What's going on with Sierra?

[dat]

Does anyone have a brother in law or friend working at Sierra bullets and knows why some of their bullets are not being made? It's been a year and a half or so since they made 20 cal or 6mm 110 smk, out of both. Can't get anything out of Sierra, other than they will let me know when they have them

 

[mgdietrich]

If I ran a business, I would make what is most profitable and what the highest volume bullets would be. My guess, the couple you are looking for are not on that list. 107’s are great, if you can’t find 110’s

 

[Bill K]

Probably a higher demand for larger and heavier bullets for long range shooting and competition, compared to the small caliber, at the present time.

 

[Fuj]

Israel's IMI loads most of their small arms ammunition with Sierra
bullets and most of those are match kings. They are a large supplier
to other countries including us. The world is filled with conflict and
not going away anytime soon.

 

[SteveOak]

I don't know specifics of the situation with Sierra and what bullets they are prioritizing. I do know they have military contracts, some of which have a clause that the military can compel the supplier to prioritize those products, even if it means stopping production of other items. A DO rating means you drop whatever you are doing and fill that order. If a bullet is sold to both the military and civilians you might get some. Bullets for civilians only might be a while.

 

[K22]

Haven't seen them on the local shelves for over 2 years now. They were my favorite, especially the 85 BTHP, 6mm bullets.

Moved on to Hornady but I have to redo the dreaded load development thing again which I truly hate. But as they say in the Army, 'adapt and overcome' but it harder when you are an old fart.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Some have broken/worn out dies and theres only one toolmaker on staff to keep up the repairs plus make new dies. The 6mm 110gr is about #68 on their priority list. The 107 is great though and is a big seller

 

[nmkid]

Last week I ordered 500 Sierra 70 gr BK's from the factory. Supposed to be here tomorrow. FWIW I just checked their website. Boxes 0f 100 are out of stock. The boxes of 500 are shown in stock. About 2 months ago I called them and was told they had no idea if 70 gr. BK's would be run this year. Yet, here they are.

 

[LVLAaron]

I remember something being announced somewhere mid-pandemic that they said they're only producing what the military consumes.

 

[nmkid]

Haven't seen them on the local shelves for over 2 years now. They were my favorite, especially the 85 BTHP, 6mm bullets.

Moved on to Hornady but I have to redo the dreaded load development thing again which I truly hate. But as they say in the Army, 'adapt and overcome' but it harder when you are an old fart.

My favorite bullet also for my past 243s. I gave up finding them and went with 87 Vmax bullets. A most pleasant outcome!

 

[Tommie]

Someone posted a year or so ago that Sierra might produce .20 caliber bullets in 2024 but no promises.

 

[K22]

My favorite bullet also for my past 243s. I gave up finding them and went with 87 Vmax bullets. A most pleasant outcome!

I just got some 75 Vmax's but haven't tried them yet.

One of my 243 Win's has a Hart Barrel with a short throat so the secant ogive might be a challenge, but I have plenty of space in the case with Varget and / or IMR 4064 to seat them deep.

 

[stork]

Does anyone have a brother in law or friend working at Sierra bullets and knows why some of their bullets are not being made? It's been a year and a half or so since they made 20 cal or 6mm 110 smk, out of both. Can't get anything out of Sierra, other than they will let me know when they have them

If you're looking for some SMK 6mm 110's, I've got 820 of the same lot for sale. Let me know if you're interested.
Al

 

[Ray123]

So when ya see the shortages, and supply issues, happen a few times in prior yrs...learn from that and buy a lifetime supply of bullets you use, before the crisis hits. I have many thousands of Sierra 107 and 110 gr and many thousands of Berger bullets I use...bought cheap on sale, or free shipping. I have seen this crisis before and and acted early, remember 2019 primers were $22 per thousand...then they limited Berger bullets to 2 500 boxes...I bought 2 of the 8 500 count boxes available....everytime, a shipment came in, until I was fully stocked up. I use the Bergers in 6 Dasher for fine paper punching 2970 to 3020 fps ....and 110 gr SMK at 3085 fps in the Dasher for long range steel, and 107 SMK at 3132 fps with the Ball powder, and good accuracy, for that purpose. Might need the new .277 Furry ...neck it up...neck it down, ..think of the possibilities 80,000 PSI with the SS heads and we could push it to 83,000 easily and maybe to 85,000, psi all right next to your face. What could go wrong? A case full of Titegroup behind a 105 necked & trimmed to 6 dasher....do not try that at home, just kidding..Good thing dies are not available for the special SS case head, and neither are the cases widely available at $4 ea. Plus the company hasn't recommended reloading the high pressure cases. But I could make dies if I had the cases... I believe the sizing die needs a case ejector installed so ya don't mess up the 3 pc case, of SS head, Alum insert, and brass body, when sizing. How useful is it, really...then think of all the .277" bullets I don't have.

 

[nakneker]

I’m sure Sierra can’t keep up with the current demand, I would guess that they are making the bullets they deem in the most demand and the most profitable.

I would also add that a few bullets I’ve been waiting for finally came back on line about six months ago, mainly the 80grain SBT #1515

As frustrating as Sierra is Speer is even worse, at least from what I’ve seen. I’ve had to learn to shoot a few new bullets since Covid, some of the bullets I’ve been using for a very long time dried up and I venture to guess that many of those aren’t coming back anytime soon.

 

[1shot]

I'm coming up on the 3 year mark for the 200 gr. 30 cal. bullets. I got the same answer as others. When we run them, we will let you know.

Lloyd

 

[Toolbreaker]

People (myself included) tend to forget that a lot of these manufacturers are relatively small outfits. I had to look it up: Sierra employs ~75 employees, from president to HR to press operators. As Dusty stated, looks like just one toolmaker producing and maintaining all of the dies for all their various bullets in-house. To me, it's pretty impressive considering the millions of different bullets produced, packaged and shipped to multiple contracts throughout the world annually.

 

[Mark Buettgen]

Does anyone have a brother in law or friend working at Sierra bullets and knows why some of their bullets are not being made? It's been a year and a half or so since they made 20 cal or 6mm 110 smk, out of both. Can't get anything out of Sierra, other than they will let me know when they have them

Hey Boss,
Most of the stuff we are now seeing on the shelves are still backorders, not fresh orders. I just received some brass last week that was on backorder for a week shy of 2 years.
Almost all of the bullet and brass makers are still a year or more behind and doing the best they can but if it's an item of limited demand, you may have to wait till the more popular and higher demand products get caught up.
Please believe me when I say all of us are doing the best we can to meet demand, it's been a crazy couple of years and it's not done yet.
Later, Mark Buettgen
Bartlein Barrels Inc.

 

[urbanrifleman]

These shortages have never been consumer driven. Not from the very beginning. Stop believing this fairy tale that hoarding by consumers is what has dried up the market.

The production of ammunition for governments has been privatized and has engulfed the commercial suppliers.

What is this most disturbing to me is how these companies has essentially lied about the market shortages. They have never come out and told their customers what they are really doing. Lapua was the first company to come out and openly admit that they were diverting production which would lead to shortages. Something the American companies had been doing for 4 years without admitting a thing.

I think it is quite possible this situation is permanent. The hydra of our privatize government is engulfing entire industries for its own uses.

 

[drop_point]

I had a contact at Sierra that worked on the testing side of the house, but he left and struck out on his own last I talked to him, so no insider info here. I know for a fact Sierra is making bullets that aren't consumed by the military. For instance, Tipped Game Kings in .277" and 6.5mm had been out of stock for quite some time, but I've recently purchased both. That said, smaller selling bullets still are not their priority I am sure.

I shoot Sierra .204" bullets and 110 gr 6mm. When I barreled by last 6mm, I bought enough bullets to wear out the barrel once I settled on it. If you can afford to do that, I would highly recommend it as different lot numbers change and even in the good times, certain bullets can be hard to get.