Emailed Speer about lack of bullets.

[Trey Veston]

I developed a 10mm load a couple of years ago for my XDM Elite that proved incredibly accurate. I used Accurate #9 powder and 200gr Speer Gold Dots.

I only had 500 of those bullets on hand and have been trying to find more ever since.

I've never found any. They are always out of stock at every online retailer I know of.

I sent Speer an email asking about them and if they are planning on ever making them again and why they are never in stock.

It will be interesting to see if they respond.

 

[eddiememphis]

Vista inked a deal with a Czech group to sell it's "sporting products" brands. The deal is expected to close sometime this year.

There have been a few snags, the latest being a letter of objection from Senator J.D. Vance claiming CSG's "history of collusion and alleged connections with entities hostile to the United States".

Sierra is likely concentrating on fulfilling existing contracts, waiting to see how the transition will affect them. The bullet in question is unlikely to be a big seller for them so production was probably halted to keep inventory down.

 

[eddiememphis]

The easy answer is they stopped making that bullet because no one bought them.

 

[Trey Veston]

The easy answer is they stopped making that bullet because no one bought them.

They still list them on their site, and the major bullet distributors still list them on their sites, so I don't think they stopped making them. I don't agree with you that "no one bought them" as the 10mm has seen a huge surge in popularity the past few years and the Gold Dot is one of the most respective defensive bullet designs on the market. I can see your point that a 200gr .400 GD is not nearly as popular as a 124gr .355 GD, but I think there is still a significant demand for them in the market.

 

[LV Gun]

Unfortunately sales dictate everything with big companies , the industry I retired out of sales always dictated what we stocked . Our minimum to keep a item in stock in the warehouse was 10 cases a week if we the sales people could not sell 10 cases a week it was discontinued and we had to find a suitable replacement for the customer that we had in stock. I am sure Speer looks at it the same way volume always rules . Always has always will volume is what makes companies profitable.

 

[westernrover]

In business, "the margins are thin, but we'll make up for it in volume," is one of the most obvious red flags that should indicate impending losses. If the volume has to be massive to make up for the smallest profits, it's bad business. A good reason for a bullet like the 10mm Gold Dot not to sell as a component, is because there is more profit in selling in in loaded ammo. I am sure it is being produced, because there is a lot of Speer factory ammo available, and I do not believe that those boxes for sale have been around for long at all. The 200 grain 10mm Gold Dot is widely in-stock: https://ammoseek.com/ammo/10mm-auto/Speer?ikw=dot as loaded factory ammo sold at higher margins.

If you want to find 10mm defensive bullets in-stock as components, look for the higher-margin CNC-turned bullets. They are in-stock: https://ammoseek.com/reloading/bullets/.400-diameter/Lehigh

These are not a high-volume product. They do not have to be, because they sell for twice as much as Gold Dots.

 

[2ndtimer]

The manufacturer will produce the products that have the greatest demand and profit potential. If retailers aren’t ordering the .40 caliber Speer Gold Dot 200 gr bullet, then Speer will continue cranking out the 124 gr 9mm Gold Dots that are in high demand by numerous law enforcement agencies in factory ammo (which probably has a higher profit margin than component bullets). And Speer hasn’t “quit making them”. They simply are not currently producing them.
For several years Hornady produced a 62 gr BTHP .224 bullet that was only available in bulk through MidSouth Shooters Supply. They were offered at a very attractive price and performed very well in my handloads. A while back, they disappeared from MidSouth’s website. I contacted Hornady and inquired as to their availability and was told “they are not currently in production”. Apparently Hornady had produced a bunch of them, determined there was not sufficient demand to generate a reasonable profit, so sold them all to MidSouth at a bargain price, who then sold them at a bargain price + a percentage and was able to liquidate the supply. Wish I had bought more of them while they were available. Maybe they will return some day, but no way to know if or when. Just a cautionary tale, if your favorite bullet shows up after a long absence, buy it cheap (if possible) and stack it deep.

 

[ballman6711]

I've been looking for Speer 185gr swc's for quite awhile now, can't find them anywhere. They are listed on several websites but are always out of stock.

The manufacturer will produce the products that have the greatest demand and profit potential.

I also think this is a large part of the reason they're unavailable. The last presidential election, along with covid shortages, created a perfect storm for panic buying anything shooting related. Then, once the shelves were empty, I think the ammo manufacturer's focused mainly on producing their best selling ammo, and ammo components went mainly to that and not to the reloading market.

Add to that any contracts Speer has and suddenly we have a lack of bullets for reloading. I can find Speer bullets at Midsouth and other sites, but the majority of them are OOS.

Same thing happened with powder and primers. Primers were difficult to find for quite awhile, and powder became all but nonexistent locally for awhile.

At least stuff is coming back on the shelves locally, but with the upcoming presidential election I don't expect it to last long. Maybe a couple of months, maybe six or eight months, and then unfortunately I think we'll be back where we were for the last couple of years.

My personal strategy has been to pick up what I need when I see it, and I'm currently stocked for my foreseeable future with the exception of 185gr swc's. I really need to get that order in to Acme!

chris

 

[Charlie98]

The easy answer is they stopped making that bullet because no one bought them.

I don't think that is true at all, I believe it's more of a 'make more of what sells more.'

Add to that any contracts Speer has

In the past few years, I've seen quite a few boxes of 9mm GoldDot component bullets on the shelves... I've even bought some. Sadly, I've not seen any of the great 230grn .45 Short Barrel Gold Dot bullets (which are a different item from the standard 230grn Gold Dots...) on the shelf. This correlates to the loaded ammos I've seen available, both on the shelves, and online. The 9mm is there as loaded ammos, the .45's are once in a blue moon... but in the 50rd LE boxes, not the 20rd retail boxes. That tells me they are likely trying to fulfill whatever contracts they have before the ownership changeover... or simply trying to maximize their production so they look good to any potential buyer should the current deal fall apart.

Midway, for example, has.... literally... 2 pages of Speer bullets that are OOS/No Backorder, including a very good number of GoldDot bullets in all calibers.

 

[higgite]

It will be interesting to see if they respond.

Yes, it will.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I developed a 10mm load a couple of years ago for my XDM Elite that proved incredibly accurate. I used Accurate #9 powder and 200gr Speer Gold Dots.

I only had 500 of those bullets on hand and have been trying to find more ever since.

I've never found any. They are always out of stock at every online retailer I know of.

I sent Speer an email asking about them and if they are planning on ever making them again and why they are never in stock.

It will be interesting to see if they respond.

I feel fairly certain whatever response is provided will be very similar to the response provided by the CEO of Vista following complaints about “artificial shortages” in the market. Very nicely worded but completely unsubstantial.

 

[jmorris]

FWIW its not uncommon for the high demand stuff to be out of stock.

If you can't make something fast enough for people to buy it, that's not a bad thing...just need to raise your prices and everyone wants that, right?

 

[CQB45ACP]

Maybe they operate like Starline brass? Don't produce on speculation of demand but wait for some level of assurance?

 

[bullseye308]

I feel ya, been looking for 223 gold dots for a while. ;(

 

[AJC1]

I feel ya, been looking for 223 gold dots for a while. ;(

I've never seen them in.person available and only the 150s in 308. I'd like the 165s and some 62s.

 

[Thomasss]

Vista inked a deal with a Czech group to sell it's "sporting products" brands. The deal is expected to close sometime this year.

It's about time someone wakes up to the shenanigans going on with this sale. The stock holders were to vote on the sale this month.
Colt and CZ offered $1.7 billion. It gets rather fuzzy at this point. One source said Vista is reviewing the Colt offer and another source says Vista turned the Colt offer down. The Fed. is required to give their blessings on a foreign sale too.