Do you remember your first handload firing?

[Sweet Agony]

Sounds like my first one also, timid, head slightly turned and a BIG grin when they went bang!! What a huge trill, but I did mine in batches of 10, and all went off perfectly. I used Unique which I discovered in light loads is vey dirty.

 

[TroyUT]

My first reloads (147 grain 9mm with 4.8 grains of HS 6) shot fine. It was the second reloads that got me when I inadvertently double charged a round and it blew the gun out of my hand . However I have since learned from my mistakes and I'm still trying reloading.

 

[J_McLeod]

My first reloads (147 grain 9mm with 4.8 grains of HS 6) shot fine. It was the second reloads that got me when I inadvertently double charged a round and it blew the gun out of my hand . However I have since learned from my mistakes and I'm still trying reloading.

That's my favorite load for the 147.

My first was 4.3gr of 231 with 115gr FMJ. I wore the best eye pro I could find and Nomex gloves just to be safe. I had loaded them so weak all 15 of my reloads wouldn't cycle. It wasn't until i went back and made more at 4.7-4.9 that they worked. I've had a few squibs, but no kabooms yet.

 

[V-fib]

Just got into handloading a month or so ago. I got a Lee Classic reloader and loaded some DEWC's in .38sp with 2.2gr of IMR 700x Loaded 5 into my S&W 642 put in my earplugs,and safety glasses, and all 5 went BANG! Yes! Now I've moved up to a Lee Breech classic cast press and have made about 20 more rounds which have gone bang too. Very rewarding learning to "roll your own"

I would like to thank all those of you here at THR for your advice and information the last few weeks and continue to learn more week by week as I read the various threads.

V-fib

 

[plmitch]

7.62x53r
Lyman #314299 GC bullet
Norma brass
CCI LP
2400 powder

 

[wanderinwalker]

Well, I'm not as old as some on here, though my girlfriend keeps telling me I qualify as "old" on my birthday in a few weeks... But my first reloads were 20-21 years ago, I think .38 Special 148 WCs and some 9mm. Well supervised and I didn't actually do all of the steps myself. I vaguely recall being allowed to shoot a couple in a sandpit at an empty Tide container. They worked!

There was a break of a couple years and then I found myself reloading again, again starting with .38 Special. I don't remember any trepidation with my shooting anything I've made, just a few "I hope there are heavy enough to cycle" when making rounds for semi-autos.

And I have no plans to stop doing it soon, I figure I have another 4 or 5 decades of good reloading and shooting in me still!

 

[45lcshooter]

Winchester 30-30
Once fired wincester brass
Rem 9 1/2 Primer
IMR 4895

Looked down the iron sights, and sqeezed the trigger, BANG. I was as happy as a bug in a . Never looked back since, only buy factory ammo when it is at or below my cost to reload it, unless there is something new and cool out there such as tracer rounds, then i get a few boxes to see how they are.

 

[Weber]

Today was the first time I shot my own reloads.

I didn't blow the gun up, and had less than a 1/2" group at 100 yards.

Very happy with both those results.

 

[tiffensdad]

did it twice

The first time I shot my reload was in 71, no worries, had followed the book, was young and invincible loaded up the 357 and pulled the trigger...my stock grew tremendously over the next couple of years, then it all got put away.

After nearly 15 years of not reloading or shooting for that matter, I went back to both...my first reload was scary, I knew alot more of what could go wrong, realized that I did not heal nearly as fast and that I was no longer invincible...the first round..a 357 went somewhere downrange... I was no where near the gun as much as I possibly could be without just tying a string to it...

Now I am back to my old comfort level and enjoying the process again...