To All,
Thank you very much for your feedback. Frankly, it is not turning out like I expected which makes me happy since we already put them in 100 count packs. This means we won't need to change to 50 packs.
I am learning more than I bargained for and have a few comments about some of the feedback made.
Several posts asked about small packs for testing (25 bullets or less). I'm not sure how much I am allowed to say but I can relay that you will see a solution to this particular request start showing up in gun shops across the US. We are excited about this effort and from the feedback on this thread I think many of you will be as well.
Others asked for 500 packs and there were questions about getting the same lot. To me these situations are related in that the goal is to get bullets that are the same.
Regarding boxes of 500 counts, I am really glad to see this feedback as we purposefully do not put hunting bullets into our quantity packs (we pack several popular target bullets in 500 and 1,000 count packs). The reason is because I didn't think hunters would ever need or buy that many bullets. I see now that I was wrong. It won't happen quickly but you can expect to see the popular hunting bullets becoming available in larger count boxes.
Regarding getting bullets of the same lot, we deliberately put the lot numbers of our bullets on the same side as all the other descriptive information so it is easy for the reseller to keep same lots together. We also put our bullets into sleeves of 5 boxes that are all of the same lot. If you buy the bullets directly from Berger we can make sure all the bullets are from the same lot. I can't speak for our many resellers but we have done everything we can to make it easy on them to keep same lots together and available.
Dave726,
I understand and appreciate your comments. One of the challenges we face is that if we add a trim and repoint step to our process the bullets will be more expensive. There is no way to avoid this reality.
Also, I've seen what it takes to trim and repoint. It is my opinion that this is a process best done deliberately and carefully. It is too easy to deform the bullet in a way that makes it shoot poorly. A shooter that is crafting each bullet can be careful to monitor pressures and appearance to ensure that everything is working properly.
Those who do this step in mass quantities are taking a big risk because the window between it being done right and wrong is very small. I think we do pretty good at making bullets properly and I don't believe we could do this as consistently as the individual shooter can so we don't.
Regards,
Eric