Here’s wishing you and your family an early Happy Thanksgiving. We hope you have received the 2009 Sinclair Christmas catalog that was recently mailed. If not, you should be receiving it in the next few days.

I spent some time at my own reloading bench this weekend organizing and planning my reloading for this winter. I took advantage of the time and cycled several batches of brass through my tumbler in preparation for reloading. I briefly experimented with an ultrasonic cleaner to clean some pretty dirty 308 Winchester brass because I had read a little bit on the internet about some reloaders using them to clean their brass. I was impressed mainly how well it cleaned the inside of the case but the case necks didn’t clean up to my satisfaction. I will continue to experiment with some different cleaning solutions and possibly a different ultrasonic unit to see if I can get some better results. I thought the process was a little more complicated than compared to what I am used to with the tumbler. Feel free to chime in your thoughts if you have had success with an ultrasonic cleaner.

We are starting to see a few primers arrive on our dock. Wolf primers are slowly making their way to our doors each month. We do expect to see a decent amount of Wolf large rifle primers in the next couple of weeks. Remington and Winchester primers are trickling in but no word yet on delivery of Federal primers. Easiest way to check inventory status on primers is to check out our website (look under Components & Ammunition).

Keep warm, enjoy Thanksgiving next week, and give thanks to our soldiers overseas who are doing without while protecting our freedoms.

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt
President – Sinclair International, Inc.

This month wraps up the competitive shooting season for most of us at Sinclair’s. We have a Halloween match at the end of the month that ends the 2009 season for the NRA Long-Range and F-Class shooters in our company. Several members of our staff are avid hunters and hunting preparation is quickly becoming a priority among them as the seasons begin to open.

As we approach the colder season (in parts of the world), this is a good time to go through your firearms and make sure that they are clean and well oiled for protection during the winter months. A colder climate doesn’t necessarily mean an end to shooting for a lot of us by any means. We look forward to those clear, sunny winter days to get out of the house and do some practice shooting. We are also fortunate in our area to have some high schools where we can do regular smallbore shooting, a great trap/skeet range that has winter leagues, and a few indoor ranges for the handgun shooters. Winter is also a great time to do some quality practice by dry firing. Check out our selection of snap caps from Harbour Arms or A-Zoom by Lyman.

I am busy myself wrapping up outdoor chores while looking forward to getting into my shop to tackle some winter projects and take inventory of what I need in the way of supplies for next year. I need to get caught up on some of my own reloading. With two kids away at college, the assistance I get with reloading chores consists of my dogs looking up once in awhile from their nap to give me a look of encouragement.

The Sinclair Christmas catalog will be mailing out the first week of November so keep an eye out for it. Remember our easy to use website and helpful, friendly sales staff makes it fun for you (or your family) to Christmas shop with Sinclair International. 

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt
President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Start checking your mailbox over the next few weeks because the Sinclair #2009-B Catalog is being mailed this week. If you are on our mailing list you should be getting a catalog in a week or two. We have a lot of new products including some great Sinclair reloading tool kits. A lot of our customers have been asking for tool boxes for many of our tools and we listened. If you can’t wait for the new catalog please visit our website where almost all of the new products are already on display!

It is a busy time of the year as we head into hunting season. Of course, competitive shooting is still going strong through the fall. The Sinclair F-T/R Team plus a couple of our guys shooting as individuals will be at the U.S. F-Class Nationals in Camp Butner, North Carolina. It is being hosted by the North State Shooting Club (September 30 thru October 3). For those of you not familiar with F-Class, it is normally shot at 600 and 1000 yards off the ground utilizing rests and bi-pods. The Open Class is open to any cartridge (.35 caliber and under) and can be shot off a rest or bi-pod with a rifle weight of approximately 22 lbs. The F-T/R Class is limited to the .223 Remington or the .308 Winchester and has to be shot off a bi-pod with a total rifle weight of approximately 18.2 lbs (including bi-pod). For more information, here are two great websites where you can find out more about F-Class shooting.

Team USA F-T/R Long Range Rifle Team

United States F-Class Open Rifle Team

I am being cautiously optimistic about primer availability because one of our suppliers indicated we may get a very large shipment of primers in the next week or two. Cross your fingers and hope it is substantiated. If you need some primers or know someone who does have them start checking our blog. We’ll post a notice regarding the primers as soon as they hit the warehouse dock!

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt

President – Sinclair International, Inc.

As I write this letter, I am up at our commercial row location at Camp Perry, Ohio. The NRA National Matches are finishing up this week with NRA High Power and Long-Range being the last two disciplines. The Civilian Marksmanship Program matches were held last week. As always, it is great to see shooters greeting each other from across the country as they renew friendships made at the National Matches. I know I have made some great friends over the years as I have attended and shot the matches. For over 100 years the National Matches have been fired on the shores of Lake Erie drawing shooters from all over the country and around the world. The National Matches celebrated their 100th Anniversary in 2007 and hopefully the matches will be going on for years to come. One of the things I really enjoy about Camp Perry is to observe all the families that attend and seeing the young kids excited about going to the Small Arms Firing School or one of the Junior Shooting Camps. It is typical of many shooting ranges (large and small) across the country where the camaraderie and sportsmanship of the shooting sports is on display. It’s a shame the rest of the country doesn’t see what a great time everyone is having.

Not one hundred years, but we are on the way – at Sinclair International we celebrated our 25th Anniversary last month in July. We have grown from a small, mainly benchrest based business to a company supplying reloading and shooting products to shooters of all disciplines around the world. Our product mix and customer base may have grown since 1984 but we take the same approach to serving customers as we did back then – take care of the customer to the fullest of our abilities and help them enjoy the shooting sports. We can’t thank our customers enough for helping us grow over the years and showing the loyalty they have for the company. Also, I have to say a big thanks to the employees that have been part of Sinclair over the years, for without them the success wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks!

There have been some small positive signs from component manufacturers recently. We have begun to see small shipments of primers from Remington and Winchester along with some badly needed bullets arriving from Hornady, Berger, and Sierra. Let’s hope this trend continues. Brass availability of 223 Rem and 308 Win is still an issue with some of the manufacturers.

We have our fall catalog coming out in mid-September that will have quite a few new items that we are excited about having. Continue to check out our website at www.sinclairintl.com for the latest updates throughout the year. We look forward to hearing from you and hope we can continue to help you with your shooting and reloading.

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt

President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Wow, summer is flying by fast! This week we opened up our commercial store for the NRA National Rifle & Pistol Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio. If you are looking for a relaxing one-day or overnight trip, the National Matches are a great place to visit – even for those not competing. Take a Saturday and visit the National Matches (check the NRA website for a complete shooting schedule). We’ll have our store open 7 days a week from now until August 15th (10am to 6pm). We’d love to have you stop by.

One of our reloading techs, Rod Green, will be at the Varmint Hunter Jamboree in Pierre, South Dakota at the end of the month (July 28-31). Rod will be on hand to answer questions, demonstrate some new products, and of course do a little shooting. He’ll be sharing a booth with Marc D’Aguanno of Brownell’s. If you are in the area, look them up and say hello.

Thanks to all of you that have been using our blog. Some real good comments have been posted. Any of you can post content to the blog; we review it, of course, for appropriateness. The blog is a good place to post info on matches, hunting trips, or information on a new product you want the other readers to know about. If you need a direct answer from Sinclair regarding availability (like primers) or you have a technical question about one of our products, it is quicker to use our contact e-mail address at support@sinclairintl.com. The blog is a little harder for our customer service people to access for direct questions. We appreciate your help.

We are starting to see some hopeful signs that the component manufacturers are beginning to catch up a bit (still no real definitive word on primers). A few bullets have been coming in, some brass has came in that we haven’t seen in awhile, and we’ve been getting a little powder too.

Let’s all hope that the craziness around components soon diminishes so we can enjoy more time shooting instead of hunting for product. See you at the range.

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt
President – Sinclair International, Inc.

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I hope all of you are getting some time in at the range or in the field. I know the guys in the manufacturing area are going out tomorrow to do some prototype testing on some new items. The days are longer and it’s becoming easier to get some shooting done after work.

If you can’t get to the range as much as you would like, continue to do some dry firing in your various shooting positions. Regardless whether you hunt, compete, or just plink, this is good time on the gun for figuring out holds, positions, equipment adjustments, and trigger control. We have always used the A-Zoom Snap Caps for dry firing practice to protect our firing pins. They cover most of the commonly chambered cartridges but someone is always asking for something special. We recently added a new supplier, Harbour Arms, to fill part of this gap. They are making aluminum snap caps for us in some of the 6mm and 6.5mm target cartridges. We are glad to have these guys as part of our team!

We had a wonderful time at the NRA Show in Phoenix during May and appreciated the hospitality of the local folks. It was great seeing our existing customers as well as getting the chance to meet with some new customers.

The next major event for us is the beginning of the NRA National Matches at Port Clinton, Ohio (Camp Perry). We open our store on July 13 and are there through August 15 (seven days a week). Another great summer of getting to see our customers and do some shooting on the shores of Lake Erie.

We continue to add new products to our inventory so make sure you check out our new website (sinclairintl.com) and see what’s new!

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt

President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Weather is finally turning nice here at home in Indiana and I am chomping at the bit to get out and do some shooting. I have spent the last few weeks going through my gun stuff in my reloading and shooting room and it just adds to the anticipation about getting out to the range. I hope all of you are as excited as I am. I didn’t get to compete as much as I would have liked to last year, but I will this year.

Our re-designed website, sinclairinlt.com is up and running! We will be working constantly to add more products and information to enhance the site. Now you can visit and check inventory status, new product selections, and search for items in a much easier way. We have had a lot of positive feedback on the way we have organized products (from a shooter’s standpoint) and customers have reported the structure makes it much easier to find items. Thanks to all of you who have given us ideas and suggestions on how to improve the site.

We are seeing a tremendous increase in the number of new customers calling or ordering on the website, some who are just getting into reloading. A big thanks to all of our dedicated customers who have sent new reloaders and shooters our way!

We have had some serious overload in our customer service center and are moving as fast as we can to handle the increased call demand. I know a lot of customers are calling to find specific components, especially primers (see the short article below).

The NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona is this month (May 15-17). We will be in Booth #2003, right near the exhibit hall entrance along with our parent company, Brownells. Hope to see you there.

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt
President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Welcome to Spring! If you are on our mailing list, you should have received the new Sinclair catalog (#2009-A) in the mail by now. If you haven’t received it yet, please let us know by e-mail, phone, fax, or letter and we’ll get another one right out to you. We have had a lot of requests from many of you for product additions, so we have been adding new products at a rapid pace. Check our website out if you don’t find what you are looking for in the catalog.

Speaking of the website, we officially launched our new website on March 24th. This release is just the start of a greatly expanded Sinclair website. We’ll continue to add and expand the website to have more product information, how-to information and news about our sport. Check out the new look and features by going to sinclairintl.com

I feel I need to add a few words about the component situation. Ammunition sales and component stockpiling have continued to exhaust component manufacturer’s production capabilities. This is a much greater demand than we experienced during 1993 and 1994. In 1994, primers were the major component in short supply just as they are today and many customers have been calling to inquire about component availability. Regarding primers, we have had a few primers come in and go quickly back out of stock, but we hope to see quite a few more in early April. Brass supplies are in fairly good shape except for a few of the more popular cartridges. The supply of 308 Winchester and 223 Remington unprimed brass has been a hit and miss situation. We haven’t seen any 308 Winchester brass (with a Winchester headstamp) in almost a year now! As I write this we have a small amount of Lapua 308 Winchester brass in stock. We are occasionally seeing some 223 Remington brass (right now we have Winchester headstamp in stock). Powder supplies are in pretty decent shape with one big exception being the supply of Hodgdon Varget. Bullet deliveries have been intermittent; our champion in regular delivery has been Sierra Bullets. They have continued to keep us supplied with most of their bullets. Berger Bullets and Hornady are doing their best as well to keep up with an unprecedented demand. Thanks Guys!

The guys in the back are enjoying helping some of the shooters new to reloading get started the right way in the reloading game. There is some junk on the market and we hope we can help you avoid most of that as you make your equipment choices.

Again, please continue to check our blog for current news. We will post anything noteworthy about component availability as we get new information.

The NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibition in Phoenix, Arizona is rapidly approaching (mid-May). It is our favorite show of the year and we are looking forward to being there. I hope many of you in the area get a chance to drop by our booth and say hello!

Good Shooting,

Bill Gravatt
President – Sinclair International, Inc.

Fellow Shooters,

Welcome to “The Reloading Press”, the new informative newsletter from Sinclair International. Each month we’ll have insightful articles on reloading, cleaning, and other technical topics related to shooting. We’ll offer articles for both new reloaders and shooters and articles on more advanced subjects for our experienced customers. If you know someone who is just getting started in reloading and shooting, or even just thinking about it, please forward the newsletter to them.

We hope you enjoy The Reloading Press each month. If you have ideas for content for future issues, please forward them to reloadingpress@sinclairintl.com.

Good Shooting and have a Wonderful Christmas Season,

Bill Gravatt

President – Sinclair International, Inc.