What or When or Who . . . motivated you to HAND-LOAD ?

My two closest friends took me shooting for the first time in summer 1988 I was 20. Mom bought my first gun for me that Christmas a Ruger 10/22 after that I slowly started accumulating firearms and needed to feed them. One friends dad was an avid collector, shooter, and reloader he taught the three of us the art of hand loading and bullet casting so I guess I can blame them for my affliction. What a wonderful affliction it is. Oh, and a special thanks to the members of this forum I'm 50 now and still learning new things from many of you here. 30 years later and I'm fortunate enough to still go shooting with the same two friends.

To save money!
So much for that but I do shoot way more now
Like a lot more lol

independence, I have all the powder, lead, primers and molds I need for my lifetime, I can load any type of ammo I need without depending on some else for it. no more running around looking for what I need in stores.

When I around 13 or 14, back in '57 or '58, I used to watch my dad cast and reload. A year or 2 later... well, ya know what we do then. Lost interest. When my dad passed in'69, I kept all guns and reloading equip. As I moved around the country for years, I carried it with me, always keeping it in controlled areas. About 10 or 12 years ago, I looked at the Lyman EZ-Loader, redding scale, Lyman 45 sizer and thought...why just let it set. So, I got it out and set up the 30-06 die, etc. and the rest is history. I bought books, visited forums and updated to modern systems. I no longer use the EZloader, but have it and all the accessories. I guess I will try to sell it as an atique, although it will still work.

A neighbor talked to me about guns and reloading and I was hooked. I was about 14 and I reloaded 12 gauge shells. Fifty yrs later still going strong with reloading and casting. With the price of ammo today, I have no idea how young people will carry on after all us fossils go to the big range in the sky.
Leadmelter
MI

When the ammo shortage during the Obozzo era kept me from shooting. As the market eased up bought a press,powder,primers as I could afford them

Smokeywolf has me beat too.
I started priming .38spl cases with a 310 tong tool when I was about 4yrs old, casting .375 RB for my Dad's ORIGINAL 36 COLT Navy by the time I was 8yrs old.. Dad, Uncle's, cousins and my Dad's Lodge brothers. All gathered in our garage at least once a month. There were 2 reloading benches, with 4--5 metallic presses. Plus Shotgun presses, a Star reloader and 3+ Lube-Sizers. A 100lb Plumbers Pot and many H&G 8-10 cavity molds.
I shot about 10-15rds of TRAP a month from 12-17yrs
and loaded every round, plus every round my Dad shot too.

I didn't know you could BUY AMMO IN A STORE until I was about 7-8yrs old. I had an entire Reloading/Casting setup built up and stored at my Mom's by the time I got out of the service. So I guess next month I'll Celebrate 60 years as a Reloader/Caster.

Probably why my right shoulder is a MESS.

The two that inspired me to hand load were George $. Washington and even more so Benjamin $. Franklin!:mrgreen:

To feed my 686 as 38s were expensive 357s were extortionate £ 13 for 50 in 1982 .I'm still saving money not.

My work slowed down a bit (I traveled extensively, was away from home 70% of the time).
When i went to my local gun shop to purchase a few boxes of ammo and go shoot, I noticed a Hornady display setup.
I recognized the quality and common sense of the units and bought the 5 station progressive set up (Press, shell plates, dies, scale, data book edition 3
was 1982). I saw it as a new hobby. Something I could learn to do, do alone, with out having to join anything and do it anytime I wanted to.
Been reloading since 1982 and has worked out great!

I started reloading and casting in the 50's as a way to save money because of the amount of shooting I was doing.I have continued to do so except for during overseas tours during twenty years in the Army.

That's the only thing Barack Obama ever did for me. Got me trying to be as self sufficient as I can in the ammunition dept.

My dear uncle Bill back in the late 70's would have me load 45 acp for the combat matches we were shooting in. Used his pistols so I figured the least I could do was to help load the ammo. Got into it on my own about 20 years later when I took up practical pistol shooting again. Just recently started casting for a 30-30 lever gun and was surprised by the good results.

price gouging, crappy factory ammo necessitates it after a while if you actually want to afford to practice let alone go hunting.
When a box of factory "target" ammunition has both roll and taper crimps, and so much variation in the crimp level in the same box, that its hard to feel you could do WORSE on your own. so even if you make ammunition as bad as most factory fodder, at least itll cost LESS.

My dad got me started when I was around 12. He let me reload shot gun shells with him by my side. We did a lot of trap and skeet shooting. When I was around 15 we started reloading for some rifles. I'm 63 now and reload for just about all my guns. Now thanks to a lot of you guys I'm starting to cast boolits for my 45-70. I'm getting things set up and I'm hooked and having fun. I still have a lot to learn but that's why i'm here. Thanks

My dad and grandfather both reloaded, started at about 12 or 13 years old, 70 now and still doing it.

Rafe

Local gunstore guys were always talking about shooting every week, and how much more they could shoot for $ per round when handloading, also bout the quality of ammo, they were able to produce, that I saw first hand (at the range)

I started to reload due to the Gun Control Act of 1968. I was under age to purchase ammo.
But I could buy powder, primers, wads, shot, and bullets.

Don't remember if I started on shotshells or metallic for sure, they were pretty close together anyway. Metallic was so I could use partitions, which ended up coming out in Fed premium a couple of yrs later. Shotshell was for clays and duck hunting. Both were in the region of 1980 or so. Casting started about 1987-88 maybe.. I wanted grouse loads for my 7-08, seemed like an easy way to do it. Then it expanded to my 22-250 and to a 7x57 for military matches at the local range. In 89 I went down to a Coors Schuetzenfest match in Great Falls to check it out, next spring got a schuetzen rifle, and then a 300Rook, then built a 218Bee and a 32-40. And about 6-7 yrs ago a 450-400NE. Handloading and casting allowed me to do a lot of stuff and meet a lot of people and acquire some fun guns, some of which the factory ammo is nearly non-existent for, or is not affordable. What I have saved on the 450-400NE alone has paid for all the equipt. The fun I had with the Schuetzen crowd was well worth the small investment made on it. And over the 2012-2016 shortage period, I had no issues with being able to shoot all I wanted, I always had an alternative gun or load to use.

I remember my dad reloading when I was 7 years old and I used to watch as he loaded 30-06's on the kitchen table with a cigarette in his mouth. He would trickle out each load and then dump the powder into the case and install a bullet into the case. When I got my first 357 I thought it natural that I purchase the reloading dies, press, and scale. After all didn't everyone reload?

When I go to a gun show it is eye awaking to note the prices for a box of say 45acp or 45LC or 44 mag. Makes me glad that I can reload all the different calibers that I do.