Learned on my own, starting at age 15.
I guess that I’ve had a love affair or infatuation with firearms/shooting/hunting since birth.....or very soon thereafter. My Dad hunted some when he was young, but, only knew work when he was raising a family. I could count on the fingers using both hands the number of times we went hunting.....but, supported my hunting passion also allowing me to have guns. My first being a Benjamin Pump for my 7th birthday, giving me a Stevens 22/410 (which he had won soon after WWII) on my 8th.
When I was somewhere around 7 years old, I saw my uncle reloading some rifle (30-06) cartridges. I was astounded, and absolutely smitten with the realization that you could reload your own ammunition!
Fast forward to around age 14, I saved my yard money and picking up pecan money, to buy a Winchester Model 88 in .308 Win. I quickly discovered that I couldn’t afford to shoot much, unless I could cut costs. I bought a Lee Loader.....thus starting my run “down the rabbit hole”! Everything was done with no mentors......merely written material and a burning desire.
By age 17, I had my first centerfire handgun (S&W Model 28). Bought a Lee Loader for it.....and starting loading for it. Already married at this time, with the bills of a young family, my loading components and equipment was very slowly accumulated. By the age of 20 or 21, I was casting bullets for the Model 28, and soon afterwards for the .308 Win. .....which really cut the costs of shooting, while giving much satisfaction knowing that I was producing my own ammo!
I’ve never shot as much as many shooters, and at times did very little loading/shooting.....but, never stopped.In fact most of our (wife and self) guns have never fired a factory round.....the exception being our defense handguns and our 22 RF’s. Actually, a few of our firearms have never had a jacketed bullet run through the bore! memtb
I started out as a teenager. I think that the local gun store was selling .38 Special 148 WC ammo for $5 a box, and I thought that was too high.
As a result, I purchased an original Lee Loader, a lb of W231, a couple of sleeves of primers, and some HBWC bullets. Mom wouldn't let me load at the kitchen table, so I went out to the back porch, sat on the ground, and using a mallet turned out .38 ammo. I probably saved about $1 per box, not factoring in the cost of my time, but hey, I was a teenager with time to spare.
Not long after getting my own place I replaced the Lee Loader with a C-press, and the rest is history.
I started reloading because I was under house arrest and could not leave my trailer. Well the case was drop, and I was addicted to reloading and kept doing it.
Traveling reloader! house keeping must have been freaked outSounds like a nice relaxing hobby and a good way to keep out of trouble. Kind of makes me want to get a whack-a-mole and try it!
I started shooting with my dad when I was 8 or 9, big enough to hold his .22. I developed an interest in reloading when I really got into shooting in high school. I knew a few other guys who's dads had reloading gear and we talked about it a lot. Also, there was a family friend who knew all about guns, ammo, and shooting who encouraged the interest. I think my parents figured guns were probably safer than cars or girls and were okay with it.
It was some years later, after active duty in the Marine Corps, a college degree, marriage, moving around... and acquisition on a couple of rifles with rather rare chamberings that I bought a Lee starter kit and went to work. That was almost twenty years ago. I was fortunate enough to be a part of a shooting club with a member who held a workshop to introduce people to handloading. We were shown different presses, how they work, etc. Good stuff.
I mounted my press on a chunk of two by six so it could be clamped to a table and moved around.
I ended up on more than one project where the permits were not in order and had to spend considerable time waiting in a hotel room for word to begin. I'd pass the time handloading. A couple of presses have been all over the western U.S. I ended up going home after one project with over a thousand rounds of different cartridges once.
Traveling reloader! house keeping must have been freaked out
well, better than spending night at the bar.I'm always careful when on the road. I never leave it set up if I'm going out for the day, break it down every night and transport my stuff in a non-descript tote with non-firearm related stickers on it. I usually put dirty clothes on top of the tote in case housekeeping gets curious. It's kind of a pain but I figure it's a way to be constructive at night. I was more concerned that housekeeping might notice spilled stick powder and mistake it for mouse droppings.