Lois said that she felt the time was right to start making "African" ammunition on a commercial basis. The paperwork goes into the ATF in two weeks; we should be doing some production by May first, and increasing output by July first.

We'll be concentrating first on the obvious cartridges: 9.3x62, 9.3x64, 375 H&H, 416 Rigby, Taylor and Remington, 404 Jeffery, 458 Winchester and Lott.

We have North Fork softs and solids for those calibers, as well as Woodleigh, Swift (softs only), Partitions (softs only) and Barnes. We have a fair amount of Fail Safe in .375 and .338. We will be able to load some of the European cartridges as well.

Our primary aim is to make straight, safe and accurate ammunition. Also realistic ammunition; for example, do to available powder space we load the 9.3x62 with only up to a 250 grain bullet with the North Fork. 404J will be offered in modern and traditional loadings.

Our test ammunition has been fired by many different shooters with different firearms. Their reports were what we had hoped for - "Boring, the ammo shoots were I point the gun and the bullets do their advertised job". Brass brand will vary based on straightness and availability. RWS or Norma for the metrics and whatever will work well for American cartridges. If you plan on having us reload your brass after the season I'll do my best to find Lapua in that chambering.

The other nice feature is that we will offer a line of practice ammunition. Less recoil, and a less expensive bullet to get practice with your big bore of choice. On large capacity/meant for cordite cartridges (e.g. the 416 Rigby) we can either fill it up with a bulky, slow burning powder or use RL-15 and dacron or foam as a spacer. The main difference will be one of recoil.

I don't know enough about loading for double rifles yet, so those calibers won't be available until next year. Again, all hinges on the chemo; I'm still weak as a kitten.

Thank you, lawndart

PS My ear is always open to advice and desires, so feel free to send a PM.

PSS Thank You one and all for your humbling generosity. The package will be at the Dallas SCI booth of African Hunter. Also see my post in the Miscellaneous board.

Post edited for spelling and to emphasize the timeline depends on the chemo results and availability.

Hey C, sounds like a great enterprise!

Lawndart...do you or are you going to have a website?

Woody

Great! Another source for .416 Taylor. Looking forward to you website getting up.

Namibiahunter

Best of luck to you. Please post again when you get up and running.

Have to pay for the chemo first. The web site will start on July one. I'm very pleased with the latest Norma brass. Right on specs.

One thing to think about is the weatherby loadings. I'm setting those moderately below factory rounds. Imagine, suddenly you won't have broken eyeglasses or a horrible flinch, and you don't need to pound the bolt handle with a rock between shots. In fact with the newer .37" of freebore the pressures will be lower and safer than a 300 win mag, etc.

Cheers

Thanks Ann

I wish you every success!

Best of luck! Such a start-up in these times takes a set. I'm sure most here will be behind you though and that's quite a start!
Keep us posted.

This is the best bunch of hunters and shooters that I have ever been around. This site has shortened my learning curve by many years.

Everything depends on the chemo, I but really hope and plan to be able to give something back to the community.

LD

Awesome guy I look forward to using your products.

Thoughts and prayers for the chemo....we'll wait for the ammo.

Best of luck on both.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

lawndart ----- Congrats on guts you will need them your new venture. Glad to see you are using North Forks, IMO the best bullet built in America. Good luck and good shooting.

lawndart,

All my best in your chemo treatments and your business venture. You are class all the way!

John

Good luck on the chemo and on the startup. Takes some courage to begin a new business these days, but if you produce quality stuff, you'll do alright. What with copper prices in the cellar, hopefully the prices will be reasonable.

Can you provide a linky to your ammunition factory website?

Lawndart, sounds great.
Now all you have to do is gear up to load .395 Max ammunition!

Does anyone factory load ammo in 9.3x74R with a solid bullet? I can't find a factory load and that's a pity as the caliber is a good one, useful for everything, and for ele you need solids.

Been a couple years, but I got Woodleigh solids for my 9.3 from Midway. Then, it was item #549540.

Good luck!

Brett