Poll:do you handload or reload ammo?

Do you handload/reload the ammunition you shoot?

  • I don't handload/reload any kind of ammunition.

    Votes: 29 7.8%

  • I handload/reload handgun ammunition.

    Votes: 327 87.9%

  • I handload/reload rifle ammunition.

    Votes: 294 79.0%

  • I handload/reload shotgun ammunition.

    Votes: 78 21.0%
  • Total voters
    372
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I started reloading a year and a half ago to have a retirement hobby. I am not retired yet but it wont be to long from now. The one thing it does help with is the arthritis in the fingers. It is wonderful therapy.

I would like to say a big thank you to all the guys on the reloading forum for all of their wisdom and generosity. I only hope one day I will be able to pay it foreword to others.
 
As others have said this poll is going to be skewed obviously.

I look at reloading as an extension of the hobby, a hobby in itself if you will. Nothing at all wrong with that, it just hasn't bit me yet.

And as cheap as the popular calibers of ammo are it's not really a money saving argument.


So no I don't reload. I'm a woodworm and that is my extension of the hobby for now.
 
I reload accurate and temp-stable hunting ammo and for rifles like my .30-96AI, .45-90 and .50-110 where ammo is scarce or problematic.

Placing reasonable value on my time it doesn't save money.
 
I'm surprised so many people don't reload. The cost of ammo can be high. My favorite round is the .357 and even .38 special ammo is expensive. If I didn't reload my .357 medium loads I would hardly be able to shoot. I usually go through two to three boxes when I bring a revolver to the range which is usually. If all you shoot is 9mm then just buying ammo would be ok except you can't experiment to get better accuracy. I bet many people would be happy to reload and be able to afford to shoot more if they knew how easy it is.
 
I didn't vote. I reload pistol and rifle. I'm also set up to reload shotgun but haven't in a few years.

You need a few more options in your poll. I'm thinking only about 20% reload.
 
I reload a bunch, but I don't know anyone else who does other than people I've met at the range, gun shops or gun shows. I know 3 people who have picked up presses over the years with intentions of eventually reloading, but haven't ever loaded a round.

Only a small % of gun owners shoot on a regular basis. Most gun owners I know go shooting somewhere around 0-2 times per year. If your only spending $50 to $100 per year on shooting it doesn't make much sense to reload, especially if you're just shooting the common calibers.
 
I handload precision .223, but I also reload bulk .223 and 9mm. One is done for performance, the others for cost savings.
 
I started reloading back in the 70's because I lived at the end of a 2 mile long dirt road and then had to go another 10 miles to a place where they sold ammo. Some of the time it was a wasted trip as they didn't have what I was looking for. No internet in those days to make it easy to find stuff.
 
I reload .380, 38 special, 9mm, 45acp, .223. I'm a mechanic by trade, like working with my hands, loading my own ammo is a natural thing for me. Learning how different loads, types of powders work is rewarding. Gives another excuse to go shooting, "gotta go work up a new load". Recently bought a Lee Loadmaster from a fellow reloader, decided it was a worthy 'challenge', it was, I won, it works great! Recently bought, what thought were 9mm Gold Dots, to reload, screwed up and bought .357 Sig by mistake. Since the .357 Sig is meant for higher velocity, I loaded them all specifically for my Kel Tec Sub 2K, 'normal' 9mm loading will get me .357 Sig velocities out of the carbine. Problem solved, gotta love being able to reload!
 
I have only been reloading for 7-8 yrs. Every cartridge I shoot with, -22LR, gets reloaded. Nobody, besides my BIL, are into (a few may dabble) reloading.
This is my 1st month with a membership to different range. If I follow after a group or person who had recently shot, I getting a fair amount of brass. And more of a variety than my old range. I think there are other members there like me, that'll police up the brass left behind by others.
To me, target practice and reloading are on the same plane.
Collecting brass is close behind.
Kids are grown and I don't care much for TV. So, sorting through and inspecting brass is a filler of my time.
I agree with many others here. The poll here is like asking NRA members which party they will vote for. :)
 
Handload rifle,pistol,shotshells for over 40 years.

It's a very tangible hobby/sport because you get real feedback on the quality of your effort..... terminal ballistics is the pudding for hunters,and the target for those shooting paper. All the while having an available metric in the form of factory ammo. Which is pretty durn good these days. Some of the younger shooters on here don't know how,"lacking" factory ammo was 20-30+ years ago. Anybody who could digest a reloading manual and apply basic theory and known accuracy loads could pretty much sail past factory offerings. Same with say bolt rifles,used to be MOA was practically a rarity off the shelf......

Rifles got better and the shooting community got way more picky about handloading. Now it seems to drift into a race...... see who can load the fastest,then blast it the fastest. Not complaining, just observation. Heck,I only shoot cast out of rifles anymore..... and can hold our own in accuracy and hunting circles. But rarely talk to other shooters about it because it just doesn't get a lot of "press". In this day,if it ain't plastered all over the web,it must not exist?
 
Since many of y'all mentioned shooters y'all personally know, and how many reload of those shooters reload, I can tell of my small part of the world.

Of the shooters I personally know, 2 out of 9 reload and 1 of those 2 more or less stopped reloading because he got into it to make cheap .223/5.56 ammo. He found he'd rather buy bulk ammo than reload that cartridge.
 
glc24 said:
I didn't know anything about reloading or anyone that I could talk to who reloaded. I bought my G23 in March of 2013. The only firearm I owned until that time, was my Mossberg 42M (c) 22 caliber rifle. The Glock was my very first pistol. I started reloading in April of that year.:thumbup: I had bought a couple boxes of self defense ammo for it. Never out of the boxes yet. I researched like crazy about reloading. Read and watched as much as I could handle. Settled on a Dillon 550B. At first, I started with 500 nickel once fired, and 500 brass cases. I still have most of the nickel which I only loaded about 250. So I think I'll load it all again, and this time not worry about picking any of it up. Then from that point on it was new Starline exclusively. In 2014 I bought my second pistol. A FN FNX45T and did the same thing buying self defense ammo and it also is still in the boxes. The difference with the FN, is no once fired. It's been new Starline from the get go! So far, that's all that's been through it!

Then in 2015 I built my one and only AR in 5.56. I bought 2,000 rounds of factory ammo one time. I've been reloading it ever since. I definitely will get some of the new Starline too, in both 223, and the newly released 5.56. I am definitely hooked on reloading. I love it! Heck of a addicting hobby for sure!:thumbup:
Click to expand...

So you buy new Starline brass, load it once and leave it on the ground?
 
Question for you guys who do reload - how much does it save on the popular calibers? I get that you can probably save some significant dollars on the Weatherby magnum type stuff that runs $50-100 a box, but what about 9mm that you can buy in bulk for $.14-.15 cpr? Or 223? I'm not sure what that stuff costs per round but I know it's gotta be pretty cheap in bulk.
 
IdaD said:
Question for you guys who do reload - how much does it save on the popular calibers?
Click to expand...
I figured that I can load .223 with Hornady V-Max for $0.36. Factory reman with the same bullet runs about $0.80. .30/06 150 SST, I load for about $0.57. Hornady factory, $1.55. I load lead .40S&W for about $0.13. WWB runs $0.30. .30-30 150 Sierra $0.52, factory about $0.70.

Note that I do not buy bullets, powder, or primers in bulk. I order 100-bullet boxes from Midway, 500 lead bullets from Summers Enterprises, and 1-lb jugs and 1,000 primer bricks from my LGS to save HazMat. I don't load enough to justify bulk purchases, and, as you can see by the numbers, I still save quite a bit doing something that I enjoy.
 
I see quality 9mm running about .19/ea in bulk (Speer Lawman); cost to reload is about .14; so whether that nickel each is worth it is up to you. Even if the cost is the same, you have the chance to develop a load that could be the most accurate in your gun.
 
Scooter22 said:
Might as well add bullet casting in there to round out the survey. I thought brass that hits the floor is the range's in these big indoor operations.
Click to expand...

That varies by the range. At the indoor ranges I go to, the RO's usually try to help me gather up my brass! And I have been able to accumulate quite a stash of 9mm and 45 from picking up strays.

Indoor ranges where I'm not allowed to collect my brass don't get any of my business. Same with ranges that have some kind of rule against rapid fire, or any other rule I deem to be counter to my purposes.
 
IdaD said:
Question for you guys who do reload - how much does it save on the popular calibers? I get that you can probably save some significant dollars on the Weatherby magnum type stuff that runs $50-100 a box, but what about 9mm that you can buy in bulk for $.14-.15 cpr? Or 223? I'm not sure what that stuff costs per round but I know it's gotta be pretty cheap in bulk.
Click to expand...

By casting my own bullets I've got my 9mm costs down to about $5/100
 
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