Reloading vs. Shooting

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I really enjoy both. Now that I'm retired, I do one or the other almost every day. I love to experiment and try new powder/bullet combos. I keep a spreadsheet of all my loads so I now how accurate they all are: every load I build and every shot I make are logged and saved for future reference.
 
Guess I have to say I like Loading as much as Unloading. The only caliber I have that I don't reload for is 22lr. Last summer I actually even started boolit casting.

It keeps my mind and hands busy and working.
 
This might get a tad long...

I enjoy load development......I have fun taking a gun see how it shoots with factory ammo (if it is available) then going over the process to see how much better I can make it. After all that, different powders, weights, bullets and such I am really done with said rifle. I have guns that I have loads made up for, that have not been touched in years.....I just don't have the interest.

A few hours away is a 500+ yard range, thinking I may give that a go...see if it holds my interest a little longer. That long car trip will be hell on my (a few medical issues) so not sure it will work out but I am going to give it a go.
 
I like shooting and reloading takes the guilt out of all the .44mag, 45lc and .454 Casull I shoot. If I were to spend $30-$60 every time I opened a box of rounds it would make me cringe. Also like others have mentioned I can load my rounds for different uses. Long story short, reloading is the tool that allows me to enjoy my shooting.
 
I started reloading back in 1975-76 because I had to travel miles to buy ammo. I like shooting when I feel like it. Back in those days I lived on a big farm with lots of acreage and would want to go shooting sometimes when stores weren't open, I wasn't made of money so I couldn't lay in a large amount of ammo when they were open. So I started reloading so I could have ammo when I wanted it. But I really do enjoy shooting and reloading. I haven' bought any factory ammo in years and I do believe I spend more time reloading than shooting. Love them both. Only thing I don't reload is 22LR and I don't shoot 22LR very often.
 
Shooting & Reloading ... I probably like them equally.

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The BringBack K98k that my maternal grandfather gifted to me in the late '60s started me (and my dad, God Bless'im) on the reloading path.

The commercial stuff was underpowered (SAAMI choosing Safe due to the .318/.323 Issue, perhaps) and ex-pen-sive ... so, off we went on a new hobby. :) Pretty quickly, Dad decided to buy a SA .357mag, so that joined the reloading operation. The beginning of The Fun.

I used to scrounge for 7,92x57 cases whenever I found an opportunity. <chuckle> I still have a couple of those early cases. They quickly became fugly. That is probably why I so-o-o-o like the results of wet-tumbling my brass now. It is so purty! ;)

Here is a pic of my original, primary equipment:

2v2u13ahNxAW38L.jpg

I took that pic a only couple of years ago. Yeah, Dad taught me to treat equipment with respect. :)

I live on the west side of our ancestral farm and have a ranges setup in my area drainfield.

Now I use a Lee Turret Press and find reloading to be very relaxing.

Because of that, I probably like shooting & reloading equally.
 
I'm still trying to work out an outdoor location where I can just go shoot - with permission - almost there. The idea to me of making up some cartridges of this or that one day, with supplies on hand, and then going and shooting them - and not having to get out my wallet along the way - is just something of pure fantasy. Maybe I just don't like feeling nickeled and dimed all the time. Honestly, the $15 dollar an hour pistol range fee is pretty good IMHO, but maybe it is something more about the sense of freedom to load, shoot, load, and not have to ask anyone permission, or get out my wallet that is just something that dreams are made of ...
 
I have bought firearms just because I had brass for them.

I’m not sure if I reload to shoot or shoot to reload but I am always interested in learning something I don’t know.
 
I reload to shoot. I have more free time than money, so reloading was a way for me to shoot as much as I like to, with a savings over off-the-shelf ammo. I am loading premium hunting .30/06 rounds for 1/3 of the price. I load plinking .40 S&W for 1/2 the price of bulk, since I use lead. .30-30 I see about 40% savings. .223 I can't justify saving $30/1000 to load FMJ, I don't shoot it for groups anymore, so I am currently not reloading it. Though I am not selling my dies (again). I shoot for the enjoyment of pulling the trigger, not for one-hole groups, as I am still a long way from that kind of control. I see those who shoot to reload, as typically the ones who DO have that kind of control, and their true satisfaction comes from controlling every aspect of the making of the round.
 
I reload to save some money over factory ammo, especially on certain calibers- .38/.357, .45ACP, 45 Colt, 7.35x51.

I've not found much savings for 9 Luger or .223/5.56. I continue to reload 9 though, mostly because a few years ago I bought a wagon load of components at auction for a fraction of standard cost and I still find sales once in awhile and keep buying them. Plus, I have to justify the new reloading press that is designated for 9 only now. :thumbup:
 
I like to shoot, reload, cast & swage. I loaded many shotshells back when you really could save money doing it. I don't shotgun enough now so that part of my hobby went away. I liked casting for a while but the set-up & the heat eventually got me away from it. I did some black powder shooting but eventually I dropped that because it just didn't interest me - too much trouble. I started swaging bullets from .22lr cases a few years ago. I like the idea of self-sufficiency that reloading gives me.
 
I am interes
pert near said:
I like to shoot, reload, cast & swage. I loaded many shotshells back when you really could save money doing it. I don't shotgun enough now so that part of my hobby went away. I liked casting for a while but the set-up & the heat eventually got me away from it. I did some black powder shooting but eventually I dropped that because it just didn't interest me - too much trouble. I started swaging bullets from .22lr cases a few years ago. I like the idea of self-sufficiency that reloading gives me.
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I am interested in the 223 bullets from 22lr cases but the cost to do so from what I find off the net is just crazy expensive.
 
I like to shoot and for me, reloading is a means to an end, whether it’s to save money or because I’m trying to accommodate a particular rifle’s tastes.

I reload on a 550 for pistol and 5.56 and a single stage for rifle. I have die and powder drop setups that literally haven’t been adjusted in over 10 years.
 
With advancing age it's more difficult to go shooting than to reload. I can reload any time I'm at home and I have way more time for reloading than I have for shooting (I can walk 60' to my shop and start reloading within 20 minutes I have to drive 15 miles up to the "range", 4 on dirt roads and because I don't have a 4 wheel drive, don't try to go shooting in rainy weather). Right now I have way too many reloads to check and new guns to test, so I really don't have an answer, but "normally" I shoot to reload...
 
I’m a shooter. Reloading is a means to an end. Most of my reloading expenditures are geared towards efficiency - so I can spend less time reloading and more time shooting.
 
film495 said:
Do you shoot so you can reload - or reload so you can shoot?
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I've actually bought guns (and later sold) just because I thought they would be fun to load for. Once I got a load that I liked worked up for them, I was no longer interested in them, so I usually sold them -- 22 Hornet using cast bullets is one example.:)
 
I don't reload the cartridges I shoot most, 22 rimfire, 223, and 9mm. 22 rimfire isn't an option anyway and I can buy 223 and 9mm so cheap that it isn't worth my time. I'm retired and can make make enough working 1 day/week to pay for way more 9mm and 223 ammo than I could load in the same amount of time.

I do load for my big game hunting cartridges. Partly to save money, but mainly to get better quality loads. I can load premium bullets and achieve better accuracy and often a little more speed at about the same price as cheap factory loads.
 
I started reloading way back when I bought my first Winchester 44-40 and I could see that factory cartridges might possibly become unobtainium in the future. So, I guess I reload to shoot.
 
I started reloading when I bought an M1 Carbine. Ammo is available, but I had to drive 45 minutes and pay $30 a box for it. So I bought a Lee single stage kit, some powder, some bullets, and some dies. Then I made the mistake of buying an 8x57 Mauser. Ammo was even more expensive and harder to find... so I bought some different powder, some more dies, and some bigger bullets. Then I was given a .357 Magnum revolver... still expensive ammo, so more dies, bullets, and powder. Then I bought a 32 H&R Magnum revolver. What the heck, more dies, powder, and bullets. Then just because I was already reloading, I bought the stuff for 45 ACP, .38 Long & Short Colt , .32 S&W Short & Long, and .380 ACP. Now I feel like everything I shoot, I also have to reload... except 9mm and .233. They are still cheap enough that I just buy them... but I save my brass.
 
I got into reloading so that my shooting dollars would go farther. I found I enjoyed reloading, so I fall into the category that I reload to shoot but also shoot to reload.

One of the benefits of reloading is I have been able to dabble with wildcat and obsolete cartridges. I enjoy creating the ammunition and then going out to enjoy the special or old gun.
 
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