J4 Jacket News

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Eric Stecker

New member
At Berger Bullets we are committed to producing the most consistent bullets in the world. A key component in this process is the J4 precision bullet jacket.

Making jackets with .0003 or less wall thickness variation is extremely challenging. In order to do this our machinery undergoes periodic inspections and repairs. We have reached the time when some of the J4 jacket machines will be rebuilt. One at a time each machine will be taken out of production and a complete and thorough inspection and repair will be made to ensure the successful production of J4 jackets.

Unfortunately, for a period of several weeks up to a few months, our output will be reduced while we rebuild these machines. Every effort is being made to get these machines back up to full production capacity as soon as possible. We apologize that this situation will be a burden to several of those who shoot our bullets and others made on J4 jackets. It is important to communicate that if this could be avoided we wouldn’t be doing it.

For the sake of clarity only the machine that makes the long jackets are affected. The machine that makes all the 17 cal, 20 cal, 22 cal and 6mm up to .900 long (which includes the .825) does not need to be rebuilt now. We have normal level of inventory and can quickly make more of these shorter jackets. The rebuild will start with the machine that makes the long 6mm (1.050 and longer), 25 cal and 270 cal. The machine that makes the 6.5mm and 7mm will be next followed by the 30 cal machine.

Regards,
Eric
 
Truly appreciated... Keeping us in the know Eric.

Keep them GREAT jackets coming........!

cale
 
Latest Update

We've learned that the 6mm press requires minimal repair which will likley result in this press being up and running next week. The press making the 6.5mm and 7mm jackets will take a few more weeks as it will be completely rebuilt. The good news is that with the 6mm press out of the way we can focus on the 6.5mm and 7mm press getting it running faster than anticipated.

Regards,
Eric
 
.30 caliber Question

Mr. Stecker

Does this mean there is only one .30 caliber machine? Is it running and is in line to be rebuilt? Is it already down and not producing any length? Does the .30 caliber machine make all of the .30's or are the .925" and 1" made on another machine since you mentioned the long jackets? Anything information is better than nothing, please, thank you and God bless.

Chad Schmidt
 
Chad Schmidt said:
Mr. Stecker

Does this mean there is only one .30 caliber machine? Is it running and is in line to be rebuilt? Is it already down and not producing any length? Does the .30 caliber machine make all of the .30's or are the .925" and 1" made on another machine since you mentioned the long jackets? Anything information is better than nothing, please, thank you and God bless.

Chad Schmidt
Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to an answer to this question...
 
30 cal machine

There is one machine that runs all 30 cal jackets. In our effort to minimize the delays in set up we have designated specific machines to run specific calibers. 30 cal bullet sales rank #1 and 30 cal jacket sale rank #2 (6mm .825 long is #1) out of all the calibers. This is the only caliber that has a machine that is dedicated to one caliber.

Luis, we are making the 1.200 long Thick right now. We will be switching to the 1.200 long regular next week so these jackets will be available in a few weeks. We will continue running the long jackets for 4-5 weeks and then switch back to the short jackets.

For clarification, lengths up to 1.150 long are used (by us) to make flat base bullets. The 1.200 long and longer are used to make the boat tail bullets. This usually is the difference between short range and long range bullets. Only .050 seperates the longest of one group and the shortest of the other but we run them and refer to them in groups (short = .925~1.150 and long = 1.200~1.400 long).

This seperation is also due to the tooling required. The short jackets share much of the same tooling. This is also true of the long jackets. Both groups share some tooling but a change from one group to the other is more involved so we will run them together.

The 30 cal machine is running well and based on service life does not need rebuilding now (but it will need to be done in the next 6 months). In the case of this specific machine we will be able to run jackets for a while before we stop the machine for the rebuild.

Regards,
Eric
 
Thank you Eric for your answer and the good news on the 1.200 jackets.

I apreciate a lot that you comes here and talk and ear your consumers and the shooters comunity. This is, for sure, one of the reasons of the success of J4 and Berger!
 
Just a couple more

Thank you for the clarification on the long and short of .30 caliber jackets.

Questions: I know you are full up on them but have to ask.
All related to the .925"-1.150" .30's

When you run the short .30's is there a pattern shortest to longest or?

If I add more to the orders I have on your books would they be run once you are running the short jackets or is the production time planned already and the additions go on to the next cycle?
Thank you again and may God bless you and everyone whose lives you touch.

Chad Schmidt
 
Chad,

The popularity of the .925 and 1.000 long compel us to run these first when we go to the "short" 30 cal jackets so we start with the .925.

Adding to your order will ensure that you get more since we plan our run for the amount that is on order at the time we start the run and then some. If you increase your order we will keep the machine running that jacket longer.

Regards,
Eric
 
Eric,

While you're here, I have a little off topic question for you.

I overheard you and Walt talking about which bullets you shoot at last year's Cactus. If memory serves, you used off the shelf 68 grain FB match grade Bergers? No cherry picked ones? Well, I just bought some of those bullets to try and was wondering if you could share any info on what it takes to make them shoot? Jammed, jumped, tensions, etc.

Thanks in advance

ps. If you would rather pm me so as to not hijack this thread, that would be great too!:)
 
6mm press is running

We are thrilled to relay that the press that makes the 6mm long jackets (1.050 long ~ 1.290 long) is rebuilt and is running well. We are completing a run of 6mm 1.150 long THICK that was on the press when we stopped it. This run should be completed by the end of this week at which time we will switch to the 6mm 1.150 long regular jackets.

We are still working on the rebuild of the press that makes the 6.5mm and 7mm jackets. Progress is steady and I anticipate that this press will be running early in April.

As a reminder the 30 cal press and the press used to make all our smaller jackets (17 cal ~ 6mm .900 long) are running well.

Goodgrouper,

As little shooting as I have been doing these days I can't say what works best in my rifle when using our 68 gr. You are correct that we shoot bullets that come straight off the shelf. The best advice I could give anyone working to get a rifle shooting is to think of it like a tuning fork. Make deliberate adjustments one at a time and keep your test groups to 3 shots.

I will share that Walt and I have been testing different 6mm bullets for BR. We and others are acheiving success with our 68 gr and the 65 gr BT. The 68 gr is our 3rd best seller out of all our bullets (to 6mm 105 gr VLD Target and 7mm 168 gr VLD Hunting). Even with this success we are working to create 6mm BR bullets that are both capable of tight shooting and are easy to tune.

Having said that we have been testing some new designs that are showing some promise. These new bullets are not available yet as we want to make sure they are a genuinely capable of shooting well and are easier to tune.

For more detailed assistance on getting your 68 gr to work well I recommend you contact Walt Berger directly at bergerltd@aol.com. Few people can tell you more about using these bullets than Walt can.

Regards,
Eric
 
Any updates?

Hi Eric I am new to this forum but I did come across it and saw that you are with Berger and was wondering if you had any more info on the 6.5/7mm press?
I have my 7mm mag sendaro coming and want to start the reloading process for it. Any more info would be appreciated.
 
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