Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
The American Bullet facility is located east of Kimball on the north side of Route 30.
American Bullet, a company exclusive to the Kimball area, made their millionth round for the year this past week.
The accomplishment comes on the heels of many struggles over the past year, according to Director of Sales Kim Baliman.
“Hitting that million count mark before the end of the year was huge for us. It was a milestone for us this far already,” Baliman said.
The company has been dealing with shortages of components in the industry over the past year. The first shortage encountered was desperately needed powder. However, recently the company has been struggling to get brass.
“I can’t beg, borrow or steal brass other than some remanufactured brass, which is once fired brass that is cleaned, resized, reprocessed and that whole nine yards,” Baliman said.
The current predicament is nothing new for the company or any business in the industry as the company has fought tooth and nail from the very beginning for materials.
“I’ve been here a little over two years, and in those two years, not a lot has changed. It’s always been scrambling to try and get parts,” Baliman said.
However, Baliman will be the first to admit that the process can be frustrating, especially when faced with a shortage.
“It’s really a cash flow issue for us too, because we have to pay for everything right now. So I’m sitting on a lot of inventory that’s not doing any good until I have all the parts. It’s like making chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips. I have to have it all,” Baliman said.
The shortage doesn’t stem from lack of trying on the behalf of Baliman as she has searched high and low to find the needed components to keep the business running smoothly.
“Previously and still, I have my brass on order with Starline. They have great brass, love it. They also do my nickel plated brass for my personal defense rounds. Talked to them Friday, and they said they would send what they could spare. I never heard back,” Baliman said.
She’s also reached out to new businesses in other states, even reaching so far as to seek out companies in Wisconsin.
“January 11, I put in a blanket order with a new company called Jagemann Stamping Company out of Wisconsin for 240,000 rounds a month of brass plus 120,000 rounds of nickel. When I ordered, he said ‘Great, but the soonest I’m going to ship is going to be October.’ At that time, October seemed like a long time away, but now I’m thinking it’s just seven weeks for me,” Baliman said.
The company has gone so far as to expand their normal search criteria by looking for quality materials outside of the United States out of necessity.
“Ninety percent of the time it’s from America. However, right now I’m scrambling for anything I can get. I just got a few samples in from some Philippine made brass, and it looks good. It’s not what we want to do so I disclose that to my customers,” Baliman said.
The current situation has caught Baliman by surprise as she anticipated there to be rough patches in the first few years while the company finds it footing in the industry.
“I have to be realistic in projecting this all out. So far none of my orders have shipped, and I understand ammunition is starting to get back in the pipeline. We’re new, and we’re small so we’re going to be on the lower end of the totem pole as things get going,” Baliman said.
However, all has not been doom and gloom for the business as they have cultivated a loyal group of customers through the quality of their product and their methods of conducting business.
“People are adding to their orders. I have a lot of repeat customers, and a lot of competitive shooters who are re-ordering from us, because they love what I have. I think the future is very good for us, Baliman said.
The company also received a big break in the form of a contract for the Kansas State Law Enforcement Training Academy for 140,000 rounds to be delivered by August 1. which has helped keep morale high.
“This is our first venture into re-manufactured. I told him if I can get brass, I can do it. We can make easily 20,000 a day. That was probably in early June when he asked me that. I called around, looked around, searched the internet, and found this company to get some re-manufactured brass that I liked. We got the brass in and got the contract,” Baliman said.
Currently, there is only one machine in the business operated by Bob Smith, who has been recently tasked with converting the remanufactured brass the company has acquired.
“Right now, we can make .40’s, .45’s and .09’s from the same machine. It’s about a three hour conversion right now, because Bob’s really good at it. It used to be more of a eight hour or 12 hour conversion. That’s also down time on not making ammunition, and it’s wear and tear on that machine,” Baliman said.
However, the process can be quite tedious and time consuming, according to Baliman.
“We’ve had the work to do. This re-manufacture has been a challenge, because it’s a whole new process. The machine doesn’t like it. You have to de-prime it and re-size it. Some of the cartridges are military loads, and they don’t have a 45 degree swag on them so we have to redo that,” Baliman said.
Through all of the struggles the company has dealt with recently, Baliman has unwavering faith in the business and is nothing but grateful for her wonderful employees.
“It’s been good for us. I keep telling the employees that we can put this in the museum and the history book when we start writing our history of all the trials and tribulations and pretty soon we’ll know it all,” Baliman said.