The Sierra Bullets Story

A Tradition of Precision

How 3D printing is changing manufacturing and influencing future trends

The new technology of making objects with a 3D printer has also required us to reconsider this technology, its impact on production and possible new trends and ways of organising production.

Most texts concerning the field of industry (as well as many other fields) actually start with the conclusion that ‘today technology (medicine, chemistry, etc.) is so advanced that...’

This winged phrase, as it was in the past, will of course remain for many years to come and will probably outlive us, because as it is, on the very day we are reading this text, human society has never been more advanced, but never will be, as it will be tomorrow.

Indeed, the needs created by man are different from day to day, and each need necessitates a new one, which must be more perfect and better than the previous one. If you were to place these needs in the context of, for example. the computer manufacturing industry, we would see that a computer that could do all our work five years ago and more is no longer enough for us (new needs require more complete software, which requires hardware, etc.). 

Moore's law and the progress of computing

In particular, this phenomenon was described by Gordon Moore. (Gordon Moore), one of the founders of Intel, who said that the power of computers doubles every 18-20 months, after which this law was called Moore's law. So today our mobile phone contains more computing power than the entire NASA organisation that sent two men to the moon in 1969 or, for example, video games that consume more computing resources to simulate three-dimensional situations than a single mainframe had in the previous decade .

Two things should be immediately distinguished here. The needs that are everyday today could not be met by this computer, but on the other hand, when looked at as a whole, this computer, as mentioned above, was enough to launch a man to the moon. Thus, the progress of science has been freed from the dependence on speed i.e. processors, and a lot of attention is being paid to other branches that may have hindered progress. In short, science is two-way communicating with and adapting to the computer.

The relationship between science, technology and marketing

However, it is not only needs that ‘push’ humanity forward. The desires that man creates, whether he needs it or not, open up a whole new space for industries that seek to offer him exactly what he wants or what he would like without even realising it. We can't forget marketing, which reinforces the whole story that it's actually our needs and what we can't do without, not just wants that we don't need so much. When we include also the human being as a social and cultural being who wants to be different from others and form his own identity that will reflect his inner spiritual state (which in some ways is both a need and a desire), we get a very complex picture of today's customer, from the perspective of, for example. a company that wants to sell its car, where that company has to spend significant resources to research and shape its offer without even starting to produce that car.

So, how do you create a product that resonates with people on such a deep level? Effective research is the key to understanding customer expectations and ensuring that the product aligns with their desires—resulting in sales rather than unsold inventory languishing in storage. A powerful strategy is crafting a narrative that mirrors what customers expect from the product, making them feel that it was made specifically for them.

In this context, initiatives like stay casino deposit bonus code illustrate how businesses creatively meet customer desires, delivering tailored incentives that resonate with individual preferences while maximizing resource efficiency.

Ultimately, the challenge lies in balancing the demands of personalization with the goal of minimizing costs, ensuring that each customer feels valued without compromising the sustainability of the process.

Manufacturing today

There are many approaches to manufacturing, but the one that is most widespread and most widely used today is customisation. Talking about customisation is always related to the times we live in and the assumptions associated with customisation are mainly that it prescribes the best kind of production and approach to product design and manufacturing. Customisation does not prescribe what manufacturing is best or how to create a product. Customisation is an approach and a Way of Thinking, and the best methods and best production practices are only a consequence of this approach and generally the decision to apply this type of thinking in production (creativity).

All successful companies have followed this approach and have built successful systems by which they have been able to organise their production to best respond to the market. Customisation was mentioned to indicate the need to organise the system in the direction of reducing the size of input to production relative to the size of output, and thus it has played a very important role as an approach.

It has led to major changes in the way products are created, but still the way of production has not changed. Only the best organisation is offered.

Addition and removal of material

Previous manufacturing is based on the principle of material withdrawal. In practice, this means that a piece with larger dimensions than the dimensions of the final product is taken and material is removed from the piece until the piece is brought to its final dimensions. This type of manufacturing is still the dominant type of manufacturing in the manufacturing industry today. Of course, there are exceptions, such as products produced by casting, blowing, chasing, etc., but these methods do not give enough ‘downstream’ freedom in the moulding of the product, but are limited to pre-production (templates, material structures, etc.).

The production method offered by 3D printing is the complete opposite of the above mentioned method and offers production by adding materials. This production method is based on the principle of adding material until the final size is obtained.

3D printing

Until a few years ago, this approach seemed like science fiction, but it was engineering that helped launch this type of manufacturing. In 3D printing, an object is created by applying layers of material in sequence, allowing parts and assemblies to be made from several different materials with different mechanical and physical properties.

If we delve deeper into the essence of 3D printing, it may have existed since the days of ‘liquid materials’, but engineering has facilitated the combination of CNC[1] machine and conventional extruder (which can push some material), gets the ability to create an object in three dimensions.

Of course, over time, better methods of this type and techniques for joining the applied layers have been developed, where better finishes are constantly being obtained, new materials are being produced, the design of the printers themselves is improving, etc. A special mention should be made of the recently introduced Carbon3D printer, whose designers were inspired by the film ‘Terminator 2’, where an object extracted from liquid resin is shaped (Fig. 2). As Joseph DeSimone, one of the creators of thisprinter, said, 3Dprinterssu are actually 2D printers that repeat the process over and over again, and this process (at least for now) takes a very long time. This printer ‘just’ pulls the entire object out of a liquid that is pre-shaped using light, and provides printing 25-100 times faster.

3D printing and manufacturing

It can already be seen how the use of 3D printers is spreading to all areas of industry, as there are already printed body parts, car bodies, cutlery, wardrobe and even houses and buildings etc. For example. Boeing today prints over 20,000 parts for its aeroplanes.

As this technology becomes cheaper and more accessible, experts in the field predict that this type of manufacturing will move from industry to consumers. With 3D printers, people will be able to create their own models, modify existing ones, and customise products to suit their needs. There are already many free models available on the internet that can be downloaded and printed directly.

However, to look at a trivial example, many people today have ‘regular’ 2D printers at home, but there are also copiers, and even those with printers print in copiers. The same will be true for 3D printers. There are several reasons for this, some of them:

  • Economically, because mass production is still cheaper than customised production.
  • A better finish when most people will not have the conditions for a quality finish like professionals.
  • Knowledge of the field including material characteristics, knowledge of construction, knowledge of machining software.
  • The creative ability of the individual.
  • Physical limitations of the printer.

PRODUCING THE BULLET JACKET

All our bullet jackets are made from gilding metal, a copper alloy composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc. In order to match our different bullet requirements and meet stringent quality objectives, we buy nineteen different strip sizes of gilding metal and require three times more dimensional and quality control than is considered standard in the copper manufacturing industry. In fact, Olin Brasshas a special alloy exclusive to Sierra Bullets. This enables us to build extremely high uniformity into every one of our finished bullets.

The bullet begins to take shape during the manufacturing process when the jacket material is first blanked and then brought through a series of drawing processes. Special tooling made in our own tool and die shop ensures that the jacket is drawn evenly and that uniform wall thickness is maintained for accuracy. Jackets which have been drawn to the proper wall construction are then trimmed to a length with a tolerance of +/- 0.001.” This ensures consistent weight and proper forming when the bullet is assembled.

After each step, the bullet jackets are washed and rinsed using a special cleaning process developed by our experienced personnel. During each phase of production, roving quality control inspectors check specifications to ensure that the only part to move on is a perfect one. Reports on the quality of parts being manufactured are maintained in every department and are periodically reviewed by shift supervisors.

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