Tour at the Doubletap Ammo Factory

Some of the Ammo that Doubletap sells


Double Tap Ammo Tour
In the last number of years there have been a number of companies started up to produce ammo. Some are niche companies while others supply most modern ammo. One such company is Double Tap. It was started in 2002 by Mike Mcnett with the idea of producing high quality ammo for hunting and self defense purposes. They are located in Cedar City Utah and have a toll free number 866-867-1066. For info on their products you can go to www.doubletap.com to view their extensive line of products. They started out with three loads for the 10 mm but now offer over 300 loadings in various rifle and handgun calibers. They are adding new products all of the time so it is necessary to check their site frequently lest you miss out on something you might want. I became aware of this company at the writer’s shoot which is a day prior to the SHOT show. I talked to Mike and looked over his ammo and it became obvious that he cares deeply about the quality of his products.
A couple of weeks after the SHOT show was over he sent me some sample ammo in 380, 9mm and 40 caliber. He uses premium bullets from such makers as Barnes Hornady and Nosler all top notch. A couple of loads have a high ES but that would be a function of that individual gun. Every gun is different and some don’t like a certain load or bullet. That is why it is important to experiment with your firearm to see what it likes.

LOAD BULLET VELOOCITY COMMENT
9 mm Beretta 92 5” 124 grain 1293 consistent
40- Glock 22 5” 125 grain Barnes 1308 very consistent
40- Glock 22 5” 200 grain Nosler 1013 nice
40- Glock 27 3 &1/2” 125 grain Barnes 1125 OK
40- Glock 27 3 &1/2” 200 grain Nosler 976 consistent
Sig 220 5” barrel 160 grain Barnes Tac XP 1132 potent
Sig 220 5” barrel 185 grain Nosler 1199 nice
Rock River 308 20’ 150 grain Barnes TTSX 2875 consistent
Rock River 308 20” 180 grain Nosler Accubond 2588 good load
Rock River 308 20” 200 grain Nosler Accubond 2443 high es
H & R Pistol 32 mag 60 grain Barnes 2 &1/2” barrel 1058 consistent
Ruger 327 mag 5 & ½” 60 grain Barnes 1581 impressive


One of the loading machines used.


We shot the 60 grain Barnes in the 327 at 25 yards and they were very accurate. A better rest & less wind would have done better. I have also shot some of his ammo in a couple of Diamondback pistols that I was testing out. They are very sub compact models and they performed well with his ammo. Calibers were the 380 and 9 mm. Accuracy for such small pistols was outstanding.

The Rock River 308 shot the Double Tap very well at 100 yards giving groups in the 1” area consistently. Both the Barnes and Nosler Accubonds shot well indicating good quality ammo. Either bullet would be suitable for large game hunting.


One of the Branes bullets loaded by Doubletap


Recently I had a chance to visit and tour his factory in Cedar City Utah. While the operation doesn’t look large the available space is utilized in an efficient way. They use a number of Dillon presses to manufacture most of the ammo. The Dillon presses are set up for production while maintaining the high quality control that Mike demands. For the most part he uses Starline brass which is also a quality product. Bullets come from various manufactures such as Barnes, Nosler and Hornady. The rifle ammo is hand crimped in a single stage RCBS press and individually inspected by the operator.


Target shot with Diamondback 380 and Doubletap ammo 380


I have shot a lot of his ammo and have never had any type of problem. There are several ways to measure ammo quality. First of all it has to fit and feed in the gun it is designed for. Next it has to be consistent in order to be accurate. Consistency is usually measured by a chronograph which measures its velocities among other factors. If it has a low standard deviation and ES, the difference between the slowest and fastest shot in the string, then that is an indication of good quality. Among other things it requires the proper powder and amount is used which takes some experimenting and time to develop such loads. It also has to be safe in the guns that it is designed for. Consistent ammo also is accurate an important consideration both in hunting and self defense. Mike puts the velocity on all of his boxes and the guns that were used to develop the loads. If your gun is similar to his then you should get similar results. I’m here to tell you that his ammo meets all of the criteria necessary to call it great ammo. Based on my experiences with it I would recommend his ammo without hesitation. I have other calibers to test and will report on them at a later date.
Bob Shell


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