I've written about Ballistic Products data before, but it still makes me sad. They weren't always like this. I grew up near the shop, even down the same road, highway 55. Their old data was good stuff, with the only criticisms being that they tended to over develop things. They were first and foremost a hunting orientated business. Often it takes more than a one-piece wad to make ammo beyond the basic stuff you can buy in a store. So you had loads with multi-section wads, gas seals, teflon (later mylar) wraps, buffers, roll crimps, etc. But beyond the hassle, their data was quality, and their loads performed good.
Jump ahead to about 20 years ago, and they have been changing dramatically. In the early days of steel shot, BPI was one of the first to really push high velocities. It's understandable, people were still trying to find what worked good for them. The problem is they have held onto this mentality ever since. Forget unsafe loads, I haven't seen BPI even pretend to develop loads that were even worth trying in about 15 years now. I mean, if you for some reason like 12 gauge 3/4 oz 1600 fps loads, then more power to you. For most of us the loads they post are disgusting. Here's a good example I just pulled up randomly. All their manuals are currently filled with similar abominations. From their "Load of the week."
Ballistic Products - Shotgunner Supplies
Their first load they stopped at 8,650 PSI chamber pressure. I've called them on this, and got the most run around answer ever. What kind of asinine moron publishes a wild load of Lil'gun (not a usual 20 gauge powder), and then aborts the test before it even gets into a decent pressure range. What possible reason could they have for not wanting to run such a load near 12,000 psi MAP? Don't want the recoil, don't be a moron and publish the load with bluedot or something.
Also starting 15-20 years ago has been BPI's push for poor quality components, especially hulls. They used to be all about the Federal and Activ hulls, and everyone always liked Winchester and Remingtons. Today they purposefully publish data with domestic hulls that suck. I once called them about a load I used to make with a Federal fiber basewad 3". I don't remember the specifics, but it was a steel shot load with bluedot. I wanted to know if they had any data with the new plastic basewad hulls. Not only was I told no, I was told there was no way at all that I could load that safely with that powder. So was their old data unsafe? Come to find out later that they published a nearly identical load in a Cheddite hull. I guess it wasn't so impossible after all.
Ultimately whoever is running the show at BPI's lab is either doing what they think will get them money, or has their head so far up their *** they see daylight. I never could figure out where they test their stuff either. There's no way they do it on site. Ballistic Products is just a rented space, mostly a warehouse, with a tiny area up front you can pick up orders. The only place nearby I know of that test ammo is Federal premium, and BPI is actively trying ditch Federal products. Precision Reloading in Mitchell, SD isn't too far away, but they are a competing company. I doubt they would deal with BPI. BPI refuses to say where their data is tested.
