Berger Bullets needs your advice - please help

[cowboy]

SBruce,

That is an excellent point. I believe that our bullets are also more popular among these shooters. Just another reason why it makes sense to add 500 count packs to the popular hunting bullets as well.

Regards,
Eric

Eric:
First of all I would like to thank you for even considering different options with such an open mind. You are to be complimented.

I live in Billings, Mt. and even though a number of retail outlets may handle your bullets I have NEVER been in any of the stores where I could pick up 5 boxes with the same lot number - so that forces me to always order them and pay the freight. Never even knew it was even an option to order direct from Berger.

I would jump all over buying a box of 500.

SBruce I think hit it right on the head - I may only kill 8-12 critters a year but I also shoot 600-800 bullets per year of the same cal. and grain - add in 2 sons that do the same and trying to keep things straight for a number of different rifles gets interesting at times.

The big thing with me is being able to get bullets in a timely manner - which in my mind is say 30 days or there about.

 

[pressman]

+1 for the popular hunting bullets in 500 count. and +2 goes to Eric for really wanting to make a great product better. I have not seen any other manufacture asked questions let alone really listen to their customers. Thanks again Eric and will be patiently waiting on the 500 count of the vld hunting bullets because i to try to shoot every chance i get for practice and i am not going to practice with one load and then hunt with another. I practice with my hunting load.

 

[6brxdude]

100 bullets minimum is good, but I would also like the option and price breaks 250 and 500 packs provide especially for my varmint guns!!! And since I'm really anal about consistency, i would even pay more if I could get all of my bullets from one particular machine/die combination.


Kevin

 

[Eric Stecker]

And since I'm really anal about consistency, i would even pay more if I could get all of my bullets from one particular machine/die combination.

I can assure you that every Berger made in a given lot is from one machine, one tooling set up and was made with raw materials from one lot. This is a standard requirement of our process. You won't have to pay extra to get this from every box of Berger (of the same lot).

I need to think about the amount of boxes available at the resellers situation. This is a tough one since the reseller doesn't want to buy more of something that doesn't sell but when they have only 1 or 2 boxes in their store they lose out on the sales of those who want 5 or more boxes from one lot.

We'll have to talk with our resellers about this some more. Berger has always sold direct to the shooter as an alternative. Admittedly, you will likely find these bullets to be cheaper from our resellers as we don't compete with them on price. However, I can assure you that if you want all your bullets to be from the same lot, we can do this if you order directly from us. (The other guys can too but we obviously have more inventory than anyone else.)

Regards,
Eric

 

[fj40mojo]

Trial packs would be cool even if they cost a little more. I'd rather spend a little more per bullet for a few than be left with remnants of 100 ct boxes that I found didn't shoot well in my rifle. Once I find the "one" though, I'll buy in boxes of 500 if I know they are all going into the same hole.

 

[ajacinto]

100 bullet count for me please

 

[Daves762]

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

Eric- roger that. Then maybe they could be weight sorted so that all 100 are the same weight? even if that weight is 175.2 or whatever as long as they are all equal weight. This would increase your consistancy. Just a thought.

Dave

 

[Roe]

Eric,

This is just a guess, because I am not a member of any other forum; but I think most of us that hunt long range or shoot long range while hunting also practice alot, or shoot off season alot......perhaps that is the difference from the "one or two box a year" hunter, which I believe most hunters coast to coast fall into that catagory.

If I were a betting man, I'd suspect that some other forums would give different results, possibly more requests for small packaging.?

Regardless, Thanks for your interest in our opinions and continueing to produce a great product.

I'll just add my voice to this. I was somewhat surprised when I saw the "50 count" on a LR hunting site. People should be shooting a lot more than that!

I guess I'm a minority here, but I buy my bullets in 1000-4000 at a time (like many Norwegians do, we have some 150000 competition shooters with the 6,5x55).

I have 6000 Hornady Amax left, bought bulk. I use this bullet for everything (competition, LR shooting, deer culling). I'm expecting to stock up so I have at least 10000 bullets lying around. Bullets are expandables, the supply always run out and they are always more expensive when I resupply.

I'd like to try the Berger as I expect it to do the same as the Hornady. But here the Berger cost 2.3x the Lapua/Norma bullets and almost 3x the Hornady bullet, so it's not an option.

 

[gcamp54]

Most of the time I'd rather buy the 100 count box but it would be nice to have a 50 count available to try another weight on occasion. If the cost is the same then the 50 count gives us more options. We can always order twice the number of 50 count to save on shipping.

Gordon

 

[djtjr]

100 for me too

 

[Edd]

I'd rather have them in boxes of 50 regardless of how many I wanted. I'd even pay more to get them that way. This isn't exactly a new concept. Ever buy a box of 22 ammo that had 10 boxes of 50 in it? A lot of stuff you use daily is purchased in multiples of small containers.

 

[Fitch]

What I would love to see are Berger trial packs where you could buy 20 bullets so you could try out 4 or 5 bullet weights to see how your gun likes them before you jump into buying a full box. I know that would have helped me when I was trying to find the bullet my gun would shoot best.

I've thought a few times a sampler would be good. Then I realized it would have to have at least 50 of each bullet to give them a fair chance, especially varmint bullets because my varmint rifles need to be more accurate than my deer rifles - I shoot tiny ground hogs at longer distances than I shoot the relatively much larger deer. That's a lot of bullets, and once one works "good enough", a lot of extra bullets, especially for flat shooting varmint rifles because barrel life is frequently the most expensive per shot cost compnent. I tend to buy a rifle to shoot a particular bullet weight and type at specific game. I stop experimenting when I get the first bullet to work.

I don't need a lot of bullets for my deer rifles. So when I buy bullets for my deer rifles, I buy a box of 100 and know that is a several year supply including load development. I seldom need more than 40 rounds to have a useful (1 MOA or less cold bore 3 shot groups) PA deer load for a bullet in either my 7mmMAG or .30-06. I seldom go through more than 9 rounds in a hunting season. 2 fouling shots, 3 cold bore cold zero shots at the range to verify the scope and get reacquainted with the rifle, 4 shots at deer if I am lucky, less if I'm not. My scopes appear to hold their zero for years, so I don't use ammo adjusting them.

When I buy bullets for my varmint rifles on the other hand, I tend to buy at least 200 bullets knowing that is probably a 3 year supply including load development. I shoot 30 to 40 ground hogs in a typical year plus 3 fouling shots before the first hunting trip and 3 more following a typical mid season bore cleaning. If I buy varmint bullets locally I tend to buy less at a time than if I buy online for shipping/handling cost reasons. If I was a PD hunter I'd probably buy bullets in boxes of 500 or more. As it is, 200 or 250 count boxes work just fine.

When I find a good accurate bullet/load for a particular rifle and the game I hunt with it, I usually stop experimenting and just buy more of the same components.

Sometimes I have a hard time finding a bullet that works well in a rifle. My .17 Remington being a case in point. It doesn't like the V-Max bullets so I'm going to try the 25g Berger varmint bullet in that one next month.

Finally, on infrequent occasions I luck into another bullet that works significantly better with the same load than the one I developed it for. 34g DogTown working much better in my CZ Hornet (accuracy and terminal performance) than the 35g V-Max being one serendipitous example. A friend was going to pitch the bullets and gave them to me instead. I was barely satisfied with the 35g V-max in the Hornet, so tried the 34g DT, loved the accuracy and terminal performance, and immediately bought 200 more. Had a dozen or so one shot kills with them this spring out to 160 yards on young GH just venturing out of the nest.

Fitch

 

[jlamb]

100 piece count. I ladder test 50 rounds and that leaves me another 50 to further dial it in.

 

[dug]

i'd like to seee a 500 cnt choice for us high volume shoooters, i wish berger would offer them.
thx dug