Old Sierra Bullets

T

TnTnTn

New member
Ok the thread about the Hornady bullets got me to thinking that Sierra used to put 101 bullets into every box of '100'. I have some old unopened boxes of Sierra bullets that have a Whittier, Calif. address. I bought them from a old gent at a yard sale in about 1984 in Miami, FL. He had about 12-15 boxes of the .224 50g and about 7-8 boxes of .277 130g Sierra bullets. He was asking a dollar per box and I bought them all and his old reloading manual(which had a lot of handwritten notes) and some other odds and ends. What a deal!! We talked hunting a bit and he said that he had retired to Miami from the midwest I think and would never use the things again. So here is a couple of pix of the Sierra .224 50g bullets from yesteryear-I opened the the seal and counted them and yesirree there was 101 bullets there. The lead points are a bit oxidized but they are perfectly usable-in fact I need to load a few and bag a coyote for nostalgia's sake. I am guessing they were made in the '50s or '60s-does anyone know when Sierra was in Whittier, CA? I am confident the old guy has passed on to Valhalla but I am sure he would smile to know I am still using his bullets. Oh and the .224 bullets are marked $3.05 on the box. TTT


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Cool pictures.I have several boxes of Sierra bullets from the late 1980's and they have 101 bullets as well but they are from Santa Fe Springs , Ca.
 
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Yes that is cool. I bought two box`s of old Sierra bullets in 6mm about a year ago. One box is like your picture 70g and one looks even older 100g.
I read somewhere the history of the company...?, maybe their web page, I forget.
 
Originally Posted By: venaticCool pictures.I have several boxes of Sierra bullets from the late 1980's and they have 101 bullets as well but they are from Santa Fe Springs , Ca.

Whittier not mentioned in the history on Sierra web page; I have a number of boxes w/both addresses which I purchased in the early 50's.

Quote:Sierra began in 1947 in the California Quonset hut building pictured on the front cover of the reloading manual. At the time, the second world war had just ended, shooting popularity was rising to unprecedented levels and the supply of high quality ammunition was limited. Shooters were discovering that to satisfy their own demand, reloading was the answer. Frank Snow, Jim Spivey and Loren Harbor recognized this and created Sierra Bullets to help fill the void. A few years later, an accomplished competitive shooter named Martin Hull joined Sierra. Martin brought with him an understanding of the market and the ability to translate ideas into a finished product. He was the manager of our ballistics laboratory for nearly 20 years. In 1969, Bob Hayden joined Sierra as Manager of Operations for The Leisure Group, who at the time was Sierra's parent company. An engineer by trade and an avid hunter, Bob has led Sierra through years of tremendous growth while greatly expanding Sierra's product offering.

In 1990, Sierra left its factory in Santa Fe Springs, California for a new beginning in Sedalia, Missouri. Armed with years of experience in the manufacturing and testing of our quality bullets, Sierra designed and built one of the industry's most advanced manufacturing facilities. While integrating the best of the old with the new, we enhanced our tool and die shop, upgraded our metallurgical laboratory and quality control systems, redesigned our process for washing and polishing bullets and improved our bullet assembly equipment. Our shining star however was the construction of an underground, 300 meter, test range, the longest privately owned underground bullet test facility in the world. Without it, we would not be able to conduct the degree of accuracy testing necessary for our stringent quality control requirements, nor would we be capable of producing the reloading manuals at the level we do.[/






Regards,
hm
 
I found a reference about Sierra evolving from the Harris Bullet company and starting in Whittier in 1952. They stayed there until about 1963 then moved to Santa Fe Springs, CA. TTT
 
I've got some boxes that look somewhat similar, but mine have the Sante Fe Springs, CA address where they were located during the 70's. We used to drive down to Sante Fe Springs bnack then and buy "seconds" from them there. I think Whitter is where they started out from, but you could call and asked them to confirm that.
 
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The older looking box is 70g I thought it was the other way around.
No original price on them, but I think I gave $5.00 for both box`s not quite 100 in each.
ETA-the box on the right reads Established May 11 1947 Santa Fe springs Calif. the year actually looks like 1917, even with my CSI eye loup..lol
 
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When I started using Sierra bullets I would buy a box of 101 87gr .257 bullets, the price was $6.25. Thinking back I was shocked when they went up to $7.95.

Here I am 34 years later and they are still my first choice in rifle bullets. Wish they were still $7.95.
 
I had about 10 of those boxes but threw them out about 5 months ago. I may have 1 left with some 90 gr .257 bullets in it. Bought them and never used them as the 87 gr had better ballistics.

Even the new plastic boxes will be antiques some day.
 
I had some old bullets that the lead tip ozidized,put them in my tumbler for a couple hours and they came out like they were new.
 
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