THR Discount Offer from Missouri Bullet Company

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I think Jim Stinar runs a leaner operation, and I don't believe he has a shopcam :)

My beef with the damage wasn't so much that USPS tenderized the box, it was that there wasn't a lot of additional support inside the box to keep things from shifting around. The S & S box was very carefully packed, with additional padding inside the individual bullet cartons and surrounding them in the enclosing USPS flat rate box.

The S & S box was pretty beat-up looking when it arrived, too. But the bullets weren't :)

I'd love to check out your shopcam. I don't seem to have the requisite credentials to sign on, though . . . it's prompting me for a user name and password.
The credentials were posted in the original shopcam thread. It's THR/HideyHole

We actually are investigating stronger boxes. We have another 3-4k of our current ones to go through before we re-order.

We only have the one size box, which is the same size LaserCast uses. In fact, the box is cut from the same dies from the same box manufacturer, which is a hundred miles from us in Kansas. So, some bullets fill the box at 500, some fill it at 400, and some fill it at a thousand. So there's a problem with the single-box constraint and managing unfilled bulk within it on the lighter bullets.

But we're working on it. Meanwhile, the square-bottomed 2 mil enclosure bag limits loss, except for when the USPS drives a forklift fork through the box.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MissouriBullet
They shipped 30 minutes ago. Let us know how they work for you!

Brad

They arrived quickly and as promised. I loaded up a few for testing and they worked just fine. I found out my XD has quite the tight chamber and needs a shorter OAL (and reduced charge to go with it), but my Rock River AR-15-9mm just eats them up. The cast bullets keep the price per magazine down from $7 to $3.50. More blasting stuff!!

I'm eyeballing a 1911 right now. I'm sure you'll be shipping some .45 my way soon.
 
Vitesse304 said:
What COAL did you end up sizing them down to? I just got some to load up for my xd as well!
Which bullet are you referring to Vitesse? I recently started loading the 125g "SmallBall" for my XD9 and Hodgdon's load listed a COAL of 1.125". They were not even close to flush with that COAL. I backed off 0.005" until it seemed to chamber easily and fully flush which was around 1.080". I loaded mine to 1.075" for a bit of wiggle room, but I think I'll drop back a tad more to 1.069".
 
I thought you got some of the new 115's.

I've been loading them to 1.125, but they look pretty long. They chamber well in my springfield loaded 1911, but I think it's pretty tight in both my xd's...but I don't want to bring the COAL down too much creating undue pressure.
 
Based on my first efforts at reloading with MBC bullets, I need to revise my scoring.

Dodge DeBoulet said:
Inside the Box(es)

Missouri:
-1 for Arrival Condition. While I understand MBC doesn't have much control over how the USPS treats their boxes once they've left the factory, I think the packaging/protection could use a little improvement. The exterior box looked like it was rolled end-over-end from Missouri to Maine, and one of the internal boxes of bullets had ruptured. There was no additional packing material cushioning the boxes inside the USPS carton, other than a plastic bag. The rupture released a handful of bullets into the surrounding plastic bag, and I could hear them rattling around when I picked the box up at the post office. There was also quite a bit of dust inside a couple of the boxes, which I suspect is dried-out lube that had flaked off (or was rubbed off by the looseness of the bullets inside their 500ct boxes). Some of the bullets have significant gaps in their lube channels. I don't know whether it was the dust or oxidation, but they just weren't as shiny and neat appearing as the S & S bullets.

S & S:
+1 for Arrival Condition. They package their bullets in boxes of 500 just as does MBC, but at least for 180gr .40cal the boxes were more appropriately sized for their contents, and additional packing material surrounded the boxes in the USPS flat-rate box. On top of that, heavy foam rubber padding material was inserted into the free space inside each 500ct box to minimize movement of the bullets during shipping. The bullets were bright, shiny, dust-free and uniformly lubed with no gaps in the lube channels.

It turns out that the dullness of the Missouri Bullets is actually caused by a very thin coating of lube. Interestingly, this coating makes them much easier to handle, orient and place the in the shell during the reloading process. With my Hornady LnL AP, I would estimate that my reloading speed improved by as much as 10-15% due to the added traction my fingers get.

So I've added a point to MBC for what at first looked like a deficiency but turned out to be an advantage, and subtracted a point from S&S for an appearance 'feature" that is actually a liability . . . the S&S bullets are somewhat slippery and harder to handle in comparison to MBC's.

Dodge DeBoulet said:
Summary

My overall, highly subjective ranking:

+4 for Missouri Bullet Company
+1 for S & S Casting

Hope that makes you happier :D
 
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Question about your cost calculation -

First, I'm glad that you found our bullets easily manipulable for your loading procedure.

But I do have a question about your cost comparison. Looking at the S&S website, I see that their 180 grain .401 FP's are priced at $73.50 per thousand. So, 2,000 of them is $147.00 which, when added to their $13.90 shipping charge, totals to $160.90.

Our pricing for that bullet (the IDP #5) is $32.00 per box of 500. Multiply by 4 boxes, the price comes to $128.00. Subtract the 5% THR discount of $6.40 and our bullet price is $121.60. Add our $10.85 shipping and the total is $132.45 which represents a difference of $28.45, shipping, for 2,000 bullets. That is a saving of over 17%.

Did their pricing go up since you ordered yours from them?
 
Apparently their pricing has gone up since last month. I compared my cost for 2,000 SnS 180gr CFP purchased 12/6/2009 to my MBC purchase from a couple of weeks ago.
 
Not really surprised

Well, lead as a commodity has continued its steady increase in cost since late summer. Now it's about $.55/lb. higher than what my last 5 truckload contract was for. Fortunately, we're still sitting on over 60 tons of it so we won't have to raise our own prices for a couple of months.

I feel for the casters who are dependent upon the spot market. Two years ago when alloy hit $2.40/lb., nobody could sell bullets profitably; it cost more to make them than what the bullets normally sold for. Companies that were seriously back-ordered on product got jammed really badly because making the bullets to fill those old orders was a huge money loser for them and a lot of them tanked.

Now that you mention it, I have noticed price increases from other casting companies, too. We will be raising ours, but when the move is imminent I will announce it here a few weeks in advance to give folks a chance to beat the increase.
 
Companies that were seriously back-ordered on product got jammed really badly because making the bullets to fill those old orders was a huge money loser for them and a lot of them tanked.

Or the companies just ignored your orders, or "conveniently" lost them. Usually people who make good bullets are the cheaters who last wayyy longer than their business practices should have allowed. *company names removed*

But your company Bard bucks the whole system. I'm happy to NOT use my THR, V-Day, LE, or promo price discounts when I order. You DESERVE that smidgen of my money, if only to reward your ethics and business practices. I hope to be ordering from your company long after my first tub of unused powder goes bad! [/rant]

Justin
 
I'm a fan.

7k total 115 grainers ordered during the special

They arrived quickly and in good shape

Have loaded about 4k so far

Incidentally, the Sig P6 also requires a shorter OAL for proper chambering - 1.085" worked fine
 
I ordered 1000 158g 357 bullets yesterday but was unable to get the discount. I tried typing it several ways but it kept saying it was not a valid code. Is THR discount still in effect?
 
Did you refer to post #161? The password changed and post 161 has the details. I ordered last saturday and received my order on Wednesday.
 
Originally Posted by Vitesse304
What COAL did you end up sizing them down to? I just got some to load up for my xd as well!

125gr LRN. I had to squeeze them down to 1.10 or 1.095. They absolutely will not chamber in my XD above that. They are too long at 1.125 in the XD. They'll do just fine in my AR though. I dropped the power charge to 3.65gr HP-38. My test rounds at that specification came out really dirty and sooty. One even stovepiped (a first in my XD) it seems because there wasn't enough pressure to operate as normal. I took that as a sign of low pressure, and I've upped the powder to 3.85gr (don't ask me why these all end in .05, my scale is goofy). I haven't shot these yet because I'm so busy with school. I'll let you know how it goes when I do.
 
Just wanted to chime in here- I bought 500 smallball 9mm late last year from MBC. Excellent quality. Arrived in perfect condition.

Just recently I bought from a more local caster- nice folks, OK quality BUT not quite up to MBC. After taxes and shipping, I paid considerably more.

I'm ordering more 9mm and 45acp today- from MBC.

Can't see ever going anywhere else again.
 
Vitesse304 & spartywrx, I had to squeeze the 125gr Smallball down to 1.068-1.07" to get them to run reliably in my CZ85. With 5.5gr AA#5, that is a seriously accurate load in that gun. I ordered a box of the 115gr Parabellum Sunday (received yesterday...barely got home to stash the evidence before the wife arrived home fromwork :D) to try next week.

Also picked up a box of the new 180gr .357 Striker. I'm not exactly sure what I'll be using it for, yet, but I'm thinking it looks like a helluva silhouette bullet or for hogs - if I ever get the promised invitation from some folks at church.

With the exception of two boxes of Speer lead bullets I got on sale and a bag of Winchester 9mm FMJs someone gave me, all I have ever loaded is Missouri Bullet. I'm spoiled.

Q
 
Re. smallball oal: my case gauge told me that 1.125" was too long. Once I'd gone down to 1.065", the gauge said "O.K.", and they worked fine in my XD9.

A question, though. I get a lot of build-up of lube, and a decent amount of lead, in my seating die. I replaced the Lee die with one from Dillon because it's far easier to clean, but the problem persists. I'm pretty sure the cases are belled enough, as I don't see any bullet shaving, and the build-up is deep into the die. Spot checks show a gradual shortening of OAL, so I have to clean out the die after every 100-150 rounds. Any thoughts?

Chuck
 
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