Simpler Times,,, and a LOT less storage space needed

[Alan in Vermont]

When I went to put away the free powder I got yesterday I realized just how deep I am into reloading.

Fade back to 1970. I was loading for 243 Win, 38/357 and 20 ga. Had two powders on hand, Unique and IMR-4064. I was shooting cheap, a happy camper if ever there was one.

Right now I have a two drawer, 24"deep, letter size filing cabinet. It is FULL, to the point that I have cans laid sideways on top of vertical cans. No more room, zip, zilch, NADA! Granted there are some duplicates in there, mostly added because they were ones I use and they were free/cheap/available. It's even to the point that I started overflowing into the other filing cabinet I have which is darn near full(4 drawer,36" deep, letter size) of loaded ammunition, empty brass, etc. and now a couple pounds of powder.

Does this madness ever end?

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

Does this madness ever end?

Nope, well, eventually death will bring an end to my endless accumulation, as well as yours. Until then shoot as much as you can.

[runfiverun]

cabinet??
I got a bed room, the garage [shop now], and the basement.
I have 3 kitchen type cabinets and 4 18x24" drawers for metallic cased primers.

it never ends and somehow gets worse.

[Ken in Iowa]

With the powder shortage, I worked on using up old odds n ends of powders for Cowboy action. Boy, you get a lot of shots out of those partial cans.

I don't even want to talk about the cases, bullets and loading tools....

[osteodoc08]

I walked off a "room" of 12x15 in my basement thinking it would be big enough. 8 years later the answer is a resounding NO. I've got an 8' bench with RSC next to it on the 12' end and 4 tiered shelves along 3 sides and 2 of the heavy duty plastic tiered shelving units all full of stuff. I've got more powder stacked on the shelves and floor. Tons of ammo boxes. 5 various presses set up, etc. I feel like I need at least double the current size, but even that may not be enough.

[Blackwater]

Hmmm. Sounds like you've got a good starting point now! So many calibers and bullets, so little time! HAR! Seriously, I know how you feel, but ya' ought'a see MY reloading room! It's amazing what a man can amass when he likes to try most of the "new" powders he's not yet tried yet! Half empty cans abound! Sure takes up space, but getting rid of any would be like selling one's own children! Ain't gonna' happen. But it IS satisfying, in addition to being a bit perplexing when I try to figure out how best to maintain it all.

"More is better" really IS a good philosophy when it comes to components, especially in these days of shortages and lack of available choices. I'll live with it! :-D

[jonp]

No...I have dies for rifles I don't own and have never owned for some reason. 270? 25-20? 348 Win? Where did those come from and why do I have 3 sets of 357 Mag dies? Why do I have a lb of IMR 4320 and a piece of paper taped to the side with data for a 7MM Mag? I have never had one and don't use 4320.

[runfiverun]

I started with a 2'x2' bench in the closet of our first place [everything fit] SIIIGH.

now I got presses I have no room for, benches covered in stuff, dies sets and brass I have no rifle for.
rifles I only shoot jacketed in, rifles I only shoot cast in, 2-3 rifles in the same caliber.
shot shell reloaders that get uncovered every 5 years for a few day's, boxes of ammo I probably won't ever get shot, and supplies i'll probably never use in my lifetime.

I just gave away 2 0-frame presses [with books and scales and 'stuff'] and a Dillon 450.

[GhostHawk]

I got back into reloading/casting about 2 years ago after a 16 year break. Finding powder and primers at first was a real pain.

Thanks to Cabella's I was able to get a couple of pounds of IMR 4350 and IMR 4895 and some large rifle primers.

I was looking this morning, I have a large clear tub with some 12 pounds of various powders in it, and a box beside it with 10 lbs of Red Dot. My steel ammo box is plum full of primers. But I was doing some figuring, I see 2 empty Red Dot cans, some still in the measure. So not going through it too terribly fast. Still, might be a good time to stock up. Well Bass Pro has it but the price is high. I have enough now I can be picky. I think I'll wait till BPI gets some 4 lb caddy's in of Red Dot and buy one of those. Or 2 maybe. Or maybe a promo.

I'll wait a bit, I'm sitting pretty, but I am not sure I like the way this election is shaping up. If I want more, better get it now!

Maybe if I tunnel under the front porch, go underground storage, put in a drain line. That sounds like a lot of work, I'll wait.

[Bent Ramrod]

I do my best to avoid trying the newer brands out there (Ramshot, Accurate, etc.) and stick to the IMR and Hodgdon brands. But it is tough passing up a bargain can of powder; the news that some new powder is the bee's knees for accuracy tempts me away, and, of course, with certain necessary types (i.e. 4759) being discontinued, the impulse is to hoard. My little powder chest is chock full and I have some containers sitting out. I also don't like storing black powder and smokeless powder together, which means two different storage locations.

A friend of mine has vowed to use up all his types of powder and use only 4895 and Unique for everything. No way could I do that, of course.

[GhostHawk]

Well I have taken to using Red Dot for every thing possible, yes including light rifle loads.

I do have some IMR 4895 and 4227 which will get used up, and replaced if need be. Most of the rest will just sit there.

FYI I found an 8 lb caddy of Red Dot at Midsouth yesterday. It should be arriving soon. :)

[JWT]

Look at the replacement prices for the reloading equipment that you use regularly. It just dawned on me that my 25 years of accumulated equipment and brass is so valuable there is no way I could afford it at todays prices. Makes me wonder how a new reloader can afford to break into this hobby.

[funnyjim014]

Look at the replacement prices for the reloading equipment that you use regularly. It just dawned on me that my 25 years of accumulated equipment and brass is so valuable there is no way I could afford it at todays prices. Makes me wonder how a new reloader can afford to break into this hobby.
Its not that hard....go to work, make more money and tellyour wife your "saving" money buy having 10k worth of stuff taking up half the basement

[perotter]

I basically keep the powders I have to a minimum. Unique, 4895 and a ball powder for .410 and magnum pistols. One advantage is I can tell in a glance what powder I'm using.

But I do have about 8# of surplus PSA powder and 12 pounds of 4198 that I bought during the shortage. So currently I have 5 powders on hand. I don't see that there will ever be PSA available again, but I may buy more 4198.

I do buy a pound here and there of some powder to try just for fun, but will use it up completely before loading with any other powder. When it comes to presses, an octopus couldn't use them all at one time.

[Area Man]

... Had two powders on hand, Unique and IMR-4064. I was shooting cheap, a happy camper if ever there was one.

My dad told me how excited he was when he put a can of 3031 on the shelf next to his can of 4759. having two powders for one caliber made him feel like king of the world.

[GhostHawk]

JWT I started with a Lee Hand press, one set of Lee Dies and a Lee mold at a time. A month or 2 down the road and I could pick out another.

Now I have 3 lee press's, still prefer the hand press for most things.
Mold selection is up over 15 molds. Popular calibers like .30 have 2 or 3 molds. 9 sizer kits so I can take a .314 bullet and wiggle it down to .311.

Yes I have a fair amount invested, but it is that, an investment, something for my grandkids someday I hope.

Would be nice if they could start with the tools I did not have till I was in my 60's.

Got in a big 8 lb jug of Red Dot this week, that leaves me sitting pretty to shoot all I want for the next 5 years, not counting what else I have. Ideally the idea is to have fun with it while we have it, then pass it on to someone else.

[Blanket]

When I started reloading back in the early 1960's my dad gave me 48 lbs of red dot a big drum of surplus 4895 and 8 lbs of bullseye life was good

[shoot-n-lead]

It is indeed, hopeless. I call myself trying to thin stuff out...but it just continues to grow...and for some unknown reason...I continue to shop for it and cannot pass up a deal on any kind of reloading or casting equipment. HOPELESS...no other word for it.

[maxreloader]

Hensley and Gibbs, Star, and Hollywood. My three curses... can't pass anything so-named up.

[petroid]

You all have a disease. It's called hoarding. There are television shows about it and self help gurus who claim they want to help you but will take all your money. Me, on the other hand, won't take your money. I will simply relieve you of all your obsessively acquired reloading components and equipment to free you from the loathful burden they bestow on you. No need for thanks. Simply evangelize my altruism so that I can help others that suffer from this terrible affliction.

[runfiverun]

hey,,,, we got a saint in our midst.

[FergusonTO35]

I'm happy to stick with just a few handgun powders, truth be told I could do all my handgun shooting with Bullseye just fine. Rifle powders are another matter. I'm forever trying to hit that trifecta of low charge weight, high velocity, and great accuracy. It looks like IMR 4198 and 4895 are going to provide that for me in .30 WCF with 150 grain boolits. Now I just have to figure out what that takes for .357 Magnum carbine, .257 Roberts bolt action, and .45-70 in the 1895. Probably go through 20 or so powders minimum to do so. Of course, with rolling shortages now the norm I am also keen to figure a range of powders that will work well in each application.

[goryshaw]

I would be happy with Unique/Universal Clays and IMR/H-4895, that would cover 99% of my shooting. Unfortunately I can't reliably find any one particular powder, especially handgun/shotgun powders. So I grab anything in the correct burn rate range that's available. I have something like 15 different rifle powders ranging from IMR-4198 to IMR-4831 and about another 10 handgun/shotguns powders from Red Dot to WW-296. Along with some AA-5744 and SR-4759 solely for cast bullet shooting.

Rifle powder availability is getting better so I have started condensing that list down a bit, but it is still a matter of grabbing whatever is in stock when I'm at the shop.

[GhostHawk]

Petroid, no burden sir. I am just fine sitting on a big pile. In fact I sleep like a baby!

[mozeppa]

jeez-o-pete!

18'x32' shop here with 10' ceiling ....can't walk in it without moving stuff.

does the madness slow...or gain momentum?



p.s. i've been into reloading 3 years now after a 40 year hiatus. (no stuff during the 40 years.)

[LabGuy]

I guess I am a bit deeper in, but in the old days, I didn’tstock much in consumables. A couple of pounds of powder and 2K primers is themost I ever had. If I got low I went tothe local gun store and picked up a pound or thousand as needed. These days with no LGS selling supplies, andthe shortages we have, my stash takes up a lot more room. I have to buy enough when I can find it tooffset shipping and hazmat.

[petroid]

Petroid, no burden sir. I am just fine sitting on a big pile. In fact I sleep like a baby!

Like a dragon on guarding his gold, lol

[rintinglen]

Like a dragon on guarding his gold, lol.
I don't know if I am prepared to go quite that far, but I do have a much better understanding of, and more compassion for, Smaug than I used to...
I used to load everything with 4 powders, Unique, 2400, H-110 and 4350. I must have 2 dozen canisters now. But I am striving to use up some of these oddballs.

Really.

I am.

[Blackwater]

To heck with all those "self help" idjits. When I was a kid, hoarding was a way of life, not a "disease" that needed treatment. People saved old nails from barns and houses they tore down, and all the used lumber they could get. If they didn't need it right then, they'd put it under one of their barns for a "rainy day."

If a neighbor needed some, it was offered gratis, and if they had some hoarded stuff you needed, all you usually had to do was ask about it, and it'd be yours, unless they had some need in mind for it. It was called being "neighborly" back then.

People who came up during the Great Depression NEVER threw away anything that might be of use. If they couldn't use it, they'd call or go by their neighbors and friends, and it never took very many stops to find someone who wanted what you couldn't use, and everyone appreciated it, and reciprocated. It was just the way things worked, and it worked very well.

Now that we have reason to question whether we'll long be ABLE to continue to get stuff, an awful lot of intelligent people have stuck stuff back so they can keep going no matter what. That's not hoarding, it's "preparation," and the Boy Scouts were right!

The best advice one can get is to "Be Prepared." I just wish I or someone I know could see the future so we could KNOW what's coming, and wouldn't have to guess, but so far, everybody's crystal ball seems to be offline or broken. Doancha' just HATE it when that happens?

[Crash_Corrigan]

I started at age 6 with a Daisy BB gun. By the time I joined the NYC Police Department in '64 I had experience with .22 LR, 12 Gauge Shotugn and a 32 ACP Mauser. I carried a Smith Model 10 in 4" and 2" for 20 years and then moved out West. At a small police department in Corrales NM I carried a Smith 5906 in 9 MM. Then I quit LEO work and drove a cab and carried a .22 Magnum Derringer and a 357 Smith 586 6" bbl. Then came the move to Las Vegas in '93. I started to reload for my 357 and I was hooked. Soon thereafter I was casting my own boolits and I started to get serious about shooting. Now I have a .22 LR CZ bolt rifle, 357's (2) one the old Smith 586 6" and also a Smith 586 8 3/8" bbl with an aimpoint sight, a bunch of Rugers 327 Magnum, 30 Carbine, 357/38/9MM, 44 Spcl and 45 Colt, a Browning Hi Power in 9 MM, an EAA Witness in 9 MM, a Sccy in 9MM, a pair of Sigs in 9MM, a Smith 57 in 41 magnum and a Taurus 1911 in .45 ACP. In long guns we have a Custom 6.5x55MM, a pair of 303's, a Garand, a 8x57 MM Mauser, a Marlin 38-55 Win CB model, a Win 94 in 30-30, an H&R in 38-55, a SKS and a Winchester 1885 in 50-90 Sharps. I have 7 presses mostly Dillons and ton of other reloading supplies including about 130 molds for boolits.

This stuff has taken over my life. I live in a tin trailer and I am surrounded in all rooms with the stuff I love to play with. My gun safe is in my wife's Garage 12 miles away as my neighborhood is really a ghetto. It makes life interesting.

[35remington]

Given all the powder and widgits many accumulate, it more firmly reinforces the notion in my mind that most of us don't get into this reloading game "to save money" and in fact we do not.

We just build overhead so we can accumulate more cr*p. I've got an unreasonable amount of primers and powder myself. Don't want Hillary's election to catch me shorthanded. I haven't been shorthanded since the Primer Panic of 1994 and that ain't ever gonna happen to me again.

[NavyVet1959]

I have enough stuff that if I ever make the news, they'll be claiming that I have an "arsenal" and a "large cache of explosives". Of course, a slingshot and a box of matches would also meet that definition in some of the more liberal areas of the US. For Texas, I would just be considered "somewhat well-prepared" by many. if I'm not worrying about whether my concrete slab can withstand the weight, it's not that much as far as I'm concerned. :)

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I must confess, I am guilty as charged. I wish they would stop inventing new cartridges and powders. I want the cartridge companies to make case for what rifles I have now. I have no intention of buying a new rifle. I can't even tell you how many I own. I have powders up the whazoo and most of it was given to me. When we moved to our present digs I gave away a large container of powder. I simply had no place to put it. I left behind a workshop that measured 28 by 11 feet. I was able to build one here that is 10x10. Big difference. Presses and sizers are laying on the floor and the cabinets are full of powder and cases. I also have shelves loaded with cases. I was able to sell case by the pound during the big scare but now it hardly pays for shipping and trouble.

[Latheman]

I have enough stuff that if I ever make the news, they'll be claiming that I have an "arsenal" and a "large cache of explosives". Of course, a slingshot and a box of matches would also meet that definition in some of the more liberal areas of the US. For Texas, I would just be considered "somewhat well-prepared" by many. if I'm not worrying about whether my concrete slab can withstand the weight, it's not that much as far as I'm concerned. :)

Your in good company. I cant get the feeling out of my head that I'm stocked up. I just keep on wanting to buy more. BTW I don't watch the news anymore cause they are full of it.

[brassrat]

http://i1123.photobucket.com/albums/l542/g5uis23ft5h/boat_zps5fawci2a.jpg

[Brett Ross]

Started with this 3 years ago

151595

Now
151596151597151599

DOES TO MADNESS NEVER END.

[mold maker]

Yeah, but only till tomorrow.
You've got a good start there.