Anyone else hate reloading?

I love it as much as shooting. My two favorites are 44-40 and 45-70 black powder but smokeless rounds are also rewarding (and faster to hand load).
I love getting a batch of 100 or so finished and see them all sitting in their cartridge boxes. Beautiful!
Store bought ammo has no soul.

I like the slow methodical thot process you need to develop to safely produce ammo. I never reaload hundreds at a time. I usually keep a range trips worth of everything loaded ahead and reload to make up for what I used when i get home. I spend the long cold Northeast winters process ing my brass into ready to load state. Then assemble rounds as I use my supply up. Works well for mme.

Hi...
I enjoy reloading.
I do a lot of big bore revolver and specialty .357Mag loads on my RockChucker.
Most of our generic .357Mag, 9mm, 10mm, .40S&W and.45ACP reloading is done by my son on our two Hornady LnL progressive presses. He also does our rifle reloading on his RockChucker Supreme. He just started reloading .223 on the LnL set up for small primers.
We both enjoy making something useful with our own hands...the cash "savings" are a nice bonus. I doubt we save any real money but we do shoot a lot.
I have been retired for just over two years and I get a lot of enjoyment out of reloading a few hundred to a thousand big bore revolver cartridges almost every week.

As in everything else in life, if you don't like it, don't do it! I reload because I enjoy it, not because somebody else told me I should do it. Develop some self confidence so you can stand on your own ideals and not become a windsock driven by what is perceived to be popular opinion.

I tend to reload during extreme weather - like now, during 103 degree, super-humid days. Or when there's a foot of water over the front yard, like it was repeatedly last month.
Extreme South Texas gives me lots of opportunities to stay in my nice, air-conditioned man-cave and reload... .

It is over rated at best, I like the results don't gret me wrong. It's thr process I despise for example using lee case trimmer the shell holders are tiny and sharp and its torture on my face 28 year old youthful hands after a few hundred 44 mag cases. I only use progressive machines and insist on prior properly sized, trimmed, and wet tumble brass to feed machines to ensure trouble free loading sessions.

For the most part, it’s is not worth my time economically speaking anymore. I used to do it a lot in the past. Reloading or hand loading will not increase my enjoyment or effectiveness for the shooting activities I partake in right now.

I have a full time job and a side business. I have lawns to mow, furniture to build, and a house to renovate. It’s not that I don’t like loading. It’s more like, I would rather be doing a bunch of other things instead.

I have full days nearly everyday. The days I have free time, I might hunt or shoot and don’t want to be hamstrung by not having spent oodles of time making ammo.

However, times like these where commercial ammo is scarce, it is nice to have the equipment and knowledge to make some rounds if I need to. Just before the panic I saw the signs and bought a few lbs of powder and 1000 bullets and primers to load 44 mag which is my primary hunting round. I did not want to be hung out to dry for hunting season. There are options though. I still have my slug gun and a bit of slugs for it.

No.

Yep. Tried it. Hated it. Probably going to get back into it though to feed the 257 Bob and 6.5x55.

I think my least favorite part of reloading is casting the bullets.



That’s the most time consuming part, the reloading isn’t that bad once everything is ready to go.

JMorris, that's slicker than snot on a doorknob. Very nice setup!

Thank you.

I guess reloading is a lot like work to me. If you hate it, you need to find the most efficient way to get through the day.

There are only two other options to avoid reloading. Don’t shoot or buy ammunition (assuming it is available for purchase). If either of those work for you, your good to go
and no need to bother picking up your brass, someone else will be along shortly to pick up after you.

I simply couldn’t shoot what I like without handloading.

I have always wanted a Desert Eagle. They are not inexpensive.
A twenty round box of 50AE is not cheap.
I would have already spent three and a half times what I spent for the pistol for ammunition. Buying a new Eagles worth of ammo every year for the three years I’ve had it.
At about $1.89 a shot. For the most inconsistent factory centerfire ammunition I have ever used. It’s in the running for rimfire velocity variation, and left so much powder un-burned the chamber was jammed at the third magazine, which is the end of the box anyway... no joy at all. “Custom Grade”, pffft. The only disappointment from that company I’ve had. Some shots had a lot of flash.

ALL of my handloads have A LOT of flash...

And come in at about 48 cents each, with Berrys.
Or I can go heavy, or hollow pointed, or very lightweight monos that cost an arm and three kidneys.

I still can’t be frivolous shooting it, like a rimfire, but Handloading would be the only way for me to think about having one. If you have a race car, you gotta drive it!

Then, once one handloads, more firearms options open up!
Like 450 Bushmaster. Built to be an inexpensive pistol bullet slinging slug gun. Try to find factory rounds less than a buck each. (Yeah, there may be some. I don’t look hard for stuff...)

224 Valkyrie. 22 bullets, 6.8 cases. Not hard. Unless you wanted garbage FMJs or effete loaded target rounds. Fancy new cartridge flopped by factory ammunition.

45 Auto. Yup. You’d think after 109 years they would be getting cheaper. Or more accurate. I laughed at pistol accuracy until I loaded my first set of SWCs. That did it for me.

But if I didn’t like it, you couldn’t make me do it.
I’m not one to join a softball league just because everyone else is. I know me. Me doesn’t like softball and I would have to listen to me complain to myself the whole time I was doing it, meanwhile, myself and I just want a beer to shut me up!


See? Isn’t easier to spend less time looking for good deals and buying in bulk amounts and planning?

Nope.

In fact,like others have posted,find it very therapeutic. We have a full-on cabinet/furniture shop,supported by a rather complete machine shop. Sposed to be retired but,these are hardcore pro shops that have one major goal...... make $$$.

Handloading is a break from that,nose to the grindstone attack,whilst still having a precision based philosophy. IOW's.... we get to create parts and tooling for the process without having deadlines and customers beating on the door or some financial interest.

Another VG viewpoint above is food. As much as going out to fancy restaurants is entertaining(buying factory ammo),cooking it yourself IS an extension of the experience. I like to eat,therefore I cook. Enjoying the journey as much as the destination isn't quite fully realized ordering from a French menu.

But,if you don't like it.... don't do it?

Demi-human said:

I simply couldn’t shoot what I like without handloading.

Click to expand...

Ditto. I haven't found any .243 AI or .260 AI ammo locally or online. And have you priced the least expensive factory .375 Ruger ammo?

I'm not overly fond of sizing the brass, it's like washing the dishes after making a nice meal. The reloading is the making of the meal part, I enjoy that. Takes my mind off the outside world.

Grew up reloading.
Moved a couple yrs ago and no bench at new house.
No groundhogs around so don't need the precision.
Factory ammo does good enough for yotes.
My deer rigs do well w factory too.

Wish I shot enough to justify reloading again.

I was gonna hit the range today, but gotta figure out why one of our vehicles won't start.
Hopefully somebody just left a light on

I enjoy it and find it relaxing.
I do prefer loading pistol over bottleneck rifle.

I only shoot to empty the brass so I can reload.

BTB, I offer this service for free to anyone else who needs it.




I enjoy reloading all handgun cartridges, but the only rifle I like doing is .458SOCOM.

Nope, not me. I enjoy reloading, as another hobby unto itself. As many here, there are various cartridges that I wouldn't be able to easily/economically feed were it not for reloading.

Incorrigible;

Came home from w**k today to an empty house. Wifey,#4 son and Gdaughter went to a relative's house for the weekend.

Got the Gold Cup out to see how shooting the shorter commander might make the 5" barrel easier? Picked up some brass off shooting bench,loaded up some old H&G 68's over 3.6g of 700X to test that theory.



Whoops,wrong thread doh. Thought it was whatcha reloading today.

When the wife and kids are put and about is the only time I get free to reload. When it’s hotter in the garage I wort go out there to reload, so most of my bench time is done in the winter.
I use Lee Pro 1000 presses to decap/resize and bell the .38/.357 and .44 Spl/Mag cases I reload, then I hand prime, charge and seat in single steps.
It’s slower, much slower, than full progressives but I don’t find the Pro-1000 set up very reliable when primer seating or powder dumping. After 15 years of this system I think I’m set in my ways a bit.

I have two “O” presses on my bench with an extra set of shell holders so I can put two dies to work and be sort of a “manual progressive” for the other calibers I load for.

I can’t find ammo now, so my stash of reloaded ammo comes in awfully handy.

Stay safe.

Just like golf ruins an otherwise nice walk, pulling the press is just not for me.

My life is too short for that activity, and it is no good therapy either.

Leaves more powder and bullets for you guys.

Conelrad

I enjoy reloading almost as much as shooting. Load for about 18 different cartridges, and find it very relaxing as well as economical. Being a cheapskate at heart, I am constantly searching for bargains and celebrate when I score, i.e. 4,000 Wolf 55 gr FMJ Bullets for the AR’s for $204, plus shipping or Nosler Trophy Grade 40 gr. Ballistic Tip Factory .223 Remington ammo, 400 rounds for $99.95 with free shipping (my bargain hunting extends beyond reloading components).
I enjoy processing brass, cleaning it in a wet tumbler, sizing and then trimming on the Frankfort Arsenal power trimmer/case neck chamferer. Then priming it and storing it, ready to load. I do that mostly for .223 and .308 ammo, so I have a good quantity on hand at all times and can quickly increase supply if needed. I also like the precision, that I produce near match grade quality ammo cheaper than the 4 MOA 55 gr FMJ factory stuff that currently is only available at high prices, if at all. Reloading is a great past time for this retired guy.