Why companies drop components

G

Gunplummer

New member
In the last few years a lot of reloading components have "Just gone away". Is this just the usual corporate stupidity of trying to jam something down the consumers throat that they don't want, or is something else going on? Right now reloading has never been this popular before. Why would companies back off on production?
 
When they are producing at maximum capacity, they produce the items that sell the largest volume (most demand) first. Everything else gets a back seat. Hornady, for example, put a lot of its bullet designs on hiatus during the peak of the buying frenzy because they didn't sell enough of them to justify taking the tool change time away from producing their more popular items.

Hornady, specifically, and after realizing the added demand was going to be permanently larger, has been adding employees and plant capacity and catching up. I haven't looked recently to see where they are with their less popular bullets now. But it's likely everyone will get caught up eventually just because there is money to be made at it.
 
It is just businesses doing business as they see fit. It is their company and their product...if they don't want to produce it...that is there right.

There is "some" freedom remaining in this country.
 
Supply versus demand taking into account manufacturing capacity. They are going to make what maximizes ROI.
 
I don't think the mfg's have backed off production....I think demand, and hoarding, has far surpassed availability of product. In fact I think most of the component mfg's have added capacity and tried to take advantage of the higher demand.

But in my area...bullets and primers are readily available...and most powders are starting to come back as well...although I've never run out and continue to be able to shoot at least 20,000 handgun rounds a year by picking up what I can when the powder I like for handguns becomes available.
 
i feel that we will start seeing the less popular stuff start getting produced again in the next 1 to 2 years. it seems like we have kind of reached a plateau in component buying and stuff is starting to hit the shelves again. we are already seeing a sharp decline in gun sales showing that the people that are going to be reloading and ammo hoarding are probably already into it, and we won't have another slew of new gun owners trying to get into the sport anytime soon, barring anymore poitical discussion anyways. since we are seeing huge surpluss of common calibers like 9mm and .223 start to pile up at the stores and prices droppping to pre-panic levels, they should start tooling up for more obscure stuff soon. but even if the start producing those things or already have, it's going to take a good bit of time to get the back orders filled. right now i am just happy to see powders/primers available again. i personally have always been able to find decent bullets, if not exactly what i wanted, to shoot. i find it odd though that through the last 3 years, i have almost always been able to find any kind of Hornady bullet i desired and not so much from other makers. maybe because Hornad doesn't have a large "loaded" ammo market, but still sierra/nosler and especially speer(pistol bullets) and been elusive.
 
I think some bullet makers have just plain dropped a lot of their bullets and replaced them with junk a lot of the customers do not want. I do not doubt that the run on components had a lot to do with unavailability, but I foresee a lot of old style bullets not coming back from the "unavailable/seasonal" status.
 
i don't see how they would make money if now selling "junk" that we don't want..... i love the quality of the bullets i get, they actually amaze me sometimes.
 
I think some bullet makers have just plain dropped a lot of their bullets and replaced them with junk a lot of the customers do not want.
Click to expand...

I doubt they are in the business to make junk we don't want, and if so, I don't see them in business very long. From what I've seen locally, the supply is much much better, and the odd/less popular calibers and componets are now showing up as well.
 
I foresee a lot of old style bullets not coming back from the "unavailable/seasonal" status.
Click to expand...
Start a thread on "What's the best bullet for...?", and most of the answers will be the latest, greatest thing on the market.

People will tell you the bullets that worked well for decades on game suddenly won't kill them anymore, and you must have the highest BC, mono material, long range Super Bullet or you will fail.

No one wants "old style" because they are out of fashion, so the companies make the higher priced projectiles that really don't kill any better than the old cup and cores
 
Gunplumber......Is there something specific that you need just state it.

Others have needed certain and when we know what is needed it may be provided. For example I have shipped a couple sizes of bullets that I cast at they are unobtainable and the mold was temporarily out of stock.

Those of us that are really into reloading.....there aint much we cant figure out how to make.
 
Two of the most popular bullets....and higher quality bullets...

Montana Gold ...for a true jacketed bullet...
Berry's.....for a plated bullet.....

went thru a period, over a year ago now, where their products were in short supply - but both of them are readily available now.
 
All I know is when I emailed Hornady about no longer listing the .41 FTX, I never got a response. They were a 190 grain Flex Tip for the 41 Rem Mag Marlins. Marlin stopped making the rifle and I guess Hornady decided they didn't need to make the bullet any longer.
 
All I know is when I emailed Hornady about no longer listing the .41 FTX, I never got a response. They were a 190 grain Flex Tip for the 41 Rem Mag Marlins. Marlin stopped making the rifle and I guess Hornady decided they didn't need to make the bullet any longer
Click to expand...
.It is just speculation, but I suspect too few people were interested in what was essentially a pointed bullet for use in a short-range gun where aerodynamic bullets were of little use. It seemed to me to be an ingenious solution to a non-existent problem.
 
Kinda like an orchard that has apple trees and plum trees. It takes manpower to pick the fruit. So, are you gonna devote manpower to pickin' fruit that doesn't sell or keep the pickers pickin' apples? :D:D
 
I've been looking for .45 cal jacketed SWCs.

I haven't seen a jacketed SWC from Hornady for sale in 2 or 3 years, but they seem to be pumping out the XTPs as fast as we can shoot/hoard them.

Remington and Speer seem to be absent completely from the handgun bullet game. Maybe they're concentrating on rifle bullets.
 
I don't care what you are manufacturing companies put products on the shelf. Those that sell get replaced, those that don't sell don't get manufactured. If you shoot 9mm, 308, 45, or 12 ga your ammo is available. If you shoot something less popular you'll have to wait until there is a slowdown in sales of the popular items before manufacturers will make more of them.
 
One solution that has worked for me is search the for sale sections of the various hunting and shooting sites. One of my favorite bullets is the Sierra 170 gr. 7MM round nose for use in my 7x57's. Sierra dumped them so far back in history that I forget when it was they dropped them. I called to see if they had any and the guy was shocked that I even wanted them. Search the web sites and now have a very good supply and at less cost than if they were at my LGS. Frankly, I've found many good buys on bullets, brass and even powder. On the powder, I did have to take a trip from Tucson to Quartzite and the seller came from the Los Angeles area with the powder. I got 32 pounds of WMR which in my several .270s and .300 Win. Mag.s is a freeloader's dream. Great velocity and extremely fine accuracy.
Yes, searching does take time but if it's a discontinued item you absolutely have to have, you have a chance of finding what you want. Works for me. :D
Paul B.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top