Nosler bulk JHP

[gamestalker]

My Son dropped of a box (250 ct.) of 9mm and .40 JHP for me to load up for him. I was really pleased with the quality and price, $33 for the 9mm and $35 for the .40 cal.. I test fired a couple clips of them yesterday and they are really nice, and expanded very well too! HS6 was the ticket for both cartridges and produced some impressive accuracy, and velocity as well.

I worked up the 155 gr. .40 cal. loads to 9.0 grains HS6 and still didn't see any signs of excessive pressures. He specifically requested high velocity loads for the XD and XDM, that load was clocking at almost 1200 fps! The 115 gr. 9mm loads were kept at middle of the road and still clocked at about the same velocity. Great bullets and great powder for the purpose.

 

[Striker Fired]

I shoot a bunch of them also,they shoot as good as xtps in most of my guns.The 124grJHP's are great too.I am surprised that I seldom hear of anybody else shooting them,seems like most just skip pass them going from plated to XTP's or Gold Dots.

 

[flhtcuibyhd]

They are my standard .44mag practice bullet in a lower velocity load - great accuracy and great price.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

The 250s shoot great in my .45 Colt. Much more accurate than XTPs have been forme. I'm a fan.

 

[evan price]

The Nosler Sporting Pistol bullets are the greatest little-known bargain in handgun bullets there is, except maybe the Speer Bulk Packs in the plastic ammo cans. The 240 grains JSP or JHP .429's are the best 44 magnum bullets I have used. The price is terrific. The quality is terrific. Only problem is spotty availability sometimes. Two thumbs way up for Nosler!

 

[Fishslayer]

I'm a big fan of the Nosler 158gr SJHP in my .357 Magnum Big Dog loads with 2400.

Definitely a good bullet for the $$$.

 

[ReloaderFred]

They are a great bullet. I've watched them made at the Nosler plant. Nosler is a fairly small company and they make different bullets at different times. They don't have enough equipment to make all the bullets at the same time, so they try to predict their future needs and schedule accordingly. All the bullet companies do the same thing, only some do it on a larger scale.

Nosler also makes bullets for some of the custom ammunition from Winchester and Federal, so those have to factor into the scheduling, too.

I sometimes buy their factory seconds, and I've yet to find a bad bullet in the batch. They usually have some cosmetic spot on the jacket, or some little mark that doesn't affect performance. The factory seconds are available on their retail store's website, http://www.shootersproshop.com/Departments/Reloading/Components/Bullets/Nosler-Factory-2nds.aspx

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[gamestalker]

Hey there Reloader Fred, do all bullet manufacturer's offer blemished bullets? And how much are they reduced in price usually?

Thanks for the tip, I'm always interested in cost effective reloading tips, especially for my handguns. I don't think I would load blemished bullets for my high powered rifle needs, simply because I really strive for acuracy in this area of the sport. But handgun, I don't think it's going to make a noticable difference in a common self defence situation, less than 20'.

 

[Striker Fired]

I saw a bit of Sierras factory a few years back and they just had a few bullet machines and such,I was surprissed at how small they were for how big the name.Most of the plant was storage or shipping and receiving.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Most all the bullet companies sell their seconds, but some only sell to retailers, such as Midway, etc.. When Sierra Bullets was in Whittier, CA, which is where I toured their plant, you could buy seconds by the pound at the front counter. They would have mixed calibers in either pistol or rifle, and you told them which one you wanted and how many pounds. I don't know how Sierra does it these days, as that was in 1979 when I toured their plant.

Nosler sells through their retail store next door to the plant. They don't mix the bullets, but rather keep them sorted by caliber and weigh and package them in plastic bags. The sorting is done by several women sitting at work stations. They said women show more attention to detail and make better quality control inspectors for the final product. I guess the more PC crowd would call that sexist, but I don't really care about that stuff.

They set a lower than retail price on them and they usually go fast. What they have in stock depends on their manufacturing schedule. If they run out of a certain caliber, it may be several months before they make a run of that particular bullet again. If you see what you want, then you need to buy it while it's available, since it may take them awhile to get back to that particular bullet in the cycle.

Most bullet companies make their bullets on old fashioned punch presses. Both Sierra and Nosler scour the machinery auctions and look for them. I was told by both of them that some of their equipment dates back to World War II, but has all been rebuilt. They liked the quality of the older machines and they can pick them up for a fraction of what a new machine would cost, even factoring in the skill of the machinist who rebuilds them. That's not to say they don't have modern machinery in their plants, because they do, but the cup and core bullet is still made on a punch press. Or more properly, several punch presses, each doing a task.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Fishslayer]

Wow. Thanks for that, Fred. I had sorta suspected such from the sort of cyclical nature of Nosler availability.

 

[Shmackey]

I sometimes buy their factory seconds, and I've yet to find a bad bullet in the batch. They usually have some cosmetic spot on the jacket, or some little mark that doesn't affect performance. The factory seconds are available on their retail store's website, http://www.shootersproshop.com/Departments/Reloading/Components/Bullets/Nosler-Factory-2nds.aspx

Thanks for this. I just ordered 1000 of the .451 JHPs. This bullet is like a laser beam out of my 1911s. I tacked on 500 of the .400 JHPs to see how they do out of my Razorback.

 

[CZ57]

A few years ago I bought some (500) 150 gr. .40 S&W JHPs. The majority had skive issues. Either there weren't skives or they were very lightly cut. I called NOSLER and they asked me to send in a couple of bullets from both bulk-packs. I did and was promptly rewarded with two new bulk-packs of the same bullet. They did this without hesitation and I was very pleased with their customer service. The bullets shot very well BTW from a CZ-75 B in .40 S&W.