Oregon Trail Bullets after being purchased?

[jski]

Oregon Trail Bullets/Laser Cast was purchased lock, stock, and barrel by Rim Rock Bullets everything has been moved to Polson, Montana.

Does anyone know how this has affected the quality of the product, Laser Cast bullets?

 

[Charlie98]

I think it has improved it.

I ordered .41 and .45-70 bullets from them last month, they came lickety-split fast, packed up extraordinarily well (they survived the postal service...) in boxes that I can actually use to store the bullets in. I'll be back for more.

 

[Frulk]

Last Year I was nearing the end of my 16 year term as an XO for a pure bred Jack Russel/Blue Heeler hybrid (anything else is just a dog) that had never ran on a beach or seen the ocean. Was on the way to the coast and took the opportunity to swing through Baker City and see the Oregon Trails mothership facility. It was a medium sized metal sided warehouse. I envisioned it for some reason being much larger. Only staff in the building were an elderly woman in a wheelchair and a friendly blind red heeler. Nobody else. Got the feeling then that something was up. Shelf stock was a little on the bare side. Dropped some cash on .44 Mag and .45 Colt products and walked out.

Doubt there will be any negative impact on the quality of their products with Rim Rock absorbing them. I've shot mostly heavy for caliber stuff from OTB and middle of the road weights from Rim Rock in a number of handgun calibers and been happy with both. I'm betting sometime in the future the OTB name will go away. Don't see the need and associated costs for various labels/packaging to keep the name alive for a company producing bullets out of Montana.

This just gives me another excuse to make a road trip to Polson, stopping off at Evel's grave in Butte and then on to St. Ignasius, Mt. to drop in on Skinner Sights. I have a Winchester in .357 I'm thinking about putting their hardware on.

 

[hossfly]

I'm am very pleased with their .44 240 SWC. It's all I've bought from them but it shoots well out of 2 out of 3 of my 44's. I haven't tried them in one of them yet.

 

[gunlaw]

I have purchased bullets from Oregon trail for many years. Always great quality and awsome customer service. Haven’t ordered from them lately but I hope it all continues.

 

[MCMXI]

I've been purchasing bullets from Oregon Trail for years too. Polson is an hour south of me so I've thought about driving down and checking them out once the COVID-19 stuff has settled down. There's an excellent sporting clays course in Polson too so it'd be well worth the drive. I like the True Shot bullets and wish that a .357 option were available.

 

[Steve51]

I have purchased bullets from Rim Rock several times. Quick shipping and good quality bullets. Buffalo Bore uses some of Rim Rock's bullets for their loadings.

 

[Jack B.]

I've been using OTB , just their Laser Cast Stuff for some time now. Was always pleased with them. They even sent me load data and actually down loaded their entire reloading manual to me. If new ownership will be an improvement, then I'll be hard pressed to buy from anyone else.

 

[Prowler53]

I loved Oregon Trail laser cast before they got bought out but I have not tried them since. Rim Rock reduced the price by almost 50% which was awesome, but I noticed they had the BHN listed as 12 for those bullets rather than BHN of 24 which what Oregon Trail had them listed at. Not sure if that was a typo on their website or if they actually made changes.

 

[Charlie98]

Here's what I got... these are the .45-70 and .41 bullets that I ordered last month, coming from the new OTB...

Boxes that held up and are far better than the old OTB boxes...



Oooooooo.... boolits!



Typical bevel base cast bullet...



...and more...

 

[Obturation]

My favorite true shot bullet is the 360 grain wlnfpgc 45 bullet. I may have gotten the new ones, not sure- I bought a few hundred about 6 months ago. Not sure when the sale of the company happened but I hope they continue that bullet - but they're not cheap- maybe rimrock can help with that. I've shot mountains of laser cast bullets , they're very hard but I've had no problem with leading using them, but I made my last order with MBC due to cost and wanting to try some hi-tek coated.

 

[jski]

Are there gas checked Laser Cast bullets?
How about gas checked Laser Cast?

I’m a big fan of Montana Bullet Works (and they too have new ownership). And MBW has a wide selection of GC bullets plus their website is very informative about exactly what you’re purchasing.

Looks like Montana’s the place to be for bullet manufacturers.

 

[MCMXI]

My favorite true shot bullet is the 360 grain wlnfpgc 45 bullet.

Mine too! I use that bullet for .454 Casull loads for my Bowen Alaskan and it's what I carry when out hiking up here. I also have hard cast bullets from Beartooth Bullets and Montana Bullet Works but the True Shot is still my favorite.

 

[Charlie98]

Are there gas checked Laser Cast bullets?
How about gas checked Laser Cast?

I’m a big fan of Montana Bullet Works (and they too have new ownership). And MBW has a wide selection of GC bullets plus their website is very informative about exactly what you’re purchasing.

Looks like Montana’s the place to be for bullet manufacturers.

I wasn't looking for GC bullets in that particular order, but LC does offer some GC bullets, including my go-to .308 (.30-30) 170grn bullet. I go to MBW for my gas checked .348WCF 200grn bullets, and I have bought .45-70 bullets from them as well, including GC ones, but they are quite expensive compared to other places, even with the non-GC bullets... which is why I usually buy LaserCast for my generic bullets. I have some very nice GC 240grn .41 bullets from MBW... they are thing of beauty for sure, but at... quite literally... 3 times the price, I have to pick and choose what I load them for.

 

[jski]

Have you had any trouble with leading from the LC bullets? That 12 BHN ain’t very reassuring!

Awhile back I put a bunch of Hornady “Cowboy” 45 bullets into my rounds. After shooting about 50 of them , I couldn’t tell where my rifling went to ... the leading was so bad!

 

[Frulk]

Iski... do you chrono your rounds? I seem to remember those Hornady’s are supposed to run pretty slow (most around 900 FPS). I just looked in a couple of their reloading manuals and didn't see anything that exceeded 1,000 FPS.

As a side bar....I'm a firm believer that anybody that shoots cast bullets should have a Lewis Lead Remover in each caliber that they're sending lead down range in. It's cheap, relatively simple to use and just plain WORKS! You can thank me later for the hours of frustration they prevented. Sourced from Brownells.

 

[jski]

Iski... do you chrono your rounds? I seem to remember those Hornady’s are supposed to run pretty slow (most around 900 FPS). I just looked in a couple of their reloading manuals and didn't see anything that exceeded 1,000 FPS.

As a side bar....I'm a firm believer that anybody that shoots cast bullets should have a Lewis Lead Remover in each caliber that their sending lead down range in. They're cheap, relatively simple to use and they just plain WORK! You can thank me later for the hours of frustration they prevented. Sourced from Brownells.

View attachment 917957

I can’t remember exactly but I typically load with 9 grains of Unique and that ain’t gonna push those puppies much beyond 800 FPS.

 

[Mr_Flintstone]

Didn’t Oregon Trail once have their own load manual for all of their bullets? I think I used it once or twice when I couldn’t find data elsewhere.

 

[jski]

Well riddle me this guys, which BHN value and above are safe (from leading) to use minus a GC?

 

[gunlaw]

Well riddle me this guys, which BHN value and above are safe (from leading) to use minus a GC?

If I remember correctly the BHN is about a 16. I usually go a little larger on bullet diameter. 358, 452,etc. No leading problems.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Well riddle me this guys, which BHN value and above are safe (from leading) to use minus a GC?

Bullet fit is more important than how hard it is. There are many factors which contribute to leading.