SmallCaliberCentral

As a followup to my last post regarding the explosion at the Nosler plant here in Bend, OR yesterday (Wed, 02 JUN 10), I took a walk about the site today with my camera. Here's the story in pictures:

The front of the plant...the ballistics lab/shooting tunnel is directly behind what we see here. The debris you see are scattered from the explosion, about 40 yards away on the other side. The Shooters Pro Shop front door can be seen just behind the bushes to the right, directly in front of the fire engine. (All the fencing is temp/security perimiter)



This is the opposite side of the building at the event site. What's left here was the ballistics lab with accounting directly above.



In this shot you can see a Suburban that was parked next to the concrete wall that collapsed directly onto the rig from the force of the explosion:



Closeup of the devestation. The engineering dept. is/was the wall you're looking into on the second story. The cement wall of the tunnel can be seen at the lower left. Ballistics and Accounting areas are virtually 'gone'.



Today the place is crawling with the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad, the ATF, and every other local official you could imagine sorting, tagging, and starting their investation as to the actual cause. My last post has my theory for whatever it's worth. We're all just thanking God that no one was seriously hurt or worse.

No word yet as to when they expect production to start again. Wifey told me it's no often you can say "I can't go to work 'cause it blew up".......

Holy Cow Rick! I've been out of town and hadn't heard about this. Sure am glad to hear that your wife and her co-workers are all okay!!! Gary

Once again Rick both my wife and I are glad to hear that your wife and eveyone else made it alive. You and yours are in our thoughts and prayers. Ride Up!!!


P.S. If there is anything that we can do please let us know.


Your Friends

Shane and Maggie

Wow that is some Skippy round they are working up for you!

Thanks for the pictures. Glad nobody was hurt.

Thanks for the kind words from everyone, but wifey is okay and wants to get back with it.

Not sure when Nosler will reopen, as the ATF and the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad are up there now making sure there's no chance of a secondary explosion and starting their investigation as to the actual cause. None of the production machinery was affected, so production should start again within a week or so I'd guess.

Considering damage to the building, I know we all can imagine what the result would have been if anyone had been in there at the time of the explosion. Quick thinking and following protocol was the key to everyone being safe.

Might be time to stock up. One of my Nosler selections listed at Midway shows out of stock with 6-1-2011 as expected in stock date. Dunno if this is a mistake, a ploy, or what, but 100rd pkgs of same are in stock.

Hope this is just a mad panic that passes quickly. I was unable to secure the 1000 bullets that I wanted.

Glad I use Sierras for the 204.

Yesterday, Friday 04 June, all employees and the media were told they'd be making bullets again in 30 days, possibly less. None of the presses or production machinery was affected. There's plenty of product yet to be shipped in the warehouse, plenty in the pipeline. No need for any "Nosler Panic" at all.....we'll all have enough bullets to keep us happy for the balance of the year.

We've been working on a summer PD trip due to the lack of shooting on our recent outing. I guess I need to look for another supplier...


Quote from Midway:
Sorry you were unable to get the quantity that you wanted. Nosler bullets had a really bad accident at there plant earlier this week. We are currently limiting quantity's to serve as many people as we can sorry for the inconvience. Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated. We do carry a full line of bullets from other manufactures.

Rick i have been out of town for a couple of days but heard about the explosion.
Glad to see that no one was hurt. Thanks for the story andthe pics.

A bad deal, I'm glad no one was hurt. Looking at your pics, it is almost unbelievable that it happened during business hours and no one was injured. Thanks for the reporting Rick.

I went to Bonneville to try catching some sturgeon a few months ago, right after this happened. Was lucky enough to go to eat at the diner near Pilot butte ( old drive in diner), then get to SPS just after the guy locked the door, but he let us in to PU the bullets I ordered and some more stuff on impulse...lol


Glad all were safe, she still looked tore up.

Allen