Open letter to reloading mfgrs

[jag2]

I don't know if any people that work for a reloading components manufacturer read these posts, hope so.

Now that the madness of the last eight years seems to be ending perhaps some manufactures have a little excess production time available. I'm talking mainly about brass and bullets. I realize just keeping up with the most popular products was a more than full time job. Maybe now you could go back and look at some of the items you used to make but had to set aside. Some of the products that don't sell out quite as fast as others because of less demand. Kind of like when Aguila finally made a run of 22 WRF a few years ago because the existing supply had dried up. I hope it was worth it to them. A lot of us have some odd caliber firearm that we don't shoot that often because we know we can't load any more. I'm guessing each company knows of a few items they would like to make again if they had the time. Maybe they have the time now.

Please don't start posting "I want such and such". That's not the purpose of this post, but yes, I do have my own wish list.

 

[FITASC]

A lot of what you're wanting to see, IF they will do it at all, is done in a single yearly production run. Changing out production runs is expensive and if the bean counters don't see a profit in doing it, it won't get done. Besides, they STILL can't seem to make enough .22..........
Now certain components that might be able to be used in several cartridges might be the place to start.

 

[Paul B.]

I've been hearing stuff like Remington, Winchester have decided to no longer service we reloader with components. My preference for feeding my 7x57 Mauser rifles has been Winchester and I haven't seen any for quite a long time now. I did make a killing on a good supply of Remington brass in 7x57 and one on .358 Win. as well but that was nothing more than a stroke of very good luck.
All the loaded 7x57 ammo I've seen lately is Federal stuff which I don't care for.
I think I'm probably good to go for whatever time I have left on the planet as I am pushing toward decade #8 so I won't worry overmuch about supply but I do feel for those who cannot find what they need.
Paul B.

 

[JeepHammer]

Try and find .45-120 Sharps brass...
.218 Bee brass...
The list goes on and on.

Once a year, or even every two years would be OK.

 

[HiBC]

30-40 Krag.
One "hope" Starline used to strictly make straightwall cases.They now make a few bottlenecks.

Its possible that if Starline had a whole market niche to look at,they might tool up.I hope!

 

[MarkCO]

Being sponsored by one such company and having good contacts with two others, it is all about demand.

Hornady for instance just came out with some new bullets and started loading 6 Creedmore. All due to demand. So, how do they gauge demand? Requests from Dealers, Consumers and Manufacturers. Internet chatter (social media, load data, websites, search engine results). Keywords matter.

I keep asking for commercially loaded match ammo in .243. Not because I want to buy any, but because it will affect the market and offerings in that caliber that are match focused. Ruger dropped the .243Win from the RPR line, but they have gotten a lot of demand for other calibers.

One email to a company won't do it, but a lot of them will. If every person on TFL called, emailed, posted and wrote to company X requesting a certain component, I am certain it would be produced.

Most component manufacturers have a line that does oddball stuff that can be easily set up to run a batch of this or that provided they have the dies and tooling. It is a LOT easier than setting up to make an actual loading.

 

[Gary Wells]

I think that the ammunition & component manufacturers in general have their game plan & manufacturing methods pretty much where they want them. I don't see them changing their game plan much unless it is in a more profitable arena.