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Posted: 1/16/2010 6:37:35 PM EDT
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So I'm looking at starting a small business in which I would sell samples of bullets.
One thing that I have noticed is that unless you know someone you can not get a sample of any type of bullet in less than a pack of a 100. That runs into some money if I want to sample 45, 50, 55 and 60Gr bullets to see what my rifle shoots best. So what I'm planning is to sell bullets in sample packs of 10. That way reloaders can order a larger variety of bullets to really get a feel for what shoots best in their rifle with out spending a fortune. Eventually I would like to expand this to powders as well. What are every one's opinions on this? Is this a service that everyone would like? Thanks. - Will |
| Thankfully I don't have to live off this so making a huge profit is not a big deal to me. As long as I make more than I spend I'll be happy. My fear is that I'll set everything up and no one will care that they can get samples of 10 and I'll just be sitting here with bullets I can't use and can't sell. |
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Quoted:
So I'm looking at starting a small business in which I would sell samples of bullets. One thing that I have noticed is that unless you know someone you can not get a sample of any type of bullet in less than a pack of a 100. That runs into some money if I want to sample 45, 50, 55 and 60Gr bullets to see what my rifle shoots best. So what I'm planning is to sell bullets in sample packs of 10. That way reloaders can order a larger variety of bullets to really get a feel for what shoots best in their rifle with out spending a fortune. Eventually I would like to expand this to powders as well. What are every one's opinions on this? Is this a service that everyone would like? Thanks. - Will Without going into a complete breakdown of the business plan, I really don't see this as a viable opportunity. -First, you are already working with a limited customer base, and then you will further limit yourself by only catering to a select, much smaller group, within the reloading community. -Second, you need to look at pricing. Running some quick numbers, I don't see you being able to charge a reasonable amount for your product to handle the repack of bullets, order receipts, packaging and shipping to gross more then about $8 an hour. That's assuming you're dedicating 20+ hours a week to it, with a good flow of orders. I can think of a lot easier ways to make $160 extra a week w/ no overhead. -Third, I don't think the 10 pack idea is all that great. With the spirit of your original post in mind - I may go through 100-200 of a given bullet looking for that one perfect load. 3 primers X 3 powders X Seating depth X 2 five shot groups = a lot more then 10 bullets. Just to tell me that a particular bullet is right for that rifle. -Forth, do you have the capital available to buy your components in bulk. Have you thought about how many different bullets in 10rd bags you're talking about. Just take four major manufacturers x (.22, .243, .257,264, 277, 308, 338) x various bullet styles = A LOT of initial cash. Your business is based on selection after all. -Fifth, No way I would buy repackaged powder. Is it even legal to repackage and ship? Are you zoned correctly to warehouse more then 48lbs of powder?? Not to shoot down your idea, I wish you the best, but as someone who optimizes small business operations for a living - there's no way I would touch this one. |
It's been done already. 
bullet samples Not sure if they are sucessful or not, but it is out there. Indy |
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My sample packs are the 100 round boxes. I try 4 or 5 different powder variations to 100 pack. +1 I just bought 50 of a custom bullet to play with. That really is not enough to properly work up loads, test accuracy, velocity, expansion, penetration, etc. Granted, you can do some of those steps concurrently, but by the time I may have worked up a load that works for me, I will be out of bullets. |
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It's been done already.
bullet samples Not sure if they are sucessful or not, but it is out there. Indy Found that website too. They have a 75 bullet minimum order that I was not going to do. They sell by the bullet were I was going to have packs for easier ordering. Also I was going to keep it to the more common sizes for right now such as .22, 6mm, .30, 9mm, 40, 45 and the 6 big suppliers; Barnes, Berger, Hornady, Nosler, Sierra and Speer If packs of 10 are not enough I can up it to packs of 25 or 50. |
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Go for it, wish you the best of luck. If it's a dream of your's you should not be talked out of it.  It's a dream to own a small business and recent economic times has made it hard for me to find a job since I do not have a college degree yet. I like shooting and I like to reload so I figured this would be a natural opportunity. However if no one is interested, or if the general consensus is that I'm doing something wrong then I need to relook at how I want to do business. I can and am willing to adapt to what my customers will want, but there is still a limit that I can not compete with. I still have a lot of research to do and hope to adapt my business plan as I go along which is why I asked for suggestions and feed back. I know what I would want as a customer of my business, but that does not mean that others will want the same thing. I do thank everyone for their feed back and hope that more comes along. - Will |
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I wish you the best, but posters above are correct. I use up 30 bullets just stepping the powder loads to check for pressure signs. Then another 30+ finding the sweet spot I'm looking for. in other words, 100 bullets is a more reasonable "Sample Pack" IMO. In which case, I've got several "Sample Packs" sitting on the shelf right now that I haven't tried yet (40 Gr. HDY Vmax, 55Gr. HDY Vmax, 52Gr. Sierra HPBT Match... ). Still working my way through 100 of those 75 Grain HDY Amax's I "accidentally" bought before realizing I had to load them in the rifle one at a time!!!  |
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Just so everyone is clear, when I say a 10 sample pack, I mean 10 of the same bullet. IE: 10x of Noslers 60Gr Partions. Not 10 of different weights or shapes. I had some confusion on another forum I'm on and wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. We knew what you meant. I agree with the comment above about not giving up. You need to figure out the right angle. You might be able to sell the packs of 10 in orders of multiple packs; in other words, someone might want 30, someone else might want 60. After that you have to figure out which bullets should go into your inventory first, and I think it's the expensive premium bullets, both hunting and target bullets. I wouldn't try to sell cast bullets or cheap bagged bullets until the business was established on solid ground, and I would never offer the bagged bullets. You'll want to sell bullet related stuff, such as bore cleaners and copper removers, brushes, and patches. Possibly meplat uniformers. You'll also get pestered for load data. There are a couple of ways to handle that. In fact as I think this through, a nice touch of customer service would be a 1 sheet flyer with links to the free on-line load data available. The first thing you know you'll be manufacturing your own bullets. |
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Quoted:
Just so everyone is clear, when I say a 10 sample pack, I mean 10 of the same bullet. IE: 10x of Noslers 60Gr Partions. Not 10 of different weights or shapes. I had some confusion on another forum I'm on and wanted to make sure everyone was on the same page. We knew what you meant. I agree with the comment above about not giving up. You need to figure out the right angle. You might be able to sell the packs of 10 in orders of multiple packs; in other words, someone might want 30, someone else might want 60. After that you have to figure out which bullets should go into your inventory first, and I think it's the expensive premium bullets, both hunting and target bullets. I wouldn't try to sell cast bullets or cheap bagged bullets until the business was established on solid ground, and I would never offer the bagged bullets. You'll want to sell bullet related stuff, such as bore cleaners and copper removers, brushes, and patches. Possibly meplat uniformers. You'll also get pestered for load data. There are a couple of ways to handle that. In fact as I think this through, a nice touch of customer service would be a 1 sheet flyer with links to the free on-line load data available. The first thing you know you'll be manufacturing your own bullets. Did not think about the extra bullet related stuff. Not a bad idea. I also really like the idea of the flyer with links. Would I have to talk to a mod on here to request permission to list ARF as a source of info? |
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