Several years ago I ordered a Contender Barrel around Christmas time that JD said was "in stock". Several weeks later when I called to inquire about the order he stated that they did not like to ship during the holidays due to the temporary help that UPS hired then.

Needless to say I had my "300 Fireball" uppers made by a local gunsmith at a much lower cost than he quoted.

Hornady .221/.300 fireball dies
 

Where can I purchas these dies?

dies
 

I bought redding 2 die and a forming die for the 300 FIREBALL!!!!!! and am very satisfied and bought Lee for the 458 SOCOM for the expander for Lead Heavies then bought a Hornady set for the long Seating die for the long heavies and the expander ball for the jacketed bullets and expand smooth then flair for the lead heavies.

You know, I realize that it's a little off topic and for that matter not 100% the same thing but if you ever happen by the USAF Armament Museum at Eglin AFB you'll see experimental 3 rounds on display there. They were designed in about 1970 for the IMP project and designated T1-T3. Those rounds were basically .221 Fireball necked up to .30 for use as a subsonic subgun round. Just saying. --ST

Wonder if SSK actually patented the 300 Whisper ... if so those rounds at Eglin could be used to invalidate the patent. Just saying .... if he only has it trademarked; then that is another story.

Sarg

Not 100% (again) but after a quick check the word "Whisper" is trademarked and I couldn't find a patent for the 300 Whisper design on the USPO site. I'm fairly sure that if it had been patented JD could have sued over the 300 Fireball, 221/300 and easily won. My ASSumption is that he know about or heard of the idea before making the marketing push that he did and just took the Trademark route because he knew he wouldn't be able to get a patent on the idea. --ST

JD most definitely didn't invent the round but he did trademark the "Whisper" name. There were wildcat .30 cal's based on the .221 fireball and the whole 222/223 series not long after they came out commercially. That was way back in the 50's and 60's. As for him "inventing" the round as a subsonic I don't think that was the case either.....I've seen some evidence of similar or possibly identical rounds used in the 60's and 70's for subsonic use with heavy bullets. What I believe JD did was marketing where the others didn't. On some of the other rounds he claims (or others have claimed on his behalf) to have invented, some are probably his like the 510 whisper and others have obviously been tried before like the 338 1.5 also known as the .338 whisper. The .308 was shortened to 1.5" long ago and used in a number of applications including necked up to .338 and launching subsonics. It was also reduced to 6mm, 7mm and called the 6BR, 7BR and 30BR. Others like the 338 whisper 2 was used before and has been copied since by someone calling it a thumber or something like that....
I guess in the big scheme of things the original inventor seldom gets the credit, the guy who convinces everyone to use it does. The only gripe I've got with JD is that he seems a bit paranoid and hard to talk to unless you're handing him money. On the other hand, if I had a load of idiots like me asking questions I might get a bit crotchity too.

Frank