Some hobbies were not made for making money...

[Land Owner]

...by that I mean I cannot fish, including tournament fish, or make boolit molds (not that I can), or cast lead (to name only a few interests that I cannot do) for money. It would completely take the fun out of it if I had to eat off of the proceeds.

It is for others (not me) who can "sidetrack" themselves into the millions of cubby holes that any hobby invariably offers. I prefer just to enjoy the pleasures of casting and shooting. I will let others do the WORK in making a dollar off of what to most of us is just a hobby.

[georgerkahn]

I never weighed enjoyment versus income-source. Reckoning I'd need PAY OUT for concert, movie, and show tickets for enjoyment time, what's the dif' in that expenditure versus the purchase (or gift received :)) of, say casting and loading equipment, and then -- might it not be more productive behaviour to cast/load than sit on one's derriere and just watch aforementioned concert, movie, or show?
Re "making the dollar" I see that as two-fold. If, say, I want a type of bullet in a calibre I have not a mould for, wouldn't it be a win-win that I may just buy a few from another caster, while (s)he can earn a few pennies passing them on to me? Same with equipment, as hobbyists move "up" to newer or better presses, scales, and whatever...
These NOT to be confused with those who engage in the commerce of casting/reloading as their means of income.
My "view" on it :) :) :)
geo

[Wayne Smith]

It's a general rule - you can never satisfactorily turn a hobby into a business. You may build a successful business but you have ruined it as a hobby. Case in point germaine to many of us on this site - you don't retire from a hobby.

[Tom W.]

I spent more money fishing tournaments than I ever collected, even won a few rods and reels, but had a lot more enjoyment just fishing, without the stress and time constraints.

Casting boolits is a hobby and I'll even cast a few for my son if he wants some. It also puts a smile on people's faces at the range when they come and watch me and sheepishly ask if they could shoot a few rounds. I don't mind making someone's day a bit brighter.

[Sig556r]

Some guys are just plain lucky getting paid for what they love to do...having said that, I know a lot of people who went under trying to make money out of what they love to do from the same frugal people who are into it...casters are a different breed, they thrive on inexpensive yet quality stuff & are always meticulously finding ways to make it even cheaper...I'm guilty of that...

[Petander]

It also puts a smile on people's faces at the range when they come and watch me and sheepishly ask if they could shoot a few rounds. I don't mind making someone's day a bit brighter.

This is so nice,I do the same. I'm off to our clubs moving moose target practise session right now, most probably my coated 45-70 465 grain boolits will get attention. Here where I live,very few people cast bullets. Might take a 500 revolver with me,too. People like to try the biggies.

I have spent so much time and money on everything casting related,I happily give bullets and slugs to my friends. I just gave my favorite loaded 20 gauge RB loads to a friend and his new Browning BPS looked very accurate with those. I think I have an extra Rib Rider and a red dot to get him set up.

Sharing is good. We all were helped when we started out,let's keep it going.

[Froogal]

If your hobby is making money for you, then it is no longer a hobby, it is a business, and then has to be done even when you don't want to work at it.

[WebMonkey]

Just for me, casting isn't either.
It's a skill I wanted to acquire and simply use it over buying projectiles.

Similar to my cheese making, food preservation, mechanics, etc.

:)

[mdi]

If your hobby is making money for you, then it is no longer a hobby, it is a business, and then has to be done even when you don't want to work at it.
Exactly! My hobbies are done when I want to, for whatever reason (mostly fun time), but when I have to, like meet a quota or finish a job on time, then it is no longer a hobby...

[fredj338]

Yet there is that if you can do something every day you love, you really aren't working thought. I don't think I would want to do my hobby as a job but then I dont care much for my job anymore, so maybe?

[robg]

Had motorbikes worked on them when racing rallies and have worked in a bike shop for thirty odd years .now I've got to the stage I'm not interested in them outside work now .if you want to ruin a hobby do it for a living .

[Land Owner]

if you want to ruin a hobby do it for a living .

That sums it up for me. I can cast sinkers, but not for profit, well, maybe to break even. I can fish OR cut bait, but not both most times though without bait there are mostly no fish.

It would suck the enjoyment right out of the hobby if it were to morph into a business, especially with what Froogal said
has to be done even when you don't want to

I thought it would be "fun" to own and run a Gun Shop. Toward that end, I purchased a fellow shooter/reloader/caster's gun, ammunition, materials, and equipment - a HUGE estate by most standards - lock stock and barrel. To recoup my investment, I embarked on moving the estate to storage, cataloging, shelving, displaying, advertising, face-to-face sales, security, and bookkeeping. Oh boy! Was I sadly mistaken about what I thought I knew.

I am BURNED OUT after two years and two estates (my 25-year good time buddy left me his gun & equipment estate when he passed) and STILL have a mess of equipment and gear to off load - along with my OWN, which you cannot take with you when you depart this Earth.

[Bazoo]

Woodworking is both my hobby and my means of living. I don't take on projects other than work however.

I learned reloading and casting as a skill set, just like leather working. I have come to enjoy all three though and consider them hobbies. If my cost of ammo was not significantly lower than store bought, I would not cast or reload.

I don't subscribe to the theory that I'm not saving money by reloading. I don't shoot that much more, but I save plenty. There has been several instances I've not shot a firearm purely because I don't have ammo made and I refuse to purchase ammo if I can make my own. So when a glitch in the system stops the process, it stops the shooting too. So, in some instances reloading has caused me to shoot less than I otherwise would have, adding to the savings.

[RED BEAR]

I can tell you i didn't save any money getting into reloading and casting i just shoot a lot more. Some of my other hobbies do save money i make cabinets and furniture that saves money and looks better than what you buy anymore. I also make ww2 dioramas using coffee stirers tooth picks and match sticks. People who see it say oh you could sell that. But you could never get enough to make it worthwhile. When you spend months making a building just haw much could you get. My brother made historic sailing ships and made them deck by deck. And when he did sell them he got between $5000 to $10000. Sounds good but when you consider that he spent over a year of most of his spare time making the smaller ones and two to three years making larger ones it could never pay he just liked doing it.

[GhostHawk]

If money is involved it is no longer a hobby but work, a side job. I'm retired and proud to have made it this far. I flat REFUSE to work more than required to keep body and home in reasonable condition. And my idea of what is reasonable is degrading as I age.

I can honestly say that I know I have tied well over a thousand flys of various sizes and description. Most one of a kind, no established pattern. Most in panfish and bass sizes.

I have not made a dime off one of them yet and have no real plans to at this point.

I did trade a box full to a member here for a package of turkey feathers and assorted odds and ends of fur of different animals.

I know I will never use them all, but if you stop by and say hi, I'll give you a few if you like.

We went fishing monday and the clear winner was a small jig tied with some stuff they call "Angel hair" plastic strands about 8 inches long about the thickness of a hair with sparkly irredescent highlights. So today I tied up about 16 more in different variations.

Tipped with a small piece of a 1" chartruese gulp minnow the bluegills were all over it as soon as the bobber settled on the water.

I also lost one to what looked and felt like a 5 lb + northern pike. 10 feet from the boat, was stuck into him for 2 seconds then he bite me off, and rolled on the surface trying to throw the hook. After catching bluegills it was like getting hit by lighting.

Hobbys should be time spent doing something you enjoy, no more, and no less.

[flyingmonkey35]

I was a computer hobbyist for years till I did it for a living.

now you can't pay me to fix your pc.

I am happy to teach anyone about casting or reloading.

but if your not there to learn go away.




Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Hick]

I'm on a fixed income. Every box of factory ammo I don't have to buy leaves a little money in my pocket that I can spend elsewhere. Admittedly, that's not the same as making money-- but it's close enough for me.

[poppy42]

I’ve always figured once you start making money at it it’s no longer a hobby. Hick, i’m in the same position and I agree with you 100%

[country gent]

I look at it this way. Ig I have to get up do what someone else wants its a job. If I get up and do it because I want too then is a hobby. while I enjoyed and liked my job I had a different out look in that I felt the tool makers job was to make productions job easier to do. I enjoyed doing it. But it was a job.

[samari46]

I started reloading about late '67. At the time i was making about 2 bucks an hour. plenty of mil surp lake city ammo and brass. And plenty of WWII and korea vets were shooting a lot of lake city ammo. They would always leave the brass and we'd ask if they wanted it. We'd thank them and spend the next few minutes picking it up. Shot mostly M1 carbine and 30-06 back then. Cast bullets came about when I picked up a 1884 trapdoor. That old rifle was a teaching tool for sure. When C.E. Harris's article came out about shooting cast bullets in military rifles the hunt was on for a Moisin Nagant rifle with a great bore. Found a really nice one, a Finn model 27. Lyman 314299 is still the most accurate bullet I've tried. As far as making money I never gave it a thought. I've had folks wanting to have me reload ammo for them. Besides the liability concerns would probably cause me a lot of sleepless nights wondering about how my reloads would shoot in their rifle. What shoots like a house afire in one of my rifles may shoot like junk in theirs. I do it just for personal enjoyment regardless how long it takes to find an accurate load. Money is of no concern. Frank

[brewer12345]

Just for me, casting isn't either.
It's a skill I wanted to acquire and simply use it over buying projectiles.

Similar to my cheese making, food preservation, mechanics, etc.

:)

Pretty much the same for my hobbies. Where I fall off the wagon a bit is beekeeping. I sell enough honey to mostly cover my costs and along he way I get to tell a lot of people why bees are important.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Took me two weeks of "spare time" to make this triple bowl. What happened to it?

I gave it away to a deserving person on hard times:drinks:

https://i.imgur.com/GZ5dojx.jpg

[Burnt Fingers]

Over the years I've turned two hobbies into businesses. I no longer participate in those hobbies or have those businesses. One of them was bringing in $3-4K a month, but it was taking 40-50 hours a week, along with my full time job.

I'll NEVER make that mistake again. Hobbies are for enjoyment, relaxation, and for killing time and money.

[RED BEAR]

I was a computer hobbyist for years till I did it for a living.

now you can't pay me to fix your pc.

I am happy to teach anyone about casting or reloading.

but if your not there to learn go away.




Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Yea i used to put together my own computers and work on them until friends and family found out. Now i just buy a $99 computer from walmart and wount even open one anymore.

[RED BEAR]

I'm on a fixed income. Every box of factory ammo I don't have to buy leaves a little money in my pocket that I can spend elsewhere. Admittedly, that's not the same as making money-- but it's close enough for me.

I do know what you mean if i didn't load and cast i couldn't afford to shoot.

[Wayne Smith]

On the other hand - a couple months ago LOML retired. She asked me when I wanted to retire and I told her "Lynne, I go to work to have fun!" If you can say that a the end of your career you have never worked a day in your life!

[LenH]

I met a guy that made some of the best wood crank baits. He needed some one to cast ballast weights. He asked me how much I wanted to do cast those.
I told him a half dozen of his baits. He agreed and I did that 3 other times for him and got 2 dozen of his baits for the effort. It wasn't for money but at the time
I figured I came out on the good end of things. Funny thing of it is I still have those baits nearly 30 years later. I've have jumped in a couple of times to save a couple.
But those things worked great.

[trapper9260]

I reload and cast because of limited income and for how it aways been for me on income.Make due with what I got. So it is a hobby for me ,I had some ask me to reload ammo for them. I told them they need to be there with me to do and they need to buy what they need to do it. One wanted me to buy all and then pay me for it all after I told him no you buy it all and be there to reload it with me. He did not like it ,But it is my hobby and terms. My close friend he did took me up on it and he had no problem with it .I had show him how to do the powder charge and then I finish off the rest at the same time. he help me with some of the rest also and I watch what he was doing and doing it the same way all the time. In the end he was happy with how it came out. But see the problem with the brass and I got you all in put on what it could be and I past it on to him. I have other hobbies and for the out come I mainly come out even that is fine with me .It is a hobby. Also they put food on the table. That helps alot.

[lightman]

I've always tried to keep my hobbies and work separate. I've heard too many stories about expanding a hobby into a business and growing to hate it. As far as reloading or casting to save money......... We all know how that works!

[6bg6ga]

Its amazing how we justify what we do. We reload because we save money or at least that is what we tell ourselves and our spouses. We have to justify the money spent on equipment by telling ourselves and others how much we have saved because we just made a box of ammo and the cost was 1/2 what is was on the store shelf. Unfortunately we need to factor in the cost of all that equipment, time, and energy in ther form of gas or electricity or both. Now, if we justify it in the name of a business well we just went into the black. Now we can justify the expenditure of yet more cash for more equipment because now its a business. We are a sick group of individuals that are hooked just the same as the junky is hooked on drugs he shoots into his veins.

[murf205]

For me, this didn't start out as a hobby. I had been handloading for a good while but being a notoriously cheap a**, I wanted to shoot more without the cost of J bullets. Soooo, I bought a pot and a Lyman 450 and a 2 cavity 429421 mold. Back then, tire stores would almost give wheel weights away and for a 12 pk of their favorite beer, they would save every one for you. Low, and behold, they shot pretty well and didn't lead the barrel of my 8 3/8" Model 29 (dumb luck). Then I took a deer with that gun and the rest is a bonafide addiction. I guess I stumbled into a life long hobby that I would never have the patience to turn into a business. I will leave the casting business to others. who I don't envy, because they work their tails off at it.

[Dieselhorses]

Yea i used to put together my own computers and work on them until friends and family found out. Now i just buy a $99 computer from walmart and wount even open one anymore.

I literally HATED computers until 1995, then.... Started working at local computer shop for 5.00 an hour. In 1998 I dug out and started making more money on my own and collaborated over 700 clients! It paid the bills plus some. BUT there was nothing like the feeling when I worked on an old 486sx and figured out how to make a changeover cable or write batch files. But I agree with most, hobbies are fun, rewarding, self-paced, relaxing, therapeutic and gratifying.

[Petander]

Music was my thing for decades. Classical background turned into pop/rock. Multi-instrumentalist. Hobby became a job I never planned. I became a songwriter. Toured with bands a couple of decades,then it (and I) got old. So I moved back to countryside where I'm from and worked mostly in a studio.

Right now I'm seriously considering turning my recording studio into a De Luxe Reloading Room with no TV or radio. Any music and my brain starts analyzing. I had tons of fun but I prefer normal life and schedules nowadays.

[ShooterAZ]

One of my hobbies is metal detecting. I'm not about to give up my day job yet, but I can say that I've paid for my equipment many times over with my finds. I hit the ski areas in the summertime and clean house with gold and silver rings, earrings, watches and all kinds of other stuff. Ya just never know what you're gonna find out there. People biff it the snow, tumble and go upside down, and lose all their stuff.

[truckjohn]

Jobifying your passion is a good way to hate it.

The reason is simple - when you do it for you - you only have to please yourself with the costs and the results.

When you do it for others - you have to do what THEY want when THEY want it and for what THEY agree to pay.

So for example - commercial casting.... You can't really do a lot of experimenting. You have to figure out what sells and make THAT. You have to stick with popular, proven designs. You have to make stuff efficiently with very low rejects to be competitive.

Make a bunch of oddball stuff or high reject stuff and now you have investment in money, time, and materials tied up in stuff nobody buys or you can't sell.

For example - make up a bunch of 577 Snider bullets or 45 Webley bullets... You may sell 100 or 200 a year but you have to buy the molds....

Or say you contract mold for somebody else so they can get custom weird stuff for their oddball gun... What happens if their mold runs super high rejects or is very slow to operate or sticks bullets or casts undersize/way oversize/egg shaped? Who pays for the work to get the customer's mold sorted out? What if the customer's mold shows up missing parts or doesn't work right? What if they want to fool with different lubes or different sizes that you don't stock - what then? What if their dream bullets made to their specs don't fit their gun or don't shoot right? What if you send them a bunch of test samples and they don't like anything and want you to refund their money and send their stuff back then complain that you modified/damaged their stuff...

So for example - say they get some custom oddball flintlock reproduction that shoots triangle or square bullets and they want you to cast them with their mold.....

Then - you have to deal with the customers.....

[RED BEAR]

+1 for the above i do things because i like to the minute i have to its not fun anymore.

[charlie b]

I am another one who turned a hobby into a business. Radio control model airplane kits. I was in the hobby and decided if I wanted to keep doing it after retirement I would need a way to pay for it. So, bought a laser cutter and off I went. I did have a full time job working with large lasers so it seemed a decent fit.

Long story short was we did really well with it. The only downside to it was the few customers who were ..... well, not nice. Sold the business to another couple and they are still doing well.

One thing to note...

My entire hobby was not turned into a business. I liked flying and building. Making the kits was not the same thing. If anything it was a bonus. If I wanted to build something I just grabbed one off the shelf instead of having to order it from somewhere.

It has a relation to shooting. If you decide to cast bullets for sale, your hobby of reloading and shooting is not affected. But, it does mean that if you want some bullets they are sitting there on the shelf, or, you make a run for someone and then a few more for you.

The other nice thing is you can set your own hours to a certain extent. Want to take a vacation? Post up on the web site that you will not be filling orders for a week or two. Want to work nights instead of day?

Having said all that, trying to make a living from a hobby business is tough. Every time the economy rattles guess what people stop spending money on? Their hobbies. OTOH, times of a pandemic people are bored and want to do more of their hobby. Gun related stuff spikes when the dems are in power.

Carefully evaluate the market. Make a business plan. Yes, sounds boring and tough. It isn't. Figure out who else is in the business and if you can compete with them, especially in lean times. Is there really a 'window of opportunity' to make money. Be honest about profits and production ability. Be aware that you will spend a lot on things like shipping, buying supplies, and web site development. I did my own web site and it took quite a bit of my time to keep it up to date (and to correct errors).

[Land Owner]

I retired from engineering. Math and science have always been easy for me. That "skill set" remains in me. I have done many cost estimates related to reloading and casting. I started with a single caliber, added up all of the Sunk Costs (gun, brass, mold, pot, lube-sizer, press, dies, untested estimate for number of reuses of brass, etc.), then added in the consumables (boolit, lube, powder and primer), EVERYTHING, including the kitchen sink, and ran a trial and error (convergent) analysis of how many rounds I would have to make to EQUAL the cost of the same number of Factory jacketed bullet ammunition. It is a pretty big number.

Then increase the number of calibers (guns and equipment) to the number of calibers you shoot. That effectively reduces the Sunk Cost of presses, lube-sizer, some equipment, etc., across all of the calibers, which tends to bring the "equal to" numbers down and JUSTIFIES (to myself anyway) the purchase of MORE STUFF.

Reloading is a hobby, not unlike home carpentry or automotive repair, that assists in the justification for MORE STUFF, like HAND TOOLS, big air compressor (IDK what use that has in reloading), multiple melting pots, ingot molds out the wazoo, GALLONS of lube. I just NEED another gun/caliber/mold/press/holster/[fill in the blank].

It is wonder I am not BROKE, though I can RESELL guns and equipment after a lifetime of service, for what I paid for it - or MORE. Most of it is built TOUGH to last three lifetimes and the sellers are GREAT about servicing its customers...like drug dealers hooking their clientele.

[clintsfolly]

I have fell down the hobby to job hole to many times! Learned to make hand made chairs. People want then But “ I can buy one at Cracker Barrel for $119.00! “. Cast bullets for a local gun shop and worked the counter got to the point I was just shooting a few times of the year! Bought, cleaned and sold Lead. Got to the point that I wasn’t casting and shooting. Now the kids are moved out and I have retired I still make a chair if I want too! Cast and trade or give away a few bullets if I want and feel like it! Clean and sell a little lead to cover costs of my stash if I find a good deal and want too! Never going down that hole again!

[dtknowles]

If your hobby is making money for you, then it is no longer a hobby, it is a business, and then has to be done even when you don't want to work at it.

This is not quite true. If I make a little money trading Guns and Ammo that does not turn it into a business. What turns it into a business is when you need to income. I am retired and working. If my job stopped paying me, I don't need to make any money from Guns and Ammo and if I don't want to sell any Guns or Ammo, I don't have too. What turns a hobby into a business and often ruins the fun is when you need to money or you over commit to customers.

Tim

[dtknowles]

On the other hand - a couple months ago LOML retired. She asked me when I wanted to retire and I told her "Lynne, I go to work to have fun!" If you can say that a the end of your career you have never worked a day in your life!

This was not quite right for me. Even though I liked my job, sometimes I had to bite my tongue and go along with things I did not like. I like my job a lot more now that they know that if I don't get to do things my way I can just quit.

Tim

[Scrounge]

Had motorbikes worked on them when racing rallies and have worked in a bike shop for thirty odd years .now I've got to the stage I'm not interested in them outside work now .if you want to ruin a hobby do it for a living .

I started doing photography for a hobby, then did it professionally for the USAF and a bit off on the side doing wedding photography when I lived in Las Vegas. Yep. Ruined a perfectly good hobby. At one time I owned over 80 cameras from 16mm to 8x10. Now I still have a maybe 4 cameras, counting the phone. The two film cameras haven't been used since about 2004. I do a fair amount of photography for my other hobbies, but it's all digital, and I no longer have a dark room, enlargers, photo chemicals or timers or the other paraphernalia that used to be photography. Lots of autopsy photos are what ruined it for me.

[2A-Jay]

I reload and Cast Round ball to allow me to shoot more. I collect ammo and fire arms related items for a display as a Hobby. All the Display Ammo is Live ammo that could be used in a SHTF situation. Though I don't own guns to match most of the Display ammo that I have collected. It is my hobby.

[dtknowles]

Its amazing how we justify what we do. We reload because we save money or at least that is what we tell ourselves and our spouses. We have to justify the money spent on equipment by telling ourselves and others how much we have saved because we just made a box of ammo and the cost was 1/2 what is was on the store shelf. Unfortunately we need to factor in the cost of all that equipment, time, and energy in ther form of gas or electricity or both. Now, if we justify it in the name of a business well we just went into the black. Now we can justify the expenditure of yet more cash for more equipment because now its a business. We are a sick group of individuals that are hooked just the same as the junky is hooked on drugs he shoots into his veins.

I don't reload to save money anymore or ever. Originally I reloaded so I could shoot more and becuase it interested me. Now I reload to make ammo that can't be bought (wildcats or obsolete or midrange) or to make ammo more accurate than could be bought. I can afford to buy more ammo than I can shoot but I am not interested in burning up a bunch of 9mm or 5.56. That gets old fast. Boring.

Tim

[Winger Ed.]

Nothing wrong with a hobby that makes a few bucks.

One of mine is welding. I used to do it at work, and enjoyed it.
Especially doing it at a level where only a handful of people in the country could or would do what I did as, 'just another day in the shop'.
I still do projects for myself here at home, and for neighbors that usually insist on over paying me.
Even after I tell 'em, "I'm glad to do it,,,,,,,,, these small projects help keep me out of those crooked BINGO parlors".

If it evolves into something that you plan or depend on the income from it:
Now your hobby has turned into a part time job, and may end up being career path, or a business.

[jsizemore]

Some hobbies were not made for making money...

That's why it's a hobby and not a job.

[justindad]

I think kids get bad advice when they are told to do what they love for their career. Do anything for 40 hours a week, and you won’t love it anymore. And don’t get me started on the use of the word “passion” in job interviews!
*
A hobby is an escape, a time to explore curiosity, &/or a time to rejuvenate. If you’re racing a clock, not learning anything, or stressed about making mistakes, it’s not a hobby and it won’t nourish you as a hobby does.

[charlie b]

For me a hobby is something to occupy my time that I enjoy doing. My job as an engineer was fun. Problem solving, troubleshooting, design, fabrication and testing. My hobbies tend to reflect the engineer in me. Designing and building things. Shooting, reloading and casting bullets. Designing, building and flying models. Tinkering on old machines to make them work again or perform better, motorcycles, cars, even sewing machines and antique tools.

To me the difference is a job is something you are contracted to do for someone else. Once you take your hobby and apply it to what someone else wants, then it is a job. Yep, when a customer wanted something it was assigned a 'job' number. Or an 'order' number. Yep, it is an order to you to make/do something. That one little fact can drive many people up a wall. They can love doing something but the minute someone else tells you what to do, how to do it or when to do it, they go nuts.