What do you dislike about reloading?

cfullgraf said:
Cleaning out primer pockets after wet or dry tumbling is another unpleasant task. I tend to do more dry tumbling because it is easier to clean out the primer pockets.
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While I certainly don't find cleaning out primer pockets after dry tumbling all that pleasant, as I've stated before, using a couple of short pieces of baling wire and working together, my wife and I can clean the primer pockets and check the flash holes in a hundred cases inside of 5 minutes. :)
 
Wasted time and hand moving.

I have automated trimming. I have automated annealing. I have automated decapping. Sizing, expanding, and seating are value-add steps, so I don’t mind a little time spent there, but I have also automated feeding those processes.

So now I’m largely just stuck on racking brass and marking extractor grooves as my big “no value time-sucks”.
 
LimaCharlie said:
All aspects of reloading are mind-numbing boring for me. I don't trust myself to focus enough to reload.

I am an RSO at the gun club. We have a hunting sight-in service open to the public on weekends every September. I see two types of reloads. One type is meticulous with labeled plastic boxes of ammo that looks better than new manufactured.

The other type has ammo in coat pockets, pants pockets, or in twenty-year-old worn ammo boxes with missing end flaps. There are splits in shells, corroded brass, cocked bullets, and varying overall lengths.

I told one guy his ammo was not acceptable to shoot on the range. He told me his twelve year old son reloaded for him. He said he was going to give him a beating when he got home.
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Wow! Admitting one is about to commit felonious assault on a child? Did he think you were a priest not rso?
 
CoalCrackerAl said:
Some folks just say that. My sons 32 and i tell him im gonna kick ur ass. He knows im joking.
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Yeah cause he’d probably kick yours

But I know and the world has changed greatly. My dad said “I’m going to tan your hide” and that meant belt. My mom said wait till your father gets home and that meant belt too. My grandmother said “go get a switch”.

I “spanked” my now 30something sons six times total. With my hand. I was actually told by a child psychologist to use my hand not some implement. Can you imagine saying that today? They’d lose their license and we’d all be in jail.

Not sure what I’d do today but if I said “no car keys” they’d have gone apoplectic.

edit: way late in life my mom used to say I needed a good old fashioned spanking, jokingly. Sure would love for her to be here to say it today:)
 
Trimming rifle and revolver brass. I don't trim auto brass (taper crimp), but for cast bullet shooting in rifles and revolvers, I want it pretty exact.
 
Trimming and knowing at some point I’m going to have to just replicate the loads I like and stop tinkering around.
 
DMW1116 said:
knowing at some point I’m going to have to just replicate the loads I like and stop tinkering around
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Yep, there's that. ;)
It's just like a lot of things, I guess. Climbing for instance (I used to climb) - once you reach the top, the fun's over. The fun is in the climb itself, not in getting to the top of a rock or mountain.
It's sort of like what Dad used to tell me about hunting. He'd say, "Once, you pull the trigger, the fun's all over." Dad was right. :thumbup:
 
Primer pocket military crimp removal, that is what I have been doing this morning and I just realized that is my only lousy time reloading. I don't even mind trimming much anymore since I got the Lyman but using my RCBS prep station is as automated as I have gotten with the crimp removal but it still is no fun.
 
I guess if one had to reload $5.00 per round ammo, that might be a reason for reloading. But with so much comment about $5.00 per shot seems so important, why didn't one consider that before they bought their gun? If I were considering a new car, would I not think about one that can only use premium, $$$, fuel and oil and filters, etc.??

Money is the last considerations for my reloading. I don't throw money away on components, but don't "cheap out" either. I have never attempted to compare my handloads costs to factory ammo...
 
I own several rifles I’d not have purchased if I didn’t reload, a .375 Ruger and a .280 Ackley among them. Check the price and availability on those cartridges.
 
.308 Norma said:
Yep, there's that. ;)
It's just like a lot of things, I guess. Climbing for instance (I used to climb) - once you reach the top, the fun's over. The fun is in the climb itself, not in getting to the top of a rock or mountain.
It's sort of like what Dad used to tell me about hunting. He'd say, "Once, you pull the trigger, the fun's all over." Dad was right. :thumbup:
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Never climbed anything but a ladder. Once you reach the top, the work begins. (Now that was a good one.)
 
JEBruns said:
Yeah, that'd be my pick too. Trimming bottle neck brass can be a pain.

In general, I really enjoy reloading. Been doing it for 35 years of so, I guess.
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have never trimmed bottle neck brass, trimmed several hundred 45 colt to FTX lengths and shot in the marlin. Cured me of wanting to trim any cartridge again. I enjoy reloading.
 
mdi said:
I have never attempted to compare my handloads costs to factory ammo...
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Me neither. If I ever did attempt to compare the cost of my handloads to the cost of factory ammo, I'd probably find out it would be like comparing the cost of the venison in our freezer to the cost of USDA prime beef. And I wouldn't like what I found out. ;)
Nevertheless, I enjoy most things about handloading - just like I enjoy most things about hunting. On top of that, whether non-handloaders want to believe it or not, some of my handloaded ammo is better (in more ways than I want to explain here) than factory ammo - not to mention obtainable, which ammo for some of the guns I shoot is generally not.
One more thing - I'm not a good enough wordsmith to describe it, but there's a certain satisfaction that I get when I use a round of my own, handcrafted ammo to cleanly take a head of big game, or when I used to use my own handcrafted ammo in a handgun to tip over 10, 200-meter rams in a row in IHMSA competition. :)
 
Varminterror said:
Nobody likes paying taxes, but most of us appreciate many of the results from having done so.
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I clicked "like," but that's only partly true if you're comparing handloading to paying taxes, Varminterror. I don't know any more ways to say it - I ENJOY handloading. At least I enjoy most things about it.
On the other hand, I can't think of a single thing about paying taxes that I enjoy, other than, as you said, I "appreciate" many of the results from having done so. Just like I appreciate many of the results from my handloading. :)
 
I do not enjoy reloading. I do enjoy shooting and I really enjoy hitting where I aim. Even if I could afford to buy match ammo, it is not as precise as I want or need. To do what I enjoy I have to do the work first.

The step that used to be least enjoyable is trimming the cases. It became slightly more bearable when I got a Giruad Tri-way trimmer. Trimming was pushed to second place when I bought 1000 cases of LC 223 brass. The experience was bad enough that in future I would rather toss brass with crimped primer pockets.

If your handloads are not better than factory ammo and it is the same or more expensive than factory ammo, then reloading is not for you.

I know for a fact my loads are better than factory. And, by reusing brass 10 times, they are cheaper as well in direct cost.

Then again, if I factor in my hourly rate, the cost is probably quite a bit higher...
 
.308 Norma said:
Me neither. If I ever did attempt to compare the cost of my handloads to the cost of factory ammo, I'd probably find out it would be like comparing the cost of the venison in our freezer to the cost of USDA prime beef. And I wouldn't like what I found out. ;)
Nevertheless, I enjoy most things about handloading - just like I enjoy most things about hunting. On top of that, whether non-handloaders want to believe it or not, some of my handloaded ammo is better (in more ways than I want to explain here) than factory ammo - not to mention obtainable, which ammo for some of the guns I shoot is generally not.
One more thing - I'm not a good enough wordsmith to describe it, but there's a certain satisfaction that I get when I use a round of my own, handcrafted ammo to cleanly take a head of big game, or when I used to use my own handcrafted ammo in a handgun to tip over 10, 200-meter rams in a row in IHMSA competition. :)
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I try to compare the cost of grocery store meat to the meat I hunt and trade for but it’s not really as simple as pigs and pork. The beef, eggs and chickens are easy - they’re not game animals - but there’s no comparing wild turkey to farmed or wild pheasant to frozen. You don’t have to pick shot out of frozen pheasant but then again it tastes like chicken, not wild pheasant.
Reloading makes good economic and practical sense for filling freezers and playing games (if that’s what you’re into) but I think if I only wanted a gun for just in case, I might just buy ammo.
 
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