Reloading EverythingLee PrecisionInline FabricationTitan Reloading
PBcastcoMidSouth Shooters SupplyWidenersRepackbox
Load Data RotoMetals2

View Poll Results: How did you learn?

Voters
318. You may not vote on this poll
  • Read books or manuals

    205 64.47%
  • Watched videos online.

    9 2.83%
  • I had a mentor.

    70 22.01%
  • Other (please tell us below).

    34 10.69%
Page 5 of 10 FirstFirst 12345678910 LastLast
Results 81 to 100 of 193

Thread: How did you learn to reload?

  1. #81
    Boolit Buddy
    Slugster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2019
    Location
    Kentucky, USA
    Posts
    370
    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.
    NRA Life 1992
    My avatar is almost a dead ringer for my little buddy Chico. Six pounds of mean that thought he was a Pit Bull. Miss that little guy.

  2. #82
    Boolit Master hoodat's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Jefferson State
    Posts
    665
    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! jd
    It seems that people who do almost nothing, often complain loudly when it's time to do it.

  3. #83
    Boolit Master 15meter's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2017
    Location
    SE Michigan
    Posts
    2,493
    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.

  4. #84
    Boolit Master

    Kraschenbirn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    East Central IL
    Posts
    3,446
    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
    "I'm not often right but I've never been wrong."

    Jimmy Buffett
    "Scarlet Begonias"

  5. #85
    Moderator


    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Just outside Gun Barrel City, Texas
    Posts
    9,430
    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.
    In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
    In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.


    OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
    This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
    EVERYONE!
    Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.

  6. #86
    Moderator
    Texas by God's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    14,316
    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

  7. #87
    Boolit Master WRideout's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    Butler, PA
    Posts
    2,595
    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
    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
    Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free

  8. #88
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Apr 2009
    Location
    North Dakota
    Posts
    528
    Lyman Reloading manual , pretty much taught myself lot of the time I learned the hard way . But it was alot of fun.

  9. #89
    Boolit Mold
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Northern Oklahoma
    Posts
    11
    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.


    Steve B.

  10. #90
    Boolit Buddy TXTad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Flower Mound, TX
    Posts
    232
    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.

  11. #91
    Boolit Buddy

    inspector_17's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    middle of nowhere pennsylvania
    Posts
    123
    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.

  12. #92
    Moderator
    Texas by God's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Texas
    Posts
    14,316
    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 barefootbut still talked guns well!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  13. #93
    Boolit Buddy TXTad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Flower Mound, TX
    Posts
    232
    Quote Originally Posted by Texas by God View Post
    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 barefootbut 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.
    Last edited by TXTad; 01-10-2023 at 09:22 PM.

  14. #94
    Moderator


    Winger Ed.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Just outside Gun Barrel City, Texas
    Posts
    9,430
    Quote Originally Posted by TXTad View Post
    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.
    In school: We learn lessons, and are given tests.
    In life: We are given tests, and learn lessons.


    OK People. Enough of this idle chit-chat.
    This ain't your Grandma's sewing circle.
    EVERYONE!
    Back to your oars. The Captain wants to waterski.

  15. #95
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Posts
    3,557
    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

  16. #96
    Boolit Master mtnman31's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Knoxville, TN
    Posts
    861
    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.

  17. #97
    Boolit Buddy TXTad's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Flower Mound, TX
    Posts
    232
    Quote Originally Posted by Winger Ed. View Post
    ... most of the old school gun stores around Dallas are pretty much gone.
    I'm sure that's true of most places now.

  18. #98
    Boolit Master super6's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    S.C
    Posts
    558
    Quote Originally Posted by mtnman31 View Post
    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
    Give me something to believe in. Poison
    Arosmith What it takes
    A 12 step program

  19. #99
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Dec 2021
    Posts
    359
    Quote Originally Posted by super6 View Post
    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

  20. #100
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Posts
    990
    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.

Page 5 of 10 FirstFirst 12345678910 LastLast

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check