Stopping by Swift Bullet today

[farmer_john]

I know people have said it before but definitely sign up on their website for in stock alerts. When they did that for the 300gr 375’s I bought 4 boxes. They have the break away solids in stock now but I can’t see myself paying $166 for 24 bullets. I will go the North Fork route if I need a solid.

Or practice with cheaper loads.
I use cheaper match bullets in my 3006 of same weight and sirroccos for hunting.

 

[Vintageguy]

With the difficulty in getting the heavy A-frames I did something on this present run of 458’s that I normally don’t do. I got what should last me the rest of my days. After purchasing an auction certificate at SCI, I waited 17 months for the 458 bullets. So, when they called to let me know they were about to start the run to confirm my order, I doubled it.

 

[358 Norma]

With the difficulty in getting the heavy A-frames I did something on this present run of 458’s that I normally don’t do. I got what should last me the rest of my days. After purchasing an auction certificate at SCI, I waited 17 months for the 458 bullets. So, when they called to let me know they were about to start the run to confirm my order, I doubled it.

When they make the next batch of .404 bullets I will probably by enough to last me until I'm to old to hunt any more!

 

[Razorback]

I got tired of the component game several years ago and bought enough bullets, brass, powder and primers to last myself, my kids and my future grandkids a lifetime in all the calibers I handload. Only way to go.

 

[deewayne2003]

When they make the next batch of .404 bullets I will probably by enough to last me until I'm to old to hunt any more!

I feel that’s what keeps happening; they make a run of bullets to cover the pre existing orders + a percentage they think will last in the market.

Frustrated consumers will over buy when an item is seen as scare or sought after; also the secondary resellers are obviously buying in bulk.

 

[Corylax18]

I talk to Bill yesterday and he says they will be caught up with production by the end of the year, he said covid really set them back on production. I asked him about 404 A-frame bullets, he told me they should be available in the first part of 2027. I really hope this is true because I have had excellent results using A-Frames for Buffalo, two Buffalo with two shots!

Covid? He really blamed it on Covid? That was 5-6 years ago, move the F on. If they haven't gotten over the Covid issues yet, they aren't going to. This sounds like a man looking for excuses, not solutions.

 

[358 Norma]

I feel that’s what keeps happening; they make a run of bullets to cover the pre existing orders + a percentage they think will last in the market.

Frustrated consumers will over buy when an item is seen as scare or sought after; also the secondary resellers are obviously buying in bulk.

True, I worked at a Gun shop when Obama got elected and there was huge run on primers and powder. I learned then to buy enough to last until the panic buying ends. Covid only enforced that belief. Now I buy as much as I think I may need for my shooting and hunting needs and then restock when they become available again.

 

[pilar]

Covid? He really blamed it on Covid? That was 5-6 years ago, move the F on. If they haven't gotten over the Covid issues yet, they aren't going to. This sounds like a man looking for excuses, not solutions.

I’m really getting tired of hearing about swift , seeing their ad’s , just in general the whole company, they lost my respect and business years ago, that old fat head owner
Has dropped the A-frame and is now focusing on a extra long distance hunting bullet
According to the YouTube videos I have seen

 

[358 Norma]

I’m really getting tired of hearing about swift , seeing their ad’s , just in general the whole company, they lost my respect and business years ago, that old fat head owner
Has dropped the A-frame and is now focusing on a extra long distance hunting bullet
According to the YouTube videos I have seen

NO he has not, in fact he says that the A-frame bullet is what built the company and he has no plans to stop production of them!

 

[375er]

NO he has not, in fact he says that the A-frame bullet is what built the company and he has no plans to stop production of them!

So why are they so hard to find??

 

[Hedge774]

If I have 2 projectiles that kill game to death equally well, I will go for the one which is available. Dance with what brung ya, fellas!

 

[Russ16]

No I did not. I have been to others like Hornady and have never had to do that. They also have over 100 vehicles in their parking lot, and it’s clear to see that Hornady is producing.

Maybe I’m naive. But it never occurred to me to stop by a manufacturing facility and expect them to open their doors to the public unannounced. I mean you can’t show up at the GM plant and just walk in and talk to someone about trucks.

 

[358 Norma]

I’m really getting tired of hearing about swift , seeing their ad’s , just in general the whole company, they lost my respect and business years ago, that old fat head owner
Has dropped the A-frame and is now focusing on a extra long distance hunting bullet
According to the YouTube videos I have seen

NO he has not, in fact he say that the A-frame bullet is what built the company and he has no plans to stop production of them!

So why are they so hard to find??

According to Bill he's been filling big orders from ammunition manufacturers and trying to keep.up with orders for his best selling bullets. But he is finally catching up on production and will be stocked for most of the A-frame bullets by the end of the year.

 

[Vintageguy]

When their office called me to inform me production on 458’s was about to begin and I asked if doubling my order would be possible. She had the owner’s son standing there with her and their exchange gave me the impression that the run was primarily based on orders already set before production with seemingly little wiggle room without prior notice. His answer was along the lines of, not a problem since the run had not begun. Anyway, it didn’t seem to me that they were planning on making enough to have inventory lying around long, so get em while you can. That was just my impression but past history of how long stock holds out seems to me to support that. The notifications you can request when they are out of stock seems to support that too, imo.

 

[Tdruck]

I would imagine the A-Frame is an awesome bullet on game. But it's not doing me any good if I can't get it.
Hammer bullets always have their stuff in stock. And all kinds of diameters and grain weights. Thats great for handloaders. They just did some testing in Africa with their bullets. The only loaded ammo using Hammers currently comes from Weatherby. They load a dozen or so non Wby cartridges but I don't know if it is big Africa stuff. Hammer won't let just anyone load their bullets and sell the loaded ammo. They don't want any issues that would blame their bullet for bad performance.
Barnes is in stock everywhere. I think the "deadest" deer I ever shot where with Barnes.
I handload everything except my DGR. I have Barnes for that. I'm using Hammers for all my own loads. They are easy to get accurate and handle up close and far away velocity extremes.
TD

 

[Russ16]

I would imagine the A-Frame is an awesome bullet on game. But it's not doing me any good if I can't get it.
Hammer bullets always have their stuff in stock. And all kinds of diameters and grain weights. Thats great for handloaders. They just did some testing in Africa with their bullets. The only loaded ammo using Hammers currently comes from Weatherby. They load a dozen or so non Wby cartridges but I don't know if it is big Africa stuff. Hammer won't let just anyone load their bullets and sell the loaded ammo. They don't want any issues that would blame their bullet for bad performance.
Barnes is in stock everywhere. I think the "deadest" deer I ever shot where with Barnes.
I handload everything except my DGR. I have Barnes for that. I'm using Hammers for all my own loads. They are easy to get accurate and handle up close and far away velocity extremes.
TD

I’m sure hammer bullets are great. They don’t make a 400 grain for the 450/400. My double doesn’t like the Barnes, can’t get it to regulate well. North fork in that caliber isn’t any more available than Swift.

I’ve cobbled together a decent supply of A-Frames and the regulate great. Right at an inch at 50 yards.

So yeah I wish I could walk away to a more available bullet but here I am. I’ll buy A-Frames any time they’re available to replenish what I shoot. My goal is to just keep a couple hundred in reserve at all times.

 

[farmer_john]

When their office called me to inform me production on 458’s was about to begin and I asked if doubling my order would be possible. She had the owner’s son standing there with her and their exchange gave me the impression that the run was primarily based on orders already set before production with seemingly little wiggle room without prior notice. His answer was along the lines of, not a problem since the run had not begun. Anyway, it didn’t seem to me that they were planning on making enough to have inventory lying around long, so get em while you can. That was just my impression but past history of how long stock holds out seems to me to support that. The notifications you can request when they are out of stock seems to support that too, imo.

imean to be fair, how many 458s are they going to sell a year assuming they had unlimited volume. vs 308s and 6.5s

id imagine to make some rounds they have to shut a production line down to retool to make a batch of something else.

Like large bore 375hh+ calibers is a very very very niche market and we dont shoot alot. How many rounds on average a year do any of the folks complaining about availability shoot a year? 100 or less?
Vs the average 6.5 creedmore 5.56 308 shooter millions vs not millions.

Example from google ai. Search query how many 416 rigby rifles have been made.
Answer around 10k even if you add a zero thats not alot of guns in last hundred years.

While there is no exact census, it is estimated that several thousand to a little over 10,000 .416 Rigby rifles have been produced globally since the cartridge's introduction in 1911. Because the original, London-built Mauser rifles were so rare, the majority of the rifles in circulation today were produced by mass-market and custom manufacturers from the 1990s onward.The global production breaks down as follows:Original John Rigby & Co. (1911–1990s): Only about 500 genuine, London-built .416 Rigby Mauser rifles were made before the company ceased production of them in the late 20th century.Sturm, Ruger & Co. (1991–2000s): Ruger brought the cartridge to the modern masses by introducing the Model 77 RSM Magnum Mk II. They produced roughly 1,000 of these rifles, significantly boosting the global supply in circulation.CZ-USA: CZ chambered their popular CZ 550 Safari Magnum in .416 Rigby, producing an estimated 220 to 230 rifles on CZ actions for the Big Game series.Other Manufacturers: Various other high-end makers and custom gunsmiths (such as Dakota Arms, Parkwest Arms, and modern John Rigby & Co.) have manufactured the remaining thousands of rifles for the premium and hunting markets.

 

[deewayne2003]

imean to be fair, how many 458s are they going to sell a year assuming they had unlimited volume. vs 308s and 6.5s

id imagine to make some rounds they have to shut a production line down to retool to make a batch of something else.

Like large bore 375hh+ calibers is a very very very niche market and we dont shoot alot. How many rounds on average a year do any of the folks complaining about availability shoot a year? 100 or less?
Vs the average 6.5 creedmore 5.56 308 shooter millions vs not millions.

Example from google ai. Search query how many 416 rigby rifles have been made.
Answer around 10k even if you add a zero thats not alot of guns in last hundred years.

While there is no exact census, it is estimated that several thousand to a little over 10,000 .416 Rigby rifles have been produced globally since the cartridge's introduction in 1911. Because the original, London-built Mauser rifles were so rare, the majority of the rifles in circulation today were produced by mass-market and custom manufacturers from the 1990s onward.The global production breaks down as follows:Original John Rigby & Co. (1911–1990s): Only about 500 genuine, London-built .416 Rigby Mauser rifles were made before the company ceased production of them in the late 20th century.Sturm, Ruger & Co. (1991–2000s): Ruger brought the cartridge to the modern masses by introducing the Model 77 RSM Magnum Mk II. They produced roughly 1,000 of these rifles, significantly boosting the global supply in circulation.CZ-USA: CZ chambered their popular CZ 550 Safari Magnum in .416 Rigby, producing an estimated 220 to 230 rifles on CZ actions for the Big Game series.Other Manufacturers: Various other high-end makers and custom gunsmiths (such as Dakota Arms, Parkwest Arms, and modern John Rigby & Co.) have manufactured the remaining thousands of rifles for the premium and hunting markets.

Again, back to my question…….

Why does swift continue to endlessly advertise a product that they can’t meet the current demand for?

Also as for you “how many .416rigby rifles” example I ask you this…..

How many manufacturers of bonded .416 projectiles are their compared to manufacturers of bonded .30cal projectiles currently in production?

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

Again, back to my question…….

Why does swift continue to endlessly advertise a product that they can’t meet the current demand for?

Also as for you “how many .416rigby rifles” example I ask you this…..

How many manufacturers of bonded .416 projectiles are their compared to manufacturers of bonded .30cal projectiles currently in production?

Because it drives demand to their OEM purchaser’s products. The more demand they create and the quicker those sell out, the more that manufacturer orders for their next build, and then swift is assured of being able to do a larger production run without any worry or risk of tying up cash in overstock product that will sit in their warehouse.

Business has changed, the best businesses today don’t completely fill demand. They get to 70-85% with optimized production for their business. This ensure very little inventory sits in their warehouse and they’re immediately turning their inventory, as well as maintaining demand towards their next batch. They know some of that demand will be lost to a competitors product but recognize a percentage of current consumers will need to re-up. It also helps to ensure the manufacturers retailers maintain healthy margins and acceptable turn times because cash flow (lack there of) is what will kill a small business. It’s a long term strategy that offers them reliability.

Over produce and the bottom falls out. Prices drop to turn slow moving product into cash that can be reinvested into something else. Drastically under produce and you create an artificial demand that results in panic buying and/or a secondary inflated market. The goal is to be somewhere in the middle which takes time to figure out without a major risk to cash flow. It’s also speculative because demand might be X one week and Y the next, customer A could’ve told you and customer B could’ve never mentioned it but buys 100% of the inventory prior to customer A arriving.

 

[deewayne2003]

Because it drives demand to their OEM purchaser’s products. The more demand they create and the quicker those sell out, the more that manufacturer orders for their next build, and then swift is assured of being able to do a larger production run without any worry or risk of tying up cash in overstock product that will sit in their warehouse.

Business has changed, the best businesses today don’t completely fill demand. They get to 70-85% with optimized production for their business. This ensure very little inventory sits in their warehouse and they’re immediately turning their inventory, as well as maintaining demand towards their next batch. They know some of that demand will be lost to a competitors product but recognize a percentage of current consumers will need to re-up. It also helps to ensure the manufacturers retailers maintain healthy margins and acceptable turn times because cash flow (lack there of) is what will kill a small business. It’s a long term strategy that offers them reliability.

Over produce and the bottom falls out. Prices drop to turn slow moving product into cash that can be reinvested into something else. Drastically under produce and you create an artificial demand that results in panic buying and/or a secondary inflated market. The goal is to be somewhere in the middle which takes time to figure out without a major risk to cash flow. It’s also speculative because demand might be X one week and Y the next, customer A could’ve told you and customer B could’ve never mentioned it but buys 100% of the inventory prior to customer A arriving.

Duly noted and for the record I agree with you; so Swift is a modern company using modern business practices and headed by a man that loves to talk at length about his business experience.

Now having said that, I’ve been able to acquire more Woodleigh bullets in the last five years than Swift and Woodleigh had a factory fire and is on the opposite end of the earth.

So I’m willing to wait and even get my own ATF permit to import bullets from a company that is trying to meet demand and rebuild from the opposite hemisphere; it’s perfectly understandable since they have rebuilt from a fire but they are still producing big bores and in infinite more calibers and weights than swift ever thought about producing in the AF.

Where as, Swift is located in a neighboring state and I haven’t been able to source AF for years on end and never in a quantity that makes it worth working up a load for.