About Us

Since 2016

they work well at speed,
the faster the better

The name Atomic 29 came about when we were brainstorming

Ever since I was young, I’ve enjoyed shooting and hunting. I was having trouble getting Barnes projectiles, which I normally used, so I began making projectiles for myself on a manual lathe. I found that the projectiles I made were accurate and killed well.

The only way to increase this was to make them on a CNC machine. As time went by, I built, designed, and tested more calibres. I might have to mine my backstop on the range one day for all the copper that has been fired in testing.

I’ve had a lot of help from different people over the years in field testing bullets. I won’t name all the names, but I appreciate them sending photos of projectiles and animals they have hunted so I could see an accurate result. As you know, we can fire projectiles into paper all day but until a large amount of data comes back from the field its hard to make an assessment of what works and what doesn’t.

The basic design of my projectiles hasn’t changed much from the start. Small things like hollow point size, weight, and meplat have been changed slightly as time went by and more field tests came in.

The Spitzer projectiles were designed with a flat meplat or front point for two reasons, one: ease of machining and two: they are unlikely to be deformed from being flattened by the front of a magazine wall under recoil. Being copper, it is unlikely this would happen, since it’s stronger material than lead. Also, the wider point helps to initiate expansion.

The grooves in the main bearing surface serve to let copper flow back with the rifling to stop fouling of the barrel. It also drops pressure with less bearing surface. Even though the boat tail on the projectiles helps with ballistic efficiency, I mainly put them on to help with smooth seating. Like all mono metals they work well at speed, the faster the better, without getting too carried away.

I have always been a reader and user of Nick Harvey manuals and articles over the years. When we first started I was thinking of writing a manual but we were using a Harvey manual in testing and that was working perfectly from minimum to maximum loads. I now recommend people use a Harvey manual when loading Atomic29.

The name Atomic29 came about when we were brainstorming one night at a BBQ and a friend who has absolutely no interest in firearms asked what the projectiles were made of. When I told them copper, they asked what Atomic number is on the elemental table for copper. 29 it is. Also, my last name is hard to pronounce.

The reason I chose to make mono metal projectiles and not lead copper was a couple of reasons. One, I was a big fan of Barnes and how they worked, a strong penetrating round which held together well. Number two is that I’m a Fitter and Machinist by trade and know more about turning things than pressing. Stick to what you know I say.