Who taught you?

[Bret4207]

My Dad was one of the "you'll learn more by reading than asking questions" type. He showed me the basics and I learned the rest from Elmer Keith, Skeeter Skelton, CS Landis, John Wooters, Bob Milek, Bob Hagel, Maurice Decker, Jack O'Connor, John Jobson, Joe Brooks, Tom McNally, Clyde Ormand, Phil Sharpe, Ray Bergman, Homer Circle and a whole bunch of other hunting, shooting, fishing, trapping writers whose names escape me.

[XWrench3]

unfortunatly, i learned on my own. with the help of a few boards like this one. the big problem with doing it this way is there is no one to stop you from doing stupid things as you are about to do them. you have to learn everything the hard way. it is a lot less costly, and you can learn a lot more, in a shorter time with a good mentor.

[winelover]

Self taught in all aspects of shooting, hunting, reloading and casting. This was well before the internet was invented. Even though my father was a turret tail gunner in WWII, he had no interest in the shooting sports. He didn't even own a firearm. I read everything I could find and then expermented by trial and error. As far as reloading and casting is concerned, I started off using mostly RCBS equipment and adhered to their recommendations and pretty much stayed out of trouble. Most of my first moulds were gas checked and even though boolets were sized to j-word dimensions I had excellent results and, to this day, never slugged a barrel. My Marlin 1894 (44Mag) is the only one I had to feed fat boolets to in order get it to shoot up to my expectations.

Winelover

[Mustangpalmer1911]

My dad and Uncles on my mom side got me into hunting then it exploded from there. Casting I leaned on my own from youtube, another forum and then tons here.

[selmerfan]

I learned how to reload from my father, but I learned how to cast from all of you guys! Lloyd Smale was my inspiration for casting - he and I traded linotype for finished boolits for my .454 Casull that killed plenty of Iowa whitetails. I liked them so much that when i bought a .357 Max barrel I wanted to cast my own and it's been an addiction since! Thanks!!!

[Jim]

My father taught me how to shoot.
My Great Uncle taught me how to hunt and fish.
I learned how to load from reading a manual.
I learned how to cast right here on Cast Boolits.

Oh, God bless the patient and tolerant men that put up with me.

[peerlesscowboy]

Glad to hear you finally met your neighbor..........I can't imagine living only 200 yards from somebody and not meeting them for 2 years? Dare say, I know everybody within 25 miles and at least half the neighbors within 50 miles. Of course out here in northeast Montana there aren't that many of 'em
Anyway, my father taught me to shoot & hunt. I'm pretty much self taught on reloading and bullet casting.

John C. Saubak

[Boondocker]

I learned to shoot from my dad. He sure could shoot and I only wish I could someday shoot like him. His older brother Uncle Bob told me during the depression him and dad traveled from Philly and camped outside Albany and worked 8 months to send money home to grandma. They ate quite alot of rabbit and squirrel and dad even plinked some game birds for supper. He did every thing with his 22 pump Winchester octagon barrel (stolen) later on. Uncle Bob told me he would shoot flying crows with the 22 and would get four out of five and I had know reason to doubt him and dad never bragged. I could tell by the way he shot freehand he could do it. Uncle Bob told me dad was banned from a shooting gallery on Coney Island. We had a small range behind the house and dad would tack 10 playing cards up and nail them rapid fire with my pump Remington free hand at about 50 yrds. at I miss him and still remember the smile on his face when shooting. The loading casting I picked up on my own and learned a great deal here and I am still learning as I got a habit of tinkering.

[casterofboolits]

My father - a child of the depression and WWII vet - taught me the fundamentals of shooting when I was a youngster. He didn't reload, so I had to learn that and bullet casting on my own. I had a few good 'teachers' along the way, though - Skeeter Skelton, Elmer Keith, Jack O'Connor, Dean Grennell, Bob Milek, Mike Venturino, and others of the sort.

This was all in the days before the Internet, back when you had to know how to read. You know, books and such. Seems like kids these days don't know how to do that.

I probably read every gun rag that I came across for several years, and I learned a tremendous amount from them. I think the days of finding much really useful information in gun rags are gone though; they're just advertisements now.

I went the same route and started casting for pistol in the early 70's. I really got into casting big time when I started IPSC. Ended up selling a lot of boolits to other IPSC shooters which paid for my hobby.

I read the Lyman manual on casting at least twenty times before trying to cast my own. Started with Lee pots and moulds and now have three Magma Mastercasters, three RCBS 10 Kilo pots, H&G eight, six and four cavity moulds, Saeco eight and four cavity, and a large pile of Lyman four cavity moulds. A Magma Lubemaster and three Stars.

Casting your own can sure get addictive!

[Grasshopper]

Thinking about the subject of this thread, sure brings back some memories...

Sometime about 30 some odd years ago, (or so) I stopped by my buddy's farm just to shoot the bull. I found him in the fencerow. I asked him what he was doing? He replied: "Shootin' blackbirds". I asked: "Why"? He replied that his dad had bought a couple of cases of cheap 1 oz 12 ga. shells at an auction. He was shooting them up for the hulls to load for duck hunting... "Wanna try some?" he asked... Well, from that moment on, I was hooked on shooting. I was maybe 20 at the time....

He helped me get a Pacific DL-105 shotgun loader and a RCBS Jr metallic press and helped me get them set up for loading.... About 5 years later, I upgraded to an RCBS Rockchucker which I still have, and still use... A couple of years later, his older brother borrowed a Lead pot and a couple of moulds and cast a few bullets. My buddy and I decided to try our hand at that. Well, we went together on a lead pot, and a bunch of handgun moulds. He and his brother shared a luber, which I borrowed on occasion. I finally purchased my own. For the next 15 years, I bought, sold and traded about 50 or 60 handguns... And litterally shot a BUNCH! Finally, I gravitated into rifles, and sold most of the handguns... The only handguns I shoot anymore are 22's and my 45's... (A couple of Dillon RL-550's take care of the pistol shooting duties...)

About 25 years ago, I joined a rifle team. I learned to shoot indoors four position smallbore rifle. Then I REALLY learned the basics of rifle shooting! I participated in that for a goodly number of years, until my eyes got to where I really can't see iron sights very good anymore... I went from that to shooting Hi-Power rifle silhouette, and then into BPCR Silhouette. Never was competitive at either. But now just shoot for the fun and comradarie of the sport.

I don't shoot with my buddy much anymore... He collects shotguns... mostly old Winchester M-12's and sxs doubles... He has diabetes a lot worse than I and he can't see to shoot hardly at all. (But still manages to deer hunt) His dad mentored me in the art and philsophy of hunting. The reasons for doing it and enjoying it. He taught me to enjoy the hunt more than the killing of animals... But also taught me to appreciate the food that it brings to the table. I owe him a debt that I can never repay. He taught me much more about being a responsible sportsman than my dad ever knew! Of course, he had gone on the the "Happy Hunting Ground", long since, but I truly hope I honor his memory.

My buddy and I are both 60 now, and both retired. Our health causes us not to shoot as much any more. But I still enjoy my bullet casting and reloading. Over the years, I have collected about 75 or so bullet moulds, mostly rifle. I promised myself, that now that I am retired, I am going to shoot 1000 rounds of cast bullets in practice this summer.

I think it will be a good year...

Edw

[blackthorn]

Learned on my own. Dad had an old Winchester "rabbit" rifle, single shot, that had been run over with the wagon and wired back together. Because of the wire it had a "hair " trigger. I pestered him to let me use it to shoot gophers and at age ten he finally gave in. All the "training" I got was---"be careful, you could kill somebody with that". Learned to reload in the mid sixtys when I finally saved enough to buy a 300 Weatherby and found out the cartridges were $1 each!! Lucked onto a bunch of .300 H&H ammunition and shot those in my Wby to get the cases to load. Started casting about 7 years ago when I retired learned what little I know about casting here and from reading.

[Wayne Smith]

My dad was a reluctant hunter - shot deer year around on a depredation permit to keep them out of the beans. We always had a deer or two in the freezer as long as we lived in Maine. I started reloading for his 30-30 and my brother's 30-30 and my 16ga in 1969 and learned from reading the gun rags, Herter's catalog, and reloading manuals. I was 16. Had a Lee Loader for the 30-30 and for the 16ga. Was hunting wth a .22 at age 10 or 12.

Did low level reloading for years, in Grad School I got the .44 Mag. Ruger SBH and an RCBS Jr3 press and dies that I still have. Learned to cast from the BPCR guys on Shooters.com and then came here when that folded. Started casting when I got a Sharps 40-70BN and had some C&B pistols as well. Since then I think I have molds for every caliber I have, and have designed a boolit for one rifle.

[Bwana]

Long story short, I am self taught. In the spring of '69, while Dad, Mom, my little brother and I were on a weekend trip, I found a cartridge case, 9mm, along a long abandoned railroad line in the Alaska Range. This case was different in that it had two small flashholes. That set me off on a life long quest for knowledge concerning firearms and munitions. Dad, as in all of us six kids dealings with life, let me do what I wanted as long as it wasn't obviously dangerous. I had already bought, a year earlier, a H&R 929. I didn't have a centerfire yet so Dad let me use his 30-40 Krag and Colt Troopers (2). Mom did not volunteer her Savage 99 in 300 Sav however. First reload was for the Trooper: 125gr 9mm bullet (Norma JSP) and CCI primers and Red Dot powder. It has been a very rewarding hobby that has a very practical side. Like anything else, it can be as intriguing as you wish it to be.

[dverna]

Self taught at reloading and casting.

Read everything I could find as a boy/teenager and started with a Lee Target Loader for the .222 Rem. Learned to always buy a better machine than I could afford. Still have a Bonanza Co-Ax from the early 1970's I paid $70 for.

I have two rooms of reloading equipment and find it a separate but complimentary hobby to shooting. 5 progressive metallics, 2 progressive shotshell, 5 single stage shotshell and the above Co-Ax.

Started casting with a Lyman .30 mold for the .308 and an H&G 10 cavity for the .38 as I could not afford factory bullets. I buy bullets now but think I may start casting for the 38/55 and 45/70 I have. I do not enjoy casting but believe it is a useful skill - just in case. Only reason go cast for the .38/55 and .45/70 is to produce better bullets than I can purchase if commercial cast bullets will not give desired accuracy.

Don Verna

[bbqncigars]

Dad was a deadly wing shot with his 16ga Ithaca pump, but didn't have any other gun-related interests other than upland bird shooting. One of his hunting buddies (Rud Lubsen R.I.P.) took a shine to me for some reason. Rud took me under his wing and taught me reloading. One of his friends was a conservation officer who used his discount with Bonanza to get me a Co-Ax press at a measly $58. That was a lot of money in the late sixties, especially to a paperboy. I still use that press. Thanks Rud. I'm self taught as far as casting.


Wayne

[Walter Laich]

Like many above I learned from my father. Got the basics down and have been casting, reloading and shooting ever since.

[sisiphunter]

For me shooting basics and reloading and hunting was my Dad. More advanced shooting from my work at the Police Force. Casting I learned on my own with alot of help from this site and the Lyman cast boolit handbook 3rd edition.

[buyobuyo]

I've always had a lot of interest in guns and shooting. Unfortunately, growing up, my dad only took my older brother and I out once to shoot his old .380 pistol. Now, we usually go out whenever we're all together.

I learned rifle shooting, reloading and casting from one of the guys in the local gun club and reading books/forums. He runs the club's CMP schools and teaches a reloading class through the university. I learned pistol shooting from a friend and through club matches. I figured out skeet/trap from what I knew of rifle shooting with pointers from friends.

[Flash]

My father, who was a machine gunner on a PT boat during WWII had a passion for guns and taught me about guns. Actually all my uncles and cousins were shooters so it was a natural progression to go from BB guns to rim fire/center fire guns. I taught myself casting.

[oscarflytyer]

shoot: my dad and my HS ROTC instructor - a retired USMC MGSGT. And I was taught VERY WELL!

Reload: self taught

Casting bullets (last 6-8 weeks): again - self taught and school of hard knocks!

With all the above disciplines - a TON of reading and research. I have also had many what I will call "mini-mentors" that have been immensely helpful in specific aspects of each and every disciplines of shooting, loading and casting. I have also been one of those mini-mentors to many, passing along what I have learned to others.