Do you handload?

Do you handload

  • Yes

    Votes: 337 76.4%

  • No

    Votes: 80 18.1%

  • Sometimes

    Votes: 24 5.4%
  • Total voters
    441
  • Poll closed .
Status
Not open for further replies.
I know there is a forum specifically for handloading, but I figured that asking this question over there would seriously bias the results
Click to expand...
Well, looks like the results here are about the same. 75% yes.

I'm one of the 75%, BTW. I can shoot weekly because I reload. I don't bitch about ammo prices or lack of availabilty. I don't even bitch about primer prices or lack of availability. I buy primers when I find them. I shoot some .22 and some centerfire (usually .45acp) every week.

Life is good. :)
 
I've always wanted to get into it, but I always blanch at the initial investment. If I get into shooting IDPA, though, it may become an economic necessity...
 
I have been for about 15 yrs. I started to save money,what a joke! I enjoy it and load for:
.38spc,.357,.40S&W,.44mag,.45Colt,.223,.270,30-30,45-70 and maybe something or other I forgot.
 
I've always wanted to get into it, but I always blanch at the initial investment.
Click to expand...

That's one issue. But I also blanch at the fact that I have little clue as to what I'm doing and have nobody to help me learn in person. I wonder how many of you who handload, which is most of you, were forced to learn on your own using books & the internet for information vs how many of you learned to handload as a kid from your father who learned how to handload from your grandfather who in turn learned from your great grandfather and so on.

Handloaders tell me it's easy. Well, driving a stick shift is easy too with experience, but do you want to teach somebody to drive on your own manual transmission car as they grind your gears? Everything is easy to those who have sufficient experience with it. Not so easy if you've never done it before.

It would be nice if I was friends with a handloader in the area who'd enjoy showing me all the details of how it's done. I suspect there are some gun guys out there who'd love to spread knowledge on their favorite subject, just as I quite enjoy answering questions about investments as finance is my area of expertise. Reloading, sadly, is definitely not my area of expertise.
 
I shoot several thousand rounds a year, although some of it is rimfire. I cannot recall having purchased a box of factory centerfire in the last 40 years.
 
I do.

I still suspect that only the handloaders are answering the poll, though... even on a gun board, I doubt that 82% are handloaders.

I did it to "save money" too... yeah, don't kid yourself. You've got to be dedicated to save money (that is, you've got to load a LOT of rounds, or be loading uncommon ones that cost a huge amount at retail). My initial investment for good gear and a good turret press was a little short of $800; I'm probably into gear for ~1100 or so since I started a couple years ago. Probably at least that much into components too.

I'm self taught. Learned from books and the internet. I recently found out my late great uncle was a handloader, but I have never seen his gear or setup, and unfortunately did not know him well. I imagine his stuff would come to me after his widow passes away, as there is no one else in my family who would have a clue how to use it.
 
I still suspect that only the handloaders are answering the poll, though... even on a gun board, I doubt that 82% are handloaders.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had to wonder about the numbers as well. If nearly all the high-volume shooters who run through thousands of rounds a year are handloading as these responses suggest then one must wonder why is there such a stunning shortage of handgun ammo even a full year after Obama was elected.

Clearly huge numbers of people are buying all the ammo they can get their hands on and we know the handloaders sure aren't doing so. And I'm pretty sure the casual gun owner who simply bought a gun for self defense isn't buying ammo in 1,000 round lots till their spare bedroom has turned into an armory.
 
That's one issue. But I also blanch at the fact that I have little clue as to what I'm doing and have nobody to help me learn in person. I wonder how many of you who handload, which is most of you, were forced to learn on your own using books & the internet for information vs how many of you learned to handload as a kid from your father who learned how to handload from your grandfather who in turn learned from your great grandfather and so on.

Handloaders tell me it's easy. Well, driving a stick shift is easy too with experience, but do you want to teach somebody to drive on your own manual transmission car as they grind your gears? Everything is easy to those who have sufficient experience with it. Not so easy if you've never done it before.

It would be nice if I was friends with a handloader in the area who'd enjoy showing me all the details of how it's done. I suspect there are some gun guys out there who'd love to spread knowledge on their favorite subject, just as I quite enjoy answering questions about investments as finance is my area of expertise. Reloading, sadly, is definitely not my area of expertise.
Click to expand...

I learned 100% on my own. I knew no one who loaded,friend or relative,and since I started in 1976 obviously the internet was not a factor. I was completely reliant on books and magazines. i acquired a modest collection of reloading books, some on basics, others in more specialized areas like benchrest and cast bullets. I had to work my own way though some problems where advice would have been appreciated,but I managed.

I dearly would have loved, when I first started, to be able to get on the internet and ask questions of other reloaders from around the world. It would have saved me from reinventing the wheel several times.
 
^I agree, Jim, the internet is definitely a fantastic resource. One can look up info on just about anything you can imagine and you'll find stuff you never imagined as well.

There is still so much I don't know about guns, but I'd know even less without the internet. It was only within this year, for example, that I found out via the internet that some folks go so far as to cast their own bullets. I'd never even thought of that one before.

The internet also makes it real easy to contact every one of their elected officials on gun rights -- I just fired off several more e-mails to them within the last hour. Back in 1976 (when I was 3-years old) you'd have done so with pen on paper via the pony express. Of course, without the net odds are you wouldn't even know about the vast majority of anti-gun stuff that was going on so you wouldn't even have anything to write.
 
I enjoy reloading almost as much as shooting. On the other hand, I almost have to reload as most of the calibers I shoot are either semi-obsolete or obsolete altogether. Plus I also shoot a number of original muzzleloaders that require certain styles & sizes of projectiles that are not commonly available, if at all, so bullet casting is also a must for me.
 
i dotn reload cuz its a pain in the ass and it cost almost as much as buying the factory ammo since all the materials and the brass prices went up, i think the factory ammo shoots tighter groups and wont damage the rifle or void warranties.
 
Have to reload for CAS

I shoot a lot of cowboy action matches so I reload. I think everyone at the matches reloads. I don't think its possible to buy cowboy loads at any local store.

At each stage in a match, someone acts as a cartridge picker to return the empties to the shooter. This is nice especially since .45 Colt brass is expensive.

I started with a Lee Classic Turret and taught myself to reload. Reading The High Road helped a bunch when I was starting. I now use a Hornady LnL AP to crank out the cowboy loads since I reload for my wife and DIL too. This is almost 400 rounds/week so I appreciate the LnL - one completed round per handle stroke vs. 4 strokes per round on the Turret. Either press is way faster than the single stage press I use for special stuff.
 
It would be nice if I was friends with a handloader in the area who'd enjoy showing me all the details of how it's done.
Click to expand...

When I first got into it, I was having some issues. I put a post up here, at least I think it was here, to find someone local who would show me how to set the thing up correctly. Quickly, I got a response.

We talked and he came over. I fed him some pizza and gave him a set of custom wood CZ 52 grips for his time and trouble. Within a couple of hours, I was pumping out my own rounds.

It shouldn't be too difficult to find someone. Add an incentive, like dinner, a case of beer if they drink, a set of grips, anything. Someone will respond. Seriously, how hard can it be find someone who likes to show an interested newbie their favorite hobby?
 
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I started about 6 months ago, because the ammo shortage. I bought my equipment used a little at a time. I now load 9mm, .40, and .38. Primers are a little hard to find from time to time.
 
Yes. Been loading for over 45 years and load for over 20 rifle and pistol cartridges plus 12 ga shot shells. Presently run two Dillon 550B's a Dillon SL900 and a Redding Big Boss press. Most of my firearms don't know what factory tastes like.
 
I am somewhere between "sometimes" and "yes", and plan on eventually becoming nearly "always".
Mostly loading .38 special, .357 mag, .45 Auto, .223 Remington and .30/30 Winchester, and planning for .243 Winchester and .30-06 this winter. As I have grown older, I've shed some financial obligations (no mortgage, no more child support) and been able to afford some of the nicer things I couldn't afford previously.
I have had to read and learn reloading mostly on my own, over the past 12 years. I now enjoy reloading as much as shooting, take some of my stuff on business travels for the hotel evenings (I bought a Lee Hand Press for that).
This forum has been a terrific resource for me, and a couple members have been a tremendous benefit for new forays into different guns and calibers.
Every time I take out my Marlin 1894 and shoot off a couple boxes of .38 special 125 gr. RNFP's I loaded up a couple days earlier, nothing but fun.
 
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