I've ordered lots of bullets from John, even some special orders, always got them, sometimes it's hard to get a hold of him tho by phone, he always answered my emails tho, maybe not right away tho. But it's been a year since I last ordered, things change, specially in this economy. I've had the same experience with Beartooth Bullets, always got em....sometimes 6 months later tho, never that long from Western. If you cast, NEI makes the CB mold, but Western is the only source I know of for the bullet, hard to beat his prices too.
Tim
Tim, (and BBF)
OK, maybe I was a little harsh in my last post. Truthfully, John's bullets are great; a good quality product at an excellent price. They're even nicely packaged to boot! As I said, the first order I placed with John (would have been late 2007) showed up within a week or two. All items were there and in good condition. I was impressed! I even talked to John several times on the phone before and after the order and he was both available and very helpful.
Unfortunately, last year I placed an order and it took months. Top that off, he never answered his phone. Once he did answer, he told me the order was going out the next day. After two or three more weeks, I finally managed to get a hold of him and he told me the same thing. Finally, my order arrived and I was happy and satisfied. However, something was different about a 410 grain bullet for the 45-70. It was wider at the ogive and I couldn't chamber it in my BC. I tried to call him but once again, never got a hold of him. After a year of not knowing what to do with the bullets, I decided to seat them deeply and load them in my T/C pistol. They ended up working great!
As if I hadn't had enough punishment, I placed a third order. I placed this order on line as instructed by John in a previous phone call. I placed the order and never got an order after roughly three or four weeks. At that point, John's website was no longer working. I thought that he closed shop and I was out of luck. I began searching the internet for Western Bullet Company articles and found several people who had posted complaints about sending money but never receiving their order after months and months. I began to worry but after a few more weeks, I finally got a hold of John. My order showed up a day or two later, however, I received two boxes of bullets in my order that were incorrect. After all of the hassles I'd been through, I thought it was better to sell them on this site or GunBroker rather than try to call John at Western.
Summary:
I still want to give John and Western another chance. I know, you're thinking..."this guy is crazy!" Although John had a tough time getting my order out to me on the second order, I believe that the third order
may have come late because it seemed that John was setting up a new web site. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt here. John seems to be too nice of a guy on the phone and his product is a high quality product and shipped neatly, not as a mess as if shipped by someone who doesn't care. Also, I believe that John does his own casting and he may be working on his own. With prices at what he posts, he probably has LOTS of orders to fill and it's gotta be pretty overwhelming for one guy to cast huge volumes of bullets. I think the recent price increase in lead and copper may have put John a little over his head in orders in the past two years. Once things settle a little, I'll probably place another order with Western and see if things are better.
BBF, you'll get your bullets eventually if you haven't received them yet. When they arrive, you'll like what you ordered and be happy with how they print out on your targets.