Questions

Amen brother! A little younger than you but I started in the early 80's, and consider myself lucky to have had an exellent mentor. In April I started reloading again after a fifteen year hiatus. This time with the help of the forums and google fu, I have been able to sucessfully load .45. .380, .223 and 9mm without too many issues. The world certainly has changed....

I started in 1966 and had a older friend that mentored me... thank goodness we had not long before got a telephone(we were on a five party line) ... I could call and ask him questions !! If it was a "I need to show you" answer" ... I had to get Dad to carry me over to his house ...

You younger guys starting up reloading are lucky to have forums like this one. I began reloading in 1967, and there was no one to ask questions to. These boards are great. It used to come down to writing letters and then waiting 2-3 weeks for an answer. Nowdays, answers with pictures--great!!

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I'm not a "youngster",but am new to reloading,and you are most definitely correct about the great info that is available over the 'net. I would bet if it wasn't for these awesome forums (and youtube), I probably would never have gotten involved in reloading.


Greg

I'm 60. I studied it for three years before taking the plunge and I've been doing it for more years than I care to own up to. If I'd had access to the information available today I would have studied it for about 3 minutes.

flashhole said:

I'm 60. I studied it for three years before taking the plunge and I've been doing it for more years than I care to own up to. If I'd had access to the information available today I would have studied it for about 3 minutes.

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I think I maybe studied it for 10 minutes and that was LONG before the internet.

It is more than here. I started tying trout flies in 1963. There were some fancy, Catskills patterns in some expensive books and the Herter's catalog. Not every pattern, technique and tip you can think of, with pictures is available to budding fly tyers. I guess these modern time ain't so bad after all!

In reality, we have probably come TOO far in making it easy to get into. I started loading close to 20 years ago, and way back then I went off of LGS couterguys suggestions and listened intently to an older guy when he was explaining things. I also picked up a reloading manual and read ALL of the info on the proper steps in reloading.

Its almost too easy to access info that may or may NOT be accurate, and its easy to hop online and get a recipe that works for one guy, BUT, wont work for you, and you may or may not have any idea where to recipe came from or how careful the guy who posted it is.

newfalguy101 said:

In reality, we have probably come TOO far in making it easy to get into. I started loading close to 20 years ago, and way back then I went off of LGS couterguys suggestions and listened intently to an older guy when he was explaining things. I also picked up a reloading manual and read ALL of the info on the proper steps in reloading.

Its almost too easy to access info that may or may NOT be accurate, and its easy to hop online and get a recipe that works for one guy, BUT, wont work for you, and you may or may not have any idea where to recipe came from or how careful the guy who posted it is.

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Nonsense! I don't think it's too easy. Anyone who is serious about learning properly will still take the time to read their manuals and will use the data in them to properly work up loads. The guys that just buy the gear but not a manual and jump into it wrecklessly are the kind of people that do everything wrecklessly. No matter what hobby they get into they'll find a way to get themselves hurt/killed or at minimum waste money. "You can't fix stupid." But you can fix ignorance, and that's what forums can help with. If someone suggests a load that you aren't familiar with you should always do more research before testing it, that's what a smart but possibly ignorant person will do. A stupid person would just load it up without another thought. That's how I see it anyways.

And I didn't mean anything negative with this post so hopefully no one takes it that way. That's just how things are and why the Darwin Awards exist.

had a older friend that mentored me...

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Yeah, me to. But I had to wait a month at a time for Elmer and Skeeter to impart their wisdom on me.

Don

The OP is absolutely correct. I have been doing it with a manual, youtube, and this forum. The guys I would have asked to mentor me are dead or living far away.