Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Sierra bullets being phased out?

Was stopping by to pick up some 6mm bullets for one of my winter range playing projects, at Sportsman's Warehouse last night. It seemed like 1/3 plus of ALL of their Sierra bullets where Orange Tagged on price, which means clearance....

I asked one of the behind the gun counter nerds, what was going on with them phasing out so many Sierra's bullet line.....answer "Uh, I don't know, maybe they are going to come out and replace them with some more plastic tip stuff... plastic tipped bullets are awfully popular ya know"....

That translated to "Uh, I don't have a clue"....."nor do I really care.... about much"...

but I have found out, that they are in the process of the good old accountants, wanting to can a bunch of their product line with the old " oh we aren't selling enough of those"....

which included many of my old standby stuff.... such as the 85 grain HP in 6.5 mm and the 90 grain HP and 110 SP in 270 bore....plus going bye bye was supposedly in 6mm, the 80 grain SP, 85 grain SP, the 90 grain FMJ, 75 grain HP....saw a favorite old stand by in 06, was the 180 grain RN also...

didn't want to look any closer at that point.... and considering not getting any younger, and already having a garage full of "good deals" on bullets, and phased out favorites.. it was time to just walk away....

plastic tipped bullets seem to be a whole hell of a lot more popular, than decades old standbys.. regardless at a highly inflated higher price....

guess I am further into Dinosaur status than I thought I was...

hard to see things that have worked for decades, leaving the shelves and never to return....

I hate the way industries are run by Accountants anymore.... every item is just a line item on a report to them.

That's how life goes, though...technology marches on whether we want it to or not.

Translated: Money talks.

Sierra was sold to the Clarus Corporation a couple years ago, a company that also owns several other brands, such as SafariLand. They started making changes pretty quickly, partly to stay competitive in a changing market where, yes indeed, plastic-tipped bullets are a larger and larger part of the pie.

Contrary to what many old farts (like me) may want, shooting companies aren't in business to keep making the same stuff we've "always" used, particularly when old farts often have a bunch of stuff already hoarded, and aren't likely to buy much unless it's on sale.

That sounds like 3 of us.

Jerry

Posted this awhile back Email from Powder Valley

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...heads-up-from-powder-valley#Post13369824

Sierra has announced the discontinuation of several bullets. I would highly recommend if the following are bullets of your choice that you order them right away. As soon as they are gone from the manufacturer they are gone. If we do not have them in stock right now give us a call and we'll contact Sierra to see if we can still get some for you:
All moly bullets are being discontinued.
In addition, the below bullets are also being discontinued.
.224 50 gr SMP, 55 gr SMP
.243 90 gr FMJBT
.257 75 gr HP, 100 gr SPT, 117 gr SPT, 120 gr HPBT
.264 85 gr HP
.277 90 gr HP, 110 gr SPT
.284 130 gr HPBT Match
.308 110 FMJ, 135 gr HPBT Match, 180 gr SPT, 180 gr HPBT Match, 240 gr HPBT Match
.357 110 gr JHP Blitz, 170 gr FMJ Match
.400 135 gr JHP
.4295 220 gr FPJ Match
.4515 185 gr FPJ Match
In addition, many of their pistol bullets are having a price increase in excess of 20%. I highly encourage you go get your Sierra now before the price goes up.

As Henry Ford supposedly said long ago, " I'm not in the car making business, I'm in the money making business."

Seafire: Thank you very much for that heads up!
I am guessing my beloved Sierra 50 grain Blitz (not the BlitzKing!) bullets may be or will be on the chopping block?
I have written about the wonderful accuracy, lethality and frangibility of this bullet on this forum and others MANY times.
It is a humble looking and inexpensive bullet but has served me so well for many decades now.
I better stock up on them - I have MANY Varmint Rifles that performs absolutely wonderfully well with these.
Thanks again.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

No VG your 50 grain Blitz survived.

50 Blitz has been my favorite bullet for the .222, .223, .22-250 and Swift for quite a while. Hard to beat accuracy-wise and a great coyote bullet.

My all time favorite out of my beloved Lovell .22 wildcats- R2 Lovell and .22 Maximum Lovell. That bullet is tailor made for small to medium capacity cartridges.

It has served me well in 223 and 22-250.

My grandpa always said, nothing ever stays the same and if you don't change with it you will be left behind !!!!

My LGS owners back from two shows, one in Tn. the other in Mn. learned that Sierra will be producing their own ammo.
That`s what they said..

I like Sierras for high accuracy loads (Varminting and target use) but not so much for hunting anything larger then a wolf as a rule, and not usually things I'd eat.

Sierra has been around a long time and has a good following, but has stagnated in keeping up with Nosler, Barnes, Hornady and even Speer to some extent, in up-grading a line of hunting bullets that won't break apart. I am glad I have several thousand .224s and a good supply of .308" in my shop, so I would not be horrible harmed if I could not buy more. I am too old to worry about not getting what I want in the next 30 years.

I remember reading that 91% of the big game killed in the USA every years were white tail deer with 9% being everything else combined, so most of the "big game bullets" made today are only shot at deer, and the bullet makers know it.

Honestly, except for the very worst bullet, for deer hunting, this is not as big an issue as it is for larger game. There are some made today that are not even very good for killing deer, but most expanding bullets do OK. However you can get "good" or "very good" deer bullets for about the same price you can get "OK" deer bullets.

The thing about the market is simply that at a given average price (let call it $28 a box) many many other bullets which cost the same as Sierras hold together much better if they hit bone. Not all, but many.

And sierra has not done anything to keep up with the competition, so I am not surprised if they fall out of the high end section of the market where sales are concerned.

I'll be interested in watching but only as a spectator. I have all the Sierras I am likely to need for the rest of my life for the purposes I use them for, and win, loose or draw, this is not likely to effect me much.

Business is not about what the public wants, it's about what the company wants to sell.

https://globenewswire.com/news-rele...lets-Introduces-Ammunition-for-2019.html

A month ago just about.

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sierra Bullets, L.L.C. (“Sierra” or “Sierra Bullets”), the Bulletsmiths®, a dedicated manufacturer of the high quality and accurate Sierra® bullet, a brand of Clarus Corporation (NASDAQ: CLAR) (“Clarus” and/or the “Company”), is introducing Sierra® Ammunition for 2019.

“After 71 years of providing re-loaders and ammunition manufacturers with the bullets that generations of shooters have relied upon, Sierra Bullets is thrilled to introduce Sierra Ammunition,” states Patrick Daly, president of Sierra. “It is a natural evolution for the Bulletsmiths at Sierra and we know the product will provide shooters with the confidence that when they drop a round of Sierra Ammunition into their own rifle, it will deliver on their hunt every time. Competition accuracy combined with unmatched terminal impact will continue a lifetime of Sierra confidence.”

Sierra Ammunition will be available in five popular hunting calibers, including:

243 Winchester ~ 90 Grain ~ B.C. .390
6mm Creedmoor ~ 100 Grain ~ B.C. .515
6.5 Creedmoor ~ 130 Grain ~ B.C. .510
270 Winchester ~ 140 Grain ~ B.C. .508
308 Winchester ~ 165 Grain ~ B.C. .517
Daly continued, “Our first line of Sierra Ammunition features loads developed specifically around the exciting accuracy and terminal performance of our new GameChanger® line of Tipped GameKing® bullets.”

That sounds like 3 of us.

Jerry
[/quote

Four of us.Luckily,I have a life time supply of 220 gr 30 cal RN.Which at my age isn't all that many. A few hundred

5 of us , My M77V liked 50 gr Blitz, sometimes when crowded with 4064 and max doses they didn't all ways make it to the pd or target though. I have all ways enjoyed the superb accuracy I've gotten from Sierra's but have not all ways liked the way they come apart on meat and bone. Guess we saw the same crap marketing hatchet job from Hornady a few years ago to get rid of a lot of SP's from their line. Like JB and Seafire I have enough of my old standby's to get me through to the end of my hunting day's. MB

If the public doesn't want it, the company cannot sell it...

I sure like the 308. 150 grain GameKing in my 308’s