Randy Garrett
New member
This last week has seen the launching of some extremely intemperate and patently false accusations regarding Garrett Cartridges and our practices. Since these comments were of an unusually severe nature, I feel that I must respond and set the record straight.
In a recent posting a contributor stated, "Readers be warned that Randy Garrett sells cartridges using methods not agreed upon by industry loading groups." This apparently results from this individual's dismay over our casting procedures. It seems that since we do not march in lockstep with certain other members of the industry, this person has determined that we are unqualified. This is strange indeed, as there is a broad range of opinion regarding legitimate casting procedures. However, since our casting procedures have been called into question, I feel that a review of our practices is in order. All of our casting is done in shop, and involves handcasting. This is more labor intensive than either buying commercial machine cast bullets or machine casting bullets ourselves, but results in better bullets. Our blocks are state of the art Hensley & Gibbs heavy cast iron blocks, which provide unusually good temperature control. Our alloy is a special silver enriched, low-antimony alloy with a trace of arsenic for extra hardening potential. All casting is done with high temperature alloy and blocks, and the sprues are cut as soon as the cut can be accomplished without smearing. The bullets are then immediately dropped into cold water, which results in a Brinnell hardness of 25. Our choice of a silver enriched, low antimony alloy is significant as it yields bullets with low fracture potential. Most commercial efforts to produce really hard cast bullets involve the use of relatively high antimony alloys since those alloys are the easiest to work with when using automatic casting machines. However, high antimony alloys tend to fracture when stressed beyond their inherent strength, something that cannot be tolerated when hunting heavy or potentially dangerous game. Our selection of a silver enriched, low antimony alloy results in a bullet that when stressed beyond its inherent strength simply deforms modestly, as opposed to the castrophic shattering of high antimony alloys.
In another recent posting, it was stated that "My conversations with you so far scare me in that there is someone selling a product that is as ignorant of practical ballistics as you." I would like to respond to this. Our products are absolutely on the cutting edge of ballistic development, something anyone can conclude that reads the national shooting press. Our 44 Magnum Hammerhead bullets are a good example of this. For a number of years we produced 44 Magnum ammo using 310-grain SWC bullets. That ammo was widely hailed as the best 44 Magnum ammo money could buy for hunting big game animals, and received over 100 reviews in the national shooting press. Among those praising that load as the best was Finn Aagaard, Jim Wilson, Bart Skelton, John Taffin, Craig Boddington, Charles Petty, Hal Swiggett, Jeff Cooper, and many others. However, it became clear to me that a better load could be designed, and that led to our new Hammerhead designs. Research and development of our new Hammerheads lasted for about a year and involved all manner of ballistic testing, including pressure testing, accuracy testing, firerarm compatibility testing, and impact testing. By comparison to our old 310-grain SWC load, our new 310-grain Hammerhead load uses a bullet with a weight-forward design that moves much more of the bullet out of the case and into the chamber throat of the revolver. This allows us to deliver about 100-fps higher velocity with lower pressure than our previous 310-grain SWC load. This new Hammerhead design is the talk of the industry and has even been credited with virtually saving the caliber from obsolescence (see Payton Miller's comments in GUNS & AMMO, 12-98). This new Hammerhead bullet also delivers deeper penetration than our old 310-grain SWC, and it does so with a much blunter front end (meplat: .320" vs .285"). Where accuracy is concerned our 44 Magnum Hammerheads are being routinely reported as producing 1" to 1.5" 5-shot groups at 50-yard from accurate revolvers.
It has also been alleged that we do not pressure test our ammo. This is absolutely false. All of the products we have built during our 12 years of production have been subjected to professional pressure testing. For the last 6 years that pressure testing has been complimented by our own pressure testing which occurs with great frequency. We place safety above all other consideration, and never sell a product that has not been carefully tested for pressure, bullet integrity, accuracy, and overall impact-effect.
Building high performance 44 Magnum and 45-70 ammunition is our passion, and only pursuit. We could not take it more seriously than we do. Any review of the shooting press fully supports our claims of quality, and clearly demonstrates the falsity of some of the recent intemperate comments made on TFL by a troubled contributor. In fact, I encourage everyone to check out our reviews page on our web site to see what the industry has been saying about our products. Their comments are very definitive. I appreciate your patience with this long commentary, but when irresponsible contributors attack well established and respected businesses, the record needs to be set straight.
Best regards, Randy Garrett www.garrettcartridges.com
[This message has been edited by Randy Garrett (edited March 30, 2000).]
In a recent posting a contributor stated, "Readers be warned that Randy Garrett sells cartridges using methods not agreed upon by industry loading groups." This apparently results from this individual's dismay over our casting procedures. It seems that since we do not march in lockstep with certain other members of the industry, this person has determined that we are unqualified. This is strange indeed, as there is a broad range of opinion regarding legitimate casting procedures. However, since our casting procedures have been called into question, I feel that a review of our practices is in order. All of our casting is done in shop, and involves handcasting. This is more labor intensive than either buying commercial machine cast bullets or machine casting bullets ourselves, but results in better bullets. Our blocks are state of the art Hensley & Gibbs heavy cast iron blocks, which provide unusually good temperature control. Our alloy is a special silver enriched, low-antimony alloy with a trace of arsenic for extra hardening potential. All casting is done with high temperature alloy and blocks, and the sprues are cut as soon as the cut can be accomplished without smearing. The bullets are then immediately dropped into cold water, which results in a Brinnell hardness of 25. Our choice of a silver enriched, low antimony alloy is significant as it yields bullets with low fracture potential. Most commercial efforts to produce really hard cast bullets involve the use of relatively high antimony alloys since those alloys are the easiest to work with when using automatic casting machines. However, high antimony alloys tend to fracture when stressed beyond their inherent strength, something that cannot be tolerated when hunting heavy or potentially dangerous game. Our selection of a silver enriched, low antimony alloy results in a bullet that when stressed beyond its inherent strength simply deforms modestly, as opposed to the castrophic shattering of high antimony alloys.
In another recent posting, it was stated that "My conversations with you so far scare me in that there is someone selling a product that is as ignorant of practical ballistics as you." I would like to respond to this. Our products are absolutely on the cutting edge of ballistic development, something anyone can conclude that reads the national shooting press. Our 44 Magnum Hammerhead bullets are a good example of this. For a number of years we produced 44 Magnum ammo using 310-grain SWC bullets. That ammo was widely hailed as the best 44 Magnum ammo money could buy for hunting big game animals, and received over 100 reviews in the national shooting press. Among those praising that load as the best was Finn Aagaard, Jim Wilson, Bart Skelton, John Taffin, Craig Boddington, Charles Petty, Hal Swiggett, Jeff Cooper, and many others. However, it became clear to me that a better load could be designed, and that led to our new Hammerhead designs. Research and development of our new Hammerheads lasted for about a year and involved all manner of ballistic testing, including pressure testing, accuracy testing, firerarm compatibility testing, and impact testing. By comparison to our old 310-grain SWC load, our new 310-grain Hammerhead load uses a bullet with a weight-forward design that moves much more of the bullet out of the case and into the chamber throat of the revolver. This allows us to deliver about 100-fps higher velocity with lower pressure than our previous 310-grain SWC load. This new Hammerhead design is the talk of the industry and has even been credited with virtually saving the caliber from obsolescence (see Payton Miller's comments in GUNS & AMMO, 12-98). This new Hammerhead bullet also delivers deeper penetration than our old 310-grain SWC, and it does so with a much blunter front end (meplat: .320" vs .285"). Where accuracy is concerned our 44 Magnum Hammerheads are being routinely reported as producing 1" to 1.5" 5-shot groups at 50-yard from accurate revolvers.
It has also been alleged that we do not pressure test our ammo. This is absolutely false. All of the products we have built during our 12 years of production have been subjected to professional pressure testing. For the last 6 years that pressure testing has been complimented by our own pressure testing which occurs with great frequency. We place safety above all other consideration, and never sell a product that has not been carefully tested for pressure, bullet integrity, accuracy, and overall impact-effect.
Building high performance 44 Magnum and 45-70 ammunition is our passion, and only pursuit. We could not take it more seriously than we do. Any review of the shooting press fully supports our claims of quality, and clearly demonstrates the falsity of some of the recent intemperate comments made on TFL by a troubled contributor. In fact, I encourage everyone to check out our reviews page on our web site to see what the industry has been saying about our products. Their comments are very definitive. I appreciate your patience with this long commentary, but when irresponsible contributors attack well established and respected businesses, the record needs to be set straight.
Best regards, Randy Garrett www.garrettcartridges.com
[This message has been edited by Randy Garrett (edited March 30, 2000).]
