Bullet Manufacturers Lead Times

Start selling to NES members. Even casting by hand you should be able to deliver faster than Blue Bullets for the same price.
Don’t get me started. I know where there are 3 magma casting machines. I’ve done the math though and it’s damn hard to make any money selling bullets. I just can’t justify spending $15k to be able to sell bullets with such low margins.
 
when you read there is a 10-12 week wait time to ship with blue bullets and the last time i checked missouri was 5-6 weeks you got to plan ahead my great mind tells me. if they are true to schedule my order will be shipped mid september. i'll be close to ready by then...not out but close for what i ordered. lets hope they hire a boomer to get things crankin'!
 
Anyone know anything about swaging your own bullets? I have machines up to 200 tons of pressure at my disposal.. might be quicker right about now.

Its a process, and you'll need lead in a wire form I think.
Read into it a several years ago. Casting was the quicker of two options.
 
Its a process, and you'll need lead in a wire form I think.
Read into it a several years ago. Casting was the quicker of two options.
I'm going to look into it more. You definitely need a lead wire core. I work for a large wire manufacturing company I'll talk to my boss about this a little today and see what he thinks as well.
 
Don’t get me started. I know where there are 3 magma casting machines. I’ve done the math though and it’s damn hard to make any money selling bullets. I just can’t justify spending $15k to be able to sell bullets with such low margins.

I wondered what the intial cost was to do that.
Machines,molds, lead by the pallet, hi-tek by the drum. Place to do it, utilities and fuel.
Its a big nut to crack.
 
Casting machines new run about $11k
Sizers run about $9k
A ton of lead is going to something like $2500
Hi Tek is so damn cheap who cares.
Packaging supplies, scales, bags, labels, business cards, website, all that business jazz I would venture to guess another $1k-$2k
Ovens and mixers could be had on the cheap but if you’re doing it fresh might as well buy them too. Say another $3k for a nice convection over and a HF cement mixer

That’s about 112,000 each 125 grain bullets.
They’re selling for what? $70 per K ?
So $7840 in total sales. 2/3 of which goes to materials cost.
So $2665 in “profit”
I think those machines can make 8k bullets per hour full tilt. So that’s 14 hours of casting and who knows how long to clay and size. Let’s say at least that much time.
So 28 hours of work (some of which can be overlapped by coating while casting)

Still not bad for an hour wage but now you need to market like mad and get those bullets into the hands of shooters.
 
Anyone know anything about swaging your own bullets? I have machines up to 200 tons of pressure at my disposal.. might be quicker right about now.

RCBS (Rock Chucker Bullet Swaging) should.
I've done a tiny amount by drawing down .277" diameter bullets to .2685" diameter bullets for Carcano use. Also, I've resized .32 caliber projectiles and .310" diameter bullets down to .308" diameter on a few occasions. I know this isn't exactly what you're talking about though.

There are DIY methods that allow you to home brew .45 caliber jacketed bullets from .40 S&W cases and so forth, but this isn't what you seek either.
I'd think a little patience is in order. Support those manufacturers that have already made the plunge and perhaps do a little casting when really desperate for a few bullets.

How about lead free projectiles? I recently purchased SF40 135 RHFP (Sinterfire frangibles) for under 8¢ a piece. I realize that doesn't help you, if you seek 9mm or .45 caliber, but look around for similar deals. Times like these might necessitate switching over to another caliber to tide you over this crisis. I still see 7.62x38R for $10 a box at my LGS. Of course, I realize that not everyone owns an m1895 Nagant (I don't!).
 
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Casting machines new run about $11k
Sizers run about $9k
A ton of lead is going to something like $2500
Hi Tek is so damn cheap who cares.
Packaging supplies, scales, bags, labels, business cards, website, all that business jazz I would venture to guess another $1k-$2k
Ovens and mixers could be had on the cheap but if you’re doing it fresh might as well buy them too. Say another $3k for a nice convection over and a HF cement mixer

That’s about 112,000 each 125 grain bullets.
They’re selling for what? $70 per K ?
So $7840 in total sales. 2/3 of which goes to materials cost.
So $2665 in “profit”
I think those machines can make 8k bullets per hour full tilt. So that’s 14 hours of casting and who knows how long to clay and size. Let’s say at least that much time.
So 28 hours of work (some of which can be overlapped by coating while casting)

Still not bad for an hour wage but now you need to market like mad and get those bullets into the hands of shooters.

Being the cheap ass that I am, and this is just pure specualtion-

Could probably skip the packaging, website and shipping right off the bat. Sell by the pound (leave it on the buyer to do math), bring your own box, pickup only.
Say................3 bodies
Coating can be done right after casting, so theres 2 bodies. Not familiar with Hi-Tek, so again, complete speculation.
Sizing...............I guess realistically, how much can 1 human size on a single stage in an hour? How much can 2 humans size in an hour? in 4 hours?
Most batches are sold in what, 500? 1000?

And, is there an advantage to that, cost wise, than say 3 furnaces going with 3 gang molds?

It is a void that needs filling, and sound like a weekends worth of work to belt out a few thousand. Beats lumping simmons resi concrete forms for side cash.
Is it worth it I guess is the question. Typing out loud as I think out loud, which looks like I'm talking to myself. So I got that goin for me
 
Being the cheap ass that I am, and this is just pure specualtion-

Could probably skip the packaging, website and shipping right off the bat. Sell by the pound (leave it on the buyer to do math), bring your own box, pickup only.
Say................3 bodies
Coating can be done right after casting, so theres 2 bodies. Not familiar with Hi-Tek, so again, complete speculation.
Sizing...............I guess realistically, how much can 1 human size on a single stage in an hour? How much can 2 humans size in an hour? in 4 hours?
Most batches are sold in what, 500? 1000?

And, is there an advantage to that, cost wise, than say 3 furnaces going with 3 gang molds?

It is a void that needs filling, and sound like a weekends worth of work to belt out a few thousand. Beats lumping simmons resi concrete forms for side cash.
Is it worth it I guess is the question. Typing out loud as I think out loud, which looks like I'm talking to myself. So I got that goin for me
😆 I get where you’re going. I think when you run into hand casting it’s just too slow. Same for sizing. I think I would go mad if I had to sit in front of a sizer for 8 hours a day.
If I could score the equipment cheap enough I would give it a go. The issue is this dude selling it wants top dollar. If he wants to trade fo stuff I don’t have. Kind of sucks.
no doubt the easiest step of the operation, like selling that life preserver to the drowning man.
Yes true right now it would be easy. The issue seems to be (reading a bunch of stuff written by small commercial casters) that when times are good the big guys can under cut you and put you out of business. Which happens a lot.
I would like to think that we have the benefit (?) in MA with the fact that not all companies ship to us.

Oh another factor is that each set of 8 Moulds costs about $800
So if you want to set up for 115 and 124 grain you better hope you have that flavor of the week because if RN isn’t in style and everyone wants to shoot TC right now then you’re up for another $1600 in moulds to sell to the 9mm guys.
Same goes for the rest of the calibers. You have to find the most popular bullet designs and weights and possibly branch out.
 
Black bullets. I just ordered 1500 125g bullets. They showed in stock.

I ordered on Sunday night. I just received an Email that the label was created by USPS. 2 day shipping.

First time buying from them.
Their prices are slightly higher but include shipping.
 
Being the cheap ass that I am, and this is just pure specualtion-

Could probably skip the packaging, website and shipping right off the bat. Sell by the pound (leave it on the buyer to do math), bring your own box, pickup only.
Say................3 bodies
Coating can be done right after casting, so theres 2 bodies. Not familiar with Hi-Tek, so again, complete speculation.
Sizing...............I guess realistically, how much can 1 human size on a single stage in an hour? How much can 2 humans size in an hour? in 4 hours?
Most batches are sold in what, 500? 1000?

And, is there an advantage to that, cost wise, than say 3 furnaces going with 3 gang molds?

It is a void that needs filling, and sound like a weekends worth of work to belt out a few thousand. Beats lumping simmons resi concrete forms for side cash.
Is it worth it I guess is the question. Typing out loud as I think out loud, which looks like I'm talking to myself. So I got that goin for me
Instead of packaging you could go to matches and sell there. Have them sorted in boxes of 1K. Not fancy boxes.

But that means spending all day / morning at a match.

You would also need time to get that machine to work. If a Dillon can be a PITA sometimes, I imagine that all sorts of random sh*t can happen with these machines. Maybe bullets not releasing from the molds, lead not pouring properly, molds getting loose ...

The good news is, no weird storage permits necessary, and if you don't mind your return on capital taking a little longer, you could specialize in a couple of bullet weights. If you make it as a part time side gig while you are working remotely, it could totally work. Lead doesn't go bad and the machines probably last quite a while, they are not very complex. Bullet costs don't fluctuate too much and buying a lot of bulk lead is not hard. I have quotes I requested from companies, I was thinking of doing a group buy at one point.

The question is ... do you want to spend $15-20K to get started into something that will eventually break even but you don't know how long it will take? 6 months? 1yr? 2yr?

Assuming you go part time while you are working remotely from home and if you didn't do this, you wouldn't be doing anything else productive.
 
Instead of packaging you could go to matches and sell there. Have them sorted in boxes of 1K. Not fancy boxes.

But that means spending all day / morning at a match.

You would also need time to get that machine to work. If a Dillon can be a PITA sometimes, I imagine that all sorts of random sh*t can happen with these machines. Maybe bullets not releasing from the molds, lead not pouring properly, molds getting lose ...

The good news is, no weird storage permits necessary, and if you don't mind your return on capital taking a little longer, you could specialize in a couple of bullet weights. If you make it as a part time side gig while you are working remotely, it could totally work. Lead doesn't go bad and the machines probably last quite a while, they are not very complex. Bullet costs don't fluctuate too much and buying a lot of bulk lead is not hard. I have quotes I requested from companies, I was thinking of doing a group buy at one point.
On Broccoli you’re the head of logistics. Dan you’re the head of production. I’ll work the sales end of things.
$15k each and we should be sitting pretty.
 
On Broccoli you’re the head of logistics. Dan you’re the head of production. I’ll work the sales end of things.
$15k each and we should be sitting pretty.
LOL ... if someone wants to sit down and seriously work the numbers, I would do it and I would market the bullets at USPSA matches I attend.

The cool thing to do seems to pick a color and name the company that.

Black and Blue are taken.
 
Black bullets. I just ordered 1500 125g bullets. They showed in stock.

I ordered on Sunday night. I just received an Email that the label was created by USPS. 2 day shipping.

First time buying from them.
Their prices are slightly higher but include shipping.

BBI is good about getting the order filled and getting a USPS label created, and even getting it picked up... but after that it's a mess. I'm not the only one who has reported it, and BBI even acknowledges that their local PO is a mess.

Right now, it seems the Memphis hub is a black hole for these flat rate shipments.

Again, not BBIs fault, but be prepared to wait on USPS.
 
BBI is good about getting the order filled and getting a USPS label created, and even getting it picked up... but after that it's a mess. I'm not the only one who has reported it, and BBI even acknowledges that their local PO is a mess.

Right now, it seems the Memphis hub is a black hole for these flat rate shipments.

Again, not BBIs fault, but be prepared to wait on USPS.
Their website says USPS can take up to 4 weeks. But I thought that was their excuse to ship things 4 weeks late.

It's OK, these are plinking bullets, not needed for matches.
 
That reloading company named after a country has plenty of bullets in stock again...
45 230GR TMJ - 500CT
40 180GR HST - 500CT
38 / 357 125GR RNFP TMJ - 1000CT etc...
 
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