Casting and shooting

[El Greco]

Gentlemen,
im trying to find the correct answer to question which has been bothering me for a long time. Do we cast and reload to shoot or we shoot to cast and reload?
Please help me.

[blackthorn]

Yes we do!

[mdi]

For me, that's unanswerable. I can't get to the local "range" to shoot enough to keep up with my reloading (it rains a lot here), and reloading for 9 guns, I can't always have enough empties.

But most of the time my answer is the same as blackthorn's, yes I do...

[Yodogsandman]

Guilty of both!

[Digger]

Aw heck .... I know it's a pain but I go out to the range to get rid of these loads so I can get back down to business here at home ....[smilie=1:

[10mmShooter]

El Greco,

Initially I started reloading in early 1990 to feed my new at the time 10mm. factory ammo was ridiculous at the time. Then reloading itself became a hobby and then that led to casting to feed the reloading hobby, then smelting and mixing your alloy's to get just the right BHN, to feed the casting hobby. Then the brass collecting, the powder collecting, the primer collecting etc.

I enjoy all three equally now :)

[Camba]

I develop loads for my rifles and pistols using the same components interchangeably as far as primers and powder. Every bullet weight has its own recipe in multiple types of powder, primers and bullet weight for each game. When I am done with that, I experiment with other powders that I have not done so; and/or end up buying another rifle/pistol and start all over again.
I keep a book of all my recipes of reloads and chrono velocities for all my calibers. I wish I can settle in one center fire rifle and pistol but it is 'futile' for me.
Camba

[El Greco]

You don't think it's a sickness do you? You don't think I need to see a therapist do you? I don't have room to store any more empties and processed. Every time I heat up my lubricant so that I can place it in my Lyman 450 my wife makes faces at me and tells me that I stink and the basement stinks. I personally think it smells great. She also tells me that my gun cleaners stink. I think she has a problem.

[1911KY]

I cast so I can shoot more for less, I shoot because it is a great challenge and a skill I want to master. Reloading is a reptitive necessity between the 2 enjoyments for me. I like the accomplishment of loading my own rounds but shooting and casting float my boat more than reloading.

[sghart3578]

It is a sickness, one that we all share. I honestly don't know if I cast/reload just to shoot or vice/versa.

I do know that on several occasions I have been at the range with my sons and grandsons. After they were done shooting for the day and ready to go home I made them stay longer just to shoot up some of my reloads. I wanted to free up some brass to try different powders/bullets/etc. Weird huh?

In fact, I have a reputation for staying a while at the range, long after my kids want to leave, especially when they were younger and wanted to go home. I'll never forget my youngest, whenever I decided to take my muzzleloader he would whine to his Mom, "Man, we're going to be out there all day!' Good times!!

[rexherring]

Yup!!

[fredj338]

I enjoy casting more than reloading, but love shooting more than either.

[**oneshot**]

I started out shooting, got into reloading to make the shooting cheaper, I then got into casting to make my reloading cheaper which made shooting really cheap. I'm now going broke feeding my 3 hobbies and loving it.

[Eddie2002]

I'm with the rest, I cast so I can shoot more. Instead of shooting jacketed bullets which I also do I've found that casting, reloading my cast boolits and working up a load really takes the hobby to the next level.

[prs]

We cast to reload to hoard more ammo and to buy up all the reloading supplies. Seems obvious.

I gotta admit, shooting is way more fun than casting, and reloading, and picking-up brass and prepping brass and scrounging lead.

prs

[El Greco]

Now I understand. We all have a sickness but we don't need a therapist because we are our own therapists and we self medicate. Cast, reload, shoot, pick up brass, hoard brass, hoard powder primers lead and the list goes on. Life is good. I think I need some therapy and I'm going to start depriming some of my 12,000 pieces of .45 ACP brass I have been hoarding. When they leave it on the ground I pick it up and take it home.

[Bzcraig]

El Greco......you went and did it, you asked the one question that exposes all of us to a deep philosophical truth we may not want exposed! I have well hidden my "hobby" from my wife but just opening this thread has caused me to feel dirty. I need to go pour some boolits to get my mind back to my 'happy place.'

[jaystuw]

In the old days I sweated every shot I fired out of my vintage rifles, Ammo was an expensive, non-renewable resource. Its was also loud, kicked hard, and had far more power and range than I needed for my casual plinking.

Now, I shoot A 100 or more mildly loaded rounds out of something like my 1886 Lebel and not have to worry a bit about cost, noise or recoil. I Just load up that 8 round magazine and blast away with long 232 grain round nose boolits. They blow up dirt clods, smash old, hard, thick tree branches to pieces, splash water, and cut long deep grooves in the ground as they throw up dirt. I think its some of the best Saturday morning fun you can have. After that, its just a short easy task to reload the empty cases and be ready to go again. How much better can it get! Jay

[dpoe001]

Speaking for myself i most certainly do!

[Echo]

With apologies to Casey Stengle, Some of my Friends say Yes, and some of my Friends say No, and I Agree With My Friends!

[mdi]

I can cast and lube (or PC), prep. brass, and reload here at home. Just 50' from where I'm sitting is a shed with my CD player/radio, heat and cooling and I like to spend time there. But I can't shoot here, so I end up putting waaaay more time into getting ready to shoot than I can actually get out and shoot! So, in that case, I shoot so I can reload...;)

[Jal5]

I enjoy casting and reloading but this past year I spent way more time developing loads than shooting. I plan to change that next year! Joe

[Old Scribe]

Yup! It's a challenge in both departments to get a bit better at both.

[bigarm]

I never cast until this summer. I am finding I enjoy it. Started casting with ingots purchased here from jetsfan. Enjoyed it. Then got a couple buckets of wheel weights. Didn't especially enjoy sorting them, but made it through. Then I melted them and cast them into ingots. I had fun. Then I began powder coating bullets. Frustrating at first, but end product was enjoyable. Then decided that I needed a powder coating booth to contain some of the powder as it went everywhere. So spent a couple of weeks working on that. First I built a simple booth. Then I decided I needed a stand. Then I decided I needed drawers in the stand to hold the equipment. Then I started researching others booths, so ended up putting on a regulator on the booth to better control the flow and I light to see better. Got that done. Then got more wheel weights. This time there was less, but I was kind of enjoying the mindless sorting. Melting them this time was a lot of fun. Got some nice ingots. Then cast my first rifle bullet. Wow, fun again. Then went back to powder coating the rest of my bullets I cast (except for the rifle bullets, since I still need a sizing die). This would be my first time using my new booth, even though it had been several weeks since I built it. Set everything up on Thanksgiving day and then the powder coating gun wouldn't work! Researched it and found out my 90 day warranty was going to lapse in a couple of days, so went to Missoula on Black Friday to return it. New one works great and started powder coating the rest of my 45's and 40's. Finished today. Meanwhile decided I needed another rifle to cast for, so traded for a Marlin 45-70. Should be here any day. The only reason I started reloading was to be able to afford cowboy action shooting. Did that for several years and then quit and quit reloading. Started USPSA and 3 last spring and went back to loading to be able to afford to do it. Now I find I am enjoying casting more than anything else. I need to shoot so I need to cast. Do enjoy the competition shooting, but never thought I would do all the rest of this.