Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

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bobeager
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Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#1 Postby bobeager » Wed Oct 12, 2016 6:51 am

Announced on 6mmbr.com that the parent company of Lapua is purchasing the Berger Bullet company.

DaveMc
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#2 Postby DaveMc » Wed Oct 12, 2016 6:59 am

WOW - if true then this has the potential to really shake up the projectile world - especially for us here in AUS. I hope the QRA/NRAA has their negotiating skills on to maintain the current supply relationship.

bobeager
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#3 Postby bobeager » Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:38 am


Razer
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#4 Postby Razer » Wed Oct 12, 2016 10:37 am

Quote:
And here are some more comments from Doc Beech of Applied Ballistics:


I would like to emphasize a couple of things before you read on. The [acquisition of Berger Bullets by Nammo] CHANGES NOTHING. Production will remain in the same facility, by the same people, to the same quality. Berger Bullets will remain the highest quality bullets on the market. What this merger does, is it gives opportunity of these companies to work together, to provide the highest quality ammunition. Lapua is well known for its high quality brass, VihtaVuori makes high quality powder, and Berger makes high quality bullets. When you put the three together, you have the possibility of unmatched, premium hand loaded factory ammunition. To be clear, this will not effect the quality or way that Berger Bullets are produced.

Q & A about Berger Bullets Joining Nammo Group
Q. What are Nammo’s plans to do with Berger Bullets?
A. Nammo plans on operating Berger Bullets as a stand-alone brand with support from the Nammo Group in a number of areas. First, they would like to help Berger improve the availability of many of their bullets that are in high demand.

Q. Are you going to eliminate any specific bullets? In other words, do they need to stock up!
A. We have no immediate plans to discontinue any of our bullets. We will continue as a part of our normal business practice to discontinue bullets that have been replaced by a superior product or those that do not have a demand sufficient to warrant allocating time in our production schedule. This is just what we have always done as part of our process.

Q. Is Bryan Litz still going to be the ballistician for Berger Bullets?
A. Yes. Bryan is an important part of the Berger Bullet team and our plans definitely include keeping Bryan on as our lead ballistician.

Q. Is Eric Stecker going to remain in charge of Berger Bullets?
A. Eric Stecker will continue as President of Berger Bullets

Q. Are the same dealers going to carry Berger Bullets?
A. Yes, we have no plans to change the way we distribute Berger Bullets to the shooting community.

Q. Does this mean ABM Ammo will have direct access to components like Powder and Brass?
A. Yes.
__________________
Doc Beech – Applied Ballistics
doc.beech@appliedballisticsllc.com
http://www.abmediaresources.comhttp://www.appliedballisticsllc.com

Razer
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#5 Postby Razer » Wed Oct 12, 2016 11:04 am

Direct from Berger website;
Berger Bullets Joins Nammo Group
Posted October 11, 2016
Dear Fellow Shooter,
Rarely does an announcement contain information that impacts the shooting community and industry to far greater extent than simple words can adequately express. This is such an announcement.
We take great pride and tremendous pleasure in announcing that Berger Bullets has joined forces with the Nammo Group. This Norwegian/Finnish corporation is the home of a power house of premium brands including SK Rimfire Ammunition, Vihtavuori Powder and Lapua Bullets and Cases.
The joining of Berger Bullets with these world renowned, premium brands ushers in a new era of quality, performance and product availability for the discerning shooter.
First, we’ll provide a refresher on the ownership history of Berger. We have been making bullets for over 60 years. Berger was founded in 1955 and owned by Walt Berger for 45 years (Walt continues to work at Berger). In 2000, Spiveco Inc., maker of the J4 bullet jackets, purchased Berger from Walt. In 2002, Spiveco Inc. sold Berger to the Sheeks family who are the present owners. Today, under Nammo Group ownership, we join three other brands that share a strong passion and commitment to precision shooting performance.
These three brands are Lapua, Vihtavuori and SK. Every discerning rifle shooter uses the premium quality Lapua products. You also know the high quality and performance of the Vihtavuori powders. Vihtavuori joined the Nammo Group in 2014. Under Nammo Group support, Vihtavuori has produced a significant improvement in availability. SK Ammunition is also a brand within the Nammo Group that is well-known for producing quality rimfire ammunition. We are very excited to become one with these premium quality brands and proven to be committed to precision and quality.
The Nammo Group brings a level of support to Berger Bullets that is rivaled by few and bested by none. Nammo will support us in many areas including production capability expansion, advanced engineering, innovative product development, and the opportunity to share technology between all of these top quality brands.
Our immediate goal is to significantly improve the availability of Berger products. Throughout our history the demand for Berger Bullets has exceeded our capacity even as we’ve grown our output capabilities over the last few decades. Our first obligation to our customers is to improve the availability while we remain committed to our highest level of quality in the industry.
Much of what has made Berger Bullets successful will remain unchanged. Bryan Litz is developing more great bullets for Berger and our technicians will still be answering your emails and calls. The changes to Berger as time moves on will come in the form of improvements born from collaborations with our new family of premium brands.
Our website will remain at http://www.bergerbullets.com and all methods of contacts will remain the same. As we run across any changes, we’ll make sure we keep you updated on our website and through email. So please, keep your information current on your email subscription and we promise to keep you posted.

DenisA
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#6 Postby DenisA » Wed Oct 12, 2016 4:46 pm

Seeing as NIOA are the Lapua distributors in Australia, I wonder if this means that NIOA will have access to Berger and if that might eventually lead to supplier and price changes in Australia.

I know that Nammo said that the suppliers would remain the same, but NIOA with their current Nammo relationship and all their buying power might have some sway in the decision if that's what they wanted to do??

Am I over thinking this?

The price of Lapua brass and bullets was not a positive outcome once NIOA took the distributorship from Custers.

Matt P
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#7 Postby Matt P » Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:28 pm

DenisA wrote:Seeing as NIOA are the Lapua distributors in Australia, I wonder if this means that NIOA will have access to Berger and if that might eventually lead to supplier and price changes in Australia.

I know that Nammo said that the suppliers would remain the same, but NIOA with their current Nammo relationship and all their buying power might have some sway in the decision if that's what they wanted to do??

Am I over thinking this?

The price of Lapua brass and bullets was not a positive outcome once NIOA took the distributorship from Custers.

No you're not overthinking this, IF NIOA get a chance they'll fuck it completely just like the Lapua brass and Vitavori powders.
Matt

cheech
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#8 Postby cheech » Wed Oct 12, 2016 7:33 pm

If NIOA had the chance to have the rights they will do whatever they like , that's business the corporate way in the current world we live in , all about the $$$$$$

jasmay
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#9 Postby jasmay » Thu Oct 13, 2016 5:35 pm

You're spot on Denis, first thing I thought, Bergers will go from $80
And box to $160, just like the brass did....

I hope Berger a smart enough to ensure this does not happen.

Normmatzen
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#10 Postby Normmatzen » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:03 pm

I think the shooters in Australia don't realize what it means to export anythin related to shooting.

A while back I got 3 boxes of Berger 7,, 180 g Hybrids. I have a close friend in the Sidney area and I was going to send him 200 of them as he is forever doing me favors with his lathe and mill.
Well, first I tried boxing the bullets in a fixed price shipping box and found out there were none that size with minimum shipping cost.. Then before realizing it was going to cost me in the vicinity of one box of 180 hybrid cost to ship them! Then I thought maybe I had better find out the legal issues in a non-business entity "exporting" bullets to his friend , also a non-business entity. Its very simple, all I need to do is get an export license for items related to military firearms. I know, I know, not many folks want to fight a war with a 22 pound single shot F open rifle that you can't even buy ammunition for. However, our government in an attempt to keep us safe and healthy can find a way to call a 1 oz Timmney trigger a part of a war weapon! So, then I find out an export license costs in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 3,000 US $. Not even counting all the forms to fill out and the lawyer's fees to keep from spending time in a federal prison!

So, My friend didn't get 200 180 Hybrids! I could have cheated some way and called the bullets by another word and pack them in a cookie jar or something, but my luck would put me in jail.

So, there are a lot of companies set up to do nothing but export and have nothing to do with manufacturing or distribution of various products. Of course,they take a nice cut off the selling price of the product. Most companies selling such things as Berger bullets don't want the expense or time to export so they do not ship to Australia.

For caliberation, a box of 100 Berger 180 gr 7mm Hybrids cost close to $50 US. The difference between that and what you pay for them is split between 1. the export agent, 2. the post office or shipping company and 3. the distributor in Australia who sells them to you. It's not our economy or Berger bullets that sets your price. And, it's hard to blame Berger for not exporting directly to your distributors as the expenses are way too high for a relatively small company like them.

What you need is an entity set up specifically to export shooting supplies from the US to Australia, preferably a government agency paid by the Australian government or a shooting organization with enough members to justify supporting this effortr. You lucky guys shoot at the latest electronic targets and we are still mostly shooting at paper! So your shooting organizations may be the folks to support this new distributorship. They would purchase the materials direct from the manufactures so as to get the best price, then ship the products by container and then sell them to the organization's members at a more decent price, just high enough to support the Australian facility in the USA.

This may be a foolish sounding idea, but it pains me to see some of our best products being used to charge an exorbitant fee from a group of people I have a lot of respect for.
Norm

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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#11 Postby macguru » Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:59 pm

The markup then is about $10 US per box, given that they are $78 - $82 AU per box here. ( and a US dollar is about $1.50 AU)

And that of course already includes the shipping, import fees, GST tax and margins and its all above board. So its not worth posting them privately unless you simply cannot buy them here, which is sometimes the case ....
id quod est

jasmay
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#12 Postby jasmay » Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:18 am

Normmatzen wrote:I think the shooters in Australia don't realize what it means to export anythin related to shooting.


It's not our economy or Berger bullets that sets your price. And, it's hard to blame Berger for not exporting directly to your distributors as the expenses are way too high for a relatively small company like them.



Actually, currently with berger I am fairly positive they ship direct and handle the export themselves, taking exchange into account, the prices are not too bad. So currently berger ship direct to retailer.

If by chance NIOA get to be the middle man and berger stop shipping direct, we will almost certainy see a 50-100% mark up as they do with most of their products.

PLEASE Berger/Lapua, keep the status quo.

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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#13 Postby AlanF » Tue Jan 03, 2017 7:43 am

If NIOA attempts to do their usual price gouging on Bergers, maybe Q-Store can be persuaded to up the ante with their own importation channels and start a price war in all types of reloading components i.e. projectiles, brass, powder and primers., and not just for full bore, but for all firearms e.g. pistols, shotguns, hunting calibres etc.

jasmay
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#14 Postby jasmay » Tue Jan 03, 2017 12:22 pm

AlanF wrote:If NIOA attempts to do their usual price gouging on Bergers, maybe Q-Store can be persuaded to up the ante with their own importation channels and start a price war in all types of reloading components i.e. projectiles, brass, powder and primers., and not just for full bore, but for all firearms e.g. pistols, shotguns, hunting calibres etc.


I was thinking similar Alan, actually why don't they do this now with Lapua branded products including powder....

johnk
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Re: Lapua (NAMMO) is taking over Berger Bullets

#15 Postby johnk » Tue Jan 03, 2017 3:10 pm

Re powder, last time I was across the issue (when Custer still had the franchise), there was one ship in the world that would carry powder from VV to Australia - one ship - and if a certain captain was rostered to it, the consignment would not be picked up. Consequentially, Custers had to order several years in advance. As an example, understanding that I have an aversion to tossing those 1 kg VV bottles, I have N550 bottles date stamped 2004, 2006, 2009, 2012 (they were code stamped before that).

This may well be the reason that NIOA has dropped VV powders & certainly is a reason QRA would be crazy to take it on..


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