I received mail from Anthony they will offer the 220 Hardcast. They have a good 200gr load and I see these being the same. The 135's they are working on now for release.
It looks like supplies are still making it out to the makers in some quantities. Glad to see Anthony adding to his product line. 8)
That and this from Powder Valley
Powder: Guys, I don't know what to tell you on powder. I wish I had something good to report. Alliant has been telling us since November we would receive a shipment in December. Nothing has arrived and we can't get any further information out of them. Hodgdon was shut down for the last half of December and first part of January. We just received a shipment from them today but it was extremely small with no Winchester or Vihtavuori. The last Accurate and Ramshot shipments we received was in early December. It was a decent shipment but it was gone in a matter of a few days. The supply has gotten worse and the demand has stayed the same.
Great news! Any word on the speeds?
Nothing mentioned. I can pass along some suggestions.
Someone mentioned a better bullet. What is it? I can mention it too, if one exists.
I don't want to use the term better bullet. They make nice 165's. Maybe 155's at various speeds, say, 1375 1400.135's at 1475. Just saying.
I meant a better Hardcast offering. Yondering seemed to know of one.
Quote from: Intercooler on January 08 2014 06:08:13 PM MST
I meant a better Hardcast offering. Yondering seemed to know of one.
Are you sending Yondering a PM?
I was in hopes he would roll out the choices here for us.
I hear ya! I don't know how often he ventures to this forum. I think he is primarily a reloader.
I sent him a note to see if he knows a better choice.
I don't think there are many "off the shelf" options, but any commercial casting outfit could use a better design. Accurate Molds has a couple, among others.
The truncated cone design's only real merit is that it's easy to manufacture the mold. That design leaves too much bullet inside the case though, that could be moved to the nose to increase case capacity. A more rounded ogive with a .280-.300" flat nose would be the most obvious improvement. Something like Accurate Mold's 40-220B, for example, or better yet a heavier version of the 40-200C with a single lube groove, would both be good choices.
Who offers them ready to go in a production offering? Something in the 10k range at a pop.
I don't know of anyone, but then again I don't buy cast bullets, since I make my own.
Someone should offer a bullet like that, but the demand is so small...
If you can find something that has a nose profile similar to most .40/10mm FMJ bullets, you'd be on the right track.