New Bullet manufacturer - Port Elizabeth

[Treeman]

APN Bullets

I managed to get lucky and got to speak to the manufacturer, very friendly, extremely willing to help guy. These bullets will  be sold to public directly, but are stocked on the shelves of both Gun Shops in PE.  I think the aim will be to be well stocked in shops and less inclined to dealing with the public.
The jackets are pure copper, but note this, 0.93 thick - thats gonna hold together well, and being pure copper - fold over will be good.
I was a huge believer in the old Capstan bullets as many of you may know, and bought up 1000s of the last stock, I was hoping this was the guy that bought the Capstan company out, but it turns out that he has built, made, manufactured everything from start, all new, no run out, no wear and tear, just brand new everything.

I asked him to send a write up I could post and received this.
Dave

APM is a new company in South Africa which strive to produce an affordable yet high quality bullet that will be available on shop shelves. The aim is specifically a hunting bullet with a copper jacket and lead core design. The current status on bullets in south africa is very dependant on what comes out of the United States. The current economic climate is hammering the SA hunter with import costs and bullet availability. The business is for now a one man show, which is going to change shortly as the business grows with like minded individuals. I was one of the founding members of Sweetspot Reloading which is a reloading orientated group on Facebook and have more than 17000 members.

We are aiming to address the following issues for the South African Hunter. Curb costs of bullets when compared to imported brands. There is already a significant amount of Monolithic bullet manufacturers and another one would not be ideal now, however it is not to say that the company will refrain from entering that market. The availability of lead core bullets is few and far between and each one has one or the other issue to be really competitive. The current market stimulus in the USA is for long distance shooting and series like the PRC and NRL are driving market behaviour in the US which force the suppliers to comply with demand to stay in business. That leaves the Hunter short in South Africa, as Long distance thin Jacket bullets are not what is required by the average South African hunter.

We started off by designing a bullet with a thick jacket to perform excellent terminally but would also not have difficulty in opening up to widen the wound channel. Every Bullet produced have a jacket that is 50% or more of the toatal bullet weight, adding the advantage that even if you have complete cup core seperation, the jacket still have at least 50% retained weight. The softer copper tends to rather fold than shatter adding to penetration capability. All materials are being sourced locally to ensure a steady supply and to do our part in fighting the mighty dollar.

The first series that is available already the OTC Bullet. This is a simple no nonsense flatbase bullet which will be available in calibers .312 smaller to 6mm. The .308 and 6mm are already on the shelves. The progress on others is already in the running with the next sets to hit the shelves being .312 and .264 bullets.

Furthermore there is also current developments in all calibers mentioned for another two lines of bullets. Those being the Conex and Bondex. Bothe bullets will have rebated boat tails and high temperature polymer tips which will increase the BC of these bullets signifacantly. Due to them having a lot more labour to produce they will however be slightly more expensive than the OTC series but still only a fraction of the imported counterpart. The idea is to have the option to change between one or the other when shooting or hunting, making it more affordable to the hunter. All load development and target shooting can be done with the Conex and only the bullet be changed for hunting. The distinguishing factor will be tip colour.

Current production capacity is 1000 bullets per day which will increase to 2000 a day before 1 March 2023. Thereafter production is to expand monthly to ensure demand can be met with supply. This will in effect curb some of the dependancy on the USA in terms of supply and availability.

Although bullets can be bought directly from APM, there is a preference towards dealers as this will ensure on demand availability for everyone. Dealers and distributors are more than welcome to contact us. Currently the list of distributors are Humansdorp Co-op and Gunshack in Port Elizabeth, G&G Varminting in Bloemfontein and talks are happening between us and Wildman in George and hopefully Nationally.

 We are in progress to put a website up to reveal results and new events with customers but that takes time. There is a Facebook page already named APM bullets and potential customers are more than welcome to join to see new developments first hand. Should there be any questions do not hesitate to ask on apm.bullets@gmail.com

Regards

[JamesNotBond]

I do not see handgun bullets mentioned?
It would be nice to have a soft point jacketed bullet to replace the old PMP bullet in .44