What's The First Caliber You Ever Reloaded?

[tarbe]

I started in 1974 with the 7mm Rem Mag.

First cast boolit was the same as an earlier poster, 454190.

[k0rww]

1963
357 Mag using a Rock Chucker followed shortly by 12ga Mec 650 & 20ga using MEC 600.

[Vegas Vince]

1968, 30-30

[Gunners Mate]

12 Ga I was about 10 yrs old and still load n them 40 years later then 6.5 x 55 swede about 18 yrs old the then 44 mag about 20/22 years old now I load for over 30 different calibers + five different shot gun Gauges 410 -10 ga

[Lloyd Smale]

bought my first loading set up with 38 spec and 6mm dies. Got it for Christmas in 1971when I was 15 years old. don't know which I loaded first though.

[Hickok]

I think it was around 1969, 8x57 Mauser, and first handgun round was .357 Magnum, about 1974. Made boolit from a Lee single cavity 150 gr SWC. Still have that mold, and it casts perfectly.

[bruce drake]

1998. 303 British.
A no 4 enfield came home from the local gunshop and I needed to be able to afford to shoot the darn thing. I started casting a few years later when I couldn't find decent jacketed bullets to properly fit the bore of a 1888 German Commission Rifle I had bought.

[Butler Ford]

357 Mag with a Lee Whack-A-Mole. Learned pretty quick that a carpenters hammer wasn't appropriate for setting primers!

BF

[Wincacher]

45-70 Government in 1973.

[18Bravo]

1998
9mm was the first of what turned out to be many. Not having a huge budget back then I started with the LEE loader kit. You haven’t enjoyed the thrills of reloading until you’ve seated primers with a hammer!

[LenH]

.45 Colt in 1978.

[RGrosz]

Either 20 gage or 38 Sp. The 20 gage on a MEC 600 and the 38 Special on a Lee single stage. It was about '73 or so. Soon followed by 357 and my first centerfire rifle, a 223. It's been fun and a long trip, wouldn't trade it for anything, learned a lots f stuff. Soon followed by casting 38 boolits.
Rob

[Gewehr-Guy]

Started loading 7.62x54 at age 14, I found out quickly that I couldn't afford Norma ammo at $9.95 a box, and it kicked HARD, so I talked my parents into taking me to Herters in Mitchell, SD,to get a Lee Loader and all the components. That was 41 years ago

[bstone5]

Loaded 38 Special with my father in 1957, I was 12 years old, a RCBS press and dies.
We shot out in a field near our house. Pop had a S&W revolver that I still have at the age of 71, my grandson will get this pistol when I am gone. Pop gave me a small ring Mauser to play arm with my friends. Still have the rifle and is a 308 Win now that shoots very well with a new cut rifled barrel and Boyd's stock.

[azrednek]

30-30 in 1962 or so. .38 and 357 in 1967.

My first was also 30-30 with a Lee Loader in 71. Disappointed at first using data in the kit. Following week I spent a few bucks on the 98 cent Lee manual and a spoon kit. From then on I was hooked.

[JBinMN]

It's basically a "tie" for me. 38/357 & 44mag. Bought the dies & other necessary stuff at the same time.'86 if I recall right.

First powders for them were 2400 & Bullseye,IIRC... Might have been some Unique in there too.

If ya count shotgun, I was reloading 12ga on a MEC in 76-77 or so. Mostly #2 to 00 buck for Canada Geese.

[Traffer]

I started reloading two years ago when I bought a 22 and started shooting for the first time in 30 years. When I found that ammo was crazy hard to get and expensive I began reloading. So the first caliber that I have cast for was 22lr. Since then I have gone to swaging the 22lr bullets. Had to make my own tools and even develop some of them. Lots of fun but tons and tons of time. It has become an obsession.

[Vegas Vince]

8 mm Mauser, i was 14 my Dad help me. old herders press cast boolet with bulk power. don't remember the details on on components

[Drphilwv]

7mm Mauser and 7.62x54R. Probably was early 1990's?


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[P Flados]

Mid 70's, a new kid my age (~17) moved in across the street. Within the first year, he promped a couple of us to go bird hunting with him (no adults, just a few teenagers).

I quickly took over my dad's 12 gauge pump, a 30-06 (an 03-A3 he bought cheep at a hardware store that was was part of a large batch that had been assembled from mostly left over parts at the end of WW2. They did not have an inventory of original upper handgards, so they had some black plastic ones molded up) & a Model 94 in 32-40. They had been stashed in a closet and had not seen the light of day in years.

Reloading was a must on my budget. 12 gauge was most likely first (Lee loadall). 30-06 was probably next next. Lee whack a mole I think. Very shortly afterward, my mom got me a real press - RCBS rockchucker Jr. Real 30-06 and 32-40 dies were both obtained about the same time.

Within a couple of years, I had aquired a used TC contender in 357, and my friend got a new Ruger 357.

It did not take long for the next steps. I had the press and got the dies (RCBS non-carbide to start with, Lyman carbide within a year). He bought a Lyman single cavity Keith type 172, and a lubrisizer. I bought a Lee electric bottom pour pot.

Those 38/357 loading dies got a work out today. The Lee pot (now with PID controller) is still my only source of boolits.