Bringing New People to Handloading/Reloading

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PJSprog

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I've been at my current job for just under a year now, and this week I just converted my second new handloader/reloader here (the first was about 6 months ago). This place is full of gun enthusiasts ("nuts"), including the owner and his son, but when I came here I was the only handloader. It always feels good to get people to try this wonderful artform (you can call it a hobby if you want). The satisfaction of hearing their Monday morning stories reminds me of my early days, and seeing the smiles as they talk about the feeling of firing that first handload just makes my day.

Is anyone else having any recent successes they want to share?
 
Yeah, I was a victim of someone like you recently in the last year :). Been pulling the handle ever since!
 
I recently helped a friend resurrect a Lee Pro 1000 to load 9 mm and 45ACP. I have been using a Lee Classic turret and now thinking about converting. I only shoot 45ACP pistol and Load my rifle stuff with the original Lee loader.
 
Case by case makes some nice stories, but frankly, the shortages of components make new reloaders and more demand a low priority.
 
I semi successfully converted someone about six months back. he keeps complaining that the "slave labor" of working a lee turret press isnt worth saving $10 per box of 45 and hes wanting to go back to buying tula steel. Once I helped him set up his dies and load up a string of rounds for a ladder test, he just picked the max charge because "it felt close to factory ammo" and hasnt done much toying around with altering loads, trying different powders bullets etc.

Im disappointed but once factory tula 45 is consistently back in stock, I see myself getting another lee turret for cheap as well as some primers and a whole bunch of perfectly reloadable 45 steel... great for shooting in the grass if you bring a magnet nail sweeper...

you win some you loose some, looks like this one is a loosing.
 
Yeah, introduced a buddy here to the hobby this summer. I've passed it onto others in the past, I'm sure I'll do it again before life's journey ends.

I had my 7 year old nephew up last weekend. While I didn't set out to "teach" him handloading, he sat with me, helped pull the handle, and asked enough questions to get how we do it. It was really kinda cool when he anticipated the step and asked, "OK, so after the old primer is out, how do we put a new one in?"
 
That's awesome, Ken. I was similarly introduced when I was young, but didn't start actually loading until I was in my early 20s and was shooting much more.

It's certainly not for everyone, Reefinmike. Some bright sides to that are 1) as you said, getting gently used equipment at a good price, and 2) those non-reloader people leave us an abundance of once-fired brass.
 
It's good to see more people rolling their own--it's a boon to the kind of self-sufficiency spirit that Americans have been losing for decades. My concern about new handloaders is that they're coming to the hobby with very little study and no mentoring.

Look at the number of questions we're getting here about powder substitutions and OAL, just to name two common subtopics. Some of the questions being asked indicate very little understanding of how it all works and an apparent willingness to takes leaps of faith that ought not be taken.

We all try to help, but I am concerned that soon we'll be hearing a major network news story about a new handloader being badly injured while firing a homemade round and, of course, how this dangerous hobby needs to be more highly regulated.
 
I've mentored several people in the past but none lately. It seems to me that young people today want everything RIGHT NOW. They want to start off with a Dillon 650 but they have no idea what they are doing. None of them want to spend the time to learn the basics of reloading, the little things that many of us learned in the pits changing targets, or learned by just doing and figuring out things.

Too many noobs don't even have a reloading manual but get their load data online. I've talked with several people who want to reload but want me to show them "exactly how to do it." Evidently I value their fingers and eyes a lot more than they do and I refused their requests.
 
I've started reloading in the last two months. I bought a press in February and then spent the next 6 months reading, studying, and learning (while acquiring components). Then I went to reload my 1st batch and realized I still didn't know much of anything. Some folks on this board have been fantastic, but a live, local, flesh and blood mentor would have been even better.

To those of you out there who do take new folks under your wing, bravo and thanks.

I'm starting to get the hang if it (I have to resist the urge to just load 500rds and to make sure I keep testing and experimenting and learning). I think I found a load that most of my 9mm guns like. Reloading has become a hobby unto itself, almost ( but not quite) independent of shooting.


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I gave one of my son's friends an old Rockchucker to get him started. (he is 25) I sat him down at my press and had him load his first 20 rounds of 30-30 ammo. He looked amazed I had him loading so soon but I explained the best way to learn after reading the books is to load. I kept a close eye on him and he did VERY well. That weekend he shot all 20 rounds from his Grandpa's Winchester and he was hooked for life! Just like shooting we must bring the young ones into reloading so our heritage remains strong...
 
About 5 years ago, for some reason, I felt it necessary to upgrade my farm toolbox of old bolt actions, revolvers, and pump shotguns. At the time my only semiauto's were my beloved M1 Carbines, which have served as truck gun for decades. So I bought a few "new" models.
Told a life-long friend, who was an avid shooter that I had some new stuff to try out. We started going to the range together to try out my new guns, and soon he loaned me his Dillon 550B along with a tutorial making my first loads. I still have his set up and spend all my spare time loading for an AR and polymer pistol. True friends give you what you need. Knowledge is the greatest gift.
 
Every chance I get at the range, I try to tell those next to me to get into reloading. I have been lucky sitting next to non-reloaders and end up with their brass. (rifle)

Most people that shoot do not understand that their custom reloads will be much much more accurate than the factory ammo that they can buy.

But once a new reloader tries those first few rounds that they have put together themselves, it is like their eyes have opened for the very first time. They then realize that a) their gun will not blow up and b) that the accuracy from consistently made ammo is way better than anything they have shot before, they are hooked for life on reloading.

The first thing I do when purchasing a new caliber firearm is order a set of dies for that caliber. I haven't purchased a commercial round of ammo in over 8 years now.

As the saying goes, I use to reload so I could shoot, now I shoot so I can reload. (LOL)

Best wishes to all, and have fun.
Jim
 
I will attempt to teach anyone that shows any interest at all in reloading how to do it safely. These days there are a pile of shooters that just want to watch me reload their brass so they can shoot it up but are not really going to ever reload. They just want to pay me to do it and I will not reload for them either. Those shooters will just go back to buying cheap ammo when supplies return in force. Still a few that ask will become lifetime reloaders because they understand the rewards to be had. FWIW I find you can usually tell someone that will become a reloader by their other hobbies/pursuits they already participate in.
 
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