How much do you enjoy your hobby?

[DeanWinchester]

I threw this out in one of my other posts, but I feel it bears repeating.

I wonder how many of you enjoy building, developing and perfecting a load more than actually using it? I posed this to a few people around me and they find it ludicrous. I can't help it, I'd rather waste away an entire sunday loading superfluous amounts of creations I'll likely never use than anything I can think of. Tell me I not alone.

[reloader28]

I've spent many, many, many, many days loading loads just to see how they perform. Thank God for cast boolits. I'd be one broke SOB.

I should add that my friends and family think I'm nuts.

[Dennis Eugene]

I'm not really into load devolpment. I work up a good hunting load for my deer rifles and once I've got a good one I just stay with it. My handguns are my fun guns I just load lots of rounds and then shoot 'em up. Dennis

[wallenba]

I must be like that a little bit, because I've got a backlog of loaded ammo I have not tried yet and I still fiddle on the bench when I can't get out.

[R.C. Hatter]

I enjoy the experimentation as much as shooting itself. I feel that the work should be enjoyed as much as the results and accompanying satisfaction. That's what makes the hobby worthwhile to me.

[waksupi]

Heck, I even build the rifles specifically for cast boolits!

[malpaismike]

My hunting rifles all shoot well with green Rem (corelokt), so I don't mess much. However my kaboy long-range is a differen........scritchmono=e==vblkdfjldfjlkjldfjl ;kjadkljl you will now be returned to thecontrollerthisisnotahobbyitisalivestylethisisno tahobbyitisalifestylethisisnota................

[geargnasher]

Life is a grand experiment. Casting, reloading, and shooting is no different. That's why I have a chronograph, good shooting bench, and very few reaction/plinking type targets: I'm more interested in the science and practicality of the hobby than I am about just going shooting.

Gear

[gray wolf]

I love every second of it, and care less what other people say.
( what they know anyway Eh. )
I also like the way we share information, and learn from each other.
We hear are indeed a family, all you have to do is read the post to see it's true.
I can sit for hours making bullets and I enjoy shooting them and trying to get things as perfect as I can. Cept for my mini 14, that's one dog that wont hunt.

Sam

[HighHook]

There is a major problem in my little world... I have finally finished filling all my cases. All the Federals for hunting the Rems have the jwords and Wins are for the perfect cast loads for all calibers. Because of so so so much work and tons of hours i dont want to shoot them because they are perfect in my silly world.
Just so i can go shooting i load all so called crappy head stamps. I am feeling like i will never get to enjoy shooting my so called best stuff because i want to save it for someday. Wow i needed to vent on that. lol

[Crash_Corrigan]

My ambition is to fill all the cases of all my calibres of weapons and to have an ample supply for or when WTSHTF.

When I feel that I have enuf ammo then I will not feel guilty about shooting some of it.

I have a few weapons that need some TLC. A smith 357 with a busted rear sight; a 8 mm bolt rifle that does not chamber my reloads...a chamber cast is needed here; a 303 that is throwing shotgun patterns with certain loads may require a beagled mold to make a fatter slug etc.

Then I have some load development to do on my 327 Federal Magnum and I will continue to hunt down some more cases for this bruiser.

I am getting a new gun this week...a .44 Special Bisley for which I already have some ammo that was too strong for the Charter Arms Bulldog but should do well in the Bisley.

There is also a Smith Model 57 with a 4" tube in .41 Magnum that is still in the original box and has never been fired that is calling to me.......

That will require everything in .41 Calibre....molds...dies....brass.... and the list goes on and on.....will it ever end.....will I ever be done........NO NOPE NEVER.

[1_Ogre]

Can't count the hours or is it days and weeks that I have developed loads for OTHERS even for calibers that I don't have. It's fun, relaxing, and satisfying to see the results of something that you took the time and effort for someone else. I like it.

[NHlever]

One of the other retired guys that hangs out at the range sometimes has become a friend, and he visits while I'm testing loads sometimes. "What do you do with those cast boolit loads when you get one that shoots the way you want it" he asked one day. "Well, then I have to try other combinations, and techniques" I replied. For the past three years, or so I have been undergoing treatments most of the time that leave me tired, shaky, and yes sometimes even a bit discouraged. It has been wonderful to have a hobby like this that I can enjoy during all of this. I can't hunt much, and sometimes can't even practice much off hand, etc. but I can read, tinker, cast boolits, and try all kinds of things that I never had time for when I was younger. I feel blessed that I can afford to do some of it now (though trying a new caliber usually means trading somehing I'm not using much), and even more blessed that I have friends that understand, and places like this I can go to for information......... and to feed the fire. It is truly one of those cases where the journey is much more important, and fun than the destination. After nearly 50 years of reloading, and casting, I still enjoy it very much.

[1Shirt]

Kinda sort of a different strokes for different folks proposition. It is one of the things that keeps us shooting, loading, and spending time in front of the computer on Cast Boolits.
1Shirt!

[gnoahhh]

I've been experimenting with reloading for over 40 years now. With cast bullets I'll jockey alloys, lubes, velocities until I achieve the accuracy goal for that specific rifle, then lock it down and go on to something else. When loading for that rifle I then know what works and go straight to it. Infinite testing of loads isn't for me. If I hit the magic note with the first try, great. I then have more time for shooting.

Obviously, for me casting is a means to an end, not the end itself. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy experimenting with cast bullet casting as much as the next guy. I just like actually shooting even better.

[curiousgeorge]

I think that I have been guilty of saying that sometimes I would rather reload than shoot. While this is not entirely true, I am absolutely guilty of tinkering with all of the reloading equipment, boolits, cases, etc., etc. for hours and hours. A hobby that I absolutely love that has provided years of enjoyment that I don't have to travel for hours away from the house to do. And when you run into another reloader it is like finding a long lost brother. And when I find another old reloading press that needs some TLC, another adventure begins in restoring and just learning about how all the guys that came before me (us ?) used to do this. Even with all of our improvements, some of the old, old timers shot some amazing groups with equipment and methods that sometimes seem pretty archaic.

Long live reloading, casting, and the shooting fraternity like the people on this site. Maybe we are helping to pass it on to at least some of the generations coming behind us.

Steve

[DeanWinchester]

Great. Thanks guys.

You know you're reloading/casting nut when you work on calibers you don't even own. Lead47 don't feel alone, I have a few things I have been loading and casting that I don't own a gun for either, only I'm not doing it for someone else.

[white eagle]

the first thing I do in the morning and the last thing I do at night
check in here at cast boolits
I have reloaded and shot more in he past six months that I have in the prior
6 years
truly enjoy casting and love to shoot
not just melting and pouring but blending and concocting (alloying)
Hi my name is Dave I'm a castaholic

[dragonrider]

Enjoyment is all in the reloading, casting, sizing, making whatever tools, size dies and punches to make the whole part of reloading more efficient. I long ago gave up on trying for that elusive tiny group. All of my guns except for a 30 herrit barrel for my contender, can shoot better than I am capable of, so now I shoot just so I can reload.

[DeanWinchester]

Enjoyment is all in the reloading, casting, sizing, making whatever tools, size dies and punches to make the whole part of reloading more efficient. I long ago gave up on trying for that elusive tiny group. All of my guns except for a 30 herrit barrel for my contender, can shoot better than I am capable of, so now I shoot just so I can reload.

That's funny, that happened to me too. I got into reloading so I could shoot. Now I find I shoot so I can reload. *Sigh* The craziness