My Work Order List

[BT Sniper]

Progress is being made, slow and steady and looking good.

Keep posted here for details and thank you all for your patience.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Finally feeling a little better today. No, I'm not sick or even have been at all this year! I'm done with letting current events bring my mood down.

It has been a tough year for me trying not to get upset at local and world events. I think I am finally over it all. I'm going to devote the majority of my cares and attention to family and work now.

Today I got the shop cleaned up and I am excited to get back to work on all my customer's orders.

With all the crap we have had to endure this year I am thankful for the understanding and patience of all my customers that have allowed me the extra time I have needed this year to work on and finish their orders.

Keep posted here for updates.

Happy Holidays!

Good shooting and swage on!

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Been busy answering PMs and inquires. Still trying best I can to get out some partial orders before the holidays so those of you that have been waiting a long time can at least get started on the process.

Thank you all for patience and support.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Busy week!

Spent four, ten hour days responding to emails, messages, pms, and phone calls taking orders, sending invoices and instruction manuals.

Was able to spend one full day in front of the lathe and got a couple orders out the door as well. As I catch up on correspondents I expect the ratio to switch to majority of time spent again in front of lathe working on existing orders.

I'm making progress, very slow at the moment but forward. If I didn't get a reply to your inquire and your not on my list send me a friendly reminder. To all my customers currently on my list, I haven't forgotten about any of you and as always, thank you for your patience, it will be worth it.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

The Holiday shipping rush is upon us. With long lines at the post office and my last few orders sent taking WAY TO LONG to arrive (at times even in question as to weather they would even make it) to customers I am going to hold off shipping of these expensive, labor intensive and valuable orders till the second week of January.

Here is a snap shot of info being posted on USPS tracking, notice the note in red at top....




and with packages making unscheduled stops and return trips as shown below where a package made a turn south to the small town of Salem and returning to Portland before actually starting in right direction east to Kansas City.....well..... with the mad rush of packages to be shipped it simply isn't worth the risk. Compile on to this reduced workers in Post Offices and the fact that USPS uses commercial flights to move their packages and of course the number of commercial flights is a fraction of what it used to be. Everything adds up to delayed shipping and increased risk of loosing a valuable set of expensive swage dies.












I know a lot of you have been waiting a long time but the stress of relying on any of our shipping carriers this time of year is far worse then the couple extra weeks waiting for orders to ship during a less busy time of year.

A package that was sent on the 4th should have arrived by the 7th with USPS priority 2 day shipping but 12 days of Christmas later the package has not arrived yet! I have confidence it will but it is just not worth the risk this time of year. Even if I insure packages heavily the amount of time it would take me to make another product that may get lost in mail is far greater loss to me and the customer then waiting till things slow down with the post office after holidays.

Sorry for the additional delay, I insure you all it will be worth it. I am not on holiday here in the shop, I will continue to take orders, work on current orders and finish orders boxing them up ready to be shipped, I am just holding off shipment of any more packages till January 11th 2021.

Thank you all for your understanding and patience.

Merry Christmas.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

This summer as I have mentioned was challenging resulting in me falling behind my estimated completion dates. I am making much better progress now. Rather then try to update the estimated completion dates I simply removed all estimates from my list as many of them where quite a bit out dated. I kept the original order date listed.

I will do my best to get orders done in timely manor and as close to the order in which orders where received. Of course quality will not be sacrificed.

When I begin get close to shipping a customer's order I always contact the customer to let them know I am working on their order or have it ready for shipment with tracking and/or additional tips and notes.

I expect progress to move forward very well as this is the time I get a lot of work done with the lousy spring weather in the Pacific Northwest without anything else to do.

Keep posted and also check my previous post here pertaining to no shipping till after holiday rush.

Thank you for your continued patience and support.

Merry Christmas

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Machining a lot of new dies! I'll have pics of them all soon. These are just the die bodies with threaded top that will be sent off to heat treat very soon, than next step is to bore the bullet cavity of desired caliber. Once bullet caliber is machined then it is sent off to Nitride.

I have all the dies on order already done with this process. This new batch of dies is just what I work on during the mad holiday rush when I choose not to ship orders. Currently looks like this run will be at least 200-250 dies in number!

Also I have 7 of my Lee Swage Presses in stock to fill orders already taken. There seems to be no Lee Classic presses in stock anywhere. I have 12 more on back order with an estimated shipping of end of February.

Work is moving along nicely. Thank you all for your patience.

Merry Christmas

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Hope everyone had great holiday.

I spent the two weeks of Christmas and New Years getting new die bodies ready for heat treat. This is the first step of the process for me in making a set of dies. First I must bore the top of the die and tap the threads. Then it is off to professional heat treat where the soft 4140 steel dies will be hardened to a value of 40-45RC. After this the die bodies are ready to bore the bullet cavity of any caliber I need. Of course after the bullet cavity is done the die is sent to Nitride for an exterior surface hardness in excess of 60RC! Makes for a great set of BTSniper premium dies.

I completed 212 die bodies over the holidays.

Will have them to heat treat tomorrow. Then I'll be able to machine any dies for which I do not have in stock to fill existing and future orders.

Now that this project is done it is back to work on all customers orders.

I'll have a pic to post of these 212 dies soon, they look great!

Thank you all for your patience and support.

Good shooting and swage on in the new year!

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Spent the last four weeks rebuilding inventory. Since I did not wish to ship expensive dies during the mad holiday rush I made use of the time replenishing stock I was low on. As mentioned in previous post I completed 212 dies that are currently at heat treat, these have all machine work done minus the bore or bullet cavity so they can fill the needs of any caliber. I was low on the auto eject frames and this week I finished nearly 60 of them. Today I had a very good day in shop and nearly completed work on 20 of my solid threaded Lee ram tops. I started work on these a while ago, they have always taken me a good deal of labor to complete but after I put a bit more thought into it I was able to complete this run of ram tops in less time with even better results. Always nice when things work out that way.

I'll be shipping these new rams along with the several auto eject frames to Nitride very soon. I expect to have the hardened die bodies back any day now and expect I'll have a few to add to the Nitride shipment too.

Every year I have spent a certain amount of time during the December and January months machining these necessary items to ensure my stock doesn't run out. I feel bad that I was not able to work on customer orders during these 4 weeks but trust me I was not on Holiday. The machine work done each year during this time ensures me the necessary dies and tooling I need to complete orders for the rest of the year. In fact all the orders I have on my list now where machined during the same time frame last year.

I was having a tough time trying to work on customer orders knowing my stock of ram tops and auto ejects where to low to cover all orders, so I guess in a fact I was working on some of your orders. I feel it was the right decision for me to devote the time between Dec 15th and Jan 15th to restocking inventory. This will better help me to schedule future orders and keep future customers informed as to my delivery and work schedule.

Of course 2020 was a crazy year for all things gun related, same with quality swage dies. It was the same back in 2013 too, very busy and a lot of orders all at once, I completed them all then and I will complete them all again now. I know many of you have been waiting a long time and I appreciate your patience and understanding in allowing me the time I need to complete all necessary work including your orders and keeping up with inventory.

Tomorrow I will be done with the ram tops, then I will clean them all along with auto eject frames to be ready to box up for Nitride. I feel great now knowing inventory levels are good again, this will allow me work on customer orders now with less stress ensuring the best possible results in an excellent set of dies to fill all customer orders.

Thank you for your patience and support. Hang in there! The results will be awesome, I promise. And thank you to all of you that check in here for updates, if your order(zipcode) is on my list, you are on my list and in line. I have not forgotten about any of you.

Once I am close to finishing a customer's order I notify that customer with any helpful tips to the use of their new dies and/or the shipment date.

As I said, keep posted here and to my list for any and all updates. Typically if you don't see updates it means I'm hard at work


Brian

[BT Sniper]

All parts mentioned in previous post have now been shipped to be Nitride processed.

Also will be picking up the 212 dies first of next week that I took to heat treat last week. Had the heat treat company bead blast them after the heat treat process. Turned out looking pretty darn good as shown in attached pics. These dies will now be bored out to desired bullet caliber and then sent to Nitride processing. Final hardness of the 4140 steel came out at 48 RC, this makes for a very strong die and after Nitride it will have a surface hardness of over 60 RC. A hard outer surface that reduces friction and is less susceptible to scratches with a strong and tough inner core makes for a very good set of swage dies!








Made a lot of process on all these items in the last 4 week. Now I am truly back to work on current orders and feeling good!

Swage on!

BT

[SSG_Reloader]

Those are beautiful Brian!

[BT Sniper]

Got quite a few shipments going out this week. Mostly molds and other items I had here ready to ship that will allow customers to start process of making bullets.

Be sure to check my list for updates.

Progress is moving forward slowly.

Thank you all for your patience and support.

Good shooting and swage on!

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Been having some good days in shop lately.

Working on everyone's core bleed dies, base punches and derim dies right now.

Took count of how many orders with eleven cavity molds I have on the list at the moment that haven't shipped yet, looks like currently about 21 of them. Getting blank molds has been a bit of a challenge lately but I'm glad to say I currently have 19 blanks in stock. I expect I'll be able to order more very soon as they become available to fill the remaining two on order and enough extra to fill more future orders.

I expect to have many items ready to ship again very soon so many of you will be able to start casting cores, bleeding cores and/or deriming 22lr brass. Also expect to have 6mm dies, a few 30 cal and a few 22 cal orders completed soon as well.

Lots of work to do and things are coming together very well.

Thank you all for your support and patience.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Finally took a few moments to figure out uploading pics to recently updated computer......

Here is a look at what I have been working on last couple days....

A box full of base punches ready for various calibers and nearly every core bleed die on order.



Also got back all my auto ejects and Lee ram tops from Nitride last week. Everything is looking good!

Will keep you all posted to my progress.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Just received a box full of blank molds and just ordered 10 more. I have 21 orders on my list in need of molds. I have all necessary mold blanks in stock ready to be machined for all these molds on order and plenty more blanks to fill potential future orders.

Will be machining all these molds on order very soon. With all the core bleed dies and base punches I have ready this should allow all of you to get started with the process of making your own bullets!

Working on several sets of dies as well. Lots of work to do and progress is being made.

Still waiting on 8 of the Lee Classic Cast presses to arrive. Been on order since mid December. I have 8 of these here now to fill existing orders with.

Thank you all for your patience and support.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Making lots of base punches this week, and the precise boat tail base punch. Made three of the boat tail base punches today with perfect results, even better then any I have made in past. I shall make some more of these boat tail base punches as it seems they are coming together very well and when things are going good you take advantage of it and make as many as you can. Hope is to get all the boat tail base punches on order done.

Everything is coming together well, I am working on components for all dies on order so in effect I am working on everyone's dies right now.

Thanks for your patience.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Didn't get a lot of work done last week, spent time getting taxes together. Just dropped taxes off so I'm back to work.

Thanks

Brian

[BT Sniper]

A good day in the shop today.

Completed work on a dozen of both point form and core seat 30 cal base punches.

I'm doing a run on base punches right now, trying to complete the necessary base punches for all dies on order, tomorrow will be 6mm and 6.5mm punches followed by 22 cal.

Things are looking great and progress is moving forward.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Another 16 base punches done today. These where .223 in diameter for 22 cal point form, 30 cal core seat in copper tubing jackets and 6.5mm core seat punches.

Here are some pics of my progress....

A good bunch of base punches nearly ready






Completed 22, 6mm, 6.5mm and 30 cal core bleed dies





and a shelf full of blank molds that are on the list to be machined so all of you can start casting and bleeding cores.



Progress is looking very good, slow, but I am very pleased with the quality.

Thank you your support and patience.

Brian

[BT Sniper]

Burn out on Base Punches!


Looks like I started this run of base punches around the 20th of last month, I am now done with 116 base punches in various calibers/diameters necessary to fill current orders. These are all threaded base punches in rifle calibers, I have a few 22 cal shell holder style base punches in stock as well as many in various pistol calibers but I'll need to machine a few more shell holder style base punches I'm sure.

Also still need to machine copper tubing base punches and many more boat tail base punches but with these 116 base punches I have ready to go they will fill the need of many dies on order and allow you all to start the process of making bullets.

I'll be working on polishing, lapping and final assembly of a few dies now. Then I'll be machining a bunch of molds.

Stay tuned here for updates and thank you for your patience and support.

Brian