Bullet poll

[jcw1970]

I've been thinking about starting a small business that would produce the 147 gr and 173 gr bullet for the garand. I was just wondering if there would be any interest for these. I've been buying surplus and those are about gone and I've tried the hornady but they just aren't the same. I was thinking there might be some people out there who would like to be able to produce the military round as close as possible.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I think IF you could produce those bullets in quantity and a reasonable price you could sell thousands easily. When I am up there I will fire about 500 in my Garands and 500 in my M1A´s monthly. BUT with prices at the present level I fired all cast this last time and saved my FMJ ammo for the future.

[jcw1970]

I haven't crunched all the numbers yet but it looks to be close to $150 per K. Keep in mind these are going to be hand made with corbin machines and in my spare time. I'm not looking to be a wholesaler, just a way to offset the cost of the machines.

[higgins]

The surplus pulls are getting scarce, but you would be competing with imports like Prvi (and others?) for the 150 gr. bullets as long as people weren't too particular about the exact base configuration. I would suggest another bullet that I see mentioned occasionally on Enfield forums. There may be a pretty good niche market for a 174 gr FMJ flat base bullet for the .303 British. To be true to the Mk7 bullet it would need a hollow cavity nose packed with cardboard or an aluminum plug, but I think if the configuration and weight were correct very few people would care if it had cardboard in the nose. I'm not going to start a debate about cordite throat erosion, but for whatever reason many well-used Enfields do not seem to shoot boat tail bullets very well. Even though mine aren't worn enough for that to be an issue, I would prefer a good flat base bullet just because I like them. The cheap, or even plentiful, .303 surplus ammo is long gone so those who do not have a good supply stashed away either are already handloading or shooting factory loads, or eventually will be.

[Bullshop]

Have you priced the jackets yet or will you make them? I think you may find that at the price you mentioned the cost of jackets is about half that.
If you find a better price on jackets please let me know.
BIC/BS

[Jim]

Would a customer be required to buy a K at a time or would you be willing to sell them in smaller amounts?

[jcw1970]

Have you priced the jackets yet or will you make them? I think you may find that at the price you mentioned the cost of jackets is about half that.
If you find a better price on jackets please let me know.
BIC/BS

I plan on making them. Please remember that that was just a ballpark figure. I haven't gotten all the numbers together because I'm not sure of the demand for just 2 bullet weights in one caliber. The reason I wanted to do this is for the long term. surplus is about or almost gone and i would like to keep shooting these bullets. Corbin stuff is not cheap and I wanted to offset the costs by selling some. To be honest, the largest lots I'll probably be selling will be 500, cause that's a lot of work, with cutting cores, jacketing and trimming. To start off, I will probably only offer 100 round boxes and see where that goes.

[Echo]

I would be interested - would the 173 grain bullet be BT?

[jcw1970]

I would be interested - would the 173 grain bullet be BT?

Yes. it would an exact replica of the 173 gr match bullet.