Berger drought

[6.5 forever]

I tried the Berger 144 in 6.5 and I'm extremely happy with them. I haven't seen them for almost a year. I have contacted Berger and they have not even put them in their production schedule.

My gunsmith thinks Berger is feeding PRS shooters first (6mm). He said the 6.5 shooters are using 153.5.

Anybody been able to use both and leaned to 153.5?

 

[ronsatspokane]

I'm waiting for them as well since they appear to replace the Hybrid 140's. I've got 2 140's left. That's two bullets. I've got a couple hundred rounds loaded from last year and when those are gone I'll be forced to abandon Berger and move to another brand. They'll be gone in the first two long range matches. As the Metallica song says, sad but true.

P.S. Berger 6mm 105's are also hard to get your hands on. Fortunately there are numerous custom bullet makers to choose from in that range. One begins to wonder if the purchase of Berger by Lapua (Nammo) was that good of a thing for the reloading community.

 

[deadidarren]

. One begins to wonder if the purchase of Berger by Lapua (Nammo) was that good of a thing for the reloading community.

I think we have our answer.

 

[SeabeeKen]

I prefer my 257 cal. Never got on the 6.5 bandwagon. I also remember when this country wouldn't touch a 6.5. Times have changed

 

[mikeinct]

berger is feeding nobody i know

 

[GLO123]

Welcome to the club of waiting. I waited a year for Nosler to make 125gr ballistic tip Projectiles. I then got fed up with sending them emails and stock alerts and gave up. I bought a 1000 of Sierra bullets to load. Then out of the blue I was in my local gun store and found them. 500 went home with me. I wish you luck.

 

[STOMP442]

Also waiting for the 144s. I haven't tried the 153s yet. I have about 500 140VLDs to fall back on though.

 

[Idaho-Lefty]

Berger seems to make "Runs" of a certain, Caliber / Bullet weight, then, goes on, to the next One !
Best GRAB them,.. WHEN you "can" ! It's WHAT, I do !
I buy, 300- 500 at a time, to keep reloading !
Lately, I've been, focusing on using, the 6.5 Hornady Bullets, because you can't hardly get any 6.5 Berg's !

 

[marchx]

It's one of the world's mysteries. If you contact Berger they tell you they produce 24h a day as much bullets as they can. If you contact Nammo and ask if they plan to expand Berger's capacities, they tell you Lapua Scenar is a great bullet. The math on this does not check out.

 

[RegionRat]

Most of us have had to wait for things this last few years, and no end in sight.

I got excited when Berger posted a photo of 6mm 105 Hybrids on their social media page on FB. It showed cartloads being ready for packaging and shipping weeks ago. I got busy watching the usual outlets, but they never showed up and I have no idea where they must have shipped them.
I keep watching and waiting like the rest of us, but eventually it changes how you schedule your matches in order to conserve. Votes have consequences.... Good Luck to us all.

 

[JPB4BAMA]

Been waiting on the 224 diameter 85.5's for over a year. Berger first told me Late February, then about a month ago when I followed up I was told August or later. My guess is that they are focusing on highest profit items like every one else. And now that they are touting their own line of loaded "preemo" ammo, my guess is that is where their priorities are. Had to switch to Hornady, and quite frankly I'm beginning to think that there ain't enough difference to justify the price and hassle of unavailability. It was a good run while it lasted, but like other things, when you can't get it you accommodate and then it is even harder to go back once that item is available again. I'll keep my fingers crossed for a little while longer and then????

 

[LRTom]

I have a very good friend who works with Berger/Lapua. He told me that if Berger stopped taking orders now they have enough to keep them busy until next year. Demand is very high.

 

[newbieshooter]

Most of us have had to wait for things this last few years, and no end in sight.

I got excited when Berger posted a photo of 6mm 105 Hybrids on their social media page on FB. It showed cartloads being ready for packaging and shipping weeks ago. I got busy watching the usual outlets, but they never showed up and I have no idea where they must have shipped them.
I keep watching and waiting like the rest of us, but eventually it changes how you schedule your matches in order to conserve. Votes have consequences.... Good Luck to us all.

I don't use 105 hybrids - but here are some recent sightings:

 

[Dusty Stevens]

If you use an oddball bullet you just gotta accept that they are going to be spending their production time making as many bullets on backorder as they can without machine changeovers. Guys that shoot like the 105hybrid buys and shoots thousands and theres a lot of those buyers ready. If a few guys buy 100 a year of a bullet they may not spend a couple shifts changing machines over and running scrap a while tweaking them just to run the few thousand on backorder. Its the same reason you see 223 and 9mm on the shelf instead of 300 savage or 41 mag

 

[dttheliman]

Well cutting-edge just had a run of 400gr solids in 375 , and my ups guy hates me , but I can now go through 2 barrels- woopie doo delivered not 30 minutes ago - so some things are changing !!!

 

[RegionRat]

I don't use 105 hybrids - but here are some recent sightings:

View attachment 1333196

Those are some of the sites I tried, and all I ever got was OOS.
If they really had them, they were gone in a blink.
Thanks for the low down anyway.

 

[Ranger188]

I had an email for some Berger 6.5 140g hybrids
By the time I checked, they were gone. (within an hour)
People are signing up for email notifications and thats why they
are gone so quickly.
You have to remember, sites like S.H. has thousands of people looking
for the same thing you are.
Call, some will put you on an email list and some don't. You have to be early on the list.

 

[ronsatspokane]

If you use an oddball bullet you just gotta accept that they are going to be spending their production time making as many bullets on backorder as they can without machine changeovers. Guys that shoot like the 105hybrid buys and shoots thousands and theres a lot of those buyers ready. If a few guys buy 100 a year of a bullet they may not spend a couple shifts changing machines over and running scrap a while tweaking them just to run the few thousand on backorder. Its the same reason you see 223 and 9mm on the shelf instead of 300 savage or 41 mag

Of course 6.5 140 grain bullets are about as mainstream as it gets these days if you judge by rifles on the shelf in gun stores. At every gun store I've been to in the last couple of months the majority of rifles are of the 6.5 variety. In those guns, 140's are the most common weight. That includes all flavors of 140's and yet they are unobtainium from Berger.

I suspect that the bullets are being directed toward making their own ammo and that is bad news. What it says is that Berger is no longer the supplier to individuals who are creating precision ammo, they are the new Federal or Winchester or Lapua or Hornady. They supply ammo that more or less shoots in factory rifles. Fortunately quality options exist in the 6mm range. For 6.5 and 30 I'm thinking about moving to Hornady even though they have not been as consistent as Berger in years past. Now that Berger is a mass market brand they may be better than what Berger is producing but there is no way of telling since there are no Berger bullets available.

 

[ronsatspokane]

I had an email for some Berger 6.5 140g hybrids
By the time I checked, they were gone. (within an hour)
People are signing up for email notifications and thats why they
are gone so quickly.
You have to remember, sites like S.H. has thousands of people looking
for the same thing you are.
Call, some will put you on an email list and some don't. You have to be early on the list.

I've emailed Berger directly and was told that nothing would be available until later in the year. Too late for me.

I picked up a couple boxes of Hornady 147 for a 7 twist hunting rifle. Think I'll do some load development for my 8 twist match rifle as well.

 

[Chaotik]

Those are some of the sites I tried, and all I ever got was OOS.
If they really had them, they were gone in a blink.
Thanks for the low down anyway.

I was able to get some from Milehighshooting and also Brownells. They did not last more than a couple of minutes at those websites, and I was just lucky.