When did it stop being fun?

[jmort]

"this has to be one of the most self serving ignorant posts ive read in a long time. pure horse doodie! did it make you feel good? ill probably get banned or slapped for saying this, but you are insulting very very many other members here with nonsense like this."

^^^^^ This is a bit much. But the notion that the "best quality ammunition" is a single stage only deal is not a thing. Prime example David Tubb. I like single stage presses and have two 550s. I like them all.

[lefty o]

"this has to be one of the most self serving ignorant posts ive read in a long time. pure horse doodie! did it make you feel good? ill probably get banned or slapped for saying this, but you are insulting very very many other members here with nonsense like this."

^^^^^ This is a bit much. But the notion that the "best quality ammunition" is a single stage only deal is not a thing. Prime example David Tubb. I like single stage presses and have two 550s. I like them all.

sorry, but the post i was quoting was in poor taste.

[Mr_Sheesh]

When shooting 500-1000 rounds of pistol ammo a weekend, EVERY weekend, some years back, I'd have just plain glared at the thought that I had to single stage press every single round I would fire that weekend. That would take longer than the time I had weekly, so, what, I could just buy a case of ammo a weekend?

Sure, the hunting guns and varminters get individually weighed powder charges, but for plinking and ammo to keep your pistol skills up, you really can NOT afford the time to do it all super accurately. Or at least I sure couldn't! Could load for myself and siblings with the progressive.

[Traffer]

I started reloading about 3 years ago. I hadn't even shot a gun since 1985. That was the last deer I shot.
I just got the desire to do a little plinking with a 22 in 2015. They said "forget it, you can't get ammo anymore". I bought a little 22 anyway. Then I couldn't get ammo.
Internet to the rescue. I saw a company that was selling kits to reload 22lr. I saw the one or two videos of people who had tried them and decided that it was indeed possible to reload rim fire. Believe it or not I couldn't afford the $80 for the kit. So I decided to try and make the tools myself.
I am one of those guys who likes to make his own stuff. Been making my own fishing stuff since I can remember. I make everything from rods to flies, spinners to tip ups. Ice chisels, ...everything I can. I make rods from broken rods I find in the trash.
Anyway, I have the same approach to shooting. I thought it would be cool to shoot 22 WMR so I got the pieces that I figure I would need to build a gun.
I have gotten deeply into the buying tooling for making bullet making. Just made the biggest purchase of my lifetime. (except for a car) Got a mini lathe from Harbor Freight for $450. Been wanting a lathe for over 50 years.
Got bogged down with a couple of the steps of reloading 22lr. Biggest snag was, believe it or not ...crimping!. In order to make consistent accurate ammo the crimp must be consistent at aroung 50lbs of pull. ...Lot of work there for me. I have collet crimpers that work but make the rounds "look odd" so I am trying to make a cannelure type crimper.
Long story a little shorter...I haven't even been to the range in well over a year. Don't really care to. Shooting now is just a necessary part of the development process. Many of you shoot more in a day than I have shot in my lifetime. I used to enjoy shooting but my eyes are poor now so the thrill is gone.
I enjoy solving problems, fixing things and mostly doing something that no one else does. And I am amazed by guns, always have been.
When I finally attain my goal (if I ever do) of making the most accurate match 22lr ammo there is, I will quit this foolishness.

[Anschutz]

I like reloading, but haven’t been doing it all that long.
Except filling primer tubes, I hate filling primer tubes.

Same. I'm thinking about getting a hand primer just so I don't have to flip 75% of the primers by hand and hunt them all with the tube.

[danthman114]

reloading can get boring at times but you have to change it up. use different tools. a lot of times ill pull out my lee hand press and sit in front of the tv. a couple days ago I pulled out the 38 spc lee classic loader and loaded a box... this weekend ill use the hornady lnl progressive for some .45acp and .223. just change it up and the most simple means of reloading is usually the most enjoyable. now I'm looking into a lyman 310 for 45colt and 30-40 krag.

[45workhorse]

The fun went away when the last of the old time gentlemen shooters in our club died off. replaced one by one over the years by self centered experts who cannot wait to tell anyone who will listen they know everything and any other advise is stupid drivel.

I can see where that would NOT be fun anymore..
Maybe you need to turn into one of those "old time gentlemen shooters!"

[dverna]

Guys, it is good to see many of you are still having fun at it. And it is interesting that there are some in my boat too.

I do not see any way to use a single stage press if someone shoots a lot. When I was competing, it was easy to go through 400 rounds a week. Heck, in some of the trap shoots we would fire well over 1000 rounds in less than a week. The only way to shoot was to reload on a progressive, or buy ammunition.

It has been two years since I reloaded on a single stage press and today I bolted down the old Co-Ax. I need to work up some .308 loads for a new rifle I got this year. The M70 Coyote was getting a bit heavy to lug around and I picked up a couple of Thompson Center rifles this summer. I will do the barrel break-in and then find an accurate hunting load. Hopefully, the guns shoots as well as most say. Accurate guns are fun. Might put 50-60 rounds through it total this year working up a load. I have been asked to thin the doe population by my neighbor so will go through more than the 4 shots a year I was doing (three sighters to check the scope and one round for the deer). BTW, never loaded bottleneck cases on the Dillons as it never made sense to do so. Never got into High Power so no need to churn out a lot of rifle ammunition.

The other toy I will be playing with is a Howa mini-Mauser in .223. The .223 will be my first rifle case on a progressive. Not for the Howa, but to feed the AR's.

I sold off a lot of guns over the last few years and will be shedding a bunch more. In CF rifles, I don't really need more than a couple of deer/black bear rifles, an accurate varmint gun, a couple of .38 lever guns to plink with, and, for what may like ahead, a sniper rifle, and a few AR 15's. In CF pistols, a couple of Kahrs for light carry, a couple of Glocks for normal carry and my prize set of Colt SAA's in .357 for pure plinking fun. In the shotguns, I have put one of the Krieghoffs on consignment already and on the fence about the other one...but leaning towards keeping it. For hunting I will keep the Browning O/U 20 ga and Beretta 12 ga. For home defense, the three Mossberg 500's are staying as well. I hate getting rid of the rest but I hardly use them. The one that will be the most painful is the 28 ga O/U Browning XS Feather....with a weight of about 5 1/2 lb it is a pleasure to carry afield for upland game...and it astonishes others with how lethal it is at 30 yards or less.

So my simplified arsenal will be covered by reloading .223 and .308 for the rifles; .38/.357, 9mm and .40 in the pistols; and 12 and 20 ga in the shotguns. Estimated consumption is 10k rounds a year 3% .40 S&W, 9% .223, 23% 9mm, 30% .38 Spl. 35% 12 ga.... and for hunting, a box of .308 and two boxes of 20 ga. It makes no sense to reload for either the .20 ga or the .308 in economic terms. But I have the equipment and I wish to be self sufficient in case (or when) our freedoms are taken from us. Therefore...looking at reloading in those terms....

I will give one of the 550's to my son and sell the other 1050. That will leave me with a 550 (set up for .223 for the AR's), 1050 (.38, 9mm, .40...no primer change over needed), Co-Ax (rifle hunting ammunition), Rock Chucker (sizing/depriming), PW 800+ (12 ga target ammunition) and two PW375's (12 and 20 ga). One 375 is set up for 3" hulls in 12 ga and 20 ga, and the other for 2 3/4" hulls in both gauges.

I have a few .30/30's and I have not shot them in years. I will be keeping those just in case. If/when AR's are banned, they will be my AAR's (Appalachian Assault Rifles) . May never need them...but better to have and not need, than need and not have. Plus it is a good cast bullet caliber if bullets become difficult to acquire.

I look forward to load development for the T/C Compass .308 and the Howa .223. Next project will be the .30/30's with cast. Maybe I can start having fun again! The cool weather will help a lot as I do not handle heat well.

[Big Boomer]

At my age and my wife's condition, getting out to the range is a sometimes proposition. I already gave my son all the "excess" guns I'm willing to part with at the present. Since I quit using conventional lube groove lube that I long ago put together (FWFL) and started powder coating, my zest for all things shooting has been on the rise even at almost 79 years of age. While I have always enjoyed all aspects of reloading and shooting, the one thing I really despised was the gooey, sticky boolit lube but since it was necessary, I wanted the best and picked up a couple of Stars to get the job done right. I do use some jacketed bullets in .223/5.56 and .243, but even with those rounds I have started casting and powder coating. I'm left with a gaggle of stuff for making FWFL and a large quantity of it I have made over the years. Even purchased the grease and other stuff necessary to make Ben's Red. Don't want to part with that stuff as yet, but I'm getting to where I don't need it any more and pleasantly so. It is so easy to cast up a bunch of boolits and run them through Smoke's clear and load them up. So uncomplicated. Only some kind of catastrophe will send me back to boolit lube - even FWFL and Ben's Red. Like to store cast and prepared boolits in my wife's empty coffee cans (don't drink the stuff myself). Always had boolit lube all over the boolits and the containers. No more of that with powder coating. So, reloading and shooting is getting more interesting all the time. Big Boomer

[reloader28]

If you are using a progressive, you are just a reloader. Most of us are handloaders, and a single stage press is much more appropriate for the best quality ammunition.

Its funny how most guys hate reloading pistols but if you have a progressive to speed it up your ridiculed

[waksupi]

Its funny how most guys hate reloading pistols but if you have a progressive to speed it up your ridiculed

No ridicule intended, just a statement of fact.

[Big Boomer]

Probably most of us started out on single stage reloading presses. I thought I jumped ahead of the crowd a bit by buying a Lyman Spar-T turret press - with five or six stations no less. Still have that press and still use it for reloading all rifle ammo. However, the Dillon XL-650 and a Hornady-Pacific Pro-Jector really helps crank out the handgun ammo. Have both and will continue to use both. My son reloads .223/5.56 on his Dillon 650 but I just can't see it but I don't criticize him for it. Different strokes for different folks. Big Boomer

[lefty o]

No ridicule intended, just a statement of fact.

an incorrect statement!

[David2011]

If you are using a progressive, you are just a reloader. Most of us are handloaders, and a single stage press is much more appropriate for the best quality ammunition.

You’re almost always right. Not this time though. I do all load development on a single stage press. Some gets loaded on that press. Some gets loaded on the progressives. The power charges are equally good as is seating depth. That doesn’t make me less of a handloader.

[toallmy]

I have just always loaded my own ammo but I just do it when I feel like it , I have had dry spells with months of not loading or even shooting , but I have never ran out of ammunition or had to hurry up loading . On the progressive reloading - I wish I had started loading handgun ammo progressively in my youth along with casting . I would have put a lot more rounds down range if I had .

[Mr_Sheesh]

I suspect it's a matter of time management for MOST here - If you're loading "plinking" ammo where you have worked up a GOOD load and need a lot of rounds loaded so you have TIME to plink, and 98-99.5% of the quality will do the job, progressive loading is a good idea; For hunting ammo where you need that 100%, single stage press it is the only answer. Progressive ammo's pretty darn good, so long as you use your OCD-fu while running that press. (It's a good idea to use all of your OCD-fu when doing ANY reloading, other than depriming - if you don't inspect at that stage as well.)

[M-Tecs]

If you are using a progressive, you are just a reloader. Most of us are handloaders, and a single stage press is much more appropriate for the best quality ammunition.

Like most long range rifle competitors I mostly load on a progressive. We all have no problem holding 1/2 MOA out to a 1,000 yards with a progressive. To produce extremely accurate ammo the same steps have to be followed. Press type makes very little difference providing the press is not adding any inaccuracy. I do not use arbor dies so I am not including them in this comment but runout and shoulder consistency with my 650's and 1050's equals the best of my single station press. I own RCBS rockchuckers, A2's, A4's, Co-Ax Reloading Press and a dozen others I have collected through the years.

[robg]

When I started to handload it was so I could shoot .now I shoot to reload .still find it very satisfying and relaxing ,but I've only been doing it for 36 years so my opinion may change .

[Efin]

I love to reload, but lately it seems as though I love to buy stuff to reload than do the reloading...

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[toallmy]

Since I have started casting , I think I might need to hire some help shooting pretty soon .