We have top quality SA made hunting bullets - why not top quality SD bullets?

[Socrates]

What stops Rhino/GS custom/or anyone else for that mater, from making top quality handgun bullets for SD?
Seems that there is a gap in the SA market for SD bullets.
Or am I missing something?

[BigT]

Good question. I wonder if any of the guys would consider making monometal hollowpoints for handguns and what sort of orders they would need?

[ikor]

What stops Rhino/GS custom/or anyone else for that mater, from making top quality handgun bullets for SD?
Seems that there is a gap in the SA market for SD bullets.
Or am I missing something?

Good point. I think stuff like this is done or not done for a variety of reasons. Conservatism on the part of manufacturers who are unsure about taking on the added expenses; the fact that they do not see a big market in SA for such products yet, and many rifle / hunting guys really seem to have no idea of the actual shortage issues in the states that have created a demand in SA. In addition, of course, is the not so small issue of whether or not anyone in the firearms business will BE in business in a few years, which compounds the 'long term investment' situation. Things like this are not cheap to get set up, so I imagine it would take some committed orders on the part of retailers for a company to attempt it.

[Teufel Hund]

IMHO I think one the biggest factors influencing the design of good SD bullets in SA is the amount of ammunition manufacturers, the only real "factory new" ammunition manufacturer in SA is PMP (there is thus no real competition and thus not much need for R&D). They do make their own line of SD bullets, but these are unfortunately not up to the job and this is mainly due to local law enforcement that do not use JHP ammunition, if local LE used JHP ammo, there would be much larger orders for local JHP ammo and thus more money could be put into R&D of better bullets, but until LE switches from FMJ to JHP ammo, the local market is just too small to justify large expenses for JHP SD ammo development.(Exactly what ikor mentioned)
Another reason for local bullet manufactures to not enter the handgun JHP/SD market is that very few individuals load SD ammo themselves, factory ammo is usually more reliable and use to be easier to obtain, also one doesn't have to develop loads etc with factory ammo, the good folks at Winchester, Speer, Federal, Remington etc have spared you the trouble and cost. Therefore the market for SD components are quite small and not feasible to invest in. (Some shops still have stock of Hornady XTP bullets in the old grey boxes, indicating the small amount of stock moved over the years)
Also most people just doesn't trust home/locally made SD ammo, take for example NGA (locally made remanufactured ammo and some "newly manufactured"ammo but not true "factory" made ammo), they designed their own monometal SD bullets namely the Eliminator range, not a bad bullet but due to quality of their loading process and relative "unknown" name, very few people want to carry Eliminators as SD ammo. If for instance Speer or Federal had loaded the Eliminator range, it would be a much more sought after product.

[Chops]

I had a chat to one of the local 'premium' hunting bullet manufacturers a couple of years ago at the AIM/SHOT show and asked him about making handgun bullets, he said the market was saturated in his opinion.

[Gerard]

http://www.gunsite.co.za/forum/index.php?topic=561.15

[Porramedic]

I had a chat to one of the local 'premium' hunting bullet manufacturers a couple of years ago at the AIM/SHOT show and asked him about making handgun bullets, he said the market was saturated in his opinion.

Yeah! Saturated with crap! Unfortunately people believe the BS they are fed from behind certain counters and will buy whatever Fong Kong hollowpoint recommended