The Old And Young

[HANDLOADER]

I am begining to wonder when my generation is gone will handloading continue or become a muesom stocker. So this got me to thinking. How can we get the younger people into handloading. So I have set the goal that before this year is over to have at least 2 people to become handloaders. Other than this ideal I am left scratching my head. So the question is does anyone else have any ideals how we can get more people involved in handloading?

GOD BLESS

Handloader

 

[scrat]

spread the word. My two boys handload. they are young 9 and 15. When we go to the range if people ask them. They made their ammo.

 

[Thernlund]

Getting people hooked on target shooting would be a good way. When they're breaking the bank on ammo, a move to reloading/handloading is a natural progression.


-T.

 

[RustyFN]

There are a couple of young guys at work that I have been working on trying to get them to reload. Not there yet but still working.
Rusty

 

[Sommerled]

My son and soon to be son-in-law both in their early adult life are competent reloaders. I know many guys in their twenties around here that reload as well. At least around here the craft is not fading away.....because don'tcha know, we cling to our guns and religion!

I agree that promoting the shooting sports to the next generation is important to our sport! My wife and I make a point to invite young couples to lunch after church and many times if popping tin cans or water ballons with a 22 is offered for an afternoon activity they happily and eagerly accept! I'm always pleasantly impressed when the fairer half of the couple is more enthused!

Sommerled

 

[308sc]

im 15 and just got done reloading 150 rounds of 9mm

124 HP with 4.4 of Win-231 works well

I think you could get more people into reloading by getting them involved in shooting sports period. I started reloading cause it was interesting and I wanted better accuracy and also wanted to save some money.

Ryan

 

[WheelgunZealot]

I am in my twenties and reload all of my practice ammunition. It's a very relaxing way to spend my evenings at home as a bachelor. I personally began to reload because the expense of factory ammunition was really limiting how often I could shoot. Now that I've started I have come to appreciate many other benefits.

I think the major stumbling block for most people is ignorance on the subject. When somebody comes up to me and asks if I made my own ammunition their next question is almost always something like, "isn't it really difficult, time consuming, and dangerous?"

 

[rhubarb]

Raise the cost of ammo. That'll get them to start reloading. It did me last year. My older brother helped me out with a few tools. His two sons in their twenties both reload.

 

[Guthrie]

I just started this week. Im 22 and trying to get my shooting buddies into reloading as well, so far they just want me to do it for them...

 

[bragood]

An elderly friend started me reloading and I love it! Its been almost 1 year and I take pride in loading my own. I even taught my girlfriend to load. I plan on passing this down to my kids and will teach anyone that wants to listen. By the way Im 22. I think that even if ammo was cheap that Id still reload.

 

[bullseye308]

I've been reloading for a few years and now both of my boys help load whatever they want to shoot. My boys are 13 & 11, I also have a friend staying with me for a while and take her girls shooting. They will be learning this week how to load what they shoot now that they are hooked. They are 14 & 13. It's never too late to get more kids shooting and reloading, so long as it is done responsibly. I'll be working on the lady across the street next.

 

[WNTFW]

As a Reloader it seems there is alway someone else after the brass at the range.

Every time I turn around someone else is looking to get started. I let guys that I know that want to get started use my tumbler, press or whatever I can to get them started. I am trying to be able to reload all the most common calibers even if I don't own a gun that shoots them.

Today I gave away about 2K of .40S&W to my friend & and I'm tumbling his .44 mag brass. But I think what goes around comes around.

 

[JustAnotherPlinker]

I'm 26 and my father and I began reloading back in 1999 with the whole Y2K scare (yup we were yuppies). If it hadn't had been for the scare I probably would never have gotten started with it as I only shot 308 and 9mm (both were dirt cheap then) at the time. I say if you have a any younger relatives try there. Its been my experience that regular folks into shooting typically think reloading it dangerous as hell.

 

[lgbloader]

Hey THR Crew,

Family looks like where it's at to start with. I got my first .22 LR single shot when I was 7 years old and have been shooting ever since. I learned how to handload from my Dad and his brothers.

I have now started allowing my 4 year old to decapp most all of my brass. I set him up with the 550b and a Lee decapping die and he went to town - Load brass, pull handle, index star, load brass... He loves it. He mostly uses my Lee classic cast single stage though. I have even allowed (under strict watchful eye) him to load 30-30. I primed the brass and charged a block of brass and let him go for it. They shot just fine. 4 YEARS OLD, FOLKS!!!! And I know he's hooked because he is always asking, "Hey Dad, can we load bullets?"

 

[azhunter12]

15 here. Was in the Dillon group buy but droped out. Was going to get a LNL ap but decided to just wait and get a LEE single stage kit then in a few months I get the hornady.

PS anyone know of good casting info. I'd like to get into that too.

 

[BeJaRa]

I am 29 and have been reloading a couple years now, but I think the art of being able to use iron sights and knowing how to shoot a rifle that does not havea flashlight, red-dot or bi-pod is in more danger of disappearing. I think most people who reload eventually want to use it to learn more about the sport of shooting and how you can make each shot better instead of just more trigger time.

 

[snuffy]

I will mentor anybody willing to do it, reloading that is.

Recently I got to talking with a co-worker. He had at the time, an ar-15 of some sort. He complained he couldn't afford to shoot it like he wanted to, the ammo was too costly. A young family man with the challenges of modern day life, never enough money. I said he should get into reloading. He sold the ar, bought a Savage bolt gun in .223.

I gave him a few of the loads I had made, 60 gr. Hornady v-max. He tried them, said they were the most accurate of all that he had tried. (Okay I know all about the risks of giving away your handloads, But I've been doing this for a very long time, and I trust him.) Then I gave him some 69 nosler match, they also shot good groups.

A couple of months pass, he comes up to me, said his dad had given him a lee "C" type press. He asked what else he needed to get started. Also said his wife and him were expecting their second child! I made a list, using lee equipment, and he said he could scape together enough funds to do it. (We are real busy at the axle plant, plenty of overtime available).

He made an order to midway for a lee breech lock challenger kit. Mounted it to a table in his basement. I knew he had blown his wad on the equipment, so I made up a care package of 20 WW-sr primers, 20 nosler 69 match HP, and about 1/4 pound of benchmark powder.

Cut this shorter, he shows up a couple days ago with a stack of targets. Nice round groups with the 69 noslers, the lower loads were all under 1.5 inches, with the near max going into ¾"! He hooked! You couldn't have gotten that smile off his face with 80 grit sandpaper. I just hope his new child is a boy,(he has a 5 yr. old girl), he surely will bring him up as a shooter/reloader.

 

[K3]

I'm 34 and plan to teach my son.

Given the success of MidwayUSA, Graf's, etc, I'm not sure reloading is in danger of dying off. I think it's just the opposite. But I could be wrong.

 

[mallc]

Seems to me folks ought to find their own way into reloading. Anybody who'd take it up as a fad might end up blowing themselves up and giving the rest of us a bad rap.

I say keep it to yourself and we're all better off.

Scott

 

[snuffy]

Seems to me folks ought to find their own way into reloading. Anybody who'd take it up as a fad might end up blowing themselves up and giving the rest of us a bad rap.

I say keep it to yourself and we're all better off.

Scott

Well that's certainly very generous of you.

I wish I had somebody like me when I first started loading. I had a few books and a crotchety old f**t in a basement,(under a liquor store), who begrudgingly gave me some tips.

This is not a best kept secret. The more we have doing it, the more chance it has of surviving. A couple of years ago, Jim Doyle, our infamous governor tried to completely ban reloading. Oh the bill was covered by an innocent title, but it made the possession of primers a felony!

 

[627PCFan]

I got into it when i realized that unless 5 shot groups touch, they arent worth shooting. Set the standard high.

 

[easyrider604]

A couple of years ago, Jim Doyle, our infamous governor tried to completely ban reloading. Oh the bill was covered by an innocent title, but it made the possession of primers a felony!

Sneaky politicians!!! All the more reason we should encourage people to reload.
In numbers there is strength. We gotta vote people like him out of office.

And yes, I'll teach my 3 month old grandson to reload and shoot, when he's old enough.

 

[Floppy_D]

I'm 26 and I cast and load almost everything I shoot. Most of my shooting buddies have caught the bug. I didn't have a mentor to teach me, I got online and started reading. Then I got a few books and kept reading. I came back with questions until I felt comfortable. Now I'm a mass-production facility.

The appeal to most of my friends is economic, since we cast our own bullets. I encourage other new guys to compare the cost of my ammo to their store bought, and the advantages become clear.

My 4yo can pull the handle on my single-stage as well as any of you old geezers, he just needs a little more adult supervision.

 

[RustyFN]

Well that's certainly very generous of you.

I wish I had somebody like me when I first started loading. I had a few books and a crotchety old f**t in a basement,(under a liquor store), who begrudgingly gave me some tips.

This is not a best kept secret. The more we have doing it, the more chance it has of surviving. A couple of years ago, Jim Doyle, our infamous governor tried to completely ban reloading. Oh the bill was covered by an innocent title, but it made the possession of primers a felony!

I'm with you snuffy. I have an offer to anybody I know that doesn't reload to come over to my house and I would be happy to teach them. I have also offered this to some people on some of the forums. The more we get into reloading and shooting the better.
Rusty

 

[K3]

Seems to me folks ought to find their own way into reloading. Anybody who'd take it up as a fad might end up blowing themselves up and giving the rest of us a bad rap.

I say keep it to yourself and we're all better off.

Scott

Would you say the same for shooting? What about driving?

I say your advice is not very good.

I'd rather my son knows what the red stuff in the garage is and how it works rather than him going out there one day and just start fiddling with things 'finding his own way'. I learned to reload on my own just over a year ago. I wish I had somebody to mentor me, as I could have saved a lot of time and material. Now, I'm an anal retentive mechanical/manufacturing engineer, and I approached it the way I do everything else, but not everyone is so methodical.