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

[redriverhunter]

when I was in the 1st grade my uncle had me seating bullets for a 30.06, with a rock chucker. once I got to a spot in life where I could get my set up I did it 1992 or so. Not sure if I have saved any money but I love my hobby

[MOA]

Started loading shotshells so I could shoot more trap. And when I got my first 06 it was just a natural that I would reload for it too. Then I went to work at a local gun shop, and the sickness became permanent. I am forever afflicted.

[Minerat]

A LSG (Gart Brothers) in Denver in 1971 had Honey Bair loaders on sale around christmas that year. I was shootin 100 rounds a day of 20ga then at anything that moved when I could get the ammo. Talked my Dad in getting it for me for christmas. We could reload a box then for around a buck (WW AA's were $2.50 a box) but consumption went up five fold. Went from a couple of hunderd a week to a 500 per week. I shoot them and reload that night for the next day. Every dime I made in high school went to feed that shotgun or go skiing. In 85 started feeding a SBH 44 mag that's when I really started saving money.

[smokeywolf]

Was pretty much born to handloading. Dad had me hanging (literally) on a press handle by the time I was 2 or 3 years old. Didn't charge cases or cast until later, but sized, primed and seated, farther back than my memory goes. I just plain can't remember not pulling on a press handle; same Hollywood Sr. I use today.

[Digger]

few years back , came across a Keltec P-11 (9mm) with a 40 S+W barrel and slide.
Really enjoyed the little gun.
Of course forty cal in such a small pistol has negative reaction with most people ....
Came across a gentleman from Oregon area selling reloads at a gun show , tried his and NICE !! , very comfortable shooting,accurate.
So with that , got into reloading so I could soft load the forty ... as I really like the little gun , went from there in basic handgun calibers and rifle .
Keltec quit making the little forty as the general public could not handle it .
So with both the little forty and a Su-2000 in forty .. lot's of fun at the range !

[RCE1]

My father in law asked me if I wanted to come spot for him at a BPCR Silhouette match some 25 years ago. When the match was over, he invited me to try his rifle. I laid down at the pig line and fired a shot, which went over the back. He told me how to adjust the sight for my hold, and I proceeded to run the rest of them. At that point, I was doomed...

[MT Gianni]

My second hand gun was a centerfire. By the time I was familiar with DA shooting I needed to shoot a lot to keep it affordable.

[Wild Bill 7]

About 1988 I bought a Lee Pro 1000 from a friend for $50 set up for 44 mag. He also gave me some brass a pound of Bullseye powder and some primers. In 1990 we moved into our new home and meeting some of the neighbors one who worked for the Sheriffs department. As we were standing in the garage we started talking about shooting and reloading he asked me if I reloaded. I told him I had a press but didn't know much about loading. I asked him if he reloaded and he said for me to turn around and check it out. Wow! He had 2 green machines, Three RCBS checkers, and three mec jrs. Well that got me started with this money saving hobie. He taught me how to reload, cast boolits and have more fun than I thought possible. I sold the Lee press and bought a Rock Chucker, scale, Pro Melt, measure and tricker, dies and a few molds. We had access to wheel weights for free from the places that put tires on the police cars. We loaded everything single stage for two years to make sure I had a good knowledge of reloading. Since then I have been able to mentor a few young men on reloading. One of the best things for me was to find this site. I have learned so much more from this site because of the smart people here. Thanks so much. I have a Star sizer, Lee sizers, a bunch of Lee molds and powder coat. It's really bad also when you pick up brass for calibers you don't have and buy the dies also so when the opportunity arises you get that gun to make things complete. Oh the madness never ends. Hehehe!!!

[goryshaw]

About 1985 I was at Dick's Sporting Goods in Bountiful, UT and I saw an open box Lyman Turret kit for sale. I only had 1 rifle at the time, that I hardly ever shot, but the kit was cheap so I picked it up. Still use the press and have the rest of the pieces from the kit in my reloading parts drawers but don't use any of them anymore.

[trapper9260]

For me it was with my dad and brother and I with shotgun.For how things was hard for my parents to bring up 5 kids and the price of ammo and use what we hunt for to eat beside fishing. We start to reload for 12ga and 410 with the Lee hand loaders and then got a 12 ga Lee Load All. After I got out of the navy I got into reload 30-06 and 357 later on my own usen the reloading manual. I also got into casting for them since I know how to cast for fishing weights that my dad show me how to do first with sand and newspaper and then got some sinker molds. We had did some salt water fishing from shore at the time since we where to fish salt water once in awhile then how often we did fresh water. It was mail order I got my first press for rifle and handgun that is a Lyman T Press that I got back in the mid to early 80's .Had stop at one point for the moven around and need to set up for it again and now do it more now.Also ha got some Mec loaders also for shot gun.

[Elkins45]

My high school library contained a first edition copy of The ABCs of Reloading by Dean Grenell. Once I saw how the process worked I knew I would be loading my own. My senior year I had my dad buy a Model 19 S&W for me, and soon thereafter I bought a Lee Loader kit in 357 magnum.

I read that book from cover to cover at least a dozen times.

[map55b]

When I was ~20 and fixed an heirloom Remington Model 8 in 25 Remington and wanted to start to shoot it and the cartridge had been obsolete for ~50 years. Now I load for all kinds of weird and wonderful cartridges.

[NoZombies]

When I was 13 my family moved from the city to the country. My Dad had a little S&W .32 revolver that I was fascinated with. I finally talked him into letting me shoot the thing, and I saved all of the brass. After finding some old articles on reloading, I went to our simple workshop and made a depriming rod, a very simple seating die, and a punch so that I could reseat primers in the .32 S&W cases whack-a-mole style. I would knock out the old primers, and hammer a new one home, charge the case with a scoop of black powder, then I'd seat a round ball over the charge using the simple die I'd made, by squeezing it all in a vise (I made a stepped bar that would stop the vise jaws at the correct seating depth.) And then I'd go shoot the revolver some more! It was really slow, but probably the most rewarding reloading I've ever done.

I've always felt that if there was something I 'could' do, I should at least know how, even if I didn't always do it myself. It turns out I enjoy the reloading and casting aspects of the hobby almost as much as I do the shooting part.

[trixter]

My wallet was the biggest factor, and raising 2 sons in the 80's

[Taterhead]

My first handgun was a Ruger model P89DC. 9mm. Then I discovered the early Glock 22 in 40 SW. Factory ammo served me just fine. It was when I bought a Glock 20, and REALLY liked shooting it, that I realized how absurd factory ammo prices were. Now I load for everything that I shoot. And in the past couple of years have been casting. It has been a long slippery slope.

[Smoke4320]

1978 had just moved to Charlotte NC.. walked into a very small gun shop and there sit a whole RCBS Rock Chucker setup lightly used
Now my father never even allowed us to shoot a gun (mom went thru WW2 in Germany as a kid and would not allow guns in the home)
myself and the owner got into a discussion about guns and reloading probably talked 2 hours on and off as a couple other customers came and went
Guess he saw how interested I was and took pity on me. Sold me the whole set for $75.00. That was RC press, 505 scales, uniflow measure,lube and lube pad and neck brush plus a reloading manual ..
It was several years before I realized he was a crack dealer not a gun shop still haven't kicked the habit

[NWPilgrim]

A .44mag 4" Redhawk I bought in 1987 is to blame. I was used to buying handgun ammo for about $8/50rds. But even the cheapest .44 ammo was about $24 at this awesome store called Sportsmans Warehouse (never saw so much shooting supplies in one place before that). I can't even remember how I got started handloading. But I got a Lee Challenger press and some dies, a RCBS Uniflow measure and 1010 scale, W296 and I was launched. I think my first manual at that time was a Speer. Once I was loading .44 mag then it was natural to add dies and powder for .38/.357, .40S&W and .45ACP as I acquired more guns. I bought my first CMP Garand around 1993 and that got me into loading for rifle as well.

Pretty much loaded with the same equipment for 15 years until I started loading in more quantity for .223, .30-06, .40 and 9mm. Then I got a Lee Classic turret press and pretty tried a ton of different things for trimming, swaging pockets, priming, measures, various powders and bullet weights and types. My first introduction to some doing a lot fo reloading for competition was a co-worker who had a Dillon 650 dedicated to each 9mm, .223, .40 and .45 all mounted on a square table in a spare bedroom with shelves and cabinets of supplies. He shot thousands of rounds per week so he just found a good formula for each caliber and produced it in mass quantities. This was way different and interesting approach compared to my small lot of 100 rds and play around with a multitude of component combinations. I still experiment, but also have my "bulk" formulas.

[LAH]

My uncle gunsmith Dennis Thompson inspired me.

[DangerousDave]

1978, my first center fire was a 45/70. I'm 14 years old and a dollar a shot is just unobtainium! Bought a lyman Spartan C press and some dies, a scale (which I'm still using), a lee bullet mould and a few other things from a Gander Mountain catalog. learned how to do it from the Lyman book with no parental supervision, and have been continuously amassing stuff ever since. Still using some of that original batch of brass. Some of those casings have probably been reloaded a hundred times..

[tazman]

My first reloading was with a Lee whack a mole setup for a 222 rifle. Both cost and accuracy were reasons for my getting started.
Unless I could purchase the exact same lot of ammunition, factory loads didn't shoot consistently in my rifle. My handloads did.
I also found I liked being able to make my own ammunition.