How old were you?

[str8shot426]

Picture of the my 11 year old son loading 20ga. Shells to shoot trap tomorrow. Under my supervision of course.
I taught him how the mec loader works, what the bushings number means, how to look up loads in the book, how to double check yourself and Identify component brands.
I am obviously not ready to send him to the bench by himself. He is very interested in guns and shooting sports. I believe in taking the curiosity out of the equation and teach him right.
I have gotten comments from people who can't believe I allow children to handle guns and help reload and cast. But teaching them the way I believe is the right way takes away the curiosity factor.

Non gun owners just don't get it.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/01/8u5a4e4e.jpg

[HollandNut]

awesome , I was around thirteen or so I suppose , my friends dad taught us reloading in 243 for a M88 Winchester , I thought it was just great ( we were too far back in the woods to use hippie talk like 'cool' ) ..
Many people in our area still considered it a 'black art'

your boy prolly wont sleep a wink tonight

[country gent]

We were the same with our kids, By allowing them supervised handling the wife and I did away with the curiosity aspect. Mine were "helping" Dad reload as soon as they showed an intrest. Casting was a little difrent due to diffrent saftey issues. Shooting was started again when intrest was shown under very supervised conditions. But it was a dream watching them progress into responsible shooters/reloaders and adults.

[John Allen]

I started around that time. I used to load with a lee load all. I would load all week for my father and his buddies so I could shoot for free. It was a great deal for me!

[TheDoctor]

Me...
For shooting? ummmm, 3 with a bb gun, 4 with a 22. Five with a 9mm.
For loading? Late start, didn't pull my first handle till I was almost 20.

My boyos...
Started both of mine off shooting 45 colt when they were 4. They both get guns for presents every now and then also. Both could pick a load from a manual, and load it by the time they were 7 or 8. Now...if I could just get them to CLEAN their darned guns!

[smokeywolf]

That's great! I was hanging on a press handle when I was barely heavy enough for my entire weight to pull it down.

[pworley1]

15, I didn't have anybody to teach me so I am still figuring it out for myself.

[jeepyj]

Thinking back...At 17 I was going out with a girl and her dad had a den with a couple of ez-chairs, a couch and a nice reloading bench. Even though I probably wasn't his favorite he must have liked me enough to give me some pointers. I started collecting equipment and loading within weeks at my own house.
Jeepyj

[2wheelDuke]

I was in my 20's when I learned how to cast and load. Dad had most of his stuff put away for a long time.

[Bullshop Junior]

I started really young. I remember going pheasant hunting by myself at 9. I was reloading for my 22 hornet at about 6 or 7.

[JeffinNZ]

This is Abby about 4 hours ago. She is 6 in 10 days. I started in my late teens however.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Abby%20Jennifer/MEC_zps0c1803df.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JeffinNZ/media/Abby%20Jennifer/MEC_zps0c1803df.jpg.html)

[LUBEDUDE]

Str8shot and JeffinNZ, that is Awesome!

I taught myself Shot Shell on a MEC at 14 and Metallic on a Lee whack a mole at 18.

[Lead Fred]

I can even tell you the date, Jan 20th 1961. JFK was yaking about what you can do for your country, sounded boring so I went to see what the ole man was up to.
He said: Boy, you will need two things when things go bad in the world.... Bullets and food, and you dont look like the chef type to me.

I was nine

[6bg6ga]

I can even tell you the date, Jan 20th 1961. JFK was yaking about what you can do for your country, sounded boring so I went to see what the ole man was up to.
He said: Boy, you will need two things when things go bad in the world.... Bullets and food, and you dont look like the chef type to me.

I was nine

Your dad sounds like a cool guy.

I developed an interest in reloading about the same time with Dads 45 long colt. I used to get to re-size and put new primers in the cases......it was heaven.

[opos]

Started shooting at about 10 with a 67A Winchester pump 22 (in my safe today)..reloading came when I was about 18 and going to college and working in a gun shop(all self taught back then)....I'm 76 now...still do most of the same things...lung issues preclude casting but not loading and shooting. My kids are not shooters and never were...not libtards...just have different interests things like fishing, team sports, etc and none really ever got the gun or hunting bug.

[wch]

I was about ten when my Dad taught me how to load wadcutters for the three gun matches that he shot.

[Bullshop Junior]

This is Abby about 4 hours ago. She is 6 in 10 days. I started in my late teens however.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v505/JeffinNZ/Abby%20Jennifer/MEC_zps0c1803df.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/JeffinNZ/media/Abby%20Jennifer/MEC_zps0c1803df.jpg.html)

Love the coke bottles lol

[missionary5155]

Good morning
My dad and his Navy buddy were into casting for 38 Special and Muzzleloader before I was born. So my first memory that I know for sure was when I was 4. Dad and his buddy were over in the "powder room" as they called it and I somehow got my arm under the spout as a drip came down. That is how I remember being 4... that stuff was HOT ! Still have a narrow pit in my left arm. I was allowed to hand them bullets one at a time. Never got to pull the lever..just hand bullets and fill the primer tube.
I bought my first Lee Loader at 15 for caliber 32 Win Special in a Marlin 336 I got from my Uncle Wally. So I guess that would be my official age on my own.
As our children were growing up they were around shooting and reloading. If they wanted to shoot some thing they had to help.. then do it after sufficient time of helping. They started on the single stage getting the basics then moved to the Dillon 550b all the time with supervision.
Mike in Peru

[osteodoc08]

I was young. Must have been 5 or 6.

[DHurtig]

My 6 year old grand daughter like to help papa. I put stuff in and out of the press and she pulls the handle for me.

[1989toddm]

I never knew anything about reloading till I took a job farming for my then-to-be future father in law. He taught me more about Jesus, life, and guns than my own dad. Have reloaded for 3 years but just cast the first a week ago.

[dtknowles]

I must have been fifteen or younger when I started reloading because my dad had to take me to the shop to order the equipment and again to pick it up. My younger brother started soon there after so he would have been 13 or 14 maybe. I started casting before I graduated high school. Built a muzzleloader from a kit while I was in high school. I was completely self taught. Dad did not shoot at all after WWII that I know of. He had a marksman and expert medal along with his bronze star and purple heart. One day when I was maybe 10 or 11 while the family was visiting his sister and her husband, Uncle Adin got out a bolt action .22 and my brother and I got to shoot it. That was the first time we every shot anything more than a bb gun. Dad did by us each a bb gun the after that trip he got a bolt .22 with peep sights and a single shot 20 gauge. We were allowed to hunt and plink. A few years later he got us each a deer rifle. I got a M94 in 30-30 and my brother got a 6.5 mm Carcano sporter. That is when we started reloading. My mother's brother reloaded shotgun shells but it was gun magazines where I first heard about reloading and casting.

Tim

[TXGunNut]

I was a late bloomer at the ripe old age of 21. My dad had guns but never taught me to shoot. I was lucky to find a mentor and with his help and an RCBS manual I was off to a good start. In later years I got my dad to shoot with me a little, even go hunting a few times but for him it was all about being outdoors. He never really much cared for shooting. Being a research scientist I thought he would enjoy reloading but he was never interested. Different strokes, I guess.
I envy kids who start at an early age but maybe my fascination with it is due to starting at that age.
Glad to see you guys getting the next generation involved at an early age. I hope they continue to be interested.

[1Shirt]

Not sure of age when I started loading, casting came a little later. However know for sure it was over 50 years ago. Was shooting 22's however about 65 years ago. It was a lot more civilized back then.
1Shirt!

[perotter]

I was 11 years old when I got a .410. My uncle was a FFL and he delivered the .410 with a Lee Loader, primers, powder, shot and a few once fired cases. If I wanted to shoot it, I had to reload. I still remember it very well.

My uncle loaded one, Pa loaded one and then they watched me load 2 or 3. They told me to only do it exactly as told. Otherwise I might ruin the shotgun, loose a hand or get killed. Plus, I wouldn't get another shotgun nor did they have time to take me to a doctor nor the time for a funeral.

[remy3424]

I must have been 13ish, loading 222 Rem after watching my father loading those and his 264 Win Mag for years.

4, 5, 6 & 7 year old kids reloading smells like a recipe for a disaster to me...only having 2 kids, they would not have had the attention spams or desire, little lone my patience to have them reloading while I watched, guess maybe this shows some of my short comings as a parent..there maybe the special advanced kids out there, but not the ones I see. I don't count "pulling the handle" as reloading.

[alamogunr]

When my sons were between 6 and 15, I was so busy trying to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads, I barely had time to take them to baseball practice and other activities. I dropped out of shooting(not that I was ever that active) for about 30 years. I got back into it when they finished school(both have doctorates) and now they are somewhat interested but don't have time for reloading or casting. I do that for them.

The two grandsons(17 & 15) are pretty good athletes and the 11 year old granddaughter is a budding ballerina. I'm proud of all of them regardless even though I can't post a picture like others have done.

[lylejb]

I started reloading shotgun at age 10, to feed a budding trap shooting habit. My dad never reloaded, but my next door neighbor did. I learned on his mec 600jr, and soon picked up one of my own. must have loaded 10k rounds on that machine, and still have it.

I started reloading metallic at 19, soon after I bought my 44. Those factory shells are EXPENSIVE to a young man working for $7 /hr. Had to save money somehow....little did I know. Still have the gun and the RCBS press, both still work fine.

[bear67]

I started at age 14, learning from a neighbor who ran a small country gun shop and range. I did work on the range to help fund my new habit. My dad hunted, but bought all his ammo. Mr Roy was my gun mentor

Flash forward 20 years and I had kids competing in 4-H trap and skeet competitions and we practiced once or twice a week. I was farming a bunch of land, raising hogs and had a commercial general contracting business. One day a week all the 4-H ers who shot at our place rode the bus to my house after school and loaded practice ammo on 2 MEC jrs in 12 and one in 20. I had a progressive, but the teams all loaded on the 600s.
As it progressed I had members on the senior team who had loaded their shells for several years and they tutored the junior members. The 9 and 10 year old shooters shagged supplies, koolaid and boxed loaded rounds until they were mature enough to load under the supervision of older shooters. By 11 and 12 most of these kids were shooting their own loads. Give them responsibilities and they grow to meet them. They knew that to shoot, they had to work for the opportunity. Their parents bought the lead, powder, shot and clay birds, but they put out the physical effort.

BTW, we had the Texas Championship team more than once in those years from a small west Texas school district with less than 110 kids in grades K-12. Worth every bit of the time and effort invested in these kids.

[histed]

I got started at 15 and its a wonder I didn't get killed! No one in my house did this - it was black magic. One day my dad brought home a 12 ga double with twisted steel barrels and a .22lr he'd been given by a customer. I claimed the 12, but was told it was unsafe to shoot with anything except BP. SOooo, being a resourceful 15 year old with a muzzleloader (this WAS the 60s) I proceeded to open the 12 ga shells I had, dump the powder, and replace it with so forgotten amount of FFFg,replace the wad and shot, hand crimp the shell with a dowel and a hammer, seal the end with candle wax and chase bunnies. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! At 22 I bought a Ruger Blackhawk .44 mag and my neighbor, 50 years my senior, took me under his wing before I did something even more stooped. Later I taught my daughter, her husband, and now I'm mentoring a couple of guys at work. One of them, and Afgan vet, will pass it on to his 10 year-old.

[km101]

I started hunting when I was eight. I remember going quail hunting in the mesquite and cactus S. of San Antonio. I had been plinking and shooting at fixed targets for about a year prior to that but that was my first real hunting trip. I actually got most of a limit of qual and I was hooked.

I got started reloading when I was 19. A good friend taught me how to reload on his dad's equipment. We spent many a Saturday loading pistol ammo for his dad (who shot competition) and he would give us some of the loads to shoot. I started acquiring my own equipment then and have been reloading ever since.

I didn't get started casting until a couple of years ago. I just never saw the need. Now I see all that I was missing!

[dragon813gt]

I don't know what age I started. So that means it must have been fairly young. I'm starting my 13yo stepdaughter right now. She wants to shoot the 1894C so she has to make the ammo she's going to shoot. She's been reading the manuals and I've been giving her a test at the end of every chapter. She's almost at the point where she gets to pull the press handle. Under my supervision of course.

[firefly1957]

I bought my own Mec 650 when i was 14 and started loading 20 gauge shot shells.

[SteveUSP]

My dad taught me to shoot at about 10 or 11. Using a Remington model 33 .22LR, shooting driftwood on the Salcha River. I didn't start reloading until I was about 20, and I got Dad started loading.

[TXGunNut]

BTW, we had the Texas Championship team more than once in those years from a small west Texas school district with less than 110 kids in grades K-12. Worth every bit of the time and effort invested in these kids. -bear67

That's an awesome story! Thanks for passing on our sport and keeping those kids safe & motivated. Nicely done!

[danski26]

My dad starting me shooting at about 6 years old with a BB gun. I shot that thing a LOT! I loved it. He didn't let me move up until I was eleven and through hunters safety. Then I went to a Remington pump 22 LR and hunted deer at twelve with a Remington model 14 in 35 Remington. I killed a nice doe that year with one shot. I didn't start casting and loading until I was out of the Marine Corp in 1998. I was about twenty five years old. Learned that on my own.....with help from cast boolits site eventually.

[wis40]

Got my first 20 guage 600jr when i was about 15 and loved every minute of it.Couldn't wait each time till i could work and save for more supplies. Didn't start metalic loading till i was prolly 20 or so. Bet i havent bought 10 boxes of factory loads in the last 30 years(mostly when i needed brass and found a good deal). I too had a dad that had already given up shooting so thank God for a brother in law that showed me the ropes and got me started.

[ksfowler166]

I was 18 when I taught myself to reload 28ga shells on a MEC Sizemaster and a couple years before that my father taught me to reload .223 caliber.

[Multigunner]

About six or eight I guess. Got to trigger a short burst from a Thompson while my dad held me and the gun steady.
Benn reloading since shortly after high school.