Do you reload to shoot or shoot to reload

[river-rider]

As time goes on I find that being retired I have quite a bit of time on my hands. I have a 100 yard range set up on my land and a 50 yard airgun range in the backyard. I am finding what I really like to cast bullets and reload more than I like to shoot. I am discovering that I have 300 to 600 loaded rounds for about everthing I shoot. Short of having the adult kids over I will have to shoot some just to get cases. How about you, Do you get more satisfaction from shooting or reloading?

[dragonrider]

I shoot to reload, and have for a long time. I find it such an enjoyable task, it demands attention and in that I can forget about other things while I am doing it.

[wiljen]

I think I could easily find myself casting and reloading for calibers I don't have a gun in if I wasn't careful. Something therapeutic about the loading bench.

Wiljen

[Jim]

Absolutely.

[grumpy one]

I'd add a small variation to that. If I ever found the best imaginable loads, I wouldn't bother any more. I'm interested in experimenting, which means I never get to load more than five examples of anything at one time. Repetition is inherently unsatisfying since it doesn't achieve anything new. Anyone getting an inkling of how I chose my list-name?

[RU shooter]

I have to say I reload to shoot .I couldnt afford to shoot as much as I want without reloading especially shooting highpower .

[Larry Gibson]

River-rider

"I have a 100 yard range set up on my land and a 50 yard airgun range in the backyard"

That is DISGUSTING!!!!!.....and I am insanely jealous! But I shouldn't complain, I'm only 2 1/2 miles from the range. While I enjoy reloading and casting I reload to shoot. Had a friend once who managed to salvage some 4' drain pipe for a very reasonable cost. He cut a hole in his basement wall and buried it out making a nice 100 yard indoor tunnel. He had a vent fan about 10 yards down and access to the Butt end. However he kyped a small red wagon from his kid and hooked it to a continuous cable with a small slow electirc motor. He attached targets to a small bock of wood that fit in the wagon. He could run the wagon down to whatever range out to 100 yards he wanted. Some day...........

Larry Gibson

[arkypete]

I'm completely altruistic in my shooting and casting. I take dirty scroungy lead alloy clean it up and at my expense reintroduce it back into the ground. I'm protecting my fellow citizens.
Jim

[garandsrus]

River-Rider,

I do both, but am primarily a shooter...

As RU Shooter pointed out, I couldn't afford (or would choose not to afford) to shoot high power twice a week all summer if the ammo was .50 to 1.00+ per shot which all of the match ammo is. Reloads (Sierra 69, 77, 80) in .223 cost about .20 which is a savings of 60% over commercial ammo.

I also wouldn't shoot 180 rounds once per week for PPC in .38 special without reloading. I figure that 50 rounds cost about $1.50 compared to $10 for commercial. Quite a difference!

By the same token, for as much as I probably shot my .44 Mag revolver over the years, I shouldn't have bought any molds for it, much less 4 or 5! It would have been cheaper to feed it Hornady's. I definitely find it more interesting to shoot now that I cast for it and hope to figure out how to get some accuracy out of it. I have always been disappointed in it's accuracy, or my accuracy with it.

I really like knowing that I can shoot just about any caliber I cast for (all but .223 so far) for about the cost of .22 LR ammo. Pretty amazing savings.

I figure that every time I cast 500-700 boolits, the mold has paid for itself.

John

[rugerdude]

I guess I'm kinda sittin' on the fence. I started reloading years ago so that I could shoot more, but I found that I enjoyed reloading almost as much as shooting! Now, I've got the itch to start casting my own as well. This does not bode well for my wallet! I don't have many calibers that I can cast for now, but I really like the idea of not having to rely on an outside source for my bullets. I've been poking around this site for a couple of weeks now and have gotten a lot of ideas. Now if I can just find where my wife hid the credit cards......:mrgreen:

[Lee]

Well, I've done the reloading bit for some years now. But something scared me last summer, and I haven't quite recovered(yet)
Gas prices went up, and basically stayed there. It really doesn't matter why, just that BIG GAS decided that we would pay when we got thirsty. AND WE DO!

About the same time, mebbe sooner, metal prices began to rise, and the ammunition manufacturers began to raise their prices accordingly. Now I've heard rumors recently that metals prices have begun to drop, but I have yet to see any moderating of boolit prices from either the manufacturers or reloaders companies.

I believe that the weasels that run the companies that make : primers brass boolits have discovered that like gasoline, when we get thirsty we will pay. I personally do not believe that primer/lead/brass prices will ever drop back down.
Any one out there can tell me why they will, I'd like to know. And don't spout off supply and demand. The fat toads that run the big companies can AND WILL create their own demand, and well, prices will follow the "supply"
Gasoline I can't make. Primers I can't make. Brass I can't make. Boolits!! Ahhh I can make.

Point? I reload and CAST so's I can shoot..............................Lee;-)

[DLCTEX]

I have evolved into a shoot to reload and experiment type, just the opposite of my younger years. I love casting as it opens possibilities in alloys, shapes, lubes, weights, and other varibles so that the learning curve is practically endless. Then I can experiment with making lubes, black powder, rifle, pistol, boolit sizes, the fun never ends! Is it any wonder I love this site? Dale

[rugerdude]

River-rider

"I have a 100 yard range set up on my land and a 50 yard airgun range in the backyard"

That is DISGUSTING!!!!!.....and I am insanely jealous! But I shouldn't complain, I'm only 2 1/2 miles from the range. While I enjoy reloading and casting I reload to shoot. Had a friend once who managed to salvage some 4' drain pipe for a very reasonable cost. He cut a hole in his basement wall and buried it out making a nice 100 yard indoor tunnel. He had a vent fan about 10 yards down and access to the Butt end. However he kyped a small red wagon from his kid and hooked it to a continuous cable with a small slow electirc motor. He attached targets to a small bock of wood that fit in the wagon. He could run the wagon down to whatever range out to 100 yards he wanted. Some day...........

Larry Gibson

I missed your post on my first read through. I don't have the wherewithal to put a 100 yard underground range in my backyard, but I do have my reloading shop in my backyard with a 50 yard plinking gong set up behind it for testing loads. I also have two 25 yard ranges (one with plinking gongs for handguns, the other has a target stand), two 50 yard ranges (one for freehand shooting, the other with bench set up for rimfires), and a 100 yarder with bench and chronograph setup. All of these are about 100 yards or so behind my house in a big hole made by the Georgia DOT when they purchased the soil for building up a nearby roadbed. Lots of room to shoot and all the way around backstops! [smilie=1: :mrgreen:

[Nazgul]

I have a 300 yard range at my Brother-in-laws house about 3/4 mile away. There are targets at 125 yds, 200 yds, 300 yds, and a pistol range at 25 yds. Nothing fancy just runs up the valley, "holler" around here.

I enjoy reloading/casting as much as shooting. Have an odd feeling when all the ammo is fired and whenn all the cases are reloaded. Can't stand either.

[USARO4]

I lean towards the shoot to reload side of the question, although I also love to shoot. I also love to collect, maintain, and tinker with guns. Every aspect of this hobby is fascinating and enjoyable to me. The endless experimentation with all the variables involved in casting and reloading is very rewarding. As for repetition like repeatedly cranking the handle on a press and watching the turret advance and the cartridge complete one more step towards the finished product, that is zen-like relaxation to me. I don't want to forget mentioning the packrat satisfication of scrounging and hoarding of lead and brass, the buying and hoarding of all the necessary components, tools,etc. All in all a most rewarding pastime.

[Trapshooter]

Same story here, mostly I shoot to reload. Like several others, I started reloading to afford shooting more. I also enjoy getting old, unusual, or obscure caliber arms back in service. Guys at the conservation club think I am nuts for casting (in case you didn't already know, molten lead is dirty and dangerous, lead bullets are inaccurate, and low velocity), reloading for military calibers when cheap surplus is available, or fooling around with "old junk". but there is great satisfaction learning the history and understanding the design of these old guns. Solving casting or reloading tooling problems, and being able to shoot as good or better groups with bullets you made in cartridges you reloaded is also pretty nice too. Dealing with iron sights designed or the youth of the "superior race" is another challenge though.

Trapshooter

[imashooter2]

For the most part, I reload to shoot. I do enjoy it, but if I had unlimited funds most of my ammo would be store bought. Exceptions would be cast rifle loads and precision jacketed stuff for the .223.

[tom barthel]

Do I reload to shoot or shoot to reload?? YEP!!!!!

[Thin Man]

When I started reloading I loaded only the bullets and boolits I could buy in the local shops. About 3 years into reloading, I bought a package deal from a guy who was moving into swaging. He sold me a Lyman melting pot and sizer with top punches and dies, plus 11 sets of molds in various calibers. This rocked on and I added several molds to the pile over time until discovering this site. Now I buy molds to fill a need or answer my curiosity about a project. Short answer, I shoot to reload AND reload to shoot. Seems like both activities scratch me where I have an itch.

[twotoescharlie]

yes

ttc

[Ricochet]

Both, but I'm WAY ahead on cast boolits, and I cast a bunch of new ones last night.

I'm John, and I'm a boolit caster...

[buck1]

I started off reloading to shoot, but now I must admit I think I enjoy the casting / reloading even more than shooting. Its like starting all over again and all my old guns are begging for cast boolits now.

[ktw]

At first it was all about hunting. Then, after a tour in the Marine Corp, it became all about shooting. Later shooting was extended to reloading and reloading extended into casting.

There are really four nested hobbies involved. The emphasis placed on each varies throughout the year. Hard to decide which of them is most important.

Based on the total amount of time spent on each throughout the year, I'd have to give the nod to the casting/reloading over shooting/hunting.

-ktw

[Freightman]

Shooting leads to reloading, reloading to casting. I see a boolit that someone loves find out I do not have so I get online and order a mold. Hasn't saved me a penny to reload in fact it has cost much more.
I shoot to reload and reload to cast, I am sick-sick-sick.

[Char-Gar]

I started to reload in 1958 in order to shoot as much as I wanted. 47 years later, the whole thing has flip floped. I enjoy the art and science of bullet casting and reloading. I shoot to shoot as a part of that dynamic.

[eka]

If I couldn't reload and cast, I would probably find another hobby. Merely buying a box of ammo and shooting it up has little appeal to me. Especially at the prices they ask for the stuff. I really enjoy getting a new (or new to me) rifle and chasing the ultimate load for it. I guess I'm a shoot to reload kind of guy. If you factor in all of the time I spend on this hobby, only a small portion of it is actually spent pulling the trigger.

Keith

[Hunter]

For me one is about as much fun as the other so I reckon I cast to reload to shoot to cast to reload to shoot.

[dromia]

I love both and couldn't imagine one without the other, firearms are my major pastime alongside my allotments and as well as handloading/casting being so enjoyable in their own right it allows me to do shooting related stuff when not at the range.

It also keeps the mind on topic as somewhere in my head I'm always thinking over some shooting/gun/handloading/casting issue.

Thirty odd years of it and its still as fresh and interesting as when I started. :-D

[pdawg_shooter]

I have been knowen to burn up ammo shooting dirt clods just to have some brass to reload myself !

[Sundogg1911]

i started reloading so that I would be able to shoot my 45's It has since evolved to the point that i've gone out and bought a new gun to go with a mould I purchased or got a great deal on brass. I think it's more casting now than shooting or reloading. I find it relaxing after a day at work to fire up the master caster and crank out a few thousand boolits, and then size/lube them on my Star sizers while I watch the local news and then the NBC evening news. I'm now up to 16 molds for the Master caster, and there are only a few that I still cast with hand molds. I give them to friends, trade for flys (the fishing type) and occsionally put a box or two on ebay. Shooting requires planning, and loading the truck, and nice weather (unless i'm using the indoor pistol range) so although I love shooting I don't do it nearly as much. :roll: I live 3 miles from the gun club so I still do a fair amount of shooting. (enough to make some of my friends jealous) :drinks:

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I'm one with Hunter here. A symbotic relationship, and the primary issue flops back and forth. Lucky me!

Rich
DRSS

[Bigjohn]

Guilty of both, I need to reload if I wish to shoot as the only calibre in buy factory for is .22rf.

So if I wish to compete I need to have the reloading done. Where I only have a few cases for a calibre I need to shoot off what is loaded if I wish to try another loading.

But there is a third catagory; Reloading for Stress Relief/Pleasure. The effort to turn out the prefect round.
Yes, Doctor, I'm ready for my medication now, can I reload a .45/70, Please![smilie=1:
John.

[lurch]

....Do you get more satisfaction from shooting or reloading?

Yes...:wink:

[qajaq59]

As time goes on I find that being retired I have quite a bit of time on my hands. I have a 100 yard range set up on my land and a 50 yard airgun range in the backyard. I am finding what I really like to cast bullets and reload more than I like to shoot. I am discovering that I have 300 to 600 loaded rounds for about everthing I shoot. Short of having the adult kids over I will have to shoot some just to get cases. How about you, Do you get more satisfaction from shooting or reloading?
Like you, I'm retired now and I believe I've reached the stage where I am actually shooting so I can reload. It used to be the other way around, but reloading is a good hobby and I enjoy doing it.

[BluesBear]

I started reloading in 1976 so I could afford to shoot more.
The more I reloaded the more I could shoot.
And the more I shot the more I enjoyed the reloading.
There's just something about the anticipation of future shooting that makes reloading so enjoyable.
And the thrill of actually shooting ammunition you created makes the shooting even more special. :Fire:
As soon as I've finished shooting I realize that I get to start all over again.

It's a glorious cycle!