Bo_G
Member
It’s mid-February and I’ve not had many quality days at the range in a while. To find ways to scratch that shooting itch I scheduled a trip to Sierra Bullets in Sedalia Missouri.
Shortly after I arrived I was met by Ballistic Technician Rich Machholz. In addition to his work at Sierra, Rich is also a competitive shooter and was a great companion and educator on this tour. It was obvious from the start that everyone was very busy, as you can well imagine, but very happy to work there. Rich started my tour at the very beginning with the incoming inspection of the rolls of copper that are manufactured to their specification by four suppliers; two in the US and two in Germany. It was great being able to speak with each operator and quality technician at every stage of production. With consistency being the name of the game, you can imagine how tight their tolerances are at each stage of production. They even manufacture their own barrels for testing to insure consistency. With their bullets being used by Hunters, Competitive Shooters and Military all over the world, it was an impressive sight to see what was being packed for shipment. The shipment to Lake City alone would have kept me shooting for another decade.
We ended with a trip to the basement where we were met by Tommy Todd the Chief Ballistician. Underneath the manufacturing area and offices is a 200 yard range and reloading room (also used as a tornado shelter). The walls are covered in stock-less barrels with Winchester Model 70 and Remington 700 actions in every caliber they produce. They fire between 500 and 1000 rounds a day in their final quality inspection before shipments are allowed to be loaded on trucks. My salivary glands finally got back to normal just before I boarded my plane back to the east coast.
Rich and Tommy were extremely generous with their time, information and stories. Everyone was extremely friendly and open. All in…what a great way to spend a February morning.
Shortly after I arrived I was met by Ballistic Technician Rich Machholz. In addition to his work at Sierra, Rich is also a competitive shooter and was a great companion and educator on this tour. It was obvious from the start that everyone was very busy, as you can well imagine, but very happy to work there. Rich started my tour at the very beginning with the incoming inspection of the rolls of copper that are manufactured to their specification by four suppliers; two in the US and two in Germany. It was great being able to speak with each operator and quality technician at every stage of production. With consistency being the name of the game, you can imagine how tight their tolerances are at each stage of production. They even manufacture their own barrels for testing to insure consistency. With their bullets being used by Hunters, Competitive Shooters and Military all over the world, it was an impressive sight to see what was being packed for shipment. The shipment to Lake City alone would have kept me shooting for another decade.
We ended with a trip to the basement where we were met by Tommy Todd the Chief Ballistician. Underneath the manufacturing area and offices is a 200 yard range and reloading room (also used as a tornado shelter). The walls are covered in stock-less barrels with Winchester Model 70 and Remington 700 actions in every caliber they produce. They fire between 500 and 1000 rounds a day in their final quality inspection before shipments are allowed to be loaded on trucks. My salivary glands finally got back to normal just before I boarded my plane back to the east coast.
Rich and Tommy were extremely generous with their time, information and stories. Everyone was extremely friendly and open. All in…what a great way to spend a February morning.
. It's about 2 hours from where my meeting was. 
