Reloading ..... never, sometimes, always .. how long?

[P95Carry]

Ok, so how long ya been ''at it'' ... if at all? If not - why not? (OK, cos what you shoot is cheap enough!).

If so ... how much and for how long? Do you cast??

I first reloaded - anything - when I got a Lee Loadall for Xmas in .... hmmm .... probably 1976. Got into cartidge reloading about 1980 I guess ... and been ''at it'' ever since. Started Lee and stayed Lee .... with accessories tho also including RCBS, Hornady etc.

Despite cheap 9mm's .. still load that (and cast too). .38's also a'plenty. And most other handgun cals. Obviously biggest ''pay back'' is with rifle ..... and, for example - I much prefer ''home rolled'' with .303 than anything else ... tho do shoot prodigious qty's of corrosive milsurp too!

Other more ''exotic'' cals really score ... just gonna start casting and loading for .454 .... big savings there.


Choose the time frame closest to your reloading experience ...

 

[Wayward]

I've been loading for two years so I don't know where I fit in the poll.

I started out loading 357sig and 9mm on a Lyman single stage then went to an RCBS turret press. About a year ago I got heavily into 45acp, needed a faster way to load, and got a Dillon 550B.

I've thought about casting but seeing that I get 200gr LSWC's at the local gun show for $16 per 500 I'm not in any rush.

 

[sm]

I'm 48...you gotta calc?

Kinda , sorta on a "sabatical".

I did some metallic for handguns / shotshells on single stages as a kid with my uncle. Time passes, on and off again during HS, then I graduated HS and I went nuts with shotshells. At that time my reloading stuff at a friends place. He did the metallic , I did the shotshells.

More time passes I'm running shotshells hot and heavy 4 progressives , 4 single stages, splitting components bought by the pallet with some other friends( I said I was nuts). Meanwhile same old friend becomes a gunsmith he is doing the metallic, I have shotshells ( boy did I...at one time I had 50K 12ga skeet loads stockpiled as emercency rounds alone...don't ask what else).

Quit competition ...So took a break, using up some rounds in shotshells still around, and well beginning to pay attention to the metallic side. So I need more time to get over to his place to do this...and some life stuff got in the way for the both of us.

So Chris... heck if I know know to answer your poll...I've spent a lot of time standing in a chair as kid...either pulling handles on reloaders, stirring stuff on a stove...or getting into something I wasn't supposed to. Humm come to think of I may not use a chair or stepstool now-a-days...but I ain't changed a whole lot

 

[capbuster]

Inspired by my varment hunting cousin from Tennessee, I started in 1970. Been at it every since. I find it an interesting hobby in itself.Got into bullet casting soon after. I highly recommend reloading to any shooter especially a pistolero.

 

[Mike Kerr]

My dad was a reloader from the times I was in my teens until his passing this year. That is 40 years but I did nothing but mess around when he was reloading and wildcatting (a little bit). He used a massive old C frame Herters. Then he showed me the basics on Lee Loaders. I never really liked them, myself. I got into active reloading about 6 years ago and quickly went into turrets presses then progressives for pistol production.

Finally I had found the way to shoot as much as I had wanted to for years. I could afford shooting since I had an inexpensive way of producing ammo. Hah! I just shot more and used the savings ? ? to buy more components. It was in loading for rifle calibers that I found the true enjoyment of reloading.

I load pistol calibers primarily for local IDPA and IPSC matches and related practice sessions. You need substantial quantities of Ammo and progressive reloading is the way to go for 20K+ rounds per year.

In rifle calibers you can get into a more invloved and consuming process. You can actually see the benifits of tweaking and fiddling with load development, case preperation, and quality factors. In pistol calibers " I reload to shoot" . In rifle calibers I sometimes "shoot to reload"

Regards,

 

[Valkman]

Since I like to shoot .45, it was getting expensive, even with Wally World Value Packs! So after we moved to Vegas in September and still had some money I bought a complete Dillon 550B set-up and found I just love reloading. I've loaded about 1200 rounds so far, almost all .45 and some .38 Spl. Now I just got membership to a good range here and plan on shooting a much higher number of rounds than I ever have, and will be able to thanks to reloading. I don't know about casting - not in my plans yet but you never know.

 

[Black Snowman]

Started out reloading 6mm Remington with my Dad on an ancient Lyman turret. I didn't really start getting into reloading until I turned 21 and got my 1st handgun. My friend Kamicosmos was already reloading and it just made a lot of sense to do.

I'm not a big fan of lead so I don't cast. I've thought about it just for one more thing I can "make" but all my guns are high-pressure rounds that don't tend to like lead and I shoot pistols almost exclusively indoors. So no casting for me in the forseeable future.

I reload every caliber I own but .223 and I'll be doing that once my supply of Wolf starts to run low. Already have the dies, bullets and powder. Still need to get primers.

The others include .340 Weatherby, .30-06, .308, .50 Action Express, .44 Magnum, .357 Magnum, .38 Special (for target loads in the .357), 10mm and .40 S&W.

Primarily use Lee Equipment. I have 10000 rounds or so loaded on the LoadMaster. 8-10,000 of those .40 S&W. 2000 or so .38 special, 1000 .357 Magnum, 210 10mm, 100 .44 Mag plus what I've cranked out on Kamicosmos' RCBS special 5 and my Lee Challenger. Challenger gets the rifle duty and the .50 AE so far but I'll probably set up the LoadMaster for .223 when I need plinking ammo.

 

[Smoke]

I've been reloading shotgun shells for over 20 years.

I don't do rifle rounds, I have in the past, but don't shoot enough to mess with it.

I occasionally do pistol. Used to do a bunch, still do a few as time allows. Time is money and often it is cheaper for me to buy bulk ready made rounds and be able to go shoot.

Smoke

 

[OEF_VET]

I just started about two weeks ago. So far, I've loaded 38 rounds of 7.7 Japanese. After the first of the year I'll start reloading .45, .38 SPL, and .357 Magnum.

The savings on the 7.7 is amazing. If I buy the Norma, I pay $40 plus tax per 20 rounds, which works out to just shy of $44, or $2.20/round. Reloading costs me between $0.25 - $0.30/round. That's a lot of money.

20 rounds of Norma : $44
20 rounds of reloads : $5.50
Dies, press, calipers, bullet puller, auto prime : $95

Heck, when I reload my next 20 rounds, I'll be ahead of the game already! That's what I consider a good return on my investment.

 

[FireInTheHole]

I started reloading when I turned 18 and got a beretta92... pistol ammo is not available to "minor-adults" but components are!

Nearly 4 years later I've moved to reloading .40 S&W and .308. Might take up shotshell reloading someday.

PS, I dont make much .308, just workups for AP and hunting type rounds. Milsurp ball to far too cheap to bother for general shooting.

 

[Edward429451]

I've been reloading since 69 or 70 somewhere around there. Started out reloading 44's, 38's & 357's with my dad. Took a few years off it through my teens with a few trips to dad's to help him load some and started up again when I moved out on my own and started buying guns for myself.

Reloading probably kept me out of a bit of trouble in the early years of being married. Home playing with bullets instead of running the streets being an idiot. Was too poor to buy a lot of ammo and wanted to shoot more so jumped back into casting about the same time.

I load for 45, 44, 223, & 308 mostly. With the occassional 30/06, 38, 45LC, & 45/70 for friends. More dies for calibers that I don't own guns for.

I cast 38, 44, 45 and moulds for a few others that were given to me recently, 311's, 386 (41LC), 457, and I swage for one caliber, 451. I also have a neet little machine that casts shot in 6- 7 1/2, 8, & 9's by changing orifices.

I got a RC'er, a 550B, two 450 sizer/lubers, and a CSP1 press, and gads of trinkits to go with here & there. Got the law called on me once for 'funny smells comng from my apt back in columbus. Probably thought I had a drug lab going, but no, just harmless bullets.

I've never gotten complacent with reloading. I never got to the point of considering myself the 'master', always the student which has rewarded me with no KB's ever and only two squibs over the years.

 

[BenW]

Going on 25 years now. Started out with an RCBS single stage, went to a Lyman T-101 turret press which was stolen and that I replaced with a T-Mag, and only about 2 years ago switched to a Dillon 650 (something I should have done 10 years ago). I still have the turret and single stage presses and use them on my rifle rounds or when I'm experimenting and making just a few test rounds of something.

And for anyone that wants to poke fun at me, I've been using the same Lee Load-All to do shotgun shells for nearly twenty years. Hey, it works and it only cost me $19 brand new.

 

[P95Carry]

I've been using the same Lee Load-All to do shotgun shells for nearly twenty years.

Good to hear it Ben ..... mine from 1976 is also still crankin em out!! Not monster amounts I admit but .. odd 100 rnds every time I need em for local trap. In fact, I don't think (touches wood) that I have yet replaced any parts of that Load-all ... amazing.!

Thx for the input guys ... sorry I didn't make the poll criteria all that clear ........ shoulda thought it out better.

However - just goin for a ''feel'' of the sample we have here. Thx.

 

[Dave R]

Just started--somewhere around a year ago. Got thrust into reloading when I inherited a rifle chambered in .17/357Mag. Had to reload to shoot it.

Then banched into .308 and 9mm...little economic benefit but its fun to tune the ammo.

Next year will move into .380 and maybe .32acp, and .223

 

[mrbill]

i voted "Just Started" but i'm so new to it, i haven't loaded a round yet. i have the press and assorted items from the Lee Anniversary Kit, but still need other stuff before i can start.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Over 20 years on my own now, really approaching 30 as Dad let me start to solo reload when I was about 13 or 14.

I don't regularly cast, but have recast lead roundballs that have been damaged in shipping.

I just bought a Lyman turret press from someone here on the forum. It came yesterday. Now I just have to get it cleaned up and get it mounted on something. It replaces an aging Lee Turret press.

 

[swifter]

Over 30 years, no plan to quit.
Tom

 

[mtnbkr]

I've been reloading about 4 years now. I got my dad reloading about a year ago

I reload everything I shoot large amounts of except for 9mm and shotshells.

Chris

 

[Poodleshooter]

My dad had me helping him reload 30/06 and 6.5x55 when I was 13, so I've been reloading half of my life.

 

[JNewell]

Lee Loader, .30-30, 1971.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Lee Loader (as above) in 30-30, 1978. Lee Loader in 38 special 1979.

Been loading ever since and learning something new all the time!

 

[Kamicosmos]

I think I've been loading for almost 10 years now. (well, more like 8 and a half or so...)

Started cause my .44 was eating me out of my paychecks!

I like it as a hobby. I won't say I save money anymore, but I do shoot more, and I love the ability to work up my own loads. I never have to worry about hoping Store X has Bullets Y.

I will say when I first started, the savings did pay for my initial investment in reloading equipment.

I load for all my cartridges (okay, wrong again, I don't load for my nambu or luger, but I don't shoot them either).
I think there was a thread not to long ago about how many cartridges we load for...I'm at 6 unique calibers.

 

[Flash Hole]

Been loading for over 20 years. Two of those years were spent working for Federal Cartridge. It shure was a lot of fun running my home loads through Fed's Ballistic Lab!

Load Safe
JOHN

 

[GunNut]

Well, I bought all of my reloading equipment 10 years ago.

But have really, only started reloading in the last year.

So, I guess I just started.

Steve

 

[HSMITH]

Off and on for 15+ years, voted "last 10". Been loading BIG volumes for a couple years, last year was over 75K rounds of centerfire not including shotshells .........