Sampler bullets, are there any for limited tries?

[His lordship.]

I have been handloading for my 30-06 the last 2 years I have owned it and what bothers me is the idea of having to buy 100 bullets for each experimental load.  For example...the many cast and jacket bullets, as well as powders, and even cases and primers.  The cost and time involved to see if 5-10 rounds of a given load are good is ridiculous!  And then you are stuck with 80 bullets that don't do the trick.

If I go to the liquor store I don't have to buy 100 bottles of beer to see if I like the particular brand.  Or 100 Nike shoes to be satisfied with one pair. :x  

When I handloaded for my Jap. 6.5 or Jap. 7.7, the selection was not as great as a 30-06, hense, not as much of a hair pull.  My Lyman loading manual at least has select loads highlighted.  Is there a way to buy 20 rounds of Hornady, then Sierra, then other, etc. of sampler bullets?

Thanks.

[Robert]

I dont know if they still do it.  I think it was like 5 bucks for shipping and handling, and they send 10 Competition bullets for your caliber and a hat.  I agree.  It would be nice if they all did this.

[Sask_Hunter]

pool up with a buddy or two and trade your unused bullets among them.  and if they got a powder you want to try its like asking for a cup of sugar from the neighbors.

i trade bullets with some of my buddy's and it works good.  a few bullets here and there is all it takes.

[stormin29]

The only company that  know of that samples bullets is Oregon Trail.
WWW.LASER-CAST.COM

[dakotashooter2]

Quite honestly 10- 20 bullets isn't really going to give you much of an indication whether a bullet will work for you or not. I usually figure it takes a minimum of 25 bullets with a given powder. If you are working loads up from minimum as you should be, it may take as many as 50 to do it properly. Occasionally  a 1/2 grain change can mean the difference between "minute of paper plate" and "minute of angle". My process is 5 rounds each in 5 increasing powder increments. If one load shows any promise another 10 are loaded and fired. If this is not satisfactory I will repeat the process with one or two more powders. It doesn't take long to shoot up 100 bullets this way. Some guys may change primers,seating depth or any number of other things to further evaluate a load.

[Graybeard]

I don't even consider the 50 packs that Nosler uses for many of their bullets to be sufficient to tell me if I like that bullet in my guns. If you shoot no more than that you really have no clue what it might have done for you if you'd only taken a bit of time to find out.

GB

[bobg]

I think GB is 100 percent right. I usually buy 200 bullets at a time. By then i know if i like that bullet or not.
           
          bobg

[BruceP]

If you end up with some bullets that your gun does not shoot into those tiny little groups we all love to see, just load them up and use them for off hand practice. We all like the 1/2" groups, but I bet that none of us that are honest would say we dont need more practice away from the bench.
BruceP

[HoCoMDHunter]

Sell them on Ebay.  While you're at it.  Look on Ebay for the bullet you are interested in.  There might be someone else doing the same thing.

[His lordship.]

Thanks for the input from you guys...there are some really good ideas, I may also look for partial boxes at the gun shows, or even ask my fellow members of my gun club (300 members), surely they might have 50 or so bullets for me to try.  I sold some .243 caliber bullets on E-bay as I sold off my .243 Rem. 700 awhile back, so that is another good idea for samples.  The off hand practice was what I did to blow off my cast bullets that were not so good in my 30-06, at least I got my money's worth out of em'.

Your comments on the minor up charge increments will require me to get a better powder measure setup.  I have a Lee set that goes in CC's, not very good in fine changes for grainage measurements.  Another trip to the ammo loading supply store. :-)