How Long Have You Been Reloading?

Based on when you got your first press, how long have you been reloading?

  • No press yet.

    Votes: 6 2.1%

  • 0-6 months

    Votes: 28 9.7%

  • 6 months -1 year

    Votes: 10 3.4%

  • 1 year to 5 years

    Votes: 61 21.0%

  • 5 years to 10 years

    Votes: 18 6.2%

  • 10 years to 20 years

    Votes: 37 12.8%

  • More than 20 years

    Votes: 130 44.8%
  • Total voters
    290
  • Poll closed .
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about 10 years, i got my start at a young age, and have been off and on with it since then, in the last six months i have been reloading alot though and will get as much done as i possibly can make time for.
 
Did the whack em Lee to start in '79 then used a friends Lee press mostly .38special and .357 mag. Laid off for a few years then went back at it as my collection grew. Have 2 single stage Lee Challenger and a Rockchucker.
 
Started June 23, 1987 with a Texan model M 12ga. progressive. Now have 9 loaders of different makes and wouldn't sell or trade any of them.
 
My next door neighbor started me loading 38/357 and 30-06 cases on a Lyman Tru-line Jr press in 1964. He had taught me how to reload on his massive Hollywood press prior to that. This old gentleman also taught me how to hunt alongside his own son. God less you Ray. :)
 
I was given a lyman press and some 30-06 dies in 1984 and bought a used MEC 650 in 1985. (15 years old) Didn't know what I was doing but my uncle taught me enough to keep me from blowing myself up.
 
Age 23. Nov 1 2008 got Lee Whack-a-mole for .223 (originally intended as SHTF tool) and loaded first rounds over thanksgiving break with my dad - who had loaded with a Herters & Lee W-A-M for shotgun as a kid. Shot the next day, all appendages still intact. Took W-A-M home for Christmas, dad and I made some more rounds, he broke the decapper, got pissed, and a RC Supreme and components were on order as a Christmas present two days later!

The W-A-M is the gateway drug to reloading - I've loaded close to 1k various rifle rounds since that fateful November day.
 
old dog-new trick

I'm 55, will start reloading as soon as Lee fixes their die maker and sends them to "Kemp's". Have gone to 2 reloading seminars, been surfing around for 3 months, bought a Lee Classic Turret and accs., just waiting on dies!:cuss:
 
How many Eons Now?

Yeah, just glancing through this again - one of us OFs said he did quick count and came up with well over a thousand years, and that was a bunch of posts ago.

I'm impressed. I mean, I think it's really great that we have the Internet (thank you, Al Gore :scrutiny:) and can trade all that experience around like we do. I still have my old Lyman reloading book from 1962, but have jumped from that through the 'net and with QuickLoad reloader's software (a very fine product).

I just wonder, when we're all even older still, and have to shoot from the window of the retirement community, if we'll still be reloading.:D I plan on it.
 
I started about 40 years ago, when in the Air Force, a buddy told me about the Lyman nutcracker hand loader. It turned out to be later a piece of junk as far as I was concerned. I went to a Rocker chucker and to RCBS Beefy and not discontinued Big Max press. I still have that press today and do occasionally load rifle on it. I went from that to Hornady's Projector, sold it for RCBS Ammomaster. Gave it to my son whose following in my footsteps.
A few years ago I purchased a Dillon 550 and 2 years later got the Dillon 650 also. It's a wonderful hobby that I have truly enjoyed over the years.
 
This year will be my 20th anniversary. I started with a full box of stuff I bought in a yard sale for $50.00 . In the box were a Herters press and powder scale, a Lyman #55 powder measure, about 7 boxes of factory primed Winchester .32-20 brass and a whole bunch of case prep goodies and cleaning / shooting odds and ends. I consider it to have been the best buy I have ever made . It started me looking for other Herters goodies until I had the full set including 90% of all the rare shellholders and a nice Savage sporter in .32-20 to shoot all of that new brass in . Just a few years ago I sold the Herters collection for far more than I paid for it, upgraded to a Rockchucker and am just now ready to upgrade to a progressive. I currently load .357 & .41 Mags, .223, .243, 6.5X55, .264 Win Mag, .30-06, 7.62x54R, .300 Win Mag, .32.20 and 12 ga. and love it all. This past week I added bullet casting to the list. It is a very satisfying addiction .
 
Graduated college May 1968, first handloads June 1968--many years.

Reading articles by Warren Page and other hunters in Field & Stream, Fur Fish Game, Outdoor Life, and Sports Afield made me a handloader/reloader.

Still enjoy the hobby and rarely purchase pistol ammo, never purchase rifle ammo, always reloads. I do buy new rifle brass, then neck size it for big game hunting.
 
I started about 98 because I got a ruger vaquero in 45 colt. At the time I thought $23:00 a box was terrible. I talked to a few friends at work about it and had no less than 3 people volenteer to come over and walk me through it!! Those are people who will be my friends for the rest of my life.
 
I don't have a press yet but have a Lee Classic Loader in .44 Mag and have just started the learning process for loading .44 Mag. I am using the handloader to learn the basic process. Loaded my first rounds last night (way cool), and that helped me to highlight some more needs. For example, I figured out pretty quick that I would prefer a different method for repriming as I set off two primers out of 10 attempts. Wasn't dangerous or anything, but it was mildly stressful wondering if the primer was gonna go BANG with each hammer tap (more like a "whack" than a tap...lol). So, I am thinking about getting the Lee handpress or the Lee autoprime for that step. Once I have this down, I'll advance to a real press and reload for more calibers starting with .38 Special, then .357 Sig for my brother, then .308 Winchester or .223 whichever I happen to buy a rifle for first, then .......

I'm getting ready to outfit a small shop as my reloading room, building bench will be next.....
 
I keyed on the word press. I started reloading back in 1978, with the simple Lee kits. That was really, really tedious and I didn't do much of it. With those hammer-operated dies, you are really hand-crafting each round.

I got a Dillon 550B in 1998 or thereabouts and started reloading .45 ACP in quantity. Deer season eventually rolled around and I thought, why not? So a set of dies for .30-06 followed. And .243, and .44 Mag.

I think I've learned quite a bit about reloading in the last 10 years. I've even learned to "break out" resizing/decapping/repriming at the first station when working with bottleneck cartridges, so you can do trimming, chamfering, check for case length in a gauge, cleaning off lube, etc. before resuming progressive press operations. This is apparently obvious to many, but it wasn't obvious to me.

I just got a Sinclair carbide primer pocket cutter, so I can make sure they are all cut to a uniform depth.

Reloading is almost a separate hobby... :)
 
Started reloading about a dozen years ago. Found it was too expensive to buy factory ammo for a 7.7jap Arisaka...
 
I started reloading in 1950 while in college using a Lyman 310 tong tool and had a Hollywood press buy the time I graduated. I had 2 buds; I was studying physics, one was an electrical engineer and the other was a mathematician. We were at a top school and the stress level was quite high so we would go to the range about every other weekend and burned up what ever we could load in the meantime. It really took the top off the stress.

I have been reloading off and on ever since depending on how much spare time I would have. When I retired for the second time we moved to acreage in central Texas. I have been busy with tractor work trying to get it in shape. Started thinking about pushing up a backstop and getting some shooting again.

I have to unpack all my reloading gear and inventory it. I should have 3 presses, a whole bunch of dies, about a dozen different molds - can't remember what all I have!!:confused::confused:

Vernon
 
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