How did you learn to reload?

[imashooter2]

My curiosity peaked from a post in the ABCs of Reloading thread. So… how did you learn starting out?

[rockrat]

Neighbor when I was about 8, loaded shotshells. Heard he was a pretty good shot on the trap and skeet fields and had many a trophy. Was fascinated by it. Fast forward 10 years got a Lee loader and a lyman manual. Learned quickly that I wanted more than a Lee loader

[samari46]

Back then no computers or internet. Books and loading manuals. Frank

[Minerat]

Decided to just start because I was shooting a lot of 20ga shells at the time. So in 1971 when I was a Jr in HS I ask my dad for a Baer shotshell reloader for Christmas and a lyman shotshell reloading manual and went at it.

Started metallic in 1984 the same way but was feeding a SBH 44 mag and a .308. My mother worked for CCI/Speer at the time and got me a deal on a RCBS Partner Reloader Kit. I got the Speer manual read the directions and went to it.

Same with casting in 2006 when a friend walked into my office and dropped a box with a Seaco pot and 8 lyman and Ideal molds on my desk and ask "You want these?" CB got me going but mostly just went to it and muddled my way thru. (Still am).

[gc45]

Began by reading the Lyman casting manual and any old reloading books I could find; then began casting 32 Special lead bullets at age 16 using an old cast iron pot I found at the dump. My Grandad showed some things as well but mostly I did things on my own making lots of mistakes, trial and error.

[stubshaft]

I started with a Lee Loader when I was 8 years old back in the 60's. The closest thing I had to load data was the little sheet that came with it.

[Jimmynostars]

Brought a Lee anniversary kit, dies and watched YouTube was nervous as heck was going to blow my face off. My supervisor at wk invited me to bring my gear round to his place, 2hrs later and most of the mystery was removed with simple explanations.

I was lucky

[Jedman]

My first reloading was 12 ga. shot shells. I bought a Lee loader kit and at the time around 1971 there was a Marathon gas station that the owner converted more than half of the interior space to a gun shop that sold new and used guns and reloading components. If you bought in small quantities like me the components cost a little more such as .99 per 100 primers, powder by the pound was sold weighed on a old grocery store scale from a 15 lb. Cardboard keg and packaged in a double brown paper bag for about $ 3 a pound, shot was only sold in 25 lb. bags for $ 4.50 ea. and plastic one piece wads were $ 1.75 per bag of 250.
Within a year or two I got to know other shooters/ handloaders and started to buy components by the 1000 and they were about 30% less that way and we would split up what we wanted at the lower cost.
Next was 38 special and again it was a Lee reloading kit. By the time I was 18 and working full time and making a little more money I bought Mec 600 jr. loaders for shotshells and I had a Herters single press for rifle and pistol ammo loading.
It all came very quickly after that, I was shooting skeet in all 4 gauges and had separate loaders for all of them all and a turret press for centerfire cartridges. I belonged to several local gun clubs and shot every weekend year round except during hunting seasons.

Jedman

[Land Owner]

In the Fall of '89 I purchased land and after Christmas a used Winchester Model '94. From the first box of Remington factory 150 grain ammo that 30-30 had no better than "minute of pig" accuracy at 100 yards.

I asked questions of an older reloading co-worker. He suggested I get my feet wet with a Lee Loader. So, I voted mentor. My co-worker helped me make sense out of the reloading clutter when I needed answers.

[imashooter2]

My own story… Pop was a reloader and a caster. Far more utilitarian than I am, it was a means to keep shooting competitive Bullseye with 4 kids on a telephone man’s salary. I learned to reload and cast at his knee. I have a hard time calling it mentoring… it was simply something we did. There were no lessons, same as there was no lesson in swinging a hammer or pitching a tent. We just set off to camp or build or reload and I was expected to help. Over the years, it progressed to where I was autonomous.

Such is the circle of life. I guess at the root of it all, it was mentoring as well as the job can be done.

[GregLaROCHE]

My cousin had been reloading and told me about it. When I said I wanted to start, he suggested my buying the Lyman kit which I did. He gave me his old Lyman reloading guide, but never showed me anything. He did answer my questions though. I started loading .222s and went up from there as I acquired more guns. Boy, everything was so much cheaper back then.

[Czech_too]

Books & manuals. There was no internet or video's in the '70s that I knew of.
Had to feed the first milsurp somehow.

[Dio]

I've been reloading since the early 80s....self taught.

[Shawlerbrook]

Had a cousin that reloaded but I learned mostly from reading. It was the early 70’s.

[Gewehr-Guy]

Learned of reloading by reading about it in old gun books and magazines. I bought a Lee Loader, a pound of 2400 powder, and Hornady 100 gr short jacket bullets and started loading, using Lee's instructions. It was for my first centerfire rifle, a cut down Mosin Nagant Finn Cub, as sold by one of the old time surplus dealers like Century Arms or Hunter's Lodge.

I was 14, and that was close to 50 years ago, and I still like an old Lee Loader!

[buckwheatpaul]

I learned on a Lee Hand Loader Kits (38 Spl and 243 Win) and then onto a Texan Shotgun loader. I progressed to RCBS press and finally to Dillons.....along the way I learned to cast and size and had a mentor along the way....it was a wonderful path!

[missionary5155]

Since I was 4 I was with my dad and his Navy buddy as they cast ad loaded 38 Special. Got my first lead burn that year.
In 74 after the "green machine" turned me loose started on my own.

[Wag]

Bought the Lee Anniversary Kit in about 97-ish. It came with a Speer manual so I read it. Then I bought a couple of other manuals and read those too, just to be sure. Bought Lee dies in 9mm, 44 magnum and 30-30 and went after it. In short order, I got a feel for what the press feels like when seating primers and seating bullets. I made my share of mistakes along the way but it never did cause me any grief.

Been loading ever since.

Casting, I was given a Lyman 10-lb pot and nothing else so I bout the Lyman manual and pored over it learning a bare smidge of lead metallurgy and figured out how I wanted to do it. I read a lot on this forum and got some great advice in the process (Thank you very much!)

At this point, I think I know enough to be really dangerous but I have fun with it and I've done a lot of shooting.

--Wag--

[pworley1]

I started loading in the late 1960's and I am still learning.

[Scrounge]

My curiosity peaked from a post in the ABCs of Reloading thread. So… how did you learn starting out?

I learned "at my father's knee." Dad was an avid shooter, and infected me. I fired my first handgun at age 4. SAA Colt in .45 Long. Got knocked on my tail section, been hooked ever since. ;) Was "helping" my dad reload at age 6, and actually learning to do it myself by age 10, closing on 58 years ago.

Still have the early model Stevens Favorite that was the first rifle I ever fired. Recently(couple years ago) replaced a pair of screws in it, and got it shooting again, too. :bigsmyl2:

Bill

[upr45]

mostly read about it, was back in 1985. No videos then or internet. Started when bought a bolt action 7mm mag. Figured it would be the only centerfire rifle i needed. Was i ever wrong!!! Planned on loading it down for deer. Several guys i worked with reloaded so was able to ask them when needed.

[375supermag]

Self taught...no mentor or friend to help or teach.
Just a few reloading manuals and directions from RCBS die sets.

[white eagle]

Bought a manual and read it and just started
it's an evolving craft never stop learning and improving
your teachers are the targets , cases , and rifles you use

[panhed65]

Back in 1971, just out of the Army, bought a Remington 788 in 6mm, at the same time, a rcbs jr press, scale and dies. dealer thru in a lyman manual, so with its help learned. being that young, was always after the speed, but soon learned to put accuracy first.
Barry

[beemer]

First thing I did after finishing high school in 1970 was getting a car and putting together a reloading outfit. I got started in '72 with the first victim being a 38 spcl and a 6mm Rem next. No one around here had a clue so it was a couple good manuals and have at it.

The first casting was round balls for a ML with 38 spcl shortly after in about '77. After getting into milsurps in early 90's I took up casting for rifles. What took me so long ? I'v been interested in a couple other things but this one will be here when the others are gone.

This hobby is really interesting, as simple as you want or as intensive as you want. It's a never ending search, the more you learn the more you realize how little you know.

This forum is a good place to be.

Dave

[ddeck22]

Books and manuals do a very good job for giving you the basics. I cam along after the internet, so videos are invaluable for setting up and troubleshooting a particular press or particular tools.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Books, manuals, started with a blue Pacific C-press, 1964(?), no internet, information limited - Lyman, Speer Manuals, instructions in press and die packages, a few books in library, got Lyman bullet casting 'kit' for Christmas - Lyman 45 Lubrisizer, Cast Iron melting pot, Lyman ladle, 31141 single cavity mold, .309 H&I sizing die and top punch. Still have all but the Pacific C-press, it cracked after a couple years,
Now I have way too much stuff but that's OK. The internet does help when setting up tuning various progressive presses, case processing but does make buying stuff/spending more money way too easy. No supervision, on my own, father was not a hunter or shooter, he did go along to buy stuff some stores would not sell to a 'kid', provide transportation to the stores that had gun and reloading stuff, just had that gun DNA. A lot of catalog mail order then, guns mailed through USPS. No FedEx, UPS only around the Great Lakes, they were in the HERTER's catalog, but did not go everywhere, no zip codes, no area codes, no 911, HOW DID WE SURVIVE!!

[Rapier]

Being a military family we moved a bit. In 61 we moved to NH where I met a fellow that was into old military and European center fire guns, cheap guns. He reloaded ammo and cast bullets to run his trap lines during the winter months. I was curious about the hows, so he offered to show me how he made cast bullets and how he came to use cast bullets for the cost savings, with accuracy. Trappers are a thrifty bunch. I had lawn mowing money in HS so started with a nut-cracker tool in 62, with dies, a hammer and a piece of 2x6 scrap. No manual or scales, just a Lyman dipper. I still have a nut-cracker tool, in my go bag.

[Tripplebeards]

A guy who let me go bear hunting using hounds around 99’. He basically showed me the wrong way now to do it. But for my interest and started in the craft. We loaded up some 300 RUM Nosler ballistic tips and 243 XLCs that could not hit a 4’ pice of cardboard at 100 yards because the spread was so bad. The 300 RUM did about 1.5 MOA. He wasn’t measuring every powder dump and we had huge inconsistencies. I went out and bought a RCBS master reloading kit a couple months later and digital scale. First ladder test with my loads with my 243 and 90 grain Nosler ballistic tips I shot all in one hole at one hundred yards like I missed the target with the the other two shots. At two hundred yards I shot a cloverleaf that was just under .3”. I was hooked after that. I did ALOT of reading before I started loading myself. If YouTube existed at the time I wasn’t aware of it as I didn’t use my first computer much at that time.

[Dusty Bannister]

In the late 60's I entered a career that required firearms proficiency. The duty issued revolver was a model 10 that appeared to have been in a dog fight and lost. Soon after I upgraded to a Smith mod 19. The agency issue practice ammo was 38 Spec wad cutters of questionable quality but did an excellent job of leading the barrel. A fellow officer offered to load some with JHP for a percentage of the reloaded ammo. Done deal. I have never seen such deformed HP noses in my life. Everyone was different but they poked holes in paper and did not lead. I got the Lee "whack a mole" and some cast bullets from Hodgdon that were slathered in the NRA 50/50 lube and actually had some success. Somewhere along the way, I added a Bonanza O frame press.

In the early to mid 70's I bought a couple of bullet molds from another co-worker and slid into the cast bullet abyss. Just the reloading and cast bullet manuals, and whatever gun magazines I could get my hands on at the time. It has been a wonderful hobby all these years, meeting great folks, and generally shooting more than I would have if not for the casting and reloading.

[lancem]

Wow, 50 years ago when I was 18 I bought my first rifle, M1 Carbine. Couldn't afford ammo but saved up for a Lee wack-a-mole and the rest is history.

[trebor44]

RCBS Jr. press and accessories, old Lyman #3 manual and it progressed from there. A never ending learning curve. Now, five presses (red, blue and green) later and options to cast, I think I am hooked. Incentive for reloading was the "economy" of reloading:!:

[wddodge]

I'm going to call it a combination of all three. I read reloading manuals to start, a friend answered who knows how many questions and then the internet came along to show me all the tools that I didn't have.

Denny

[gwpercle]

1967 - Books and Loading Manuals - That was allthere was unless your Dad or Uncle reloaded .
I didn't know of but one other person who reloaded ... a kid in grade school , Fishy Hubbard , his Dad was on the BRPD shooting team and he reloaded their practice 38 special ... Fishy helped his dad cast wadcutters and would show up with a blister now and again and He gave me a cast boolit once ... Fishy's talk of casting and reloading in grade school planted the seed,
in high school I got $25 from my dad , a Lee Whack-A-Mole Classic loader and a Lee 1 cavity mould , read every book in our high school library and bought a few manuals and haven't stopped . Didn't have many persons to discuss this hobby with till 2011 when I found Cast Boolits and joined .
I am glad I learned before the invention of U-Tube "Experts" ... the first reloading video I watched the guy blew a S&W 38 DA Top Break because he didn't know the difference between "Black Powder" and powder that was the color black ... the can said Bullseye ...
but "expert" filled the case like loading black powder and blew it apart on the second round .
Amazingly he blamed the gun and ... U-tube will let you show wrong and dangerous acts just like it was safe and proper ... I don't want no part of U-Tube and it's reloading "Expert's" that blow up firearms .
Gary

[Electrod47]

Simple instructions that came with my first Lee Loader in 38/357 and purchased at the same time 1978 45th Edition Lyman Reloading Book.

Man, I wished I had a mentor, would have sped things up by several years. My in print mentor was Major Nonte. I miss that guy. Own and reread everything that old boy put paper and still enjoy it.

[super6]

Books was the way I learned, Got gifted a Holly Wood SR and needed a place to start, And bought every Manuel I could find! Every one of those used different powders, primes and brass! I have accumulated more than is humanly possible. And theirs that pesky pour your own thing, Thanks to CB! Shot gun was just as the same.

[country gent]

I started with a lee loader in 222 rem. an old bottle caper was added for the mallet. ( Dad got tired of the tapping).When I bought my first press dies and scale the owner / gunsmith of the shop took me in the shop we bolted the press down on a board and he showed me the process. I had both books and a mentor. This was in the mid 70s.

[rbuck351]

When I was 14,my dad took me to a drug store that had a gun section in the back corner. He went to the gun counter and told the counter guy he wanted a cheap loading set up for 12 ga. It was my birthday present and I end up with a Lee whack a mole, a lb of red dot, a box of primers (100) a box of alcan plastic over powder wads, a box of filler wads, a five lb sack of shot and a #3 (?) Speer loading manual. He didn't reload and never shot more than the one round from his 17 Enfield it took to get a deer or a second round for an elk.

So, I was on my own and learned to load from the manual. Next was a RCBS reloader special in 38 spl and then a Lyman mold and a ladle to save more money. Now twenty some presses,30 some die sets, a bucket of boolit molds and a life time supply of components, I am now ready to start saving money. I hope.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

There was a R. F. Wells reloading manual that came with a basement full of reloading equipment that I bought in the 90s, from an old timer with poor health. After I read that manual, I bought another manual Nick Harvey's practical reloading manual. After I read that, I found a older Lyman manual at a gunshow, I bought that and read it. Then I went about loading my first cartridge, 44 Mag. I sure wish I had the internets back then.

[Springfield]

When I was 15 I bought a Lee Loader for .303 British so I could shoot my Dad's Enfield. Didn't do anymore loading until I became a Deputy Sheriff and couldn't afford to buy as much 9mm practice ammo as I wanted so I bought an RCBS Rockchucker, and it took off from there. Never had any outside help, just read the instructions with the LEE and later some reloading books, as the internet didn't exist back then.

[tunnug]

Back in the early 80's I saw a classified ad for someone selling their whole reloading setup, I'd been wanting to start and the price was cheap enough for me I went and got it, still have the press, pretty much self taught using load manuals.

[lightman]

I voted "had a Mentor" but I started out by reading a Lyman book cover to cover. Then a Gentleman from the gun shop where Grandpa bought the equipment came to his house one evening and got us started. This was in the 60's and I was just a kid. Looking back on it, the Gentleman was pretty good and I have changed very little in my routine since then. Sure, I've ventures into other aspects of loading like case forming, neck turning, sizing with bushing dies, ect but I still do the basics the same way that he taught us.

Now casting was a different thing. I read the Lyman Cast Bullet book cover to cover and we just started casting. Our first efforts were pretty awful.

[Chief TC]

I started with a mentor on reloading smokeless but of course moved to manuals and videos. Once i decided to get into the BP game, I started reading here and then made an account to start connecting with all the experience here.

[super6]

Books was the way I learned, Got gifted a Holly Wood SR and needed a place to start, And bought every Manuel I could find! Every one of those used different powders, primes and brass! I have accumulated more than is humanly possible. And theirs that pesky pour your own thing, Thanks to CB! Shot gun was just as the same.

Still do not know what the IMR 7625 is for. LOL

[sundog]

Ah yes, Nonte. I still have 'Modern Handloading' copyright 1972. Bought new through a book club. I still have and occasionally refer to it. I also have my first load manual, Lyman 45th ed. By the time I started loading and casting in 1971 I had already been shooting for about 15 years (started with a Daisy scoped BB gun from an uncle). An Air Force buddy got me started with 38 Spl, Ly 358311, and Unique. Bought an RCBS Jr from a guy at Fort Carson when he was leaving (still have it and use it). About 1976, friends in a skeet club got me hooked and I started loading 12 ga with their help, just to support the habit. Still have and use the MEC press I got back then.

It certainly has been a lifetime experience.

And the learning curve seems endless....

[quilbilly]

I started with a Lee Loader when I was 8 years old back in the 60's. The closest thing I had to load data was the little sheet that came with it.. Same for me also back in the early 60's.

[blackthorn]

In early 1960, I became convinced the only rifle I really wanted was a 300 Weatherby Magnum! I had married (at age 20) in 1959, eventually had two kids, worked in a plywood manufacturing plant, and we lived from payday to payday. It took all my income to support my family. My Union (at the plant level) negotiated our ability to work overtime (OT) on a rotating basis. I determined that I would not work overtime to get money to pay bills! The deal became that my wife got the net earnings from every other OT, and I got the same to be spent however each of us wished. She spent hers, I saved mine. By 1967 I had saved $500.00 and for that amount I negotiated with the gun store to buy a 300 Weatherby, sling, scope with tip-off mounts, mount open sights and one (20 round) box of ammunition. A box of twenty rounds cost $20.00. Enter the desire to reload! There was no empty brass to be found but I found out I could use 300 H&H by just firing it in my rifle to fire-form and then I could reload it to Weatherby levels. I found several boxes of 300 H&H (OLD stock) and after much wailing, the nice East Indian gentleman agreed to my (somewhat low-ball) price. I bought an RCBS package kit, watched my Brother in law load for his 308 was not impressed, bought a manual or two and read them. Read everything I could find on reloading and, after ignoring what I saw my BIL do, started to load guided by what I researched. From there on it has been a search for the wherewithal to get whatever I need to load for all the firearms I have. I am still learning!

[shdwlkr]

my cousin got me into it as we used to shoot a lot when I went to his place. Lost him 30 years ago now, think of him many times when I am doing things we used to do. We grew up more less together.

[GOPHER SLAYER]

A neighbor started me on the road to reloading. The first cartridge I reloaded was a 218 Bee. That was in 1958. I still have the dies.

[jonp]

Bought a Lymans #47, bullets, powder, primers and a Lee Loader at L.L.Cote's in Errol, NH. Read and re-read the front part then had at it for my 41Mag Blackhawk at my hunting camp miles from anywhere in front of the woodstove with the snow flying over the pond. Still remember like yesterday the grimace and squint when I touched off the first round then the giant grin when it worked. Still have part of the original pound of Blue Dot I bought for it and the Loader although both the 41Mag Blackhawks are long gone to my regret although the Single Six bought at the same time is still in the safe and my carry gun at camp. No idea of the thousands of 22lr put through it.

30yrs later and I test some of that Blue Dot and Unique bought not long after every year when back north. -30 or more in the winter and 85 sometimes in the summer. Still smells and looks good and goes bang.

No computer, phone or internet. Book or you were on your own. Still believe reading a book is the best way to go along with watching someone on the internet now demonstrate what is in print but if the power goes out or the net is down you still have a manual.

[jonp]

mostly read about it, was back in 1985. No videos then or internet. Started when bought a bolt action 7mm mag. Figured it would be the only centerfire rifle i needed. Was i ever wrong!!! Planned on loading it down for deer. Several guys i worked with reloaded so was able to ask them when needed.

I would like to hear why the 7mm Mag is not the only rifle you need if reloading. Notice I didn't say "want". :bigsmyl2:

[Eddie Southgate]

My pap started me on .38 Specials and 45-70 loaded 310 style when I was 8. The .38's weren't too hard but the 45-70 was about all my hands would do at the time. When I was about 11 we set up his Truline Jr and I used that or the 310's exclusively until 1970 when I bought a All American press and the new Lyman load book.

[dverna]

Another old timer that started out reading everything I could lay my hands on.

Heck, no computers back then. Learned by doing.

Came from a non-shooting family as well, so no encouragement/mentoring.

First tool was a Lee Target Loader in .222 when I was 16. 56 years and still learning.

[tctender]

I started buying reloaded cartridges from an older gentlman that loaded and was a gunsmith. I would sit around and talk to himand watch as he loaded. He showed me some things and made recommendations of items that i needed or nice to have. I then bought a coax press and rcbs reloading kit and added as i could. Been hooked ever since reading about it and talking with others.That was around 1978.. Man wish some of those prices were still around. They have certainly increased and a lot lately.

[Three44s]

Book, more books and magazine articles were my teacher!

Age 19 in the fall of 1975 and I got tired of “wanting” to reload! I went to my favorite all around store (BiMart) and pestered the clerks there to recommend what powder to buy. The rifle was a 250/3000 in a Savage 99.

As a take down it suffered from too much head space and that got my goat! It eventually went down the road.

Anyway at the Bi Mart store the clerks told me they were not supposed to suggest what powder but they finally hinted at IMR 4320. I wheeled out with powder, primers, bullets, dies, a RCBS Jr press and a RCBS 505 scale!

A Hornady reloading manual followed me out as well!

I built a portable stand and mounted my press on it, still have both!

After a bit of study, my Dad gave me a 243 Win in a 670a Winchester bolt gun (an economy version of the Model 70) for Christmas ‘75. I slayed some number of coyotes with it but my eye was on the Ruger 77V in the same cartridge. The Win. bolt got turned for its new price. Seventy bucks more and I had the brand new Ruger (a Liberty model no less!) and now coyotes really caught it!

Still have that Liberty Ruger too BTW! If I had been smart, I would have kept the Winchester for a truck and farm tractor gun and gotten custom dies cut for the Savage 99.

Those are my reloading roots.

Three44s

[HWooldridge]

I had nobody to teach me and the internet didn’t exist so I bought one of the early Speer manuals and read it, then started buying equipment. That was more than 40 years ago.

[.429&H110]

I learned late in life from a 20 yo who shot 9mm competitively.
He reloaded 44mag for his dad, but his dad sold the old 29 for $$$$.

First lesson: Do Not Shoot Other People's Handloads!

Every thing else was RCBS book and this forum.
Thank you.

[sailcaptain]

I read books. Lots and lots of books, magazine articles…you name it.
I posted this back in 2020, to another question:

I started in shooting sports at about 11 years old, learning and honing that craft. But I began casting sinkers first at about 12 or 13 years old. I had a small 6 cavity sinker mold my father gave me and I made 100’s of them.
A friend of my father, came over one day and saw me making sinkers and simply said you should make bullets too. Well being that young I didn’t even know anyone could make a bullet, but it really make me curious. I talked to that man all afternoon about it.
He came back he next day with a 45 caliber mold, 10 pounds of lead and said here, make me some and lets see how you do.
Same principal applies to both processes, so off I went. Obviously, some of them were good and some quite bad. Not a real problem in sinkers, but bullets....that’s a whole other story.
He taught me the fine tuning of melting lead and adding other metals. AND supplied the metals!
I became his major supplier....and even got paid for it. Can life get any better!
I don’t remember what I earned but I’m sure it was a fortune to a 13 year old.

The one thing that hooked me for life was when he said he was going to check the speed of the bullets when he shot them, with a machine he had. A Chronograph meant nothing to me at all except this had to be some kind of space alien technology. When I saw this bent wire thing and saw the “speed” of a bullet, I couldn’t believe it my eyes.
I’ve been making “boolits” ever since.
The only question I have is a simple one.....where is this man who comes with 10, 20, 30 pounds of lead at a time, every time! Most were wheel weights and real lead.

My father owned a Sunoco Station at the time, so lead weights were very plentiful. But I think he hid the new ones from me, because his supply was always in need of resupplying and my boolit supply kept increasing.
Just need to find that guy again with all the metals.

So I guess I’m, self taught and mentored.

Its been a great ride

[10x]

I started with a Lee Loader when I was 8 years old back in the 60's. The closest thing I had to load data was the little sheet that came with it.

My story too over 60 years ago

[ulav8r]

Received a 308 from my Aunt and Uncle as a HS graduation gift in 1968. A month or two later got a lee loader. I learned from the instruction sheet in the Lee Loader. First bullets used were pulled from military surplus rounds given to my dad by one of his brothers. Wish I would have had a way to pull them without destroying the cases. Loaded with Unique and cream of wheat fillerusing Lee dippers, first started with a load that I believed would be safe. Fired one round, then loaded the next with the next smaller dipper. On the third or fourth round it went "bloop" and the bullet landed about 12 feet from the muzzle. I went to the next dipper up and had a good plinking load until I got commercial bullets and went from there.

The only thing I had read about reloading was occasional mentions in Outdoor Life magazines, there were no details given. About a year later, I got the firing pin repaired on a German Reischrevolver that my dad had brought back from Germany. I was taking physics at college and was allowed to use a lathe in the lab, used it to turn and bore a case trim die that was hand held to shorten 44 Spec brass. At that time I got a Lyman 310 tool and dies for 44 Special, used the lathe to shorten the sizing die. Not sure when I got my first loading manual, but it was probably about 1969-70. Started casting about 73, again self taught but was able to find books to help.

Got married in 1972, about 6 months later bought my first real press, a Rockchucker. About 1975 I helped my little brother get set up to reload 357, inherited his equipment a few years later. Now have 3 single stage presses.

[popper]

Bought a Marlin 30/30 ( my first gun) and 15$ a box ammo just before I got retired. Decided to reload for it. Then 40sw. Then decided bullets were expensive so bought a Lee dripper and couple molds. Terrible hobby.

[gwpercle]

I had nobody to teach me and the internet didn’t exist so I bought one of the early Speer manuals and read it, then started buying equipment. That was more than 40 years ago.

One of my main "Instructor's" was the infamous 1972 edition of the Speer Reloading Manual Number 8 ... that year I bought a new 357 Ruger Blackhawk (my first handgun) and the brand new Loading Manual to go with it . At the time Speer was supposed to know what they were doing ... It has a great "How To" section in it and it taught me how to adjust 3 die pistol dies , well written well illustrated ... and ... I still use some loads from that Manual .
Gary

[DocSavage]

Lee Loader in 44 mag in the early70s from there RCBS rock chucker then a succession of Dillon presses starting with a 450.

[tchepone]

Self taught, began in 1964, reading books, magazines, experimentation. Made some errors along the way but still have my hands, fingers & eyes. It has been a long journey but most enjoyable. Somewhere I discovered that it can ( has) become a sickness. My wife and friends refer to my reloading area as my "sick room." I have never regretted my hobby. gjh

[1I-Jack]

Started loading 12 ga back around '86 on a brand new MEC. My instructions were from reading books, reloading manuals, and an occasional question answered by a friend who reloaded. He hooked me up with a Rockchucker and some other equipment being sold off by a divorcee ($100 for the lot) and I was off to the races reloading .357. There was a local auction house that held auctions every Wednesday night and I slowly accumulated more reloading equipment and a few casting items. Eventually casting was the next "step". Reading was my major learning tool accompanied by some trial and error.

Fast forward to a few years ago and I came across this site doing a web search. LOTS more reading! It's been very interesting learning from the members of this community. Learning what I was doing wrong, right, and all of the "better" ways to do some things. Keep up the good work guys. I don't post often, but I still read a lot.

[jd9770]

Started with shotgun in high school and slowly progressed from there to rifle, pistol and casting.
I learned by reading manuals and books.

[barrabruce]

Started out at 10 learning to load 12 gauge with a Stirling loader.
Got the neighbour to make a powder bush for it.

Which was the wrong size and after a lot of parental support in the form of abuse from crap shells and being told I was useless and stupid.
Blahhh blahh

Eventually relenting he got the right bush for the powder and I managed somehow to not blow anything up after all and made good shells.

Became number one golden child for a while


More seat of your pants, reloading data and the manufactures how to set up pictures etc.
No inner web or mentors.

;)

[Kylongrifle32]

I got my first job at the age of 15 at a full service gas station a block from my house (1981). I was also cutting a lot of lawns in my neighborhood. A guy I worked with had a brother that was big into groundhog hunting and he hung around the station when not working or hunting. One day he came in and ask me if I was interested in buying a Remington 788 in 243 from a friend of his and start groundhog hunting with him. I asked dad if I could and he said it's your money do what you want.
Hanging out with Gary I soon learned that the reloading shops that he visited would sell a kid who put money on the counter reloading components but not ammo.
Started with the Lee whack a mole dies.

[DDriller]

My Dad was an avid trap shooter and reloaded all his shells. I learned from him when I was 8 and started reloading for him and our family banker with Dad's supervision. I got $.25 a box. Then I learned to reload .38 and .357 from casting the bullets to the finished rounds. Next was forming .243 from .308 and loading them. 60 years later loading for everything I shoot except .22LR

[Zingger]

I was among those that replied with a mentor- but really was just a kid with the go-fer duty. Chief of the deburring tool and trimmer. Years later with my own house I lucked out on a pre-loved RCBS complete set and gave it a go, been doing it ever since. On my own I would say I have only been loading for 12 years, and learning more every time I load. Thank you all for sharing your stories. My own daughters have been helping since they could walk nearly.

[gypsyman]

Talked with the owner of the LGS, went with his advice. 1974, Rock Chucker press, dies, components, Lyman book, and went to town.

[Duckiller]

My father, two uncles and a family friend bought a Herters press, powder dropper and other tools. Shared but most reloading was done in So. Mi. Some time during jr/ sr hi I was taught. Dad bought Herters shot gun press. Learned a bunch on it. Still have a couple of cans of bulk powder, no data. Its been a fun 65+ years.

[Shurshot2]

Bought a Lyman “kit”, thought that would be all I needed for reloading, it worked but the passion grew into much more. The book that came with the kit was very helpful.

[Jeremy McLean]

For me it was a combination of sitting at the dining room table with my dad loading shotgun shells and helping him sort the good shells from the bad ones his favorite hulls were Federal papers. Fast forward 30 years I picked up a Lee anniversary kit and started loading for bottle neck cartridges and haven't looked back.

[stripe]

These are al very interesting stories and great fun to read. As for me, I bought a Lee hand loader for 3006 when I was about 15 in 1965, some 180 grain Hornady soft points, a can of IMR 4064 and a supply of Remington larger rifle primers (9.5?). Read the instructions that came with the Lee loader and, with every thought of perhaps killing myself, went through the process. In my mind I kept repeating what I had read that Daniel Boon said "Make sure you are right, and then go ahead." Well - that's what I had read. To this day I still use IMR 4064 but now an RCBS turret press.

[ebb]

I watched a working partner shot his reloads and they were more accurate than my store bought, I bought a press from him and he gave me step by step instructions. His instructions never included lubing cases, so I stuck my first case. Put i all away for ten years then a friend from church and i shot together one day and the subject came up. I told him my story and he told me to come over to his house and try with him. We made some good ammo, so I set up my press and did what he showed me. He retired and moved to Tennessee but we still talk on the phone, ive been out to his new place several times and we shoot the whole time i am there.

[Texas by God]

My oldest brother, my sisters boyfriend at the time; and The Lyman manual circa 1972 all got me started. I’m still learning more and that’s a good thing. Before we bought an RCBS JR., I used Lee Loaders for 22-250 and .38 S&W.( my only guns besides a Nylon66 at age fourteen).
People say that it doesn’t save money but there’s no way I could have afforded to shoot hundreds of prairie dogs on farm pay if I had to pay $5 a box for ammo! Same with the Enfield .38 S&W- those shells cost as much as .357 Magnums back then.

[Good Cheer]

In the 70's with a $15 dollar second hand press, Lee molds, wheel weights, local beeswax.
The boolits were so hard they hardly needed lube.

[jimlj]

I started reloading before Al Gore created the internet or YouTube had videos on how to do anything you can think of.
I bought a used Speer reloading manual at a gun show. I spent the next several months studying the manual and buying new and used reloading tools. My first reloading "bench" was a 3/4" plywood shipping box I bolted a 2X6 along one side to stiffen the box enough it didn't fall apart when sizing brass. I still have the Speer manual and most of the tools, but my reloading bench has been replaced a few times with upgrades.

[dverna]

Very telling about our demographics

[Slugster]

Bought a Super Blackhawk in 82, and started reloading for financial self defense. A friend sold me his brothers (passed on) reloading gear for 100.00. Had 4 sets of RCBS dies, Rockchucker press, 3 lbs of assorted powders, primers, Forster case trimmer, etc. Learned from books and experimentation....next gear purchased was a bullet puller....
Got into cast boolits and have never looked back. Reloading is the best hobby on this planet.

[hoodat]

My dad wasn't a shooter, or much of an outdoorsman, but he helped me to be as much as he could. Got me my first rifle and shotgun when I was twelve or thirteen. (about 1668-69). I did pretty well earning enough to feed the .22, but the 20 ga. shotgun was a little tough. Soooooo, the owner of the local sporting store pitched me the advantages of reloading with a Lee Loader. He got me lined up with proper powder, primers, wads, and shot. I remember the price of that first Lee Loader as $9.99. The rest of the stuff probably came in under twenty bucks.

I was always a worker from my teens on up. and back then components were ridiculously cheap. Powder was two or three bucks a pound, primers under a buck for 100. The twenty gauge "whack-a-mole" worked so well, that I got another one a few years later when I got my first rifle. (.243 win)

By the time I was twenty, I had pretty much everything in the way of presses, both shotgun and metallic, scales, books, and three or four different shotgun, rifle and pistols to feed. I had a nearly full time job from the time I was 16, and the money I spent on shooting didn't seem like much compared to the money I spent on everything else.

To this day, I am thankful to my father, who even though he didn't share my hobby, he allowed and trusted me to learn and enjoy it.
And I'll say, that in my lifetime of doing this stuff, I've never had a reloading or shooting disaster. -- except maybe for the one time when I blistered the formica on my mom's counter top along side the kitchen stove when I was casting bullets. That was pretty bad! :shock: jd

[15meter]

I bought a Lee Deluxe 12 gauge whack-a-mole in 1975. Used the 1 page instruction sheet. Don't think you could call that a manual.

1986 bought a MEC 650 to replace the whack-a-mole. I used the freebie powder manuals for loads and the MEC manual to run the press.

1988 bought another whack-a-mole in 308. Took a couple of books out of the library. Then the library got rid of them, when questioned why, I was told the library only had so much shelf space. But it did have MULTIPLE copies of Madonna's book.

1990 I bought a trapdoor in 50-70.

And then the bottom fell out. Loading manuals take up 5-6 feet of bench space. Reloading magazines probably another 10-15 feet.

Bought and sold two dozen+ presses over the years, a dozen+ powder measures, plus powder scales, tricklers, trimmers.

Currently trying to reduce the floor load in the shed before I fall through to China. I've been to China, just don't want to back there the hard way.

[Kraschenbirn]

Late 1950s...was shooting on a Small-bore rifle team sponsored by our Boy Scout troop. Ass't Scoutmaster/Team Coach mentored me when I got my first center-fire rifle; a Chilean (?) Mauser picked from a barrel of milsurps in a K-Mart store. Harv taught me to form boxer-primed 7x57 brass from '06 and break down the junk South American military ammo he picked for near-scrap prices through Shotgun News. (I couldn't buy it legally as I was only 13 or 14). Next came my first '03 Springfield thru DCM, followed by an M70 in .270 (I was hooked on Jack O'Conner's columns and books) that easily paid for itself in coyote bounties the first winter I owned it.

Bill

[Winger Ed.]

The stars came together while I was at Quantico and one time I watched the guys at the Marksmanship Training Unit
at a long bench with several single stage presses pulling bullets from LC Match 7.62s,
and reloading them with Sierra match hollow points for the Marine Corps Shooting Team.
It was fascinating to say the least, but it didn't look very hard either.

After I got out, and got back into target shooting, I was a little disappointed with the accuracy of factory ammo,
not to mention the expense. A buddy was a kitchen FFL at the time, and I'd look through his catalogs.
I bought a Hornady 007 set up in '83, and did a lot of reading. The rest is history.

[Texas by God]

I learned early that round faced primers would sometimes pop in the Lee Loader.
And my Mom was not amused.
Me, my new blood blister, and the loading kit retired to the bunkhouse to continue.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WRideout]

When I was a starving student at Cal State Chico, I found a kindly older gunsmith who ran a store as well. He invited customers to the back to use his reloading setup (all RCBS as I recall; Oroville was just down the road) and he charged a flat rate based on how much of the components were used. He taught me how to reform 30-06 brass to feed an old Argentine Mauser I had bought from him. Sometime later I purchased a used 12 gauge loader from him, and it was all downhill after that. I'm surprised I actually graduated from college.

Wayne

[tinsnips]

Lyman Reloading manual , pretty much taught myself lot of the time I learned the hard way . But it was alot of fun.

[Snowbelt]

Started with a Lee 12Ga. hand loader. Somehow scraped up enough money to buy the reloading components and read the instructions that came with the reloader. Been doing it ever since, but now just reloading cast bullets.

[TXTad]

I started reading gun magazines in the late 70s. In high school, my metal shop teacher, Garland Kimmel in Lewisville, TX, had me casting bullets and using a Lee loader to load about 1,000 rounds of .30-30 in shop class my junior or senior year (83-84 or 84-85). Later, maybe 88 or 89, I got a GP-100 and a Lee Partner Press and I started reloading my .38 Specials that I had been buying from Nix Shooting Supplies in Lewisville. They had all the loading manuals, primers, bullets, and powder I could imagine and were happy to answer questions for me.

Simply reading the how-to sections of the old Lyman, Hornady, and Speer manuals was all I needed to be confident that I could load safe, cheap, ammo. It never occurred to me that it was anything besides just something to figure out.

Not long after, a new neighbor had an RCBS kit for .45 ACP that he didn't want to mess with, so he gave it to me if I would load some ammo for him. Of course I agreed to that deal. By the mid 90s, I was getting interested in surplus Mausers and such, so it was just easier to load for some of those calibers.

[inspector_17]

Old sergeant I served with reloaded for me, I bought the dies, primers, etc, he did the reloading. He didn't show or teach me, but I got the bug and found out what I could (pre-internet) from a speer book. How I didn't lose a finger or more, LOL. My AR loads were super accurate surprisingly(52grn HPBT), my 300 winmag (180/210grn or so) were ok. Had to give it up life happens (marriage). Several years ago the boss gave me the ok to get back into it.

[Texas by God]

TxTad, Nix in Lewisville was the real deal. We’d drive over there for a months supply of cast bullets, primers, and powder to feed our handguns back in the early 80s.
I even met Kevin Von Erich(Pro wrestler) in there one day…. He was high and barefoot[emoji16]but still talked guns well!


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[TXTad]

TxTad, Nix in Lewisville was the real deal. We’d drive over there for a months supply of cast bullets, primers, and powder to feed our handguns back in the early 80s.
I even met Kevin Von Erich(Pro wrestler) in there one day…. He was high and barefoot[emoji16]but still talked guns well!


It sure was. I just thought it was going to be like that forever. That's the problem halcyon days...you never realize they are until they are gone.

It was a bit sad how fast the owner's son put the going out of business sign outside after his dad died, and some of the long-time employees (since day 1 long time) were not taken care of in any way.

That someone bought it and kept it going for a few years was a happy fluke. It was pretty good for a while, but never quite the same.

Nothing like it exists anywhere around here that I know of. The closest is Triumph Sporting Arms in Flower Mound, but they're not geared up at all for reloaders.

[Winger Ed.]

The closest is Triumph Sporting Arms in Flower Mound, but they're not geared up at all for reloaders.

I miss Doc over in Carrolton too.

Maybe the Mad Russian in Carrolton is still around, but most of the old school gun stores around Dallas are pretty much gone.

[farmbif]

learned with my dad starting when I was like 11, 12 maybe. he would take us to a skeet range by the levee at the edge of the everglades just about every weekend. the loads from Kmart were rough on my shoulder and he got a mec and after collecting our shells at the range we would go home and refill them. I got to put together 1 oz loads for myself with green dot that were a bit easier for me to shoot. a few years later when he bought the fish farm we got a 222rem for shooting critters and I was the youngest son so it was my job to reload the shells with a lee loader. man how I miss my pops

[mtnman31]

I learned the basics from my grandfather when I was a teenager. A few years later, I was old enough to buy my own firearms and reloading allowed me to shoot more and also shoot some less common cartridges. I self-taught myself the finer points of reloading I used manuals and some of the early internet message boards as a knowledge base.

[TXTad]

... most of the old school gun stores around Dallas are pretty much gone.

I'm sure that's true of most places now.

[super6]

I learned the basics from my grandfather when I was a teenager. A few years later, I was old enough to buy my own firearms and reloading allowed me to shoot more and also shoot some less common cartridges. I self-taught myself the finer points of reloading I used manuals and some of the early internet message boards as a knowledge base.

I remember the rec boards also...LOL

[45_Colt]

I remember the rec boards also...LOL

What a flash-back, yes, the news groups. Jeez, that is taking it back a few years... Then of course email lists...

And as for learning to reload, not sure how it came about. Sorta' like osmosis, got to the point with shooting pistols & revolvers that it was required in order to feed the habit. Grabbed a 550B and just went for it. Worked out, didn't blow up anything (yet?).

45_Colt

[GONRA]

GONRA read Phil Sharp's book in college.
Gotta Hollywood Senior press, 6.5x50.5mm Japanese dies and
reloaded for my Uncles olde WW II bringback rifle.
(Laboriously formed brass from range pickups.)
Fortunately NORMA came with boxer primed brass - off I went!

9mm Luger next - for a Radom pistol......
All above with Lyman Ideal Cast Boolits......

Purchased all (cheep SNG ads) semiauto military rifles and
non-blowback pistols as they came available..

CHEEP! CHEEP! CHEEP! .......

etc. etc. etc.

[hwilliam01]

How did I learn to reload? Trial and error....it was a rough 25 years....

[Scorpion8]

My curiosity peaked from a post in the ABCs of Reloading thread. So… how did you learn starting out?

I took the NRA course offered by the training counselor in this town, and then that started me on a path to be an NRA instructor and Hunter Ed instructor.

[David2011]

The first time I reloaded a friend helped me but there wasn’t much teaching. A couple of years later I met my mentor who was a brilliant man with practical skills. He was also a boolit caster. That’s where my slippery slope started.

[littlejack]

When a new family friend (Joe) and his wife entered our lives, I was the ripe old age of 15. Joe had been a competitive shooter and had several firearms, rifle and pistol and reloaded for most of them. My dad and Joe, brought me to the Allied Surplus store in Eugene Oregon. They (and myself) picked out a sporterized 98 Mauser. That was the first cartridge I learned to reload. That was 58 years ago.

[460S&W]

I had a family friend that gave me the basics the rest was learned from reading my first RCBS Manuel and trial and error

[redhawk0]

Started by read ABCs of Reloading....still have that old book on the reloading bench....started loading with a LEE Loader Kit for 308Win back in 1977. I was 14. Wow...I've come a long way.

[slim1836]

Totally self-taught, could not find a mentor for reloading or casting. Been lucky so far.

Slim

[1Papalote]

Brother and I bought a Mec 600 when I was in Jr High. Charge tables for the Mec powder bushings aligned with published data were used. Learning curve came with assorted 12 ga hulls and specific wads. 4-5 yrs later I bought the RCBS kit, much later started casting.

[greybuff]

Had a paper route when I was 13, and a gunsmith as a customer. He helped me buy an RCBS JR. and all the other necessary equipment and then taught me how to load weighing each load on a beam scale. 54 years later I still have the JR., a RC w/piggyback (for processing pistol brass), Summit and a Lyman All American turret press. Still weigh every round, but on an electronic scale now.

[DougGuy]

Speer #11 book and a heavy dose of common sense. I read a lot of the gun rags back then too, 1980s, before internet. I could look at detailed photos and figured out this is what they are supposed to look like and followed suit.

[jgstrug]

Some would say I haven't learned.

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

[hades]

Lyman Pistol and revolver handbook 2nd ed for me. My uncle reloads but only rifle so was a very small help but I don't think he even owns a handgun let alone reload for it. I started with 45acp and 44 mag and it was nerve wracking trying to find loads for cast bullets when I almost immediately switched over to buy 500 packs of Missouri bullet company slugs. They don't give load data and their 240gr 'Keith' isn't the same as the 429421.

What's max? Where should I start with a charge? Crimping was a challenge for the 45 also. Took me awhile to figure out how not to make horses$&i# rounds. A couple guys on a facebook reloading group gave me some pointers as my uncle really didn't know the answers to questions I was calling him about.

Spent some time lurking here too picking up some good tips and advice when I first bought a pot and recast some reclaimed bullets off a couple of MBC 500 packs that a helpful snow pile stopped for me over a winter's worth of shooting.

Back when primers were cheap and powder was cheaper. Think I had something like $5 into a 100 rounds of 45acp with 44s being a little more because I liked the magnum loads. (Not counting any equipment costs of course).

[Thundarstick]

I couldn't vote in two categories, so I voted in the largest one. I had an uncle that started me, but gleaned most of my knowledge from manuals and magazine articles.

[wilecoyote]

...exploding & trashing away a .38 snub at my 1st try_[smilie=b:

[Hondolane]

Self-taught. It was and still is cheaper to reload for many calibers I have.

[John Guedry]

Like most of the replys in here I am self taught. No mentor/internet,I wonder how many of the "younger generation" would have the patience to sit and read through that many printed pages. I have been trying to mentor my grandson (30 yo) and he has the attention span of a gnat.

[lx2008]

my 2 pennies...my bro-n-law taught me for a time when i started at 21 years of age. from then on i learned from manuals/reading & my own trials.
at 60 now and i`m pretty content although i still learn some things.

[brstevns]

Back in 1967 I got a Lee Loader kit in 7x57. That started the whole thing. Those were the good old days.

[Ben]

Self taught, in 1967 I had a Herter's Catalog.
Primers were .40 a pack. Powder $2.85 a pound. 8mm jacketed hunting bullets were $4.25 per hundred.

My uncle loaned me a WW II K-98. He said the fellow he got it from didn't need it anymore. A lot of reading and a good bit of " faith " on my behalf and I was good to go.

Ben

[lup]

I bought a press from the local shop. Owner spend an hour with me reviewing the steps on the press I bought. Loaded some 45acp ammo. Went to the range in back and verified I got it right.

Jumped in with both feet after that.

[avogunner]

It was 1981 and following a short deployment, I dove head first and bought a Pacific reloading kit; Multi-C press, scale, powder measure, trimmer, and dies for all the calibers I intended on loading at the time, .30-06, .45 ACP, .35 Rem, .30-30, .38/357. I had picked up a copy of Dean Grennel's book, the ABC's of Reloading, before that exercise (afloat) and probably read that cover to cover 5 times in as many weeks. No mentor and of course no youtube in those days but reloading isn't rocket science so I figured it out and have been doing it ever since. That single stage press is still on my bench and that well worn book too....I think I'm a hoarder :smile:
Semper Fi

[WILCO]

My curiosity peaked from a post in the ABCs of Reloading thread. So… how did you learn starting out?


Read the book by Richard Lee and bought the Challenger starter kit.
That was back in 1995.

[Beerd]

started in '78 with the Speer book and still have a lot to learn.
..

[Iron369]

From YouTube and the internet. I don’t know anyone personally that reloads, much less anyone else that casts.
I sbr’d a lower and a form 1 suppressor and decided to build a 300 blackout but it was too expensive to buy subsonic ammunition. As soon as I started researching the build, it lead me to watching tons of videos about reloading and casting for that round.
Since, I’ve only expanded to 9mm and 223. I shoot them the most. I cast 9mm, but buy all the 223 projectiles. I’d like to get into 308, but since I only have one bolt action 308, I can’t find a good reason to make the leap.

[Smoke4320]

1977 started with a wack a mole 30-06 lee handloader and rubber mallet sitting on the porch steps of a duplex in the swamps of eastern NC.
couple years later graduated to a house in Charlotte NC and a full RCBS Rockchucker set.
Still use the Rockchucker set to this day for the vast majority of my reloading.

[Rapier]

Ah, forgot, not rare these days, started casting on the kitchen gas stove with a cast iron deep side frying pan, a pour dipper, wheel weights and a Lyman mould, that I found for fee, used. Did a make do pan lube and a cut off 7.7 case wrapped with speed tape to get a grip. That was 62, shot the bullets as cast, no sizing. Not real accurate mostly went bang, but was a start. Graduated to casting the 505 Mini in pure lead for a 58 Zuave, shot that for many years. Met a regular competitor in the Ned Roberts Shoots, learned a lot from him about BP shooting.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I started reloading .38 Specials in 1966 with a Lee Loader and a plastic mallet. I had a can of 5066 that lasted a long time. I was enticed into it by a clerk in a sporting goods store (Western Sports, San Rafael, CA) who told me I'd save a lot of money by loading my own ammo. Of course, as the years rolled by, one thing led to another and it turned into a monster and obsession. I've got 3 single stage presses and one Lee Turret Press. A whole tool box full of 310 tools and dies, and another full of molds. I think the clerk might have lied.....

DG

[Dekota56]

I had a mentor when I first got into reloading in 1976, he was a good friend of mine. I started buying reloading equipment, press, powder, dies, primers a lot of books, reloading kits tumbler. I made sure I had a set of die’s for every gun, had as well as the hunters that hunted with me. Started making the loads best for accuracy for the gun that was being shot. By then I went into the Army and when I got out I was reloading even more. After awhile i fell in love with it and build a room for it. I continue to buy books and reloading equipment. Now I think that never stops love it.

[frogleg]

In 1977 I was living in Missouri and bought a Texan single stage press kit that came with a powder scale, and a 30.06 die set. I bought a Hornady reloading manual and the rest is history.

[rintinglen]

I learned how to cast from my neighbor in 1966, but I had to learn to reload on my own in the 1970-1971 era. IIRC, my LGS sold me a Lee whack-a-mole, a tray of primers , a box of Speer 170 grain and a pound of powder--I think 4895-- in a paper bag, all for about 3 bucks shy of a 20 dollar bill. With factory 30-30s running at about $4.25 a box, I was saving money from the first.
In fact, I have thousands of dollars in savings..Now. My gun room is littered with them.

[GONRA]

CAUTIOUS / PARANOID GONRA read book(s), bought Best Available Equipment, made ammo, blasted away, etc.

[TSA222]

Ran into a fellow at a gun show in paducah kentucky. i had a old black powder rifle he wanted it bad. we got to talking he said that he would trade me some reloading equipment for that old harpers ferry rifle. That is how i met turner kirkland. he showed me how to reload. He was my best friend for many years.

[GONRA]

Overly CAUTIOUS / PARANOID GONRA read book(s), bought Best Available Equipment, made ammo, blasted away, etc.
It all verked out......

[HumptyDumpty]

I voted mentor; while mostly learned through reading manuals and experience, it was a good friend who loaned me equipment, and walked me through the process of loading a small quantity of 308 ammo, from start to finish. It was 3-5 years before my next reloading session (with my own setup), but that initial introduction was crucial and I actually retained all the information.

[35 Rem]

I had a sudden NEED to own a gun at 9 years old that has never let up. Got a BB gun that year but wanted to know all things gun related so begged my parents into a subscription to Guns & Ammo magazine later at age 14. I remember the 1st issue was November 1974 and I soaked it up like a dry sponge soaks up water. It was natural to start learning about loading ammo of course. So I got a MEC shotshell loader at age 16. Didn't have a manual or anything but the instructions that came with it. My Father - who wasn't much of a shooter - but who did have good understanding of mechanisms explained to me how the powder dropper worked on the loader and I began happily making shotshells in my bedroom from then on. A couple years later at about 18 I got a RCBS Rock Chucker and started loading 30-30, 44 Magnum and 22-250. Had a good friend in High School who had cast some bullets for his Remington cap-n-ball revolver, so I went to his house one night and cast my 1st bullets. We ended up rooming together in college and started casting bullets to sell to a local shooting range so got lots of practice in casting there.

I'm 62 now and have never owned a Loading Manual. I had such enthusiasm for gun knowledge that I gleaned all the techniques needed to produce good and safe ammo from gun magazines because that's about all I ever thought about in those days. :) Of course, I only use loads from safe sources such as the bullet and powder manufacturers or LoadData.com website (Handloader Magazine data).

[john.k]

Learned early on not to let friends who may or may not be mentally compromised to load for me .........fortunately the cost was only one M17 extractor and ring.

[Lloyd Smale]

dad was a hunter but shot seldom. one of his friends who was into guns gave me a lyman manual and a 38 spec lee loader when i was 14. that same year for Christmas the parents gave me a lyman C press and a scale. that winter i bought me a brand new single cav lyman wad cutter mold and like they say the rest is history. i can remember my dad shaking his head when at 16 adults would stop by for pointers. i found my baby book in ma's stuff when she died and in when i was a year and a half old she wrote that the only toys a would play with were cars trucks and guns and at 65 it isnt much different still love my guns jeep, ram and challenger but you can add boats, snowmobiles and harleys. so we can change it to guns and cool stuff with a motor

[MightyThor]

Like so many others, I learned by sitting in the "reloading room" while my Dad went through the steps. These were literally hundreds of hours spent sitting on a stool watching the progression of the loads while listening to my Dad explain all of the important stuff that a son needs to hear from a dad. Funny, because we could discuss anything while loading in the Reloading Room, but no sound could be made when the Fly Tying equipment was attached to the bench. I learned to use Dad's reloading tools, and his swaging stuff, and then inherited my Grandfathers equipment. When I eclipsed my dad he passed his stuff to me as well. I now will hopefully pass the tools and info to my son and son in law as they gain interest.

[firefly1957]

In 1971 at 14 years old I was able to talk my parents into letting me load 20 gauge shotgun . I had been exposed to it by a friend and his father . I bought a Mec 650 press I still use much of my knowledge was from a local gun shop owner he sold me the books he said would teach me and give me useful loads . The next year I expanded to 30-30 and a RCBS Jr. press and am still expanding .

[Beaverhunter2]

Self taught...no mentor or friend to help or teach.
Just a few reloading manuals and directions from RCBS die sets.

Same here. My parents got me a RCBS Rockchucker kit when I was 16. Now I reload 14 rifle calibers and 7 pistol. Two shotgun gauges and .410 as well.

Probably time to admit I have a problem. It's a storage problem, of course!

John

[metricmonkeywrench]

I’m a hands on type of guy to start with. Basic general idea, supported by a mentor as a sounding board. Transversely I was his initial mentor on bullet casting

[AZ Pete]

When I was 12 (1960), Dad decided to hunt deer with me and my older brother. He bought a used FN 30-06, and my brother and I got second hand Model 94's. Soon after he acquired used reloading equipment in the form of a Pacific C, a Redding scale, a Redding powder measure and a Speer #3 manual. He tried loading, but didn't shoot much. So I taught myself to load for the 30-30, using the one box of cartridges that came with my Winchester. About five years later I bought a Blackhawk and loaded for that too with cast bullets that I made, again self taught. I didn't start shot shell loading until 1976.

[Tall]

I bought a Lee 1000 around 1984 and started using it because I was poor and needed ammo to shoot in my new Model 19 Smith. I reloaded the three boxes of factory ammo that I had bought thousands of times. There were two boxes of 38 Special and one box of 357 Magnum.

[Saxon]

father and his brother were really into shooting and reloading
uncle a bit more then dad,
about 1977 ish 9 years old they taught me how to reload,
been doing it ever since

[Wolfdog91]

When I was like 18 somone from one of my other forums asked for my address. Said they had some old reloading just they wanted to give to get me started. Well was happy to get anythign so sent them my address and was expecting some old rusty stuff from out of a barn and to my surprise I got a lee challenger kit with a note that thanked me me for my service ( just graduated BCT). Well forever be in dept to that person.
But yeah my dad didn't reload and actually was pretty scared of me doing it in the house , dint have a uncle or coworker or anything so I just hopped on line. Got some used serria manuals but they didn't really help too much , not the best when it comes strictly from reading. So off to YouTube and various reading on Google

[tarbe]

1974, I was still 16.

My Father didn't even own a firearm of any kind...but somewhere in the gene pool I picked up the gun bug.

Read everything I could get my hands on and started when I bought my first centerfire rifle.

50-something different cartridges 49 years later I am still at it.

Wonderful hobby we have!

[fiberoptik]

Found this forum. Bought moulds 1st. Bought a Lee Anniversary Reloading kit & Lee’s 2nd Reloading book. Read lots.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[VariableRecall]

I started my reloading journey in 2020. I got old enough to purchase my own handgun in my state, and jumped on the opportunity as soon as I could. Bought my S&W Model 10-5 as shown in the profile pic, and when .38 special became as expensive as it’s became now, I knew there had to be a better way to keep it fed.

I had learned about reloading and was earlier interested in it recreationally, but I didn’t jump into it until I actually had something to reload for. I was thinking I could start reloading when I had my life more together but the ammo crunch certainly changed my plans. I used a mixture of reading older reloading manuals online, watching videos, and getting some firsthand experience from a mentor from the forum.

[OS1880]

I was always interested in reloading. I mentioned it to a co-worker who was an avid shooter but not a reloader. The next day at work he gave me all the reloading stuff he had been given. I mean everything, RCBS single stage press, assorted dies, lube sizer, case trimmer, powder, primers, and brass, plus other essentials needed. I went out and bought ABC's of reloading read it cover to cover twice. Then I tried my hand that was 10 years ago. My wife loves it because it keeps me busy and out of her hair.

[Kestrel4k]

Wow, was very suprised that the #1 category (by far), was reading books and manuals.

My dad got me into reloading as a teenager; then at college, another mentor in the gun club there. He was definitely a 'stack it deep' type of person, lol.

[dagger dog]

Was browsing the closeout table at a local sporting goods store and saw a Lee Loader on discount along with 2 boxes of fifty 158 grain LSWC's, the loader was for 357 Mag which was what I needed for my Ruger Service Six, the store had powder Herc 2400 and the instructions in the Lee box matched that, I made a mistake buying magnum primers and had to take them back to exchange for SPP's.

Everything totaled about 35 bucks ! This was in the mid 70's. So I started pounding out rounds of 357 Mag on the living room coffee table along with my buddy Tom. Making a complete round was fun
but the real fun was shooting them, I had a case of butterflies in the belly when I shot the first cylinder, a memory I'll keep 'till I die !

[Charlie Horse]

I read an old book by John Wooters. Still have it. That, and I bought a Lee Loader for my 22 Hornet. Still have it, too.

[cap_n_america]

Wasn't so much mentoring more like do this after he got apparently tired of me (10 yrs) hanging around while the adults were trying to play cards (Canasta). I'd already read his entire collection of outdoors magazines and was bored
.
I'd hunted with Dad so I was already used to shooting but Uncle G W was a killer, self employed and semi retired he worked when he wanted or needed and cruised around on backroads varmint hunting in between towns drinking or trading and by trading it was guns or something that made his job easier. The only time I ever saw him target shooting was sighting in his newest acquisition .

Anyway he set me loose resizing and depriming and seating and crimping the 2 things I couldn't mess up
That stuck with me forever so once I was able to acquire my first handguns it was a no brainer to reload then after the cost of the first couple hundred jacketed I realized that casting was the only answer to shoot as much as I wanted

[technojock]

I had a RCBS reloading manual and about that time I got on the old Fidonet firearms forum. Back then I save every Ed Harris post and he would also answer all my questions no matter how dumb. Ed was like a mentor although I never met him...

[Big Tom]

Started 20+ years ago after I got a 45-70 from my wife and saw the ammo prices for that caliber. Bought a few reloading manuals, needed components, a RC IV and started it. Sweaty fingers when firing the first round... Since then started reloading for all calibers I need (except for .22) and look at it as a hobby. Reloading enough in the winter time to get me through the summer every year.

[Soundguy]

Read a couple manuals.. bought a few more and then some gear.. did more reading than loading in the beginning.. but it's been a fun hobby.

[Hannibal]

School of Hard Knocks. No mentor. A few reloading manuals. I made a ton of mistakes and learned something new every time.

So far, I've never had a firearm damaged due to my mistakes, but I've always been very cautious.

But I've never forgotten that tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to make a BIG mistake.

[GuyKickinit]

Reading, learning, more reading, more learning, still reading, still learning.

[Smk SHoe]

Started in the late 80’s. Newly married and a young active duty specialist. No extra money. Bought a rcbs partner press kit and read everything I could. Really honed my skills trying to make a marlin 30-30 lever gun act like a bench gun. Fast forward 30 plus years and the equipment I have bought could finance a new house. I buy new guns in different caliber’s just so I can reload something new. I have talked friends into the odd caliber rifle just to have something new to reload and cast for.
It is a sickness

[corbinace]

from the chart inside the Lee loader kit for .357, at about 14. About 1974-5, so the internet was too slow to watch many videos. I still have all my fingers, through sheer luck.

[budman5]

I bought a Dillon press and a Speer manual in 1980.
I load for everything I shoot.

[Gtrubicon]

I had bought a ridiculous amount of reloading equipment and supplies about 2001, Then I met OSOK, he taugh me everything I needed to know about reloading, casting etc. He was a forum member here, and my friend. He died 2 weeks ago. I will always miss Charles Irby, aka OSOK. He always mused that people assumed his handle acronym was for “one shot one kill”. But it wasn’t. He grew up near Houston Texas and explained to me that “Oh, It’s OK” sounded just like OSOK with the Texans accent. He was a brilliant man, very active on this forum and I had the pleasure to know him and learn from him. He is greatly missed.

Sam

[corbinace]

I had bought a ridiculous amount of reloading equipment and supplies about 2001, Then I met OSOK, he taugh me everything I needed to know about reloading, casting etc. He was a forum member here, and my friend. He died 2 weeks ago. I will always miss Charles Irby, aka OSOK. He always mused that people assumed his handle acronym was for “one shot one kill”. But it wasn’t. He grew up near Houston Texas and explained to me that “Oh, It’s OK” sounded just like OSOK with the Texans accent. He was a brilliant man, very active on this forum and I had the pleasure to know him and learn from him. He is greatly missed.

Sam

I had not heard that, as I have been gone for a bit. I too always enjoyed his posts and viewpoints. I am sincerely sorry for your deep loss.

[kevin c]

I read a couple basic instructional manuals on reloading end to end, twice. Then read the pertinent cartridge specific sections of three or four reloading handbooks from various bullet and powder manufacturers.

My first loads were straight out of the books, right down to the specific brand of bullet. I moved on to changing same weight bullets, and eventually my own cast. I experimented with powders, looking for specific performance characteristics geared towards action pistol competition. For the last, I used on line resources specific to the application.

I have never loaded a shot shell or rifle cartridge, being mostly a pistol guy.

[tigweldit]

Dad. He started me loading and casting when I was 5 years old. The year after he gave me my first .22. That was 65 years ago. I still have and shoot the H&R single shot bolt gun and the molds he taught me on.

[Thebigbaby]

A couple buddies showed me the very basics. Then along the way gained more knowledge by trial in error, acquaintances and folks like y’all on the interwebs. I believe a have it down pretty good now. Next is perfecting cast boolets and pc.

[Bazoo]

I learned from reading voraciously about the subject. I started with the Lyman 48th Edition Handbook, coupled with lots of questions on forums. I finally just started reading everything I could get my eyes on, and still do. I don't watch much in the way of youtube videos. I retain information from reading well, however.

I've read the Lyman 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 handbooks, cast bullet handbooks 1, 2, 3, 4, shotshell handbook 5th, Speer 6, 8, 10, 15, Hornady 2, Lee 2, ABCs of reloading, RCBS cast manual, Sierra Second Edition, and The Art of Bullet casting, not to mention many articles online and many handloader magazines and several Handloading Gun Digest books. I've also read The Complete Guide to Handloading by Sharpe, The Bullet's Flight from Powder to Target by Mann, and From Ingot to Target by Fryxell & Applegate.

I'm working on Cast Bullets by E.H. Harrison currently.

I'm wanting to read a Nosler manual as well as the Lyman 50th and 51st also.

[Iowa Fox]

Mom and dad bought me a Lee loader for Christmas 1963. No Books, No magazines , No internet.

[BobT]

I read the instructions on the Lee Loader and went to town, that was around 1970 or '71. Since then I have become a collector of reloading gear and load for several different rifle and pistol cartridges. I have also reloaded shotgun shells in 10, 12, 16 and 20 gauge but now only the 12 and 20 remain. I started casting boolits in 1981 or 1982.

[mgunner]

I started six years ago. I was watching YouTube and saw a video about reloading and was pretty amazed. I didn't even know that reloading was something you could do. Never even heard anyone talk about reloading presses. What's even weirder is that my father belonged to a hunting club in the early or mid 80s and I never heard anyone mention anything about reloading.

After I saw that first video I was hooked. I watched hours of videos about reloading and read some blogs. Then I purchased a set of Lee dies, reloading components, and a Lee classic turret press kit which came with a copy of Modern Reloading. I'm still using that press.

So I learned by watching videos, reading blogs, reading Modern Reloading, and then used the detailed instruction sheet that came with the die set to set up my dies and started to reload.

I just recently started looking into casting; and I'm waiting for my first mold to be delivered.

[Swineherd]

Interwebs

[Butler Ford]

New Lyman 45th edition, Lee Loader in 357 Mag, pound of Win 296, box of hollow points and 100 primers. Faith that the good Lord and Lyman would keep me from hurting myself too badly. Learned pretty quickly that my carpenter's hammer was not the best idea but the handle worked pretty well.

[SquibCity]

Mostly a mix of all 3 for me, started thinking about reloading when i started shooting more and more around 6-7 years ago. father in law had done it for years. Started reading/ buying reloading books, watching videos on Utube before they were "Weird" about it. Father in Law Helped with The Basics and Went on From There. Now Load Thousands of pistol and Rifle Rounds a Year, When Supplies Allow. I always try to buy Supplies when i see them, and not being that Jerk that buys everything i see. What a Crazy Rabbit hole it is to reload/ Handload. Start Small with very little, and then venture in to other calibers, casting, bp, Etc... I Love it though

[cpaspr]

I voted other, because I couldn't vote more than one.

As a youngster, maybe 10ish?, dad would set everything up, and I'd load up .38 Specials for him. Years later, mid 70s, he'd set the pot up out in the shop, and I'd cast .38 semi-wadcutters by the hour. 1976, I went off to college, graduated in 1980 and moved north. About 1982 had a friend of my brother from high school "loan" me his RCBS JR press, powder measure, etc. But they just kinda sat in a box. Late 80s, I got married, and about 1990 I dug everything out and had to learn the loading process all over again to load some .38 Specials and .308 Winchesters. Boxed it all up again. Moved, and late 90s set it up in the garage, and had to re-learn again. Finally, after the kids were gone mid 2000s, I moved the reloading equipment into one of the empty bedrooms, and turned the 2' x 5' closet into my "man cave". Sometime about 20 years ago, my dad gave me all his casting equipment, including those bullets I had cast for him in 1976, when he put it all away. It sat for a while, and about 15 years ago I pulled it out and had to learn/relearn about casting. I do both frequently enough now that I don't have to relearn the process each time.

So, initially, mentor.
Later, read books.
Later still, internet forums, some my questions, mostly reading other people's questions.

[trapper444]

My uncle got me into reloadinng he had a small setup and i have been reloading since the late 80's i

[Advil]

My dad taught me when I was really little. We still load together all the time. I cast, he coats and sizes, we both load ammo but admittedly he does more reloading than I do since he really does enjoy the process I do it out of necessity to shoot more. We both enjoy working out the bugs and improving the process.

[MOshooter]

My Dad was an avid hunter, a serious quail/pheasant hunter.
I grew up in his reloading room since I was 3 years old, late 60's
He had a couple Mecs and a Herters model 3 and loaded the 20, 12, and 10 gauge shot shells. In metallic he reloaded 280 Rem. 30-06' and the 30 carbine back then.
I also read a lot of manuals, along with books pertaining to reloading.

[Hickok]

Old Speer manual, RCBS Junior press, Sierra bullets in green cardboard box, IMR 3031, and a German 98 Mauser 8mm, ordered from Sears and Roebuck, my first rifle!

The 98 action was "Danzig 1918", (if memory serves me right) and now has a .338 magnum barrel on it, put on by my dad, when he had a gun-shop.

[2TM101]

Mom and dad bought me a Lee loader for Christmas 1963. No Books, No magazines , No internet.

I bought me a lee loader in 1977. I still have it. In 1981 I took up shotshell reloading as Mather AFB had an active skeet and trap club. Then 30 years later I found the lee loader again. Took up loading again when California decided to make me get ammo through an FFL, but we just got that thrown out.

[Murphy]

Sometime in the late 1970's or early 1980's. I was an avid reader of Guns & Ammo and Shooting Times. Between various articles my curiosity got the best of me about this thing called reloading. About that time I owned a Remington 788 in 22-250 caliber and a Dan Wesson 6" Model 15. I enjoyed shooting (a lot) but the cost of ammunition was another story. Living in a very rural area, luckily there were two different places in the county that sold reloading goods. Like many before me, I started with the LEE CLASSIC LOADER for the 22-250. After rounding up what I figured would be as good a hammer as any made of plastic, a short stump about 10" tall, I sat down cross legged in the living room floor and went to work. All I had to go on, was a few articles with loads and the info in the Lee kit. Paraffin wax was my lube of choice for resizing. After assembling the first round I was out the door to see if it would even go bang, yep...it worked! Several months later, a running buddy of mine had a brother who thought he wanted to reload and had bought a full set up of RCBS gear, but gave it up and sold me his RockChucker and 10-10 scales at a very cheap price. I had no idea at the time just how high end those two items were, and still are in my book.

Of course reading all the time about how Skeeter Skelton favored this bullet called the Lyman #358156, it was my next step down the rabbit hole. I couldn't find a place to buy/mail order any of them and just had to have them. After 40 years, I figure to start saving by all this reloading 'stuff' any day now.

To sum it up, I learned by reading and doing. No mentor, no internet. Did I mention I get sticker shock when I buy factory ammunition in any caliber?

Murphy

[WestDivide]

Summer of '72 I bought a Blackhawk .357, and then a Win M64A. Had a co-worker who loaded, and he first taught me and worked me through running the Ruger. That fall, I used his Herter's catalog to order a U3 press, Model 5 scale and dies for 38/357 and 30-30. I got set up for both of those cartridges for $53. I got powder and primers at the Gibson's store in Boulder and at Woolworth's sporting goods dept. I pieced together a huge loading bench from scrap lumber where I worked and went from there. I've built several loading benches, for myself and others, usually out of solid doors and various timbers.
Fast forward 50 yrs and I run two single stage presses at home and one at the home ranch still in the family.
I bought a Dillon press about 2000 or so, but never set it up and sold it in a fit of broke.
I started into casting about 2010 or so, rounded up about 500 lb of wheel weights and got some high Sb lead from an employer. Made a few bullets a few yrs ago, but project sat till this fall. I got excited to take it up again and we'll see where it goes.
-West out

[trapper9260]

I started to learn how to reload , was when I was a teen and my dad was looking to save money for ammo . He started on shotgun loading and I learn with him on it and just done that and then later on in life I took up doing centerfire. The shotgun loader my dad had got to start was the Lee hand loader . Then later the Lee Load all .

[Stick_man]

I started "helping" my dad when I was about 10. Started out with a Baer progressive press for 20ga and 12ga and then started into metallics. I didn't know it then, but he was just learning as well but needed to load for the 44 mag Contender he had purchased (I hated that thing because of the grip), and was repurposing some old .308 brass for his .22-250. We pretty quickly got into loading for his .25-06 and for the newly acquired .38/.357 barrel for the Contender. Started casting on my own around 2010 but had been shooting commercially cast .38s for a long time prior.

[TheGrimReaper]

Taught myself. Read Lyman reloading manual a couple of times. Then started

[castmiester]

I picked up tips on forums like this some but very little from manuals. Any body can load a round of ammunition with direction, but to want precision and accuracy is something you have to want to be a hand loader. Straight and consistent loading is key.

[BP Dave]

My dad was a reloader and a bullet caster. After he went missing in Viet Nam, when his reloading stuff came out of storage, my brothers and I hid it so my mom couldn't get rid of it (I think she "moved on" the day he shipped out, but that is a different story). Brother passed it to brother until I ended up with it while stationed at Schofield Barracks. I learned to reload from reading through his old Lyman "Handbook of Cast Bullets" and Gun Digest 20th Edition, and fiddling around with his dies, molds, Lyman 45 sizer, and Herters turret press. Sometimes I get a little sad that we never got to shoot together as adults. From the few index cards and notes I found, he was a high velocity guy, and I think he would have been amused by the "pumpkin throwers" I ended up getting into.

[Bluefink4895]

My high school shop teacher...in shop class! We loaded ammo after class for extra credit. Even did some bullet casting, dipping out of pot into a gang mold. Mostly 38 wadcutters and 45's.
And no one wore safety glasses either.
The principle was a bullseye shooter, so he got his cut.
Not long after I got my 1st rifle - a Chilean 7x57mm Mauser. It came with a lee hand loader and an odd assortment of brass & bullets. My shop teacher gave me some machine gun pull down powder and primers...and off I went. That's when the real madness truly began.

[GhostHawk]

I was lucky. I ordered a new Rem 788 in .243win, and got talking to the owner of the shop. He was a big burly guy who had built grain elevators in his youth, had taken a bad fall, broke his back and pelvis badly. Doctors told him he'd never walk again. Well he was a mite stubborn about that. Moved back home with his mother to help care for him. 3 years later he was walking with the aid of a cane. 1/4 mile down the dirt driveway to the mailbox and back.

He had a specialty shoe shop that did custom work, he'd gone to school to learn how to make special shoes for those who needed him. On the other side was guns, ammo, fishing gear and tackle.

He told me he had been working up a load for .243win that he was having troubles with. Seems one in 8 to 10 bullets downrange were disappearing. Not making it to target. Eventually he figured out that the load was a smidge too hot, jacketed bullets were heating up and blowing up mid range. He solved it by building a frame big enough to hold a whole sheet of newspaper. And a second one some distance behind it. Put them up instead of a regular target. 3rd shot he had 3 holes in the first paper, but the second one looked like it had been hit with a shotgun.

So he backed the powder from 31 grains of IMR 3031 down to 30 grains and the problem went away.
He was using speer boat tailed hollow points. Eventually after shooting factory ammo I stopped by one day and we loaded 50. Him teaching me all the way through the whole process.

Those loads would reach out a dust a crow to 300 or even 400 yards if the wind was light. Typically I'd find a flock of crows, put them up. They would fly into nearest trees, I'd bust one easy one at 60 to 120 yards. They would fly out into a bare field, sitting a LONG ways out there. And I'd bust another one.

After a while they did not want to play anymore. I miss ya Bob Platt of Ada Mn. RIP

[.429&H110]

Been reading back through this, we are all the same and very different.
But please allow a knitpicking correction:
I am "learning" to reload. Never done: Aorist. That's true of a lot of talents.
I only reload one caliber and it is a bottomless study. 180 to 320 grain? My rifle likes 320, go figure.
So I settled on Keith boolits, the Ruger loves them. 2nd Amendment in Tucson sold me 4000, I haven't a lot left. In my quest I picked up a thousand? more? J-words of different sizes and shapes and drat if they are worth a primer. The SRH scatters them.
Keith boolits hit a 100 yard gong if I do my part, and I learned why here. Thank you.

[chuckt56]

My journey started in 1979 when I bought my first box of Sierra .270 150gr BTSP's in Las Vegas Nev. While stationed at Nellis A.F.B. shortly after got orders to Mt.Home AFB in 1980 and that is where I got My first press, a bonanza model 68(still have it and use it) then in 1985 had to go to Japan for 4 years so I had to take a break. In 1989 I came to Hill AFB and that is where i stayed and retired twice. I bought a Lyman turret in 1990 and used it for a while then sold it to a friend and went blue after that and bought a dillon RL550 and loved it and then last year I bought a lee 6 pack pro and use it for mostly pistols and still use the dillon for my rifle stuff. The bonanza is still used mostly for de priming and case trimming. I have been contemplating teaching my grandson how to reload if he is interested hopefully that will pan out. Sadly I think reloading is becoming a dying Hobbie because of the greediness of the businesses and the politicians pushing their agenda's which is purposely causing the prices to become too expensive for the normal person to afford to be able to pursue this hobbie.

[Indiana shooter]

When I was merely a young pup, my Grandpaw would let me do the brass prep. I learned how to read a set of dial calipers at the age of 7 and he would let me trim, debur, camfor, and clean the primer pockets of his brass. I would do this until I was 16.

At that point my Dad gave me his old Lee single stage and showed me how he loaded his 30-30. Well, come to find out he was very unsafe in how he loaded it. LOL His load was to use a Lee powder scoop and heap up as much IMR 3031 as he could fit and cram it in the case. Zero case prep, and he only neck side without lube. Somehow I survived my first real venture into reloading without destroying anything but the press.

A few years later my Grandpaw felt that I was ready to reload myself and taught me the correct way to do things. Since then I've only had 1 squib and a few stuck cases, in dies. I did somehow split a barrel of an old .44 marlin. I'm still not sure how that happened. The previous round did fire and leave the barrel, confirmed with a chronograph reading at 10 yards. I have 2 hypothesis though. The first is that I had severe leading around the barrel stamp, the other is that the gas check came off and somehow stayed in the barrel. Either one causing a partial barrel obstruction and kaboom. Fortunately for my health, the barrel bulged and slightly split right where the stap is.

[slim1836]

A man I worked with reloaded. He reloaded a few for me and I decided to strike out on my own after seeing his reloads did not meet my expectations. I learned by books and trial and error. Then I found out about casting my own and was hooked. I enjoyed shooting for less as I've always been a poor man financially and it became my main hobby. There is no way I will ever get to the level of skill others possess, but what I have learned on this forum has enabled me to learn so much more on this hobby.

A special thanks to all (and there are many) on this forum who have personally helped me throughout the years with their contributions and knowledge. This place is second to none.

Slim

[1903.colt]

I was 18 1976 I wanted to save money - I learned on my own - still learning - still waiting to save money .