How did I learn to reload? Trial and error....it was a rough 25 years....
Read books or manuals
Watched videos online.
I had a mentor.
Other (please tell us below).
How did I learn to reload? Trial and error....it was a rough 25 years....
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.
Sometimes life taps you on the shoulder and reminds you it's a one way street. Jim Morris
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.
Last edited by littlejack; 03-18-2023 at 01:02 AM.
If a 41 won't stop it, I wouldn't bet my life on a 44.
I had a family friend that gave me the basics the rest was learned from reading my first RCBS Manuel and trial and error
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.
The only stupid question...is the unasked one.
Not all who wander....are lost.
"Common Sense" is like a flower. It doesn't grow in everyone's garden.
If more government is the answer, then it was a really stupid question. - Ronald Reagan
Totally self-taught, could not find a mentor for reloading or casting. Been lucky so far.
Slim
JUST GOTTA LOVE THIS JOINT.
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.
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.
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.
Got a .22 .30 .32 .357 .38 .40 .41 .44 .45 .480 or .500 S&W cylinder that needs throats honed? 9mm, 10mm/40S&W, 45 ACP pistol barrel that won't "plunk" your handloads? 480 Ruger or 475 Linebaugh cylinder that needs the "step" reamed to 6° 30min chamfer? Click here to send me a PM You can also find me on Facebook Click Here.
Some would say I haven't learned.
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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).
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.
...exploding & trashing away a .38 snub at my 1st try_
Food is overrated. A nice rifle is way more important.
Rob
Self-taught. It was and still is cheaper to reload for many calibers I have.
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.
Old retired guy in Baton Rouge La.
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.
Back in 1967 I got a Lee Loader kit in 7x57. That started the whole thing. Those were the good old days.
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
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.
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 |