Whats Happened To The Supply Of HBC Projectiles

[TOM]

How good are your memories? The Nosler was introduced because Supply of the "old" Sierra went out the window a few years back. The precedent has been set and if Ned Kelley is right in what he says, 6 months without a HBC could be the end of it all together as the market will be flooded with Bergers in no time.
They say 2 weeks for delivery but i'll take a punt that in a couple months time they will still be saying 2 weeks.

The only thing in HBC's favour is the demand, but how long can you wait, and is there something better coming anyway?

[Barry Davies]

Be easy Tom, that's not what shooters want to hear.
Barry

[Quick]

I only recently got my HBC load shooting really well. These issues pretty much mean I have to redo my load dev again.

I think its time we goto any projie to 156gr and 81gr for F-Std. Either that or allow F/TR or we see many people going to F-Open. Really Im happy with either to be honest. But this supply issue needs to be solved.

[TOM]

Sorry Barry, Just thought people might have forgotten or havn't been around long enough to know past happenings when we had bullet supply issues.

[DannyS]

I don't think its time to panic, let's give it a few weeks and see how it pans out. If you shoot f standard and are getting low on HBC, then save what you have for prize meetings etc and use something else at club level, i'm sure your mates won't mind.

Other than that, get some 155.5 Bergers and shoot F open.

[TOM]

It's a conspiracy to boost F open Numbers and get F/TR moving. It might just work

[AlanF]

I think its a case of all of us sticking together in difficult times .

Seriously, this sort of thing effects all of us, from TR to F-Open i.e. what's bad for one is bad for the others. Its good to see a few people helping out with projectiles in excess of their current needs. There are probably a million HBCs on reloading shelves around Australia, so no doubt there will be plenty of shooters helping out other club members.

Alan

[IanP]

Interestingly the best substitute for the HBC would be the Lapua 155gr Scenar which has an identical G7, BC = 0.236 to the HBC. The Berger 155gr VLD and the Nosler 155gr are not as good a match with a lower BC. The Berger 155.5gr is another good match for the HBC but the 155gr Berger Hybrid outclasses all the 155gr projectiles so may not be the best match based soley on the BC of the HBC.

My thoughts for what their worth (not much) would be to allow the Lapua 155gr Scenars (cheap) and Berger 155.5gr (expensive) projectiles fill the void that the HBCs have left. If your feeling in a generous way toward Berger then allow their best BC for weight bullet in the Hybrid be used as well.

HBCs have shown that they produce a world class projectile but if the supply cant be resumed very soon then its time to allow other bullets into FS and TR for the benefit of all shooters concerned. The Lapua Scenar 155gr projectile is the best (exact) match and they cost $37.00/100 so cost is not an issue for using and approving this bullet.

Ian

[johnk]

We'll see if Lapua remains inexpensive now that NIOA, not Custers have the franchise.

[ned kelly]

G'Day All,
has anyone spoken to Dyers lately? As a commercial bullet maker, they may (should) get preferential service from the die makers, my friend is only a hobbist, but makes top quality bullets, but he may be at the bottom of the supply line compared to a business like Dyers.

Can anyone confirm?

regards Ned

[OuttaAmmo]

When you say that he is a "commercial bullet maker" don't forget that it is a family run business with basically one machine that makes one type of 30 cal bullet. And is located in Darwin, Australia.

So not really comparing to Sierra or anyone else in terms of scale.
But compares(beats) them in terms of quality and price!

[ned kelly]

G'day all,
I assumed the maker of Dyer bullets was/is a commercial bullet maker as they are distributed throughout Australia via the NRAA and they are listed in the B Litz Applied Ballistics manual, and advertised/reviewed in the UK Target Shooter e-magazine.

If I have made a mistake then I humbly apologise to all who take offense.

To me it seemed a fairly natural assumption to make.................

However, if I am wrong then it makes the case for an alternative supply of bullets with an equivalent BC from a commercial maker so much more compelling...............

FWIW of course...........

Cheerio Ned

[OuttaAmmo]

Hi Ned,
Yes you did assume correct. The makers of the Dyers do run a commercial operation, but I was merely informing everyone that might not know that in the scale of things, it is a relatively small operation.
And I wonder if the Scenars will stay at $37/100 over the next year or so...
I have found that even the larger bullet makers have their own supply issues, as is apparent by the shortage of 6.5mm 123 Scenars lately and in BRT's first shipment of Bergers there were no 6.5mm projectiles full stop.

Btw, I shoot a 6.5 in Open.

Respectfully,
Casey

[Barry Davies]

I rather doubt that HBC's will stay at 35c either.
Usually a shortage of anything for whatever reason is a prelude to a price increase.
Barry

[Sambo]

It'll be interesting to see what happens to the price.

On one hand they would have incurred a lot of costs trying to fix the equipment and will need to make that back. But at the same time they will be trying to make sure that their customer base returns.

The WARA shop has already announced a price of $0.36. But this could of happened prior to the shortage.

I think the only reason to not allow any projie is that it will reduce the capacity of the NRAA to negotiate low prices for bulk buys. This could make projies more expensive in general.

I don't put much credence to the "level playing field" argument. That is long gone, even in TR.