Who taught you to handload?

As I was learning to shoot, My father bought me an M-1 Carbine, but wouldn't let me buy more than 20 rounds each pay period.

Since M-1 Carbine was considered a pistol cartridge (thanks, Ruger), I couldn't buy it at 17, 18 or 21. Still, the man behind the counter at Walmart would sell me primers, powder and bullets. All I had to do was come up with the brass and I realized that I was my own source for brass.

I bought the Speer manual because it was cheapest.

My reloads were initially done with a Lee Loader, but in time it gave place to an RCBS that I use today.

THEWELSHM said:

I taught myself with books, other forum members and the internet. I figured I'm probably the only the Welshman, now American citizen that does lol. I learned on a progressive then a single stage, I use both and cast bullets. Therapy I call it..

Thewelshm

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have you tried a Classic Lee Loader at the shooting bench? that’s good therapy!

No one, didn’t really have “gun people” in our family, they were just tools. My Brother and I went in 50/50 on a press and learned together. I was 13 and he was 17, I sold a calf I had bottle fed and got a 357. I think he might have been a little jealous of his little brother and shortly got one too. Didn’t take long to learn just because you can afford the gun, you might not be able to feed it as much as you’d like and we started reloading.

jmorris said:

No one, didn’t really have “gun people” in our family, they were just tools. My Brother and I went in 50/50 on a press and learned together. I was 13 and he was 17, I sold a calf I had bottle fed and got a 357. I think he might have been a little jealous of his little brother and shortly got one too. Didn’t take long to learn just because you can afford the gun, you might not be able to feed it as much as you’d like and we started reloading.

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did you just go in the shop and bought a .357 at 13 yo?

I taught my self from books. There was NO INTERNET when I started, or computers, CD. Had to go to the library if I need more info. LP, 8 tracks and cassettes ruled the music side.

GRIZ22 said:

. . . . If I need.more than a 357 I go to a 44 magnum. More than a 44 I'll use a rifle.

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Mark_Mark said:

did you just go in the shop and bought a .357 at 13 yo?

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No. Father did, also was the one the check was made out to from the auction house. Ammunition wasn’t restricted back then like it is these days. So I could buy all of it I could afford, but reloading was a lot cheaper. 500 cast 158 gn SWC’s cost $11.

I won a savage 24 and a 110 in 9th or 10th grade FFA, they had my Grandmother come pick those up at school. Different times.

In 1975 when I was a very young E-4 in the USCG. A Chief Gunners Mate took me under his wing. He was in charge of the base range/armory where I was shooting a couple times a week during lunch. I was bringing my own ammo and he asked would I like to learn to reload this way I could get free ammo? He told me the MWR pays for the powder and primers and all the reloading equipment. All the brass was range pick up from the base along with FT Mead. I learned to load 45 APC, 30/06, 223 and 12-gauge shells and from there it has been downhill ever since.

I started about 53 years ago. I used a 16ga. Lee handloader. The type loader that you had to hit it to seat the wad. This was much cheaper than buying 16ga. shells. My father gave me his 16ga Winchester model 12. I still have it and it will go to my sons. Great shotgun!

jmorris said:

No. Father did, also was the one the check was made out to from the auction house. Ammunition wasn’t restricted back then like it is these days. So I could buy all of it I could afford, but reloading was a lot cheaper. 500 cast 158 gn SWC’s cost $11.

I won a savage 24 and a 110 in 9th or 10th grade FFA, they had my Grandmother come pick those up at school. Different times.

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Dang how times have changed!

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Tallinar said:

I was standing at the reloading bench today and got to thinking (which is always dangerous).

I’m curious: Who taught you to handload? I’m interested in what the demographics would look like among the forum members these days.

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My dad taught me to reload. He hunted sheep. Got his Grand Slam. He’d reload his Winchester 300 Magnum loads and we’d go to a picnic table set up to shoot 200 yards across the field on our farm. Couple shots a day. Sometimes 300 yards. He let me shoot his rifle at 14 years old. I was hooked for rifle shooting and reloading. His era was the Jack O Connor era. I carry a Win M70 in 270 handed down from my dad. We reloaded trap loads for league as well. That all began 60 years ago.

I don’t know I got chief tc quote in here but I started like kerreckt did back in the early 60s with a lee handloader and a hammer And a mossberg pump and I still have both.

THR taught me to handload. RC had a hand in it, and so did many of you who have been here for a while and hang around the reloading forum.

My grandfather gave me all the tools and the very, very basics (he never reloaded all that much); but you all taught me the specific things.

I learned from reading several reloading manuals and this forum. I was a visitor here for several years before becoming a member. I owe much of my success to the information that members have shared here.

1991 is when when I got started. There was no internet as we know it today. I bought the ABCs of Reloading and read it cover to cover. Then a Speer Reloading guide. The guy at the local gunshop was helpful on answering the rest of my questions.

I made twenty 45 Colt rounds, they all went bang, and I have made 10s of thousands ever since. Fun hobby.

I voted other. I taught myself using books and magazines before there was an internet.

Mountainman2 said:

I don’t know I got chief tc quote in here but I started like kerreckt did back in the early 60s with a lee handloader and a hammer And a mossberg pump and I still have both.

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Interesting. Totally different thread on my quote. But got started in reloading but a good friend and then I decided to shoot a lot of BPCR, so i have learned a lot from lots of folks.

Grandpa had a big hand in it. He would “dip and trickle” and I pulled the handle on the press. I also had a very nice old gentleman (whose name I don’t even know) give me an old Lee press I still use for decapping. I then picked it up in all seriousness as a “vice” to help cope with a divorce… I have an uncle and a good friend that also have helped me a lot. But, I owe Hornady, Lyman, several various articles, and a hereditary mechanical aptitude and “geek” side to my brain that the good Lord gave me a lot… learned a lot from the good folks here on THR as well.

I remember early 1960's sitting under Dads reloading bench picking up spent primers for Dad. I couldn't have been more than 4 or 5. When I got older Dad taught me how to handle and store components and powders safely. Finally when I was of shooting age he taught me how to select the proper load for the intended job and assemble the load.Ahhh the good old days cracking Dads rockchucker press.

I checked "other"...cause I first learned in an NRA Reloading class

I taught myself. I started (1975) with the hammer in dies Lee Loaders for .357, then 30-06. Eventually I moved on to a single stage RCBS press, and bought a beam scale. If it hadn't been for the comprehensive explanations in the Speer and Sierra manuals, I wouldn't have gotten very far.

JeffG said:

I taught myself. I started (1975) with the hammer in dies Lee Loaders for .357, then 30-06. Eventually I moved on to a single stage RCBS press, and bought a beam scale. If it hadn't been for the comprehensive explanations in the Speer and Sierra manuals, I wouldn't have gotten very far.

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remember the 1st time you shot your own handloads! I was SO scared! and that 7STW kicked like a Donkey