My heart and soul isn't in to reloading anymore

[Walkalong]

Yep.

Find a kid to mentor in the shooting sports, if he warrants it after awhile, heck, give him a gun. We need the youth, just like the antis do.

 

[Patocazador]

I have bouts when I just don't reload for months. Then I seem to go back to it with a passion. It would be smart just to bide your time and go back to it when the bug bites you again ... because it will.

Good luck and best wishes on your recovery.

 

[choppertime]

It's hard to find kids with interests like we seniors have and had! Hell I was at my g/f sisters for Christmas and their neighbors came over and were talking about their son not being able to pass the Air Force physical training test......I about choked......holy f%*×& I said, I was in the Marine Corps in the 70's our youth of America is really in need of something to motivate their asses. Chemo and radiation will take a toll on ya..its been over a year for me but I went back to work March 2019, was doing great..hung 3 hang on treestands in the summer getting ready for bow season, and then pow my bowel pushed through my abdominal hernia in September 2019 needed operation recovered October gets here bleeding ulcer....omg...4 days in hospital...jc... November comes and I have a bleeding vessel in my stomach area back in hospital...it's all due to the surgery from cancer....its all about attitude.....I know I'm going away 1 day ,just not ready yet, oh buy the way if you poop black go to the hospital cause your bleeding inside .I retired last Wednesday so I'll take it easy and see what happens...still have the month of January for bow season...thanks for all the responses I didn't think I was the only 1 in the losing interest boat.....I will get over this and keep on trucking...take care all

 

[dcloco]

Have you considered passing on your knowledge and experience to those that might be interested in learning how to reload?

 

[choppertime]

That would be great if they all weren't in such a hurry living in the fast lane....cell phones and insurance companies control our lives

 

[Thibaut]

Happy trails, choppertime.

 

[Hooda Thunkit]

Much like some others, over the 30 years since I started reloading, my interest has varied. There have been interludes in which I didn't load (or shoot) much at all.

I've pretty much quit hunting completely, although I will occasionally get some small game.

I always come back around to the sport of shooting, and the hobby of handloading. I also, a few years ago, took up casting my own projectiles, which really opened a new chapter in the hobby.

I would caution you to not sell the equipment. It's not eating anything. You may very well come back around.

 

[berettaprofessor]

Choppertime, reloading and hunting aside, “watching the day go by” is a worrisome sign of depression, common after the events you’ve been through. Please, I pray you’re working on healing mind as well as the rest of you.

 

[kelbro]

I took quite a sabbatical from reloading. I used to shoot a lot but the job was not as demanding and the range was nearby and very inexpensive.

I tore my rotator cuff and couldn't shoot F-Class for a long time.

Moved to another state and the reload bench got set up but the guns stayed in the safe for over a year while the new job stabilized. The other day I decided that I would go to a local range. Had a great time! Got home and looked up the batch # that I had shot and saw that I loaded it in 2014! Loaded up another batch. Had to double and triple-check some steps to get back in the groove. It was a good feeling pulling that press arm again.

Just hang in there. Times and situations change.

 

[Jack Ryan]

I have lost interest in my reloading activities, anyone else done this? I don't know if it's cause I'm getting older (64) or I just dont shoot as much as I once did or , I had a cancer tumor removed in Sept. 2018 esophageal they removed 3/4 of my stomach and esophagus,...but I still get out and bowhunt, well at least climb the tree and sit in my stand and watch the day go by....dont really even care if I shoot deer anymore......just checking to see if I'm in this boat by myself or if others have gone thru this......thanks and Happy New YeIar

It's just a hobby. I didn't marry it.

 

[ms6852]

With ammo being so cheap and abundant I find myself buying more instead of reloading. But I still save all the brass just in case there is a drought like we had during the last administration.
I haven't hunted for a while just got lazy, and I don't mind my younger brothers busting their butts. Thanks to them I still have a freezer full of venison. So why endure the cold miserable weather when I get the same results watching tv and sipping on single malt scotch . You are in fine company sir.

 

[BWS]

I had a,"he isn't gonna make it out of here" widowmaker heart attack a year ago. And that's what they told my wife of goin on 40 years.

Little did they know.....

Bought a Doberman and started hike/hunting for varmints. She has been a constant companion and is laying at my feet as this is typed. All you have to do is grab a rifle and she starts a happy dance,jumping 3 feet in the air. Walking my Coco,and looking for varmints to kill,and handloading cast bullets basically saved my sorry a$$.

Best of luck Chopper!

 

[Axis II]

I used to shoot 2-3 days a week and tried several different bullets, powders, primers, etc. I ended up finding a good woman and now all my time is spent with her. I actually did get bored with the reloading because there wasnt anything fun left to do. Loads were found, ammo was loaded, so it was just a have to kind of thing. I dont think I loaded anything for 6 months until it dawned on me that deer season started in a week and I had no ammo made or tested.

 

[GW Staar]

That would be great if they all weren't in such a hurry living in the fast lane....cell phones and insurance companies control our lives

Or worse.....computer games. Invite them and maybe change their lives for the good. Worth trying....America needs some of that change.

 

[crestoncowboy]

I got into loading with rifles so I could shoot a lot back around age 17. Not once have I done it for fun, maybe to get away from things while the weather was bad.... but never for fun. My hunting habits have changed though. But to say my heart and soul were ever into reloading would be a lie of epic proportions. I despise it less now than before.... so that's something. I still enjoy shooting and by everyone within hearing distances account.....I do so a whole lot. But I do shoot less now than before

 

[IlikeSA]

I haven't reloaded since last winter or shot for fun since last year. Have 2 new guns needing shooting and a mod to a revolver needing trialing.

Life gets in the way sometimes, and it's just the way it is.

 

[LoonWulf]

Or worse.....computer games. Invite them and maybe change their lives for the good. Worth trying....America needs some of that change.

Hey I was in great shape when I played computer games 8 hours a day on my weekends....course I was hunting for at least as much time, ran a few miles every day after work and shot my recurve now for hours as well.
I also reloaded and shot probably 2-300rounds a week at the time....
Now I might load 100 rounds a month, and shoot 2-300.
Hunting weeeellll....as I type I'm sitting in my buddies driveway in my truck getting ready to nod off cause he doesn't seem to wanna be awake a 4am either......I'm not upset in the least lol.

 

[Hartkopf]

I agree with everyone who said "find a kid to teach your skills." Problem is, it's depressing not being able to find anybody interested.

I was the up and coming kid in the machine shop in 1990. I'm still the kid in the shop!

I stay enthused by providing for my family and knowing if SHTF, I'll contribute to the good side until I die. Might be an over the top attitude but seriously, if things go bad, it will be up to all of the old men to manufacture most everything.

 

[whughett]

years ago I was talking to a long time guide up in Maine. I was surprised when the conversation turned - that he did not hunt at all for himself any more, but spent a good deal of time out just watching and observing the wildlife he came to have a relationship with and enjoyed seeing. it all can and will change, just keep doing whatever it is that you find something of value in ..

I can certainly relate to that. On what turned out to be my very last early morning in a tree stand deer hunting and last hunting trip ever, In 2001 I watched a Doe and two skipper bucks browse around in the clearing I was watching. I just didn’t have the heart to take one. I did not have a doe permit but the button bucks were fair game. There was simply no point to it. Looking back I wish now I’d of had this smart phone I type this on, the video would have been a memento of time past.
An increasingly bad hip, was making navigating hilly woods difficult, eventually the hip would be replaced, perhaps that was an excuse to stop doing an activity I had been engaged in for decades but when I look back and remember that sunrise morning I realize I had just lost interest in killing something I did not need to.

 

[FROGO207]

3X cancer survivor over the 1990's. I have reloaded since l was 10 on my own. Now in my early 60's and into early retirement due to medical issues as result of the cancer treatments all those years ago. It is sometimes hard to get out of the bed due to pain but so far I dont let it rule me. I still hunt although I will eat OK if I miss the shot or dont take it on purpose. Left a 200+ LB buck on the hoof last year. In the sights and yelled BANG instead of pulling the trigger. Never saw a deer move so fast. We both were better off with that choice.

I reload as a stress reliever. Going into the zone let's me put the other nuisance things on the back burner for a time. I have gone away from reloading and hunting sometimes for years but always come back to them because I enjoy the process of both. I bet you will get back into it in the future one day. Just figure out what you want to start on for enjoyment now and go for it. I keep threatening to get a good camera with a good telephoto lens and go "hunting" with that this time around as my body allows it. Life is what you make it ultimately and I am all about having a good time as long as I am able. After that I will sit on the porch in a rocking chair and lie about what I did in the past to anyone that is foolish enough to listen.

 

[Bush Pilot]

I have a reloading room that most guys would kill for and I will sometimes go 6 months and not even open the door. When I go to the range it seems like the guns never leave the pickup and all I do is BS with my friends for a couple of hours and then head home. Spring is coming, maybe things will change.

 

[crestoncowboy]

I have a reloading room that most guys would kill for and I will sometimes go 6 months and not even open the door.

Me too. Mines in my climate controlled basement. 30x60 and all mine for my weight room and tools and reloading. Split about 50/50 weight room/tool room. 3 progressives and 2 singles actually set up...etc. These days I only use the tools or reloading equipment when I have to. The less I use them the better my days must have been. If ammo goes up or gets non existent then I'll stop buying and reload again. For now I'm plinking with Law enforcement trade in Rangers I got for 10 bucks a box. Groundhog and predator hunting with 223 55 grain V-max fiocchi that was 100rds for under 20 bucks and have enough rifle ammo loaded to kill my 6 or 8 deer a year for years assuming I dont miss because I loaded a batch of 100 300 mag this year. In the past ammo was higher. It will be again.

Hey I was in great shape when I played computer games 8 hours a day on my weekends....

I don't think I ever hit near 8 hrs a day but I played a few hours a day when I'm off and the kids are at school (especially during winter) and I maintain a 10-12 percent body fat and powerlift. As a matter of fact every one I lifted with who were competitive at all, they all hunted and they all play games.

 

[Jack B.]

One of the big reasons that people lose interest in handloading in my opinion is that so many feel that they must turn out prodigious amounts of rounds per session. That makes it work. I just put together 30 rounds of .357 magnum and I'm done for the day. I have always and probably will always reload on a single stage press only. I'm set up to change calibers easily and quickly. I still love reloading after 45 years and now it's so much easier than ever in these times. You got to keep it fun and not make it work.

 

[bullseye308]

Lots of us in the same boat. Just finished chemo and radiation for throat cancer and am stuck with a feeding tube for a few months till I can eat again. Was almost recovered from my triple bypass when I found out I had cancer. Also had 6 stents in my heart the year before and 13 heart attacks and a small stroke too, on top of the congestive heart failure, copd, diabetes, sever sleep apnea, and a few other minor health problems. The only thing that kept me going was my kids and reloading/shooting. When I couldn’t get out to shoot, I could reload, or hit the forums and read about it.

Amazingly, about 7-8 years ago I didn’t load anything or shoot anything for about 5 years prior as I was in my wood shop all day long just about every day. Just lost interest for a few years, but kept my bench setup in the living room the whole time for when I wanted to get back into it. Now I’m back to loading and occasionally working in my wood shop as I feel up to it. Things change, needs change, desires change. It’s normal. I haven’t hunted since about 90 but I’m thinking about going hog hunting soon as I get a little better.

Just keep what you have, time may bring you back around to it and replacing it is much harder than you think. Best of luck in whatever you decide.

 

[fotheringill]

Sounds like me, I keep finding shiny reloading gadgets I never knew I needed. They seem to keep getting more expensive, too.

My latest acquisition was a $75 Teslong colonoscopy scope for barrel and other inspections.