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I hadn't realized just how many individual steps, machines, and people were involved in the manufacturing of the deceptively simple cartridge case. I left Starline with a great appreciation of what it takes to make a good cartridge case. 432 Super Whiz Bang will just have to wait. They'll lose money on the project, and in today's business climate, you just can't do that. If the demand is less than that, they simply can't justify the production costs. To tool up for a new cartridge case, Starline looks for a minimum production run of between 100,000 and 200,000 cases. 432 Super Whiz Bang cartridge, but will anyone else care or want it? Probably not. I might have a great idea with my wildcat. But even here they have to look at the potential demand. manufacturer we talked with at the time required a production run of at least one million rounds! That is a lot of ammo.Ī small outfit like Starline can be much more flexible. Years ago I was working with a company that needed to have a special cartridge made up. If they can't sell millions of rounds, they just can't do it economically. More often than not, the "big boys" in the industry just can't tool up and supply these "niche" cartridges. Starline has also been a major supplier-often the only supplier-of cartridge cases for many of the older blackpowder cartridge cases like. Starline has been especially active in providing many of the newer large-caliber handgun cartridge cases, such as the. Starline, as one of the smaller cartridge case manufacturers, is in the unique position of being very flexible and quick to respond to consumer demand for new cartridge cases. Currently, Starline produces over 92 different calibers, and more will be added as time goes along. And it can take anywhere from two to 20 hours to change and set up the machines when switching from one caliber to another. This means they can correct problems, and also by making everyone accountable, they avoid problems in the first place.Īt any one time, seven or eight different calibers or cartridge cases are in production at Starl If there's a problem or if a flaw is found in the cartridge cases, the folks at Starline could determine exactly when it happened and who was responsible. At each step in the overall procedure, the person running the machine or in charge of a particular process, such as heat-treating, had to personally sign and date this work record. Thank goodness I never realized at the time just how bad my ammo was because my shooting skills weren't much better than my ammo.Īnother feature I found to be interesting-and reassuring as a consumer-is the documentation that accompanies each batch of cartridge cases. It was purely a matter of my skill-or lack of it. That had absolutely nothing to do with the equipment I used. I can confidently claim that I produced some of the worst ammunition ever fired using this "nutcracker" hand tool. I bought a Lyman Ammunition Maker reloading set in order to keep myself in ammo for an old 1903A3 Springfield. Part of that probably goes back to my introduction into reloading when I was 16 years old. There's just something about a cartridge case that makes me pick it up. 380 ACP cases in my pocket when I was shooting a. I'm the guy who'll pick up discarded brass at the local range without even thinking about it and later wonder how the heck I ended up with. 35 Remington brass I've been accumulating for years but have never, ever owned a gun chambered for the. I'm the kind of guy who has a stockpile of once-fired.