Xtreme bullets

higgite said:

FWIW, X-treme says their heavy plated concave base (HPCB) and plated hollow points (HP) in 10mm/40 (and other calibers) are good up to 1500 fps.

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Ah. Thank you.

wrote Xtreme off once they started charging $10 for shipping, now I see it's $12.50. Can get the same product I want elsewhere for free shipping and use the extra $ to buy more bullets.

bbqreloader said:

wrote Xtreme off once they started charging $10 for shipping, now I see it's $12.50. Can get the same product I want elsewhere for free shipping and use the extra $ to buy more bullets.

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Sometimes free shipping isn't really free. Let's say you're looking at .41 cal plated bullets. Not a lot of choices out there, but Xtreme and Berrys both have a 210 grain .41 plated bullet. Xtreme has a canelure, Berry's doesn't, so if you want a roll crimp, Xtreme is the only option I'm aware of.

But if you're agnostic about a crimp groove, Xtreme currently shows $62.50/500, while Berry's is $69.30/500. Assuming Berry's has free shipping, Berry's comes out a few bucks cheaper. If you're putting in a bigger order, flat shipping with cheaper unit prices works better than free shipping with higher unit prices.

None of this really matters if you don't care about $5 one way or the other. If you are a real tightwad, then you can't just go with "free shipping" all the time.

For me, vendors offering free shipping for all orders like RMR and at minimum price point like Berry's MFG, Everglades and TJConevera, etc. allow me to try bullets at smaller quantities to see if I like the bullet (Believe me, there are bullets I won't like even if price was really low).

If you shoot and reload any significant amount, you should know the value of buying in larger quantities. Vendors like RMR and Everglades etc. will offer significant discount at 2,000, 4,000, 6,000, 12,000+ quantities to lower the cost of even jacketed bullets cheaper than most (I say most because many of you may not know the current pricing of lead/coated lead bullets - See bottom of my post for lowest lead/coated lead prices) lead and coated lead bullets. You know you are going to use the bullets and they have a very long shelf life so when you get a tax refund check or put aside each month to save up enough money, you can stock up on your CHOICE of bullets at lead/coated lead bullet prices.

If you are buying other stuff with vendors like Graf & Sons that offer flat rate shipping, more you buy cheaper cost per unit becomes.

And do keep in mind, vendors like Powder Valley offered the cheapest unit cost on Berry's and Zero bullets for decades even when factoring shipping charges so shopping around will pay off.

There are vendors many THR members are not familiar with like Brazos and Z-Cast who offer quality products at incredibly low prices.

For lubed lead bullets, it's hard to beat Z-Cast prices, even adding shipping charges as 45ACP 200 gr Lead SWC is $72/1000 and I have used them for years with very good results. If you shoot lighter target loads, Z-Cast bullet's softer 14-16 BHN alloy deforms bullet base well enough to produce accuracy at lower powder charges - https://www.jacobeagle.com/bullets

For coated lead bullets, it's hard to beat Brazos prices, as 9mm 125 gr Hi-Tek coated RN is $42/840 ($50/1000) and while I have not used them, will keep them in mind as they offer softer 13 BHN alloy, various sizing (One of few vendors that will size 9mm to .358") and free match pick up to save on shipping charges - http://www.brazosprecision.com/9mm-125gr-Round-NoseBevel-BaseGroove-840ct-005bullet_p_20.html

FYI, here's a list of vendors/manufacturers who I have found to offer lower prices than other vendors - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ponents-on-sale.707473/page-178#post-11161685

The largest quantity of bullets I will usually order at a time is 2,000... but that's not because of any economic consideration, but, rather, trying to avoid the wrath of my mail carrier!

RMR's scaling pricing, all very transparent on their website, is quite nice. Lots of other vendors have only tiny quantity price (less than 500), normal amount prices (500 to many, many thousand), and palette-load pricing (basically for commercial loaders).

ATLDave said:

Sometimes free shipping isn't really free. Let's say you're looking at .41 cal plated bullets. Not a lot of choices out there, but Xtreme and Berrys both have a 210 grain .41 plated bullet. Xtreme has a canelure, Berry's doesn't, so if you want a roll crimp, Xtreme is the only option I'm aware of.

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Dave, I'll give you that, especially if you are looking for something special. Just when I can get 9mm, (like the OP was looking at), 40, 45 and 223 in FMJ or plated for better price...then it makes total sense to go with other vendor.

Xtreme's cannalures are just marks on the side of the bullet, no real groove to crimp into, just window dressing.

All I know is that they hold up just fine to a moderate roll crimp into the indented area.

I hit a 115 yard mini-popper offhand with a moderately roll-crimped Xtreme .41 bullet. That’s as accurately as I can shoot, so I conclude from that they tolerate a roll crimp without negative accuracy effects.

I’ve recovered a few of the same rounds from a clay backstop after firing. I was impressed that the plating aft of the crimp seemed fine- the portion ahead was squashed up by the impact.

Conversely, I think I got into reloading just as the more robust plating became normal, so I never bothered trying taper crimps with revolver rounds.... that would have meant buying another die!

Used them for a good many years, until they filed bankrupt, and couldn't get an order. I generally used there .38's, 380's, 9mm's, .40S&W's, .44's, as well as .45ACP's, all there bullets functioned fine in my handguns, and still have some left over. Started using them when they were known as Nevada Bullets out of Carson City Nevada.

I used Xtreme for years, always waited for the free shipping to place an order.....since they filed for bankruptcy, they don't offer free shipping. So, I moved on to Everglades reloading and American reloading, they both offer free shipping, and have frequent sales that are much better then Xtreme ever had....

higgite said:

FWIW, X-treme says their heavy plated concave base (HPCB) and plated hollow points (HP) in 10mm/40 (and other calibers) are good up to 1500 fps.

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Yes. I shot some of their HPCB 165 from a 10 mm with good accuracy. Don't have the numbers here but they were fairly zippy.