Daniel
Member
NOTE!!! I am not looking for immediate commitments to buy. I am looking for some idea of what sort of demand there could be over the long term for these. I don't think that every person that ever wants to make 10 pens should have to buy 100 bullets to get it done. and frankly suppliers sort of laugh when I only ask for 100. the norm, they sell cans of 600 bullets and suggest you buy 3 to 30 of them. no kidding.
I am gauging enterest for bullets and casing to make the 50 cal pen.(see tutorial on home page by Paul Sherman)http://content.penturners.org/articles/2007/50BMG.pdf
Cost on these could vary wildly. I have found prices on bullets from .22 ea clear up to $2.50 ea. with quality, quantity and availablity all being factors.
The brass casing look like they are anywhere from .65 ea to $1.00 ea.
other factors concerning bullets. Incendiary bullets are considered hazardous materials and are very expensive to ship. Also it is illegal for me to resell them as I am not a licensed gun dealer. the way around this is I must make them not be bullets. I would do this by removing the incendiary material and the lead core. I still have a question as to wether they would be considered bullets at this point. in truth they are then only bullet jackets, but I am not yet clear on what restrictions would apply to mailing those. drilling the tip out would make them unusable as bullets but woudl require a lot of time.
Just understand that there are some questions that coudl effect the final cost of these.
so for the sake of geting an idea of how much interest there is for these. I will use a price of $5.00 for a bullet and casing plus shipping. if you only want 10 or so sets I think they could be mailed for the $4.60 flat rate envelope price. for more figure the next size up in flat rate boxes $8.95.
I have a few questions about bullets that maybe others can give some insight to. Pauls article says M17 tracers bullets. there are other styles of bullets out there. I have seen pens made from Hornady HMAX bullets which are a high quality target bullet with an aluminum tip.
(Very expensive)
there are also "Ball" bullets. these have no incendiary material and avoid the Haz. Mat. shipping costs. they are also armour piercing rounds so I do not know if they will work for being drilled out.
any help in what bullets will and will not work would help. Tracers so far look like the lowest price bullets, but it would be worth a few cents to not have to drill out the hazardous material or pay the extra shipping costs.
I originally was looking to buy 100 rounds, I wanted about 25 of them and was going to offer the rest here. the more I looked I realized that the best price on 50 cal tracer bullets would be to buy 600 at a time. this is about how many can be shipped under one haz. mat. tag costing $20.00. If demand here can get that high I will seriously consider it. Keep in mind that is a lot of bullets for me to process, not to mention a lot of material to dispose of. by the way I did find info on how to despose of it. I can reuse the lead myself. and the incendiary material can be reduced to the basic magnesium pretty easily.
Either post here what you would be interested in or in respect to the lurkers, e-mail me. Not to hold you to anything but a number you think you would want would be helpful. Keep in mind these materials are starting to run low, most suppliers are out of stock with no idea when they will get more. (probably when the war in Iraq is over) most bullets available where made pre 1989 with no new ones showing up since then. in short, if I can even find some to actually buy is starting to be a big question.
Sorry this is so long but the idea is getting very complicated.
I am gauging enterest for bullets and casing to make the 50 cal pen.(see tutorial on home page by Paul Sherman)http://content.penturners.org/articles/2007/50BMG.pdf
Cost on these could vary wildly. I have found prices on bullets from .22 ea clear up to $2.50 ea. with quality, quantity and availablity all being factors.
The brass casing look like they are anywhere from .65 ea to $1.00 ea.
other factors concerning bullets. Incendiary bullets are considered hazardous materials and are very expensive to ship. Also it is illegal for me to resell them as I am not a licensed gun dealer. the way around this is I must make them not be bullets. I would do this by removing the incendiary material and the lead core. I still have a question as to wether they would be considered bullets at this point. in truth they are then only bullet jackets, but I am not yet clear on what restrictions would apply to mailing those. drilling the tip out would make them unusable as bullets but woudl require a lot of time.
Just understand that there are some questions that coudl effect the final cost of these.
so for the sake of geting an idea of how much interest there is for these. I will use a price of $5.00 for a bullet and casing plus shipping. if you only want 10 or so sets I think they could be mailed for the $4.60 flat rate envelope price. for more figure the next size up in flat rate boxes $8.95.
I have a few questions about bullets that maybe others can give some insight to. Pauls article says M17 tracers bullets. there are other styles of bullets out there. I have seen pens made from Hornady HMAX bullets which are a high quality target bullet with an aluminum tip.
(Very expensive)
there are also "Ball" bullets. these have no incendiary material and avoid the Haz. Mat. shipping costs. they are also armour piercing rounds so I do not know if they will work for being drilled out.
any help in what bullets will and will not work would help. Tracers so far look like the lowest price bullets, but it would be worth a few cents to not have to drill out the hazardous material or pay the extra shipping costs.
I originally was looking to buy 100 rounds, I wanted about 25 of them and was going to offer the rest here. the more I looked I realized that the best price on 50 cal tracer bullets would be to buy 600 at a time. this is about how many can be shipped under one haz. mat. tag costing $20.00. If demand here can get that high I will seriously consider it. Keep in mind that is a lot of bullets for me to process, not to mention a lot of material to dispose of. by the way I did find info on how to despose of it. I can reuse the lead myself. and the incendiary material can be reduced to the basic magnesium pretty easily.
Either post here what you would be interested in or in respect to the lurkers, e-mail me. Not to hold you to anything but a number you think you would want would be helpful. Keep in mind these materials are starting to run low, most suppliers are out of stock with no idea when they will get more. (probably when the war in Iraq is over) most bullets available where made pre 1989 with no new ones showing up since then. in short, if I can even find some to actually buy is starting to be a big question.
Sorry this is so long but the idea is getting very complicated.