capacity by water weight than  the 204 Ruger.  So is the velocity claim of 4100 fps realistic?  On Nosler’s o ..read more

Gun owners, rejoice! Recent Second Amendment decisions have been setting a favorable precedent for gun ownership rights in the United States. The Second Amendment of the Constitution protects citizens’ right to bear arms. In 2008, the Supreme Court decided with District of Columbia v. Heller, that an individual person could own guns. This was a major victory for gun owners across the nation. In 2010, the Supreme Court further solidified gun rights in McDonald v. Chicago, ruling that the Second Amendment applies to states and cities as well as the federal government. More recently, in 2019, New ..read more

Front Sight as many of you know went into Bankruptcy in 2022. The news came out this week that the courts have allowed the sale of the facilities to PrairieFire Nevada. The facility is now under completely new management and ownership. Ignatius Piazza is not involved with the new company in any way. What if you were a past member of Front Sight? As a part of the US Bankruptcy Court proceedings, all former membership were officially ended. If you had a Front Sight membership, then you are a member today. Your current membership, while similar in many respects to the old, is a new membership un ..read more

4D Reamer Rentals LTD has been providing gunsmithing tools to the public for about twenty years now, so its safe to say they are here to stay. They currently offer at the time of this writing over 1800 chamber reamers. That does not count headspace gauges or all the other unique gunsmithing tools they offer for rent. I asked Fred over at 4D what kind of objections they get to renting? In this day and age of Internet trolls I figured he probably hears from the occasional malcontent… “Why would I rent? is the most common objection we might hear. Since the tools range is price from $100 to $300 o ..read more

This is becoming a habit that I don’t like. I have had to say goob-bye to three of my gunsmith friends in the last couple of years. This most recent is a guy, I truly considered a friend, drinking buddy and mentor. I put off writing this for a bit, Jack and his wife Len’ee are important to me so it was hard to even start this process. I met Jack through my affiliation with AGI. I have done a couple of instructional courses for them and have written for the monthly magazine they put out to the membership. Since Jack did the editing for the GunTech Magazine he frequently called me either for con ..read more