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As a kid, I watched my dad load for his Parker Hale 30/06, and my Granddad's Mossberg 270, using an old Lyman 310.
In '94, I fell into a Ruger Blackhawk in 41 magnum. At $18 box for 357, and $28.95 for a box of 41 mag, I remembered my dad handloading. I bought a used Lee Loader in 41 mag, and never looked back. Load for everything I own now, and cast for them all too. From 222 Remington, to my 58 smokepole.
The moths from my wallet after getting a couple WW boxes of 40SW.
Had a curiosity about me after watching the neighbor load shotgun shells on his machine for his competitions. Think I was about 8 at the time.
Fast forward about 9 years and found a few guns deep in the closet that had belonged to my Father. Too young to buy pistol ammo, so bought a lee loader to load some rounds. Later, bought an RCBS Jr. press as the lee loader was too slow and I was too cheap to buy store bought ammo. Come along way since then.
Started loading for 44 mag back in 1996. It would drive me crazy to pay 18.00 a box. now I load and cast for 15 different cal. Im expecting to start to save money anytime now.
Always wanted to learn but never found the motivation to start until I realized I don't shoot hardly at all anymore (1st kid) and grew bored of the AR, Glock, etc so I traded into a Super Redhawk 480 knowing the availability/cost of ammo would force me to begin. Man I have no regrets, learned a lot. Reloading, making lead ingots, and soon I'll begin casting (even have a Mountainmold design on the way). Fell in love with the caliber and definitely on a magnum wheel gun kick.
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50+ years ago in my parents' friends basement, I was watching him re-load and he let me help.......... I was hooked.
I remember that day vividly, he took me to the range and let me run a few 30 round clips through his M2 with a metal but plate, after the "rush/adrenaline" wore off my shoulder wished I hadn't done that :groner: He had a padded shooting jacket on and I didn't.
I lived in the boonies and my buying trips only happened once every two months.Quote:
Originally Posted by dbosman
I got the desire to reload after I saw ads in magazines in the late 1950's and early '60's for Lee Loaders. Having an odd caliber rifle (8 x 57mm Mau.) and not wanting to spend the local asking price (very high, little/no competition) for factory ammo. pushed me into reloading. Cast bullets came a few years later.
Short answer: economics. Well, I'd been waiting a year and a half, maybe closer to two, just to buy my 30-30. But I also sold a pistol I hated which gave me enough extra cash to get a little Lee Loader, some boolits, primers and powder and start on reloading. My wife thinks I'm crazy, even after I spelled out the math to her - 20 cents vs 84 cents means I can go shooting 4 times as much for the same money. She implied I ought to 'just go buy ammo'. I'm thinking that's exactly what I'm going to do, once a month, until she squawks about the budget and I have to stop.
Figure that'll give me 20 or maybe 40 extra cartridges to reload... ;)
-KF
Cost and I liked the idea of flexibility for every caliber .
When I was 16, my 21 year old girlfriend gifted me a Mossberg 500 shotgun. This got me into reloading for shotshells. That 12 gauge was my hunting gun into my 20s. At 25, I had the opportunity to shoot with a high power (NRA 100) rifle team. Feeding a Garand 100 cartridges / week required me to start reloading for metallics. I just realized I've been doing this for 40 years. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
I used to reload .38 for <6 cents; penny for the primer, 5 cents for the lead, 5 gr of Unique - .01 cents ($14 a lb), cases no cost as I already owned them.
30-06 for less than a quarter: 11 cents for 150 boattail, penny for the primer, 50 gr of 4064 12 1/2 cents ($17 a pound), again no cost for the case as I already owned them.
My parents were no encouragement either for gun ownership, reloading, boolit casting, etc. My mother was rabidly anti-gun to her dying day. Dad was o. k. with guns and shooting but acquiesced to my mother's wishes in regard to all things gun, although he did give me a cheap Savage .22 long rifle semi-auto rifle for taking him on a trip to Oklahoma 'way back in the mid-1960s. I purchased my first handgun in 1973, a Ruger Blackhawk in .357 Mag. It was all downhill from there. My son grew up with that .22 Long Rifle, which I let him shoot as often and as much as he liked. .22 long rifle ammo was relatively cheap in those days. Well, those days are long gone. I learned pretty fast that I could cast my own boolits and reload cheaper than I could buy rim-fire ammo. Over the years I purchased enough primers, powder and have enough brass in the calibers I shoot that will last me the rest of my life and take care of my son's needs for the rest of his life. He will get all my rifles and handguns when I'm off the scene. So, who started me in all this? I guess I did. Yesterday I drove 6 hours (3 each way) to get to my favorite gun range and had the place to myself. Got a couple of rifles sighted in after swapping 'scopes around to my liking. If we don't educate the younger generation, we'll be a dying breed. My son and daughter-in-law are big into anything guns. Both have CCWs and practice on a regular basis. I have tutored my brother (and given him a gaggle of guns - rifles and handguns) and one of his daughters and her husband and their two children. Have to pass the passion along to the next generation. Big Boomer.
My uncle (Dad's younger brother) was a DDS and a hand loader, who taught me in '56-'57. I began in '58 for my new-to-me Eddystone M1917.
Enjoyed the precision, accuracy and lower cost. Eventually loaded for 15 revolver and rifle cartridges.
Regards,
Dyson