Starke 70's?

[USAPatriot]

Does anyone have any experience with the Starke 70gr FB's? I knew I had some and decided to pull them out, found 3 weighed baggies and,whoops) the total number of slugs is 100. Which means I never loaded them up after I bought them back in ~2002/2003. I originally bought them for my .243 which is now a 6BR. Any thoughts would be appreciated as well as your experiences as to their quality and accuracy. -Rod-

 

[tightneck]

I got good results with N135 and that bullet at one time, but I dont remember the charge. Whatever you do with them, enjoy that one hundred cause the went out of business.

 

[USAPatriot]

Thanks, I appreciate that. I'll have to maybe try Varget or another since I have no N135, only 133.

Other experiences? -Rod-

 

[chino1969]

USA Patriot,
I've shot 68grn. Starke Red Prarie in my 6mmBR using 33.8 grn. Varget with CCI 450 sm. rifle mag. primer with very good results. Most of the other 68 grn. bullets I've shot work well around this charge; these include 68 grn. Fowlers, 68 grn. Hammonds, & 70 grn. Nosler Ballistic Tips. The following is out of a 1:14 Hart barrel. I just started to use VV135 and I believe the charge is 30.8 grn. with the 68's and a Federal sm. rifle primer with excellent results. I'm not near my reloading notes but @200 meters last week, I shot a 3 shot group with 68 grn. Fowlers that was around .250 using 30.8 grn. VV135. I need another confirmation trip to the range to fire a five shot group @200 meters to see if I can repeat the accuracy. If I can, then I'll try the other 68 grn. bullets and the 70 grn. Noslers.
Chino69

 

[USAPatriot]

Great, thanks fot the reply, Chino. I'm shooting from a 1:10 so I'm not going to buy any more light slugs but I have plenty to use up. There's the Starke's, 4-500 Berger's and maybe 1000 Noslers.

Do you recall where Starke was located? Was he the guy in Raton, NM, do you know? There was a guy making bullets from there,or was it in Trinidad? Hmmm) but I don't recall if I ever bought any of his slugs and I sure can't remember his name. At one time I had his website bookmarked but that's been 3-4 years and that computer probably fried long ago. EDIT: Nevermind this. It was Zia and I never did buy any of his I'm afraid. Dunno if he's still in business. -Rod-

 

[tightneck]

Zia is still in business as far as I know

 

[Bobs243Ackley]

Hello All,

Clint Starke was out of Cooperstown, ND. It was a shame to lose Clint's bullets. The ones I shot were always good shooters!

Cordially,
Bob Blaine

 

[USAPatriot]

Zia is still in business as far as I know

Really? Huh. Well, I wish these guys would update their wepages on occasion. That brings up a question about Fowlers. Do they have a site other than the one connected to benchrest.com? His pricing and everything else is year 2002. I emailed him, got no response. If anyone has updated info, I'd appreciate it. -Rod-

 

[tightneck]

Well most of the custom bullet makers are a one or perhaps two man operaton. Jef Fowler is and his bullets are in very high demand,mostly point blank benchrest shooters). He can't keep up with the number of orders he gets. His wait time can be as long as 4 months. I dont think he spends a whole lot of time on the computer and the best way to place an order is by phone. I know this is an issue for you so I guess the best thing to do would be to write him at the address listed on his website. I do find that quite a few of these small business sites dont update very often, but that's probably because they dont know how to do it themselves and dont have the funds to pay someone to do it on a regular basis.

 

[chino1969]

Zia is still in business as far as I know

Really? Huh. Well, I wish these guys would update their wepages on occasion. That brings up a question about Fowlers. Do they have a site other than the one connected to benchrest.com? His pricing and everything else is year 2002. I emailed him, got no response. If anyone has updated info, I'd appreciate it. -Rod-

Jeff Fowler is a one man operation and you will have to wait but his bullets are very good, as are all custom bullets. These guys press out one bullet at a time with tight consistency. I believe his website has a phone number and that's how I contacted him. Alot of custom bullet makers had a supply problem obtaining jacket material last year; I don't know if the problem still exists. It seems that alot of copper was going to China.
Chino69

 

[chino1969]

Hello All,

Clint Starke was out of Cooperstown, ND. It was a shame to lose Clint's bullets. The ones I shot were always good shooters!

Cordially,
Bob Blaine

Yeah Bob it is a shame. When I found out they were going out of business, I bought the last four boxes of 68 grn. Red Praries that you guys had in stock. Jeff Fowler and Clarence Hammonds also make very good bullets that I have used.
Chino69

 

[tightneck]

Clarence's bullets are quite good and chances are he will have them in stock. His wife actually makes the bullets and does a bang up job. Last time I was at his place,few months ago), he had 6mm 62's, 65's, 66's and 68's in boxes of 500 and 1000. These are in the standard ogive configuration, I can't recall if its a 7 3/4 or 8 or what. I believe he also has another set of dies thats kicking out double ogive bullets similar to a Bart's Wedge or Ultra. I havent shot any of these.

 

[chino1969]

Clarence's bullets are quite good and chances are he will have them in stock. His wife actually makes the bullets and does a bang up job. Last time I was at his place,few months ago), he had 6mm 62's, 65's, 66's and 68's in boxes of 500 and 1000. These are in the standard ogive configuration, I can't recall if its a 7 3/4 or 8 or what. I believe he also has another set of dies thats kicking out double ogive bullets similar to a Bart's Wedge or Ultra. I havent shot any of these.

Just for the hell of it I decided to weigh some of Clarence's 65 grn. bullets several rainy days ago. I randomly weighed about 20 bullets and they all weighed 65.0 grns. exactly; not 65.1 or 65.2 but 65.0. Very impressive quality control. I also checked the bullet overall length with a comparator and they were as consistent as the weight. I checked Jeff Fowler's 68 grn. bullets and they were all 68.3 exactly and his overall length was dead on. If you want the best you can buy and are willing to wait, any of the custom bullet makers will deliver.
Chino69

 

[USAPatriot]

Well most of the custom bullet makers are a one or perhaps two man operaton. Jef Fowler is and his bullets are in very high demand,mostly point blank benchrest shooters). He can't keep up with the number of orders he gets. His wait time can be as long as 4 months. I dont think he spends a whole lot of time on the computer and the best way to place an order is by phone. I know this is an issue for you so I guess the best thing to do would be to write him at the address listed on his website. I do find that quite a few of these small business sites dont update very often, but that's probably because they dont know how to do it themselves and dont have the funds to pay someone to do it on a regular basis.

I'd bet these guys could get any number of volunteers to help them update their sites. Or maybe they just don't feel like there's a need. Still no reply from him. -Rod-

 

[tightneck]

Well your right about that as it pertains to Jef Fowler. Check the equipment lists on the IBS webpage, and you will see that he probably has a long list of orders. His 30 cal's are a hot commodity in score shooting and his 6mm's are used by many competitors in group. I know guys that order 5k bullets from him at a time, that will keep him busy for several days right there.