About
For those who don’t know me, my name is Randy “RG” Robinett, a.k.a. The Ballistic Idiot- an affectionate (I hope) moniker bestowed upon me by Benchrest shooting Pals many seasons ago. I liked the ‘handle’ and incorporated it into the name of my bullet business: BIB, for Ballistic Idiot Bullets. When the very friends who dubbed me thus, were appalled at learning of my intent to incorperate it into the business title, Ballistic Idiot became especially attractive . 
Some of my earliest memories are of wanting to shoot rifles with the “old men” - my Father and Uncles. Then, once I began shooting, that’s all I wanted to do. I was stuck with rim-fires and shotguns until I turned 16, whereupon, my Dad presented me with a FN manufactured Peruvian Mauser, Model 1935, chambered for the .30/06 cartridge - not much, but, but then again, everything! I still own that rifle, though it wears a different stock and is wearing a third barrel.
Dad worked with a pal, one Michael B. Chambers (last know location, Jackass Flats, NV), who kindly took me under wing, introducing me to the world of “accurizing” rifles and reloading - that was 1964 - in all the time since, I have fired only a single box of factory ammo! That was during a sever brass shortage - 1976/77 - when, in order to obtain and fire-form brass for my first .257 Ackley Imp., I broke-down and purchased a box of Remington Express , .257 Roberts, 117 Gr. RN ammo!
That U.S. Bi-Centennial summer, just prior to Uncle Sam’s birthday, Donna and I packed up the kids and moved to Deer Lodge, MT, where we lived through Nov. of 1980. It was during my first summer in MT that I became involved in ‘turkey Shoots’ and benchrest tournaments - my initial registered event being a NBRSA Hunter Rifle event, at Missoula, MT. Through 30 seasons of equipment evolution and occasional organizational disputes, Hunter Rifle competition still tops my list of “must attend” tournaments. The challenge of “keeping ‘em on the X”, while shooting a 10 pound rifle, topped with a 6X scope remains powerful.
By the time we decided to return to the flat-lands, I had also become interested in group shooting, which, to me, though challenging, lacks the powerful appeal of score shooting. Still, when an opportunity to purchase a set of Bhieler and Astels .22 Caliber swage dies arose, I went in, with a pal, for 1/2 ownership - those dies produced excellent bullets. A couple of years later - about 1987 - when he decided to get out of bullet making, I purchased an excellent set of Rorschach .22 Cal. carbide bullet swage dies from Mike Prokosch, of PCBC bullets: that set of dies is still used to produce the 52 Gr. BIB FB - a continuing legacy of quality. Thank you, Mike.
About 1992, my mentor, Guy Chism, knowing that I could make decent .22 Cal. bullets, urged me to obtain a set of Blackmon (tool steel) .30 Cal. dies and begin making the light weight .30 caliber bullets which I always wanted. At that time, Guy was so swamped with orders for his .30 Cal. , 150 GR. FB bullets (THE GOLD STANDARD for thirty caliber bullets), that my desire for ever lighter weights was probably a nuisance (though Guy was too kind to put it that way). He advised me that I should obtain a set of Larry Blackmon’s excellent dies and test the light bullet market: seemingly ‘overnight’, demand for my bullets necessitated ordering my first set of carbide dies from Bill Niemi, of W. B. Niemi Engineering - the first of several most excellent die sets from Bill and Brian! (Note: see Products)
Mixed in with the benchrest shooting, remains a life-long love of hunting mule deer, red foxes and, occasionally, coyotes and the odd prairie dog. At the core, has always been the desire for precision: the force that drives me to make the best possible bullets: I have been fortunate enough to win a few, lose even more, and in the process, have TOP Competitors make BIB bullets shine; without the continued support and trust of these individuals, I’d still be running a printing press somewhere . . .
Oh, benchrest shooting isn’t a complete waste of time - when hunting conditions are tough, knowing where to ‘hold-off’ has it’s rewards . . . here’s a nice mule deer I shot, at 360 yards, in a 20MPH cross-wind - one shot, he dropped in his proverbial tracks - exactly back into his bedded position! When viewing this pic, I always wonder, “what if he’d ‘jumped and run’ with the Swarovski binocular dangling for those antlers?” !
Keep ‘em ON the X! RG
